Why do you believe the Bible?

Christianity is different from all other Religions in that:

We have the Bible which is God's Revealed Word (Truth).
We have the Holy Spirit which is God within us.

Christianity is about God Seeking Man. All other religions are about Man seeking God.

Either Christianity is True Absolutely or it is just another religion. If it is true absolutely then it is absolute truth and all other religions are false and there is no other God except the God of the Bible.

I do not believe the Bible because It was deeply impressed upon me as a child. I believe the Bible because I cannot help it because God has revealed himself to me as the One True God and has opened my mind to understanding the Scriptures by the power and presence of His Holy Spirit.

In other words my Salvation is not something I have believed in my mind because I want it to be true. My Salvation is a gift from God that I was not seeking.

 

I believe the Bible because when reading the last 2 chapters of Luke as if the Bible was a philosophical work, I had an expierience of grace and revelation through which the truth was made obvious and whole to me....

 

It is outside the scope of any faith of mine to take any experience of yours as being from God or not being so. It is not outside the scope of reasoning to ask if there were people-- family, friends, church, TV or street preachers...anybody-- who made a deep impression on you with what they claimed was the truth. Was there? (or Were there?)?

 

Oh, definately, parents, ss teachers, pastors, I was raised in church, and accepted Christ at about age 9, years before the incident of which I spoke.

 

And are you claiming your conviction is based on a supernatural act of God, which you or no one else could prevent, or was it the influence of these parents, teachers, pastors, et al?

 

I was raised on the Word of God (KJV, to be exact) and I accepted everything that was preached from the pulpit until I was old enough to understand and bold enough to venture out and study it on my own... and to make my own decisions concerning my personal convictions through reading and studying God's Word, prayer and meditation.

I continue to cling on the the Bible because it's comforting in times of disappointment and trouble; encouraging in times of pain and fear; a reminder to serve the Lord with all my heart soul and mind and to trust in Him for complete guidance; soothing when I feel I have no friends or my days are gloomy; a slap in the head when I feel a sense of superiority over others or am battling sin in my life; exciting when I am reminded over and over again throughout God's Word how He has miraculously conquered...that He still reaigns...and Praise God, He's coming again one day to take me home to be with Him.

How can I not embrace the Word of God?

 

By the time you were "old enough and bold enough to venture out and study it" on your own, the deep impression that it is true, as well as the particular approach and balance you were flooded with, were so deeply entrenched that you didn't venture very far away, did you?

 

I suppose to answer this question I would have to give the seemingly stupid answer: because it claims itself to be. I hold a book written over a span of roughly 2000 years by no less than 40 different authors from different walks of life many of whom never knew eachother personally and some without even the previous works of others and comes out to a consistant cannon to be worth investigating, but that isn't the athority. This cannon through many attempts to dilute, disgrace, destroy, and desensitize has survived the scrutiny of the ages... the only reason why I hold this to be most worthy of evidance is because the Psalmist promised that this would be true. Everytime all other "athorities" have a reason to doubt the scriptures, their athority becomes increasingly fallible. I hold this book to be the most sound doctrine and do hold it in no point or way to err. This written Word of God points to the Living Word of God. The spirit has claimed this book to be true so when it claims itself to be inspired I just believe it.

 

Belief in the Bible is a purely faith matter. The only justification I have for claiming the Bible as the Word of God is the way it has effectually worked in my life. Never have I seen any other book (and I read constantly) that has such conviction of sin, such encouragement to righteousness, such purity yet compassion for the sinful as the Bible does. It quickened me when I was dead in trespasses and sins, and constantly works to purify the wicked practices of my life. It serves to shape and mold me to the image of Christ, however painful and slow the process may be. I believe God. I trust His Word because He says it is true. But, my experience also backs that assertion, and my heart testifies that the Bible is God's Word.

 

Amen! That book has power... but tell me something... if it didn't do all of that to you, would that make it any less inspired or god breathed?

 

No. As I said, my experience simply serves to verify in my heart that God is speaking the truth. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and I believe He bears witness with our spirit on this matter as well. However, it DOES do all that because it is the Word of God. It is inspired and God-breathed, regardless of whether I choose to believe it or to burn it.

 

amen brother

 

Well there are so many good solid reasons that it would fill a book to name them all. So I will keep it simple......Isaiah 53... written 800 years before Christ, and confirmed as accurately transmitted to our day by the Dead Sea Scroll... it reads as if it were a history written after the fact!