Can We Trust the Bible Is True?

Though written in several genres
and three languages by approximately
40 authors with various
backgrounds, writing styles, and
purposes, the Bible maintains a consistent
message without contradicting
itself. At Answers in Genesis—the parent
ministry of Answers magazine—our
statement of faith declares, “The 66
books of the Bible are the written Word
of God. The Bible is divinely inspired
and inerrant throughout. Its assertions
are factually true in all the original
autographs.” Those are bold claims, but
how can we be so confident?

Some people claim that the Bible
is riddled with errors. Their charges
against Scripture generally center on
scientific and historical matters, such as
the age of the earth, the origin of man,
and the evidence for the flood and other
major events described in the Bible.

We cannot use the scientific method
to prove whether certain conversations
took place, such as God instructing
Noah to build an ark. Nor can we
use it to demonstrate whether a historical
event resulted in a spiritual truth,
such as Jesus’ death on the cross paying
for our sins.

But while we can’t examine all the
Bible’s details by scientific or historical
inquiry, we can investigate plenty
of evidence that corroborates biblical
details.

Evidence for Biblical Veracity

Archaeologists have located scores
of buried cities located precisely
where the Bible describes. Excavations
have also uncovered an abundance of
evidence for events and individuals
mentioned in the Bible. For example,
several seals (or bullae) belonging to
King Hezekiah have been found, and
in the past decade, another one was
unearthed just 10 feet (3 cm) from a
seal that may well have belonged to
the prophet Isaiah, one of the king’s
advisors. Furthermore, consistent
with the biblical accounts, ancient
war records from Assyria detail Sennacherib’s
conquest of Judean cities
and cryptically imply his unsuccessful
siege of Jerusalem. Critics challenge
the historicity of certain biblical
accounts, but their arguments are
often silenced by new finds.

Scientific evidence for the Genesis
creation and flood accounts abound
within other disciplines as well.
Astronomical research on short-period
comets in the solar system
yields data consistent with the biblical
timeline. Because they break down
relatively fast, these comets cannot
survive for millions, let alone billions,
of years, as evolutionists imagine.

The biblical flood account is corroborated
by geological evidence around
the globe. The violently eroded rock
surface called the “Great Unconformity,”
caused by the initial rising of
the floodwaters to cover the pre-flood
land, is found across every continent.
And only above this “Great Unconformity”
do we find all the rapidly buried
and preserved graveyards of megascopic
fossilized animals and plants,
representing the destruction of all
pre-flood animals and plants outside
the ark, as described in the biblical
account. We find also the same rock
layers spanning several continents,
indicating that they were deposited on
a global scale at the same time.

Anthropological investigations
among ancient cultures have revealed
hundreds of flood legends sharing
an uncanny number of details with
the biblical record. Similar legends
correspond with the Bible’s account of
man’s creation and fall and of Babel.

Biological research, particularly in
the field of genetics, has shown that
one “kind” of animal (such as the dog
kind or cat kind) can never be transformed
into another kind of animal
over time because it does not possess
any mechanism to acquire the necessary
new genetic information to evolve
into another kind. This observation
that one kind does not change into a
different kind and that variation is only
produced within a kind matches Genesis
1, which repeatedly states that God
made the animals as distinct kinds, to
reproduce “after their kind.”

Paleontologists have uncovered
dinosaur remains containing soft
tissue and blood cells, which could
not exist in fossils that are millions
of years old, as evolutionists assume.
But these finds are consistent with the
biblical account of those bones being
buried thousands of years ago during
the flood.

Divinely Inspired

In addition to evidence from scientific
disciplines, the Bible is filled with
unique proofs of being inspired by
the Holy Spirit. Hundreds of detailed
prophecies were written centuries
before the events they accurately
described. For example, just as the
Old Testament foretold, the Messiah
Jesus was born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14)
in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), as a descendant
of Abraham (Genesis 12:1–3),
Isaac (Genesis 17:19), and Jacob (Genesis
28:14). He was betrayed by a friend
(Psalm 41:9) for 30 pieces of silver that
were used to purchase the potter’s
field (Zechariah 11:13). Then he was
mocked and ridiculed, pierced in his
hands and feet, and lots were cast for
his clothing (Psalm 22:7, 16, 18). He died
(Daniel 9:26) as a sacrifice for our sins
and was buried in a rich man’s tomb
(Isaiah 53:8–10). After a short time in
the grave, he lived again (Psalm 16:10;
Isaiah 53:10).

In addition, the central events
described in Scripture—the crucifixion
and resurrection of Jesus Christ—have
as strong historical support as any
event in ancient history.

God Cannot Lie

All these reasons and many others
provide compelling evidence that the
Bible is true. However, even without
these supporting evidences, we should
believe the Bible primarily because it
is the Word of God. Since it is impossible
for God to lie (Titus 1:2), the Bible
must be true in all that it affirms. In
fact, it is the Bible that reveals to us the
proper grounding for knowledge: God
made us in his image with the ability
to learn about him and his world. And
unless we base our thinking on the
truths revealed by God, we couldn’t
prove anything at all.

Significantly, the Lord Jesus Christ
treated Scripture as being authoritative
and without error, stating that it cannot
be broken (John 10:35) and citing it
frequently to correct those in error and
respond to their questions (Matthew
12:1–8). Since he is the Son of God, we
must follow his example.

Though historical and scientific
investigations offer strong evidence of
the Bible’s authenticity and reliability,
they cannot prove the Bible to be true
in its entirety. But the Holy Spirit, given
to all believers (2 Corinthians 5:5),
grants us the ability to recognize his
Word (1 Corinthians 2:10–14), instilling
in us a steadfast confidence that the
Scriptures he inspired are true.

SourceThis article originally appeared on answersingenesis.org

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