by Nathan Miller | Feb 10, 2021 | Featured, Headlines |
My relationship with the Bible has always been one of intense love…and at times almost crippling doubt. And it all began for me with a fairly lukewarm prayer.
Jesus, I’m going to try to take you seriously for a while. As best I can remember, these are the words I prayed down in the basement of my childhood home when I was 18 years old. It wasn’t a very poetic prayer, and it even seems a bit half-hearted, but it was enough. That night Jesus grabbed onto this reluctant convert and nothing for me has been the same since.
That moment set me on a path–a lifelong quest–to learn how to trust and love the Bible.
I’d grown up in church. My dad was a pastor during my formative years. I knew the Bible pretty well, and if we were doing a Bible trivia night, I could dominate. But it wasn’t until that lukewarm prayer that I began to hear God’s voice through its ancient pages. I could see God’s love for me. I could see myself in His words. A life and a love and a joy calling out to me from its pages.
Weird, right? As a senior in high school, unsure of my future, lonely and depressed, God found me and He used His Book to do it.
I couldn’t get enough.
Almost instantly, I couldn’t get enough of this Book. It was like food and I hadn’t eaten for years. I’d read it in the morning before school and at night before bed. Sermons (at Christ Community no less, vintage Pastor Tom) came alive. I began discussing it with friends and a few months later even began leading a Bible study with my peers.
I wanted to know it and understand it and trust it and obey it and build my life on it. I wanted to know the One who’d made me and there He was on these dusty pages.
But then doubt settled in.
I don’t know if you know this about the Bible, but it is a hard book. Once you start reading (more than just the inspiring soundbite), questions surface. Brutal, sometimes seemingly unanswerable questions. And then, of course, doubt.
The next fall I headed off to Bible college (I told you, I fell hard for this book!), yet the more I studied and read, the more questions I had. In fact, the greatest season of doubt in my life (so far) happened while in Bible college and then seminary. Could I really build my life on a Book so old, so often confusing, so very difficult at times, with so little certainty?
Can we really trust (and love) the Bible?
Well, no surprise, I’m going to say yes. Let me go ahead and name my bias. Big shocker that a pastor says we should trust the Bible. But it has never been easy for me. Doubts still surface. Regularly. As I said, my relationship with the Bible has been one of intense love…and at times almost crippling doubt. To some extent, that remains true today (though thankfully less debilitating).
I know that there is nothing I could say to instantly make you trust and love the Bible. Faith is still required. But I want to share with you why I believe. Or perhaps more importantly, why I keep believing. Why do I keep returning to this beautiful, difficult, mysterious, ancient Book? Here are the three most important reasons for me personally: the person of Jesus, the character of God, and the testimony of its pages.
But first, a few warnings.
This is not meant to be exhaustive and it should be noted that everything here has been the subject of countless blogs and books. There are people smarter than me if you want to dig deeper. I also want to acknowledge that my reasons can easily be questioned. I don’t have any unassailable arguments and some of what I’m going to say is clearly circular in its reasoning. (Trust the Bible because the Bible tells you to trust the Bible–it’s great logic, I know.)
Here’s the deal. If you don’t want to trust the Bible, there is nothing I can say to convince you. Faith is still required.
That is exactly right. My goal is not to convince those who don’t want to believe but to encourage those who do.
The Bible is a difficult book. It’s ok to admit that. Yet being difficult to understand isn’t the same as being untrustworthy. There is a lot I still don’t understand about the Scriptures, and a few things I just don’t like. But I keep coming back for these three reasons.
- The Person of Jesus
Everything in my faith comes down to the person of Jesus. Everything! I answer each of my doubts with this: did Jesus rise from the dead or not? If He didn’t, I’m out. But if He did, everything changes! If Jesus actually rose from the dead that is the most important truth the world has ever known, making Jesus the most important person. You see, one day I’d like to rise from the dead as well. So if He did, I want to hang on every word He said and all He did.
