In the wake of the tragedy in Newtown, CT last Friday, many questions are swirling in people’s minds. Why did this evil happen? Why did God allow these innocent children to be slaughtered? Is there really a God? What will happen to these children? There is only one source of information for the answer to questions like these. In the shadow of that tragedy, it is all the more reason to reassess and reaffirm our belief that the Bible is God’s Word.
Why? Why do we believe it and follow it, in contrast with other writings from the first-third centuries? Why do we believe it and follow it, in contrast with other religious writings, like Buddhism or the Bhagavad-Gita or the Qur’an? Why do we believe it and follow it, in contrast with other so-called Christian writings, like the New World Translation or the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price?
These are all legitimate questions. In a Daily Droplets last week, I pointed out that we can know that the Creator of the world has communicated with us. We know that through the same reasoning by which we know there is a Creator. Every dependent, changing thing had to have been created. Therefore, there must be a Creator. Every loving being had to have been created by a Creator who is also Love – the epitome of Love, Love in its ultimate perfection. Love communicates. Especially if there is a hell, love would communicate the existence of hell and love would necessitate telling us how to avoid that place.
So, the Creator of the universe has communicated with us. Now, the question is what book is His communication? We will not examine all the others; we’ll focus our attention on the Bible. But when we verify the Bible as being from God, then that will out of necessity rule out the other books.
The Bible affirms itself to be the Word of God (Isaiah 1:10; 2 Sam. 23:2; Jonah 1:1; 1 Cor. 14:37; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; John 10:35). Of course, the simple affirmation of its inspiration does not make it so. However, we would expect that if God communicated to us, He would tell us – “This is My word; listen to it.”
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Now, what are the options? In the same reasoning C. S. Lewis used to argue for the deity of Jesus Christ, we have three options relative to the Bible. Either the apostles were ignorant, mentally unstable, or presumptuous. But the material does not suggest it was written by someone who was a few sandwiches short of a picnic. Does the intricate unity of the Bible suggest its authors were charlatans?
The second option is that the apostles were liars. The apostles knew Jesus was a fraud and so they made stuff up. That’s the response of so-called “scholars” in the religious departments at universities across the nation. Why, then, did not the Jews present the body of Jesus on Pentecost to show that the story about His resurrection was false? But even more so, what liar would condemn himself? “All liars shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone” (Revelation 21:8). No liar would condemn himself. He would have written: “Lying is usually not good, but under some circumstances, in some occasions, you may lie…” No, the apostles were not liars.
That leaves the third option. They were inspired as they claimed to be. The Bible is the Word of God; it is His communication to us. It alone has the answers to the tragedy in Newtown, CT.
–Paul Holland
Veritas non verba magistri
