Got Questions?

I’m currently preaching a sermon series that addresses a list of questions people submitted as tough questions people may ask, or maybe just questions they’ve been pondering about God, the Bible, or life in general. During my sermons on Sunday, people submit additional thoughts or questions related to the topic, and I take a few minutes at the end of my sermon to read and address as many questions as possible. What I don’t answer on Sunday, I plan to write about on this blog during the week.

The sermon question for this past Sunday dealt with the Bible: How do you know the Bible is authentic and true? You can watch the whole sermon at this link (sermon starts at 44:25). Today I want to address one question that was submitted during the sermon: If the original manuscript of the Bible that God wrote was found proving that everything is true, do you think more people will come to Christ knowing it’s true? We addressed this question briefly Sunday, but I’d like to speak to it again.

The simple answer is yes. I’m convinced there are some people who stumble over the reliability of the Bible and find their questions to be a barrier to faith in Jesus. If the doubts could be removed, would they be able to go the next step and trust Jesus as their Savior. For some, maybe many, yes. Because the answer is yes, we should study this topic and be ready to engage our friends in conversation about the trustworthiness of the Bible. Do more than just quote Bible verses, however. If someone doesn’t believe the Bible, using the Bible to prove its reliability is counterproductive.

With some research, study, and prayer, you will find plenty of evidence to point to the authenticity of the Bible as the Word of God. When I say evidence, I mean historical, archeological, scientific, logical, and practical evidence.

The submitted question also has another angle. Do people question the reliability of the Bible because they really want answers or because they’d rather not be accountable to the message of the Scripture? I’ve engaged people in conversation before about various matters, and it didn’t matter what evidence I gave them. They refused to embrace the truth and carried on with their predetermined path in life. Some people want justification for the path they’ve chosen, and if they need to create a false narrative to justify their actions, they’ll do it.

In the end, no matter which path a person chooses, it takes faith. For example, it takes faith to believe mankind crawled out of primordial soup and evolved into an intelligent, functioning human being. I say it takes faith because the theory of evolution has not been proven, and as time moves on and more discoveries are made, the theory is becoming more and more unlikely.

So, if we could find all the evidence in the world to prove that the Bible is true, would people be more likely to become Christians? Probably yes, but many would continue the direction they’ve chosen because they want to be god of their lives. Becoming a Christian requires faith and full surrender to Jesus. For some people, it takes more than evidence or proof to get off the throne of their lives and let Jesus take His rightful place as Lord and God.

What are your thoughts?

In my next blog, I’ll address another question someone submitted: Now that we’ve established that the Bible is God’s word, how should Christians think about which translation of the Bible they use? Are there any principles to apply to deciding which translation to use?