Defending the Bible from “Christians”

So many of the folks I respond to on Medium have some level of belief in God and Jesus. However, all but a few reject the Bible as a source of perfect truth. 

They refer to secular Biblical scholars and throw verses out related to “God so loved the world” feeling that an angry God who calls man to do anything more than “love our neighbors” must be a mistranslation or added to the Bible later by those wishing to twist who Jesus was. 

I could spend hours digging in with evidence of how the Bible was penned by so many, yet speaks as a unified source, the miraculous nature of its protection over the years, the number of near original texts that cross validate what we hold today, the archaeological discoveries that confirm Biblical authority, etc., etc. To some degree I have made this investment in some of my posts. However, as the comments continue, each with a slightly different twist, sadly, I have started throwing in the towel and saying that it all comes down to faith. 

To a large degree, defaulting to “faith” is not a cop-out, but it is lazy. I came to Christ through apologetics. That resulted in an acceptance with my mind to the truth of Scripture. However, my salvation came a month after that, through a leap-of-faith and a conversion of the heart that, going forward, Jesus Christ was my Savior AND Lord.

When I am Tired of Defending the Bible

I respond to over 5 comments a day, seven days a week. Some are hundreds of words long. Sadly (I am just being honest), these days when I get into a discussion with someone who says one of a hundred versions of “the Bible is written by man and can’t be trusted”, on the second or third response (not the first), I throw in the towel and say, in the end, one has to accept the Bible by faith, just as one accepts Christ by faith. 

However, I also offer two points for reflection.

Point 1 – Without the Bible there is no foundation.

If one can choose, like Thomas Jefferson did, to literally using a razor blade and glue to cut out the selected verses that he did not agree with, then what do you really have left?

Once you disconnect your doctrine from the full complement of Scripture, your theology has no supernatural foundation, and therefore allows you, a man, to choose how to form it. You have the luxury to remove any verses that don’t conform to current societal norms (ex. abortion). Further, you can broaden God’s love to encompass all who love their neighbor (works based salvation) but are unwilling to conform to His righteous judgement on a method of payment for the sin of mankind.

Point 2 – The results of being correct. 

The second reflection I leave folks with is that, if they are correct, then at the end of our lives, we will all get to Heaven, those who followed their own path and those who follow a Biblical Christian path. However, if I am correct, that the Bible speaks to the narrow path to Heaven vs. the wide road to Hell, then, very sadly, many are in for a rough eternity (Matt. 7:13). Given the risk, prayerful research into the importance of the Bible, taken as a whole, is worth the effort. 

Conclusion

I offer the above for others who desire to share the Good News of Jesus Christ, often in challenging environments, including with nominal Christians. Ultimately, the ability to share God’s truth should begin with a relationship. However, Paul speaks to the fact that we must always be prepared to given an answer for the faith we have (1 Pet. 3:15), that persecution is to be expected ( 2 Tim. 3:12), and that we need to be all things to all people in order to save some ( 1 Cor. 9:22).