Dealing with Doubts - Why I Believe in the Bible, Part 1

Is it intellectually feasible to believe that a collection of 66 manuscripts by 40 different authors written in three languages over a period of 1,500 years could actually be the very words of God? Is there any real evidence that supports such an outrageous claim?

Find out today. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. The mission of this daily program is to intentionally disciple Christians through the insightful Bible teaching of Chip Ingram. And have you ever questioned the accuracy of the Bible?

I mean, can we trust that every word from the original manuscripts aligns with what we read today? Well, in just a minute, Chip will address this concern that many share as he continues our series, Dealing with Doubts. Also, you'll definitely want to stick around after the teaching for additional insights from Chip that will deepen your understanding of this critical topic.

So grab your notes as we join Chip for his message, Why I Believe in the Bible. You may not know this, but before I was a pastor, I was a basketball coach. And I honestly thought my whole life was going to be a basketball coach. And I'd coached middle school and then high school. And then my dream was I wanted Bobby Knight's job.

I wanted either Indiana or Ohio State. I wanted to be a major college coach. And so I had to go to graduate school.

I didn't really want to go back to graduate school, but if you don't have a master's degree, then you can't coach in college. And so I found a job as a resident assistant at West Virginia University where I could kind of teach the freshmen level stuff and then they would pay my way, which worked out really well. And I'll never forget, I was walking in to teach one of my classes and I had my books and I had my Bible on it because I was leading a campus ministry at the same time. And a very bright PhD student paused and then he looked at me, then he looked at my Bible.

He said, is that a Bible? I said, yeah. And then sort of with disdain, you don't really believe that, do you? And in a moment of faith, I said, yeah, I really do.

And then he walked away, but before he walked away, I got one of those glances that you've probably gotten. Oh my gosh, I thought you, you know, had all your marbles. Are you anti-intellectual? How in the world could you be doing graduate work at a secular university and actually believe the Bible? And all I can tell you was, I'm ashamed to say this, I was ashamed of the Bible. I mean, I felt like, wow, he was really big and I was really small. And I remember walking down the hall feeling like, why do I feel like this?

I mean, God, you've changed my life. And what I realized was I didn't have confidence. I had a personal relationship with God and he was speaking to me through the Bible, but I didn't have the confidence that this is the word of God. I could proudly say, this is God's truth.

And by the way, here's why. And so what I want to do in our time is I want to answer some of those tough questions that I went on a journey that I had to know, because I don't want to just believe it. I just don't want God to speak to me. I want to have a level of confidence that this is the very word of God.

And what I want you to know, you can have that same confidence. Here's the questions that were plaguing me. Questions like, is the Bible the word of God or the word of men? Is the Bible full of myths and legends and fairy tales, or is it historically reliable? Is all the Bible true or are only parts of it trustworthy? Can the Bible be translated that many times over hundreds and hundreds of years and still be accurate? And finally, what makes the Bible different than other religious writings? I mean, you get in a discussion and that group has their holy book and that group has their holy book.

So what makes it unique and distinctive? And so to go on this journey, I begin to ask questions. So what I want to do is I want to ask a handful of questions and give you the reason of what I learned of why I have confidence in the Bible is God's word. The first question is, isn't the Bible a collection of stories, myths, and legends?

The answer to that is no. And why archeology? The Bible is a historically accurate document.

Are you ready for this? There are over 25,000 specific places in the Old Testament alone that are verified in history, actual cities, actual people. I can go to the New Testament, there's inscriptions, all the things we've heard about, Pontius Pilate, Bethlehem, Jesus, the census, all those things are historical facts that can be verified. The New Testament, the Old Testament, is not myths, dreams, legends, or stories.

It's people, places, and real events that can be verified. The second question, don't all religions have their holy book? What makes the Bible so special? The answer, revelation.

Revelation. The Bible claims to infallibly reveal the very words and the mind of God. Second Timothy 3 16 says this, all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. In other words, all scripture, the very words of the Bible, are inspired or God-breathed through human instruments and through their personalities, but God super intended it in such a way that what we have is the very word of God.

Now you might say to yourself, well Chip, that is a little bit of circular reasoning and I will admit that, but over 3,000 times, thus says the Lord. It makes it unique. In other words, it's authoritative.

So there's lots of holy books, but here's what I want you to get. The Bible claims to be the infallible, revealed word of God. That makes it unique, but there's something else that makes it unique. It's origin, it's structure, and it's unity. You know, a lot of people have no idea, you know, did some guy just sit down and write the Bible?

No. Are you ready for this? There's 40 different authors, three different languages, over 1,500 years. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew.

