Many people think that to become a Christian, they must better themselves up somehow before they can come to God. They must be a good man or woman. The crazy thing is that the opposite is true. Christ came to help us realize that we don't have to keep trying to be good enough. We simply have to understand that we are in fact, not good at all, and need a savior.
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The wrong message of "be a good person to be a Christian" scares me. Parents teach their children to "be good little boys and girls because that is what God wants". This creates a sense of duty and obligation. We then begin going to church, choosing to do nice and kind and right things because we think we must, rather than because we want to because of what our God has done for us through Christ. We miss the whole point. God doesn't need us to make Him feel better. Required love is not genuine love.
1 Samuel 16:7, "For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."
This wrong message of "be a good person" can multiply. Reading the bible becomes an action to check off on our list of good things we can offer God (when in fact we simply need to come to God just as we are, broken and sinful and NOT good). When I was little, I used to attend Sunday School and hear my teachers share bible stories. To me, that is all they were: stories. In some ways, if I am being completely honest, I thought they were all made up to help us get to what I thought was the point: be a good little girl. Some of them seemed so ridiculous! Global floods and miracles and healings and talking donkeys. There is no way it could be REAL.
Of course, it all changed for me when my dad passed away in the spring of 2003. I went through an emotional journey of confusion and anger and finally a friend shared the gospel with me: God loved me and sent Jesus to give me eternal life. I believed that. Soon, I began reading the bible because I knew it was how I would learn more about God. I was still skeptical, but I understood God's love for me and I wanted to believe what He had to say.
It has been 12 years since I became a believer. And I can truly say today that I believe that the Word of God is the only source of real truth, a guide for my life, and an incredible resource of history. It is 100% accurate and authentic. My new passion is that I share with others some practical ways we can see that the bible is the most important literary work of all time. How can we show that it is TRUE and not just a bunch of made up stories? The amazing truth is that it is foolish NOT to believe that the bible is true. If you are willing to genuinely look at evidence and facts, you will see that the scriptures are THE most backed up literary source. If you look at the truth, you cannot deny it.
Here are some main points to get you started (but I encourage you to seek out and learn more about each of these):
1. Copies of the Manuscript
Ancient texts, like those of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, and Homer and also Old Testament Scripture, were copied by hand before the printing press was invented. The Scriptures are THE most copied manuscript and have the least amount of errors in copying as compared to other ancient texts. For example, Homer, who wrote the Iliad, has 643 copied ancient manuscripts. There are 24,633 copies of Scripture. The Iliad is presented in English classes across the world, the legitimacy of which no one would dare to question. And yet, many people question the legitimacy of Scripture.
Check out this article link for more information if you're interested: http://www.icr.org/bible-manuscripts/
Or check out this powerpoint: wordalone.org/ppoint/Bibletrue.ppt
2. Archeological Evidence
There has never been any archeological artifact found that has disproved the Scriptures. In fact, the more we dig, the more scripture is seen to be true and historically accurate.
Check out this article link for more information if you're interested: http://www.equip.org/article/biblical-archaeology-factual-evidence-to-support-the-historicity-of-the-bible/
3. Eyewitness Accounts
When you consider the New Testament gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they all share the same story. It is extremely difficult to get people to share and see the same story. Of course, each tells from a different perspective but all confirm the person of Jesus Christ and His resurrection. Others shared about Christ and were tortured or killed for it but never changed their story. It would be hard to imagine being willing to die for something that wasn't true.
Try this link: http://www.tektonics.org/guest/truthfulness.htm
4. There is also evidence for the historical credibility of the Bible, and the life and resurrection of Christ outside of scripture that supports what scripture has to say.
Consider this article: https://www.probe.org/ancient-evidence-for-jesus-from-non-christian-sources-2/
Another link I like that sums up some main points on the historical and logical evidence to back up scripture is here: http://www.essentialbibleblog.com/2013/03/top-10-reasons-bible-is-true.html
My hope is that you might begin to see that we have reason to believe that scripture is authentic and an incredible resource for our lives. We don't believe this "just because we are good little boys and girls and read the bible because we should". We can believe it intelligently and with confidence. There is evidence to support scripture. It is certainly not a bunch of made up stories.
I do want to go back to a point I made in my first post in this series, which is this: there is still an aspect of faith to Christianity. Not because scripture can't be backed up, but because until our hearts have changed to be open to God and His truth, we are skeptical and our hearts are hard. Really, until we accept Christ, we are dead in our own sin and love being our own god, our own decider of what is right and wrong. But God is so good and saves us despite our sin. And the evidence is out there to help us along the way.
My final point is this: the scriptures will change your life. When I first truly understood who Christ was and what He did for my life, I was hungry and desperate for scripture. The more you read, the more amazing it is, the more it fills your heart and your life. The scripture is full and rich. It is "living and active", continuing to be used for thousands of years by believers as a source of truth and a guide.
Psalm 119 says it all:
Psalm 119: 72, "The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold."
Psalm 119: 102, "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!"
And finally:
Psalm 119: 151-152, "Yet you are near, Lord, and all your commands are true. Long ago I learned from your statutes that you established them to last forever."
Thank you, Lord, for your everlasting Word.
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