I have a friend who is working with students this summer and she\u2019s been given a topic on which she is supposed to speak: How do we know the Bible is true? It\u2019s a tough question to be sure, and if something inside doesn\u2019t at least resist the question a little bit, then we\u2019re not seeing all that is at stake in answering. My friend asked me to visit with her about it, and I began to give it some thought. This is far from the last word, but it\u2019s my first attempt to think it through. Here\u2019s how I think I would answer\u2026 also know as evidence as to why I\u2019ll never be a youth minister!<\/p>\n
One problem that all of us have, having been raised in a society in which we have been taught to think that truth is a bunch of propositions about which we can make up our minds; as though the truth is a perfect idea which corresponds to reality. On these terms the bible is only true if it corresponds to reality. But who gets to decide what reality is? Science? Theology? Philosophy? Politicians?<\/p>\n
The most basic definition of truth is \u201cthat which corresponds to reality.\u201d The problem is that our reality has to be shaped and formed before we can know what that means. We have to know what reality is. That\u2019s what the scriptures do for us. They shape our view of reality so that we can know what is true.<\/p>\n
If I say two plus two is lemon, then you would say this is not true \u2013 it does not correspond to reality. But if I say, for instance, what does it mean for a wife to be true to a husband, or for a teacher to be true to his students? Now we are talking about the most essential nature of truth. What does it mean for a man whose wife has just been diagnosed with breast cancer to be true to his vows? What does it mean for a parent to be true to her children, or a child to his parents? What does it mean for a human life to be true? What does it mean to be a friend that is true? Now we are getting to the kind of \u201ctruth\u201d the scripture is really interested in. We all know that it is possible to live a life that is a lie, a falsehood, and that this is somehow destructive to the human soul.<\/p>\n
The bible is true not because it explains empirically verifiable data about life in scientific, historical, or philosophical terms. The Bible is true because it teaches us how to be true human beings. The Bible is true because if we live according to the life that we find there \u2013 namely the idea that Jesus is the world\u2019s true lord \u2013 then our whole life will come into harmony with ultimate reality. Our lives become true, and we become truly human as God intended human to be. The truth is not a bunch of words, the truth is a person \u2013 Jesus Christ \u2013 the way the truth and the life. The bible is true because it teaches us to know this Jesus and to follow his way of being human.<\/p>\n
The bible does not transmit timeless truths, the bible teaches us how to view reality so that we\u2019ll know how to live in the way of Jesus, we\u2019ll know him to be true, and our lives will become true as well.<\/p>\n
How do we know the Bible is true? I think it\u2019s possible that we cannot even begin to approach this question unless we\u2019ve first been formed by the bible itself. It\u2019s kind of the wrong question. The question we should really ask is, \u201cIs my life true, or is it a fake?\u201d Because there is no way to live your live in faithfulness to Jesus and his teachings and to live a fake life \u2013 a life that isn\u2019t true. There is no other way to live a true life \u2013 a life that exists in harmony with ultimate reality \u2013 apart from living in the way of Jesus. The bible teaches us what this means.<\/p>\n
If you want to know if the bible is true or not, live according to the bible. If you want to fall in love you don\u2019t read a book called \u201cHow to fall in love,\u201d and then decide whether or not you think it\u2019s true. If you want to fall in love, you do what lovers do: you hold hands, take long walks, have long conversations and it just happens. Same goes for the truth of the scripture. If you want to know if the bible is true or not, then live like it is: follow after Jesus, love your enemies, live in peace, care for the poor, sick, blind, naked, alien, and so on. Do this and you will understand what it means to say the Bible is true.<\/p>\n
To students, especially, I think we have to say: The things that are really true in this life are not typically things you read in books. It\u2019s that your mom and dad love you. It\u2019s that feeling you have inside when you die to yourself and lay down your life for a friend. It\u2019s that you are truly free when you embrace the idea that the first shall be last and the last shall be first with every fiber of your being, and then live faithfully to that reality. As soon as we make the question about the truth of the bible into an argument about who really wrote Genesis, or did the creation really happen in six days, we\u2019ve lost the thread. The things that are really true in this life are those things that have come into harmony with the most basic truth about reality: Jesus is Lord.<\/p>\n
How do we teach this to students? I really don\u2019t know if we can teach it to them, we can only live it in front of them, for them, and especially with them over time.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have a friend who is working with students this summer and she\u2019s been given a topic on which she is supposed to speak: How do we know the Bible is true? It\u2019s a tough question to be sure, and if something inside doesn\u2019t at least resist the question a little bit, then we\u2019re not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bible"],"yoast_head":"\n