INTRODUCTION

In this final part of the Series on the Most Googled Questions about Christianity, we examine the question: Can we trust the bible? Can you put your trust in the bible and base your life on it?

The Bible is simply a collection of different types of books divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old and New Testaments speak of 1 continuous story spanning 40 authors over 400 years and in different locations. It tells us of how God created the world, how sin and brokenness entered it, leading to the coming of Jesus to redeem the world and establish God’s kingdom, and finally, the future reunion of heaven and earth.

DISCUSSION

1. Share with your group your personal experience when you read or study the bible. What do you feel about the statement that the Bible is the “manual for living” according to God’s ways? Share one example of how the Bible has influenced your life.
   
   
2. Like the Bible, the Old Testament has three main dimensions: literary, historical, and prophetic. It refers to events and claims they happened in historical time and space. This includes everything from God’s creation of the world to the patriarchs, to Moses, to the conquest and occupation of the land, to the period of the kings and prophets, and the Babylonian exile and restoration and contains many prophecies that speak of the coming of Jesus who is the promised Messiah.
   
   a. There is plenty of archaeological evidence that proves the existence of Old Testament characters like David and geographical places. Discuss how such evidence adds to the reliability of the Old Testament. Recommended reading: Ten Crucial Archaeological Discoveries Related to the Bible
   
   b. According to biblical historians, the scribes followed very stringent rules when they copied the Old Testament. “No word or letter, not even a yod, must be written from memory… Besides this the copyist must sit in full Jewish dress, and wash his whole body each time they were to write God’s name down. The scribes were not allowed to copy sentence for sentence or even word for word. They had to copy letter for letter. After a page was copied and checked by another, still a third person would check to see what the middle word was on the page. Then, when the whole book was finished, another would count the phrases. This process was so accurate they could pinpoint the exact middle of a book simply by letter count and would check the verse at that point as one of the methods of confirmation. If a single error was found, the entire manuscript was destroyed to ensure that it could never be used as a master copy in the future.” – Extracted from Old Testament Authentication Scribal Tradition
   
   What does this tell you about how the scribes took their work? Can we trust that the manuscripts we have today are accurate?
   
   c. Read Matthew 5:17-18. What was Christ’s view of the Old Testament? How should this affect the believers’ view of Scripture in general? 
   
   
3. The New Testament is an eyewitness account of the life, teachings and mission of Jesus, the acts of the disciples who established the early church and documents the growth of the early church. Broadly speaking, the New Testament is believed to have been written during the First Century, between AD 50-100, a remarkable feat not achieved anywhere else. Recommended reading: The Historical Reliability of the Gospels
   
   a. Discuss with your group. What does it mean for the reliability of the four gospels if the books were written less than 70 years after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ?
   
   b. The authors of the four gospels were divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit and wrote the accounts in their own style and words. Do you think different writers with different writing styles add to the reliability of the bible, or does it cause conflict? 
   
   
4. Read 2 Timothy 3:16, Ephesians 5:15-17 and Philippians 4:8. We might be tempted to believe that the ideas and values of the world do not influence us. But Paul taught differently. He understood that the ways of the world bend us toward “evil,” toward things in opposition to God. Scripture offers practical and accessible wisdom that enables us to consider everything we encounter from a godly perspective. We call that a biblical worldview, a way of seeing and understanding the competing ideas we might encounter in a given day—whether in entertainment, the news, or social media.
   
   a. If the bible is the authoritative word of God, how should we as believers live our lives? What are some areas of our lives that need to come under the submission of the Word of God?
   
   b. If you are a parent/grandparent/teacher/leader (at work or church), how can you influence the next generation of young believers (including your children/grandchildren) or those around you to have a biblical worldview?

WHAT WILL YOU DO

If the bible is true, it should be paramount in our lives. We must immerse ourselves in the bible to discover and deepen our relationship with God. Another action we can take would be to obey and live according to the word. Although some parts of the bible may be difficult to comprehend, many parts, such as forgiving and loving one another, are clear and straightforward. 

As children of God, there is no other way to be shaped to become like Christ if we do not spend time reading the bible. If we spend time and be diligent in reading the bible daily, the Holy Spirit will be our teacher and open the eyes of our hearts. Over time, reading the bible well and prayerfully will help us build our faith in Jesus.

MEMORY VERSE

For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. – Matthew 5:18