Why Trust the Bible?

Mad Sweeney

There have been numerous posts and threads on JWN about why a rational person should re-think trust in the Bible as the inspired and inerrant Word of God. These are usually based on clear and logical thinking and reasoning.

The WTS and other religious entities have published tracts and books to convince people that the Bible is indeed the inspired and inerrant Word of God. These are usually based on circular and fallacious thinking and reasoning. For instance, people often use the Bible itself to "prove" that the Bible is God's Word. That doesn't hold up because any book could make claims about itself. That's not necessarily classic circular logic but it's related. Another common fallacious line of reasoning is that because the Bible is so long (in pages, in time-span covered, and in its existence) that it must be true. Really? No, this doesn't hold water either. In answering the question, try to avoid this kind of baloney.

So here's my question: Why, based on clear and logical thinking and reasoning, should one trust the Bible as the inspired and inerrant Word of God?

bohm

Good topic. I hope some will take up the challenge. The topic reminds me of the last 2/3 of this video

http://www.youtube.com/user/NonStampCollector#p/u/1/zOfjkl-3SNE

moshe

Many people today view the Bible as a cultural/historical book and not a book that comes from divine inspiration. Look how society has tried to explain a rainbow over the ages. Why doesn't society still view it as a supernatural creation/event? Why shouldn't the same logic apply to the Bible?

bohm

Wasnt it alice who said the number of cross-references prooved the bible right?

metatron

Hmmm ........ do cross references in the Book of Mormon prove its right?

Why does no one ever question the idea of the Bible itself? Why should a Personal Creator use a book written in dead languages rather than simply communicating directly?

Why would anyone have faith that God is going to exactly resurrect you when he won't even speak to you?

metatron

XJW4EVR

I think that one must ask this question when determining these sorts of philosophical questions.

What must be in order for what is to be what it is?

In other words, if the Bible is the word of God, then what would one expect to find in it?

Perry

Excellent Question! This might help some who are looking for a reason to believe:

Unique among all books ever written, the Bible accurately foretells specific events-in detail-many years, sometimes centuries, before they occur. Approximately 2500 prophecies appear in the pages of the Bible, about 2000 of which already have been fulfilled to the letter—no errors. (The remaining 500 or so reach into the future and may be seen unfolding as days go by.) Since the probability for any one of these prophecies having been fulfilled by chance averages less than one in ten (figured very conservatively) and since the prophecies are for the most part independent of one another, the odds for all these prophecies having been fulfilled by chance without error is less than one in 10 2000 (that is 1 with 2000 zeros written after it)!

God is not the only one, however, who uses forecasts of future events to get people's attention. Satan does, too. Through clairvoyants (such as Jeanne Dixon and Edgar Cayce), mediums, spiritists, and others, come remarkable predictions, though rarely with more than about 60 percent accuracy, never with total accuracy. Messages from Satan, furthermore, fail to match the detail of Bible prophecies, nor do they include a call to repentance.

The acid test for identifying a prophet of God is recorded by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:21-22. According to this Bible passage (and others), God's prophets, as distinct from Satan's spokesmen, are 100 percent accurate in their predictions. There is no room for error.

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