New Testament was primarily Koine Greek, but also Aramaic. And you have these different authors from all these different time frames. And are you ready for this?

In different geographical places with one very central theme. From Genesis all the way to Revelation, it's Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the coming savior. Jesus Christ, the king. Jesus Christ, the one who will fulfill all the prophecies. Jesus Christ, now the center of the gospels.

And now Jesus Christ ascended and the Jesus Christ is coming back again. Genesis to Revelation, the theme of a book written over 1,500 years in multiple languages by multiple authors. One central theme, Jesus Christ. Now imagine two billion publications of the Bible since 1455, and then there's one last thing that makes it very unique.

It's authenticity. You know, most holy books don't show any of the weaknesses of the characters. Think about this, Moses, David, murderer, and adulterer. The apostle Paul, a murderer.

James and John, anger management issues. You know, if you were trying to convince someone that this is a book from heaven, you certainly wouldn't be that authentic. And yet that's what tells me this is from God because God knows we struggle. He wanted to give us examples of real people in real time to reveal his heart and how he deals with us, not just when we're doing well, but when we're not doing so well.

The third question I want to answer is it's obvious that the data is strong. There's a strong case that the Bible is very unique. But can it really be the very word of God?

Well, the answer is yes, because of one very famous name, Jesus. Jesus actually believed the Old Testament to be the very words of God, and he predicted the New Testament to be likewise. Not just in concepts, not in generalities, but the actual words Jesus would say were from the Father.

They're God's word. Matthew chapter five, Jesus is preaching on the Sermon on the Mount. He says, do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I didn't come to abolish the law, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the law until it's all accomplished. And so he says to them, I'm not here to change things. I'm going to fulfill the very word of God. He actually believed that every word was God-breathed or inspired.

In fact, are you ready for this? Jesus actually bases his proof of the resurrection on a tense of the verb, not just one word, but on the tense of a verb. And the religious leaders are trying to trap him. And so what they do is they come with this story.

It's a very familiar one for many of you. And it is about this woman who has multiple husbands and there's no heirs. And so they say, when this woman is in heaven, like who's going to be her husband?

Because there's seven men. And what they were really trying to say is there is no resurrection. Listen to Jesus' response in Matthew chapter 22 verse 29. Jesus replied, you are in error because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection, people will neither marry or be given in marriage.

They will be like the angels in heaven. Now get this, but about the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what God said to you? I am, present tense, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. Now of all the places that Jesus could go to support that he believes in the resurrection, I mean, there's a passage in Job that's really clear. He could have reached into one of the Psalms, but he goes to one little tense of the verb.

You know what that says? Jesus actually believes that every word is inspired by God. And I think about that, he's the expert witness.

I've been on a lot of juries and you know, you listen to all kinds of expert witnesses and as they come in, the better their credentials and the more they know, the more weight you give them. We have learned that Jesus rose from the dead. We've looked at the proof of the resurrection. If the resurrected Christ says, I believe in the Old Testament and I believe the New Testament, every word is going to be inspired. I will tell you for me, that gives me a lot of confidence. When Jesus talks about Abraham, Noah, Jonah, Adam, Eve, he doesn't say these are nice legends or fairytales. They were actual people in actual space time.

He had full confidence and believed that the Bible was the very word of God. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and Chip will be right back to finish today's message. But first, throughout this series, we are identifying the notable issues that can rattle our faith and cause doubt to seep in. So let me quickly encourage you to join Chip after this message. He'll highlight two valuable resources we've bundled to help you process doubt and uncertainty when they come.

Keep listening for more details. But for now, let's rejoin Chip as he continues his talk, Why I Believe in the Bible. Now, the next question that I want to ask and answer is yes, Jesus' view is a strong argument. But for me, for me, and I think it's because of what I was going through, the most convincing argument that God spoke to my heart, where when I walked out of that place and felt intimidated by that student and went through some rough times in my life, this next reason is the one that God used to say, Chip, you can believe it.

You can walk into any arena. This is not anti-intellectual. This is the very word of God. And this is prophecy.

Notice prophecy sets the Bible apart from all other religions. Now, let me give you a little background. Probably between my third and fourth year in college, and I was growing and things were great.

I stayed for summer school so I could play in a basketball league. And I had this weird experience. I didn't know anything about it. I would learn later that theologians and mystics would call it the dark night of the soul. And every now and then sometimes God will allow the emotional connection with him to sort of fade away and help you learn to trust him. And just out of the blue one day, I had this thought, and it was a deep doubt. And it wasn't like, I wonder if this passage over here is right or wrong. And it wasn't like, you know, I wonder about that book. It was like, I wonder if any of this is true. And literally it was satanic. I mean, it was just like, I wonder if my salvation is true. I wonder if Jesus is real. I wonder if I could trust the Bible.

