Arguing About the Bible

“How do you respond to a person when they say the Bible was written by a bunch of crazy people and you have to be crazy to believe it?”

I would say, “Let’s not argue about the inspiration of the Bible for a moment,” and then I would take him through the Commandments. Jesus didn’t say, “Go into all the world and convince people that the Bible is the Word of God.” It is the Gospel that is the power of God to salvation, and the way to give the arrow of the gospel its thrust is to put it into the bow of the Law.

We often hear that Christianity stands or falls on the validity of Scripture. I respectfully disagree. I believe the Bible is God’s Word. There's no argument there. But my salvation isn’t dependent upon that fact, because I wasn’t converted by the Bible. I was converted by the power of God, and when I picked up a Bible it simply explained what had happened to me.

In our sincere efforts to convince a sinful world, we tend to use intellectual arguments (I'm often guilty of this), when the ultimate proof is the power of God transforming the human heart. But I didn't come to Christ through an intellectual argument, and my faith doesn't stand on human wisdom, so why should I try and bring others through that door?

If the whole scientific world came together and "disproved" the Bible, and archeologists found what were "proved" to be the bones of Jesus, it wouldn't shake my faith in the slightest. Not at all. This is what Paul speaks about in 1 Corinthians 2:4-5 when he says that the Christian's faith doesn't stand "in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."

Remember, early Christians weren’t converted by the Scriptures. Instead, they were saved by a spoken message. Most couldn’t read anyway. The New Testament hadn’t been compiled. There was no such thing as the printing press.

If you believe that our foundation for the faith is the written Scriptures rather than in the person of Jesus Christ, I have some questions for you. When did Christianity begin? Was it on the Day of Pentecost when the 3,000 were converted by the power of God, or did it have to wait until the New Testament was compiled in 200 AD?

So don’t feel that it’s your mandate to convince anyone of the inspiration of the Word of God. You will never do it while they love their sins. For every reasonable argument you come up with, he will come back with a hundred and one atrocities and injustices in the Bible.

Instead, give the arrow of the gospel thrust by using the Law of God to bring the knowledge of sin. Make the sinner thirst after a righteousness, without which, he will perish. Then, once he is born again and comes to know the Lord, the Scriptures will open up to him. Until that time, the things of God will seem foolishness to him, as the Scriptures say.