Two timeless methods you can use to know the truth.
by Robert Harman
How do we know the Bible is true?
Is this where faith comes in, that we have to suspend our reasoning and just take it “on faith” that it is true?
(Or true for me but maybe not for you?)
Or is the Bible objectively true like gravity? Gravity exists whether you believe so or not. In fact, if you ignore the truth of gravity, you’re headed for a fall!
Is the Bible like that, true whether anyone believes it or not? How can we know? Is there any objective evidence that can confirm that what the Bible says is actually, in reality, true?
In this article and four others, I’d like us to look at 5 broad areas that confirm to our minds that the Bible is not just myths and comforting thoughts, but is objectively true, true for everyone.
This does not do away with the need for faith. Faith is your own response to what God reveals. But reason can also serve God. Faith and reason should work together as partners.
You don’t put away your brain when you become a Christian!
Before we start into the reasons, how do we know that anything is true? What methods can we use to test for truth?
There are two: the scientific method and the historic (or legal) method.
The scientific method is useful for repeatable events, and the historic for non-repeatable.
For instance, if I tell you that a color wheel, when spun, will blend all the colors into white, you might not believe it. But it’s easy to test: make your own color wheel, spin it fast, and see for yourself.
Since it’s a repeatable event, you can use the scientific method.
But if you want to know what I ate for breakfast yesterday, you can’t repeat the event!
You’ll have to go to the historic method: ask me, interview anyone who saw me eat breakfast. You could examine what food I have in my place, go through my garbage to see what was thrown away. If you really needed to know!
When it comes to Bible facts, we need the historic method, especially the testimony of eyewitnesses.
We should ask how reliable these witnesses were. Were they mentally stable and normal or did they seem crazy?
How consistent was their story? Did they ever change it? Did they recant, and say they had been lying? If they were willing to die rather than change their story, that’s very strong indeed.
As we think about this together, I invite you to compare any other book that claims to be inspired and hold it up to the same tests we will use for the Bible. If it’s truly a book with words from God, then it should pass the tests!
Okay, let’s list now 5 areas of objective evidence that confirm that the Bible is true. Here they are:
- Internal Integrity
- Geography
- History
- Archaeology
- Prophecy
Internal Integrity
One of the strongest pieces of evidence to me that the Bible can be trusted is its cohesiveness, that it all hangs together.
Some books have contradictions within them, even though written by only one person. The Bible was not written by one person or even during one century but was written by 40 people from different backgrounds and cultures over 1600 years.
Kings, fishermen, poets, prophets, and businessmen were all involved in writing it. Read it, and you’ll find that it reads as if written by one author.
You’ll forget it was written by different people at different times. This (one) author is amazingly clever: he’s written a book with incredible density, with symbolism, with layer upon layer of meaning.
People have studied this book all their lives, intensely, without coming to the end of the lessons it teaches.
Test it yourself! Take any topic, do a word search on your phone or tablet, and study that topic through the Bible. You’ll see the incredible agreement between all these different authors.
The internal integrity of this Book is the first strong argument for its divine inspiration and trustworthiness.
In four related articles, I briefly look at the other proofs. I hope you enjoy them!
4 Top Archaeology Discoveries That Back The Bible
5 Times Jesus Was Documented By Historians of His Time
The City That Fulfilled 6 Biblical Predictions
Two Surprises of Geography That Prove The Bible
Two Methods To Know The Truth
The Journey of a World Changer starts here…