And it was horrendous. And my emotional connection with God, it's just like, it evaporated. And so I remember deciding, regardless of how I felt, I would get up as was my custom now, and I would read God's word. And I read God's word every day and I didn't feel anything. But I realized my faith can't be built on my experience and on my feelings.

It had to be on truth. And so I hung in there and I hung in there. And I happened to be reading through the Old Testament. And I was reading through Isaiah. And I came across this passage that I'm going to tell you, it was so encouraging and so blew my mind. It's on Isaiah 46.

It says, remember the former things, things of long ago. I am God, there is no other. I am God, there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times and what is still to come. I say, my purpose will stand and I will do all that I please.

Now there's a bigger context. And in the context, what he's going to do in chapter 44, 45, and there in 46, it's a comparison of who is a true God and who's a false God. And Isaiah speaking for the Lord basically says, our God can tell the future beginning to end and he makes prophecies and they come through a hundred percent of the time. And then he gives some examples. And I just begin to think, wait a second, do I believe this or not?

And I mean, I could have gone to lots of different places, but I remember someone saying there were over 300 prophecies alone that Jesus fulfilled in his first coming. And I thought to myself, okay. I mean, I knew a few of them like, okay, 30 pieces of silver. I remember that.

You'll be born of a Virgin. I kind of heard that. And then I did some research and found out those things were predicted 700 years before he was even born. And all of a sudden I began to realize, wow. And I did a study on prophecy. And what I realized was a God who is sovereign and who is all knowing and can say, this is going to happen. And it happens a hundred percent of the time is mind boggling.

And when he does it specifically about God, the son, all I can tell you is my faith got infused. And I thought to myself, you know something? Everybody trusts someone's word.

Think about that. I mean that PhD student, it was like popular culture said, the Bible's out. He trusted someone's word. We trust someone's word, some kids, their mom and dad. Sometimes it's an authority figure.

Sometimes it's on, you know, what we hear on the TV. Everyone trusts someone's word. You are going to trust someone's word about all kinds of things in life.

What I'm telling you is the evidence is overwhelming. We can trust God's word. And prophecy is the thing that took me over the edge and helped me to hang on. This is Living on the Edge, and you've been listening to part one of Chip's message, Why I Believe in the Bible, from our series Dealing with Doubts.

Chip will be back shortly to share some helpful application for us to think about. Did you know there's a lot of solid, verifiable evidence that supports the truth of Scripture and the existence of Jesus? The real challenge lies in communicating that proof and the hope of the gospel to those sincerely seeking answers. So how do we do that? Well, in this series, Chip and guest teacher John Dickerson share ways to effectively and winsomely address honest questions about our faith that will attract people to the Bible, not repel them from it.

Also, we want you to have all the necessary tools for those conversations. So whenever you hear a book, podcast, or article mentioned in this series, visit LivingOnTheEdge.org and check out our resources page. We want to point you to relevant, biblically-grounded experts who will equip you to engage with the doubters and skeptics in your life.

Find that resources page at LivingOnTheEdge.org or through the Chip Ingram app. Our Bible teacher, Chip Ingram, is with me in studio now. Chip, in this series, you and John Dickerson are helping us develop a deeper understanding of our faith so that we can share it with others. Now, most people immediately jump to sharing our faith with strangers when in reality we need to focus on a group that's much closer to home.

That's so true, Dave. I believe that the most important group for apologetics in our day is our families, our own kids. And I think one of the reasons I wrote this book, Why I Believe, was first my own journey. My experience with apologetic books is they're very thick and they're usually written by really, really smart people with a lot of language that a lot of us normal people don't understand. And so this is a pretty thin book that's really sort of simple and basic.

And it's the kind of book that I could sit down with my preteens or teenagers or young adults or any friend and say, you know something, this is why you don't throw your brains in the trash. You can actually believe the Bible. And here's the evidence. Or Jesus made this claim of being God. Well, let's find out what the outside sources outside Christianity say and what he claimed.

And I just went through all the various things. This is why, in terms of science and religion, why there is not a conflict. And this is what the Word of God says. And this is scientific discoveries.

And in the back of the book, I put tons of footnotes. So those that want to go way, way deeper and know where to get some highly intellectual academic reasons, then they can go and get those. But I long for families to train their children about what your faith means, why you can believe it, and how you can defend it in a very hostile culture. There is great reasons to believe, and we need to teach our kids what those are.

