What do you say when someone tells you, “The Bible has errors,” “You can’t trust it,” or “It’s just an ancient book written by men”? Would you know how to respond?
The Christian faith is rooted in the Bible. So if we are going to trust the Bible with our eternal destiny, we should have good reasons for believing that it can be trusted. Faith is not a blind leap in the dark. We can examine the Bible’s claims honestly and think carefully about what it says.
For another biblical response to this question, see how to respond when someone says, “I don’t believe the Bible.”
In this message, I share five reasons Christians have good reason to regard the Bible as the Word of God. These are the first five reasons; I will cover five additional reasons in another video.
The problem with trusting the Bible only when it talks about spirituality
Imagine meeting someone who says the Bible is unreliable when it speaks about science and history, but reliable when it speaks about spiritual matters. At first, that may sound like a reasonable compromise. But it is inconsistent.
Think about it this way. Suppose a friend caused you to be injured in a traffic accident, then got you lost while trying to drive you to the doctor. A few days later, when your condition became serious, would you call that same friend to take you to the emergency room?
Probably not. If someone has proven unreliable in one area, you would not automatically trust that person with something even more important. In the same way, if the Bible cannot be trusted in matters that can be tested, why would we trust it with matters of eternity?
The question, then, is not whether we should switch off our minds. The question is whether the Bible gives us good reasons to trust it.
1. The Bible presents an intelligent faith
The Bible does not call us to abandon our intellect. No one is being asked to make a leap in the dark with blind faith. Instead, the Bible encourages us to investigate and examine its truth claims.
God invites us to reason. Isaiah 1:18 says, “Come now and let us reason together,” says the Lord. Faith does not bypass the mind. Jesus said that we are to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37).
The Bereans offer another example. When Paul and Silas taught them, the Bereans did not simply accept every claim without examination. Acts 17:11 says they searched the Scriptures daily to see whether what they were hearing was true.
That is intellectual honesty. The Bible can be approached with an open mind, examined carefully, and evaluated on its own claims. Throughout history, some people have set out to disprove the Bible, only to become convinced by the evidence and the message they encountered. Lee Strobel and Josh McDowell are two modern examples I mention in the message.
Christian faith is not a demand to stop thinking. It is an invitation to think honestly about what the Scriptures teach.
2. The Bible has survived against all odds
The Bible has faced centuries of criticism, persecution, and organized attempts to destroy it. People have burned it, banned it, and tried to eliminate its influence. Yet the Bible has continued to be translated, read, preached, and passed from one generation to the next.
The apostle Paul understood this when he wrote, “I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal, but the word of God is not bound” (2 Timothy 2:9).
The Bible’s own message is that God’s Word endures. Psalm 119:89 says, “Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.” Isaiah 40:8 says, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”
Everything around us is temporary. Technology changes. Empires rise and fall. Generations come and go. But the Scriptures continue to influence people and speak into the present.
The Bible’s survival does not remove the need for honest examination. But it does raise an important question: Why has this book continued to endure and transform lives despite so many attempts to silence it?
3. The Bible has a unique design
There is no other book quite like the Bible. It is a collection of 66 books written over approximately 1,500 years by about 40 authors from different backgrounds and occupations.
Those authors wrote in different places and circumstances, using Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. The Bible includes biography, theology, philosophy, poetry, prophecy, genealogy, history, romance, adventure, and travel. Many of the writers did not know one another.
With that much diversity, we might expect a chaotic collection of competing ideas. Yet the Bible presents a unified message: God’s redemption of people through the Messiah. Jesus himself pointed to this unified message in Luke 24:25–27, Luke 24:44, and John 5:39.
The Bible describes itself with powerful images. Jeremiah 23:29 compares God’s Word to fire and to a hammer that shatters rock. Hebrews 4:12 says the Word of God is living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword, and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
The Bible is not merely a collection of comforting sayings. It confronts us, searches us, and calls us to respond to the truth.
4. The Bible portrays its characters honestly
If the Bible were trying to create a sanitized mythology, it would have presented its heroes as flawless. Instead, Scripture is brutally honest about the failures of the people it describes.
Noah became drunk. Abraham lied about Sarah. Jacob deceived his father. Moses lost his temper and disobeyed God. Aaron made a golden calf. David committed adultery and arranged for a man to be killed. Jonah ran from God and complained. Peter denied Jesus three times. Paul described himself as the chief of sinners.
The Bible does not pull the wool over our eyes. It does not idolize its human characters or conceal their weaknesses. It shows them as real people with real failures who needed God’s grace.
In contrast, the Bible presents Jesus as the only person who ever lived without sin. The honest portrayal of everyone else speaks to the Bible’s authenticity. It reads less like a polished legend and more like a truthful account that is willing to put even its heroes’ sins on display.
5. The Bible proclaims a life-changing message
The Bible does not merely give us information. It gives us a message powerful enough to change the lives of those who receive it.
Paul describes the gospel as “the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). The Greek word for power is dunamis, a word associated with inherent power. The message of Scripture is not powerless information. It is meant to work in us.
The Bible addresses life’s largest questions: Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? What will happen after I die?
Death is real, and every one of us is moving toward it. But Jesus offers hope beyond the grave. When Jesus spoke about raising Lazarus, he said, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die” (John 11:25).
The Bible’s message is not only that Jesus can give us hope in the future. It is that he can bring forgiveness, purpose, and real hope into our lives today.
What will you do with Jesus?
You may be asking whether the Bible can be trusted. But eventually, the question becomes personal: What will you do with Jesus?
The Bible says that those who receive Christ are given the right to become children of God. That means turning away from sin, trusting in Christ, and receiving the forgiveness and eternal life he offers.
If you have received Jesus or rededicated yourself to him, I would love to hear from you. Share your thoughts in the comments. You can also find information about the free devotional in the video description.
May God grant you and yours his strength for today.