That's right, Chip. Sharing your faith with your kids and grandkids is so critical. In fact, we believe so strongly in that idea. During this series, we've bundled Chip's Why I Believe book with our friend John Dickerson's book, Jesus Skeptic. We pray that together these tools will prove that Jesus is real and the Bible is true and showcase the profound ways Christianity has shaped our world for the better. Learn more about this bundle by calling 888-333-6003 or by visiting LivingOnTheEdge.org. App listeners, tap Special Offers.

Well, here again is Chip to share some application for us to think about. As we wrap up today's program, I would remind you of the very last sentence in our teaching time. Everyone trusts someone's word about what's true. You do. I do.

Everyone does. We trust our parents, or the TV, or a college professor, or the Internet, or a book that we've read. That's what led me on this journey. I had real doubts about the Bible. I had all these PhDs looking at me like, did you throw your brains in the trash?

What's wrong with you, Ingram? I had to find out, is it intellectually feasible to actually believe that this really amazing and miraculous book written over this long period of time with the central theme of Jesus, could it really be the Word of God? Honestly, I said, like probably a lot of people, it's pretty far-fetched. Of all the things that have been a struggle for me, it's, can you really believe the Bible? That's the foundation of everything. It's the teaching about Jesus. It's the teaching about what's real. It's about teaching about heaven.

It's teaching about how to live your life. As I went on the journey, I began to start with, well, where did this book come from? As you heard in our teaching time today, the Bible is historically accurate. That may not be a big deal to you right now, but I will tell you, if you've studied some other religions like I have, or if you've examined some of the cults or some of the other religious books, I will tell you, it is absolutely unique that you can look at the archaeology for now a couple thousand years. I mean, Pontius Pilate was a person.

Bethlehem is a place. All these different things that happened, I can go in space-time history and know that what is written in this book actually happened. To me, that was huge. The second thing was the outrageous claim. You know, there's a lot of religious books that say, you know, here's some great wisdom, or here's some philosophy, or here's what our spiritual guru or our leader says about this or that, but the Bible claims to be the infallible, revealed, very words of God. I mean, it's so outrageous that the Bible was God-breathed. He's actually speaking through this, and then you sort of lean back, at least I did, and I thought, over fifteen hundred years, how would you weave all those languages and all that time and forty different authors? I mean, it's mind-boggling to think of what it is and how it's come together.

And then the unity, the structure, I mean, even some of the pragmatism, you know, two billion Bibles published since 1455, from Genesis all the way to Revelation, one central theme. There is a Messiah coming. His name is Jesus. He is Emmanuel.

He is God with us. And those things were helpful to me. I mean, those were very, very helpful. But as I shared in the teaching time, and this is what I would challenge you with, at some point in time, we need something irrefutable. We're going to trust someone's word.

And it's going to be a sociology professor or some critic who will be intimidated by someone who appears to be very intellectual. But for me, when I looked at what the Bible says about prophecy and the hundred percent accuracy, things that happen in the Old Testament, the New Testament, I'm recently reading through the Gospels and especially Matthew right now. And many of you that are followers of Christ, you'll probably have a version like mine that every time it quotes something from the Old Testament, it'll be, you know, in a little bit different kind of type.

Maybe it's all block letters or bold or italics or something. And as you read through Matthew, the theme of that is there is a king. There's a reigning king, and he's fulfilled all this prophecy because Matthew was written to the Jews. And as I read through that and begin to ponder that 700 years before any of these things happen, where he would be born and what he would say and how it would happen and 30 pieces of silver, I don't know about you. And I don't know whose word you're going to trust, but I can tell you this, that these things have convinced me that the Bible is worthy of exploring with all my heart and trusting it with all my soul.

Now, here's my question for you. Do you really trust it? Do you really trust it enough to read it? Do you really trust it enough to obey it?

Do you really trust it enough to stand up against the criticism or the doubts that people begin to throw at you or your kids or your grandkids? You need to come to a conviction about is the Bible true or not, and we would love to help you. This is a time that I'd really encourage you to get the notes, review them. Let us be a help to you on your journey.

Thanks, Chip. Let me take a second before we go and thank the generous people who support this ministry every month. Your faithful gifts help us inspire Christians to live like Christians. Now, if you haven't partnered with us, would you prayerfully consider joining the Living on the Edge team? You can set up a monthly donation at livingontheedge.org or by calling 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003, or visit livingontheedge.org. App listeners, tap donate. Be sure to join us next time as Chip continues our series, Dealing with Doubts. Until then, I'm Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.