There is good historical evidence (not just the Bible tells me so) supporting the validity of the resurrection. While much could be said, until someone more compellingly answers the following questions, I will continue to believe Jesus did come out of the grave alive.
Questions like:
- Why was the tomb empty and why couldn’t anyone find the body?
- What about all the eyewitnesses who saw Him alive?
- If it was a legend, why would the inventors make women (who couldn’t even testify in court in that time period) the first eyewitnesses? And why would you make all the men doubting cowards?
- How do you explain the transformation of the eyewitness, from doubting cowards in hiding to literal martyrs for their faith that Jesus was alive?
- Where did the church (and this crazy movement of His followers) come from, in the midst of so much oppression?
If Jesus rose from the dead, then it doesn’t matter if you like what He said or not or whether or not you find Him personally compelling. If He rose from the dead, He wins, and I’m listening.
Jesus believed the Old Testament.
And Jesus believed the Old Testament. I struggle with the Old Testament. I love the stories and poetry, but I find it much harder than the New Testament. Not only did Jesus believe it, He loves it! He quotes it and makes references to it constantly. You can’t even really understand Jesus without understanding the Old Testament.
He said things like …Scripture cannot be broken… (John 10:35), referring to the Old Testament. In His most famous sermon, considered to be a kind of summary of His main passions, He says: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished (Matthew 5:17-18).
He even referred to Himself as the center of the Old Testament Scriptures and the key to their understanding. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me… (John 5:39).
...beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself… Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead… (Luke 24:27, 45-46)
The one who defeated death believed, taught, loved, obeyed, and even revealed Himself as the focus and fulfillment of the Old Testament. I’m siding with the One who defeated death—every time.
Jesus commissioned the New Testament (sort of).
It also seems like He commissioned the writing of the New Testament through the work of the Apostles. The people who knew Jesus best were the ones who wrote these things down for us.
Jesus told them: I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you (John 16:12–15).
It is reasonable to believe that Jesus wanted His Apostles to write these things down, and promised that His Spirit would guide them in it.
Jesus reveals the character of God.
Jesus also shows us who God is. Whoever has seen me has seen the Father (John 14:9). And what does Jesus reveal to us about God the Father?
Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection show us that God wants to rescue. God wants to love and be loved. God wants a really big, beautiful, diverse family. God wants a relationship with His creation. Our God wants to be known. That doesn’t prove He gave us the Bible, but it does give us a motive. Jesus shows us that it is God’s heart to communicate with His people.
Hebrews begins with these words, making a similar connection: Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son… (1:1-2) The Apostle John does the same when He refers to Jesus as the Word of God (John 1).
If God so wants to be known that He would send His own Son, it’s at least plausible that He would find other ways to reveal Himself as well. I trust the Bible because I trust the person of Jesus.
- The Character of God
I also trust the Bible because I trust the character of God. Jesus shows us the character of God, but so do the Scriptures. You cannot read the Bible without the overwhelming sense that God wants us to know Him. The reason we exist is to know God and be known by Him. Here are just a few such scriptures:
Exodus 6:6-8: I am the Lord… I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians… I am the Lord.
Psalm 46:10: Be still, and know that I am God.
Proverbs 8:17: I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.
John 17:3: And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Jeremiah says it perhaps most beautifully. What is the most important thing any human can do? Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” (9:23-24)
And what is God’s goal for humanity? I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:33-34)
God wants to be known. This doesn’t mean the Bible is His Book but it does show us a deep motivation for self-revelation.
God cannot lie.
It’s also important to note here that God cannot lie. He wants to be known and, as God, He has the power and creativity to reveal Himself. But how can we trust Him? We can trust Him because He can only be truthful. He can only be faithful and honest.
1 Samuel 15:29: The Glory of Israel [meaning God] will not lie.
Numbers 23:19: God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
If God is real and if He wants to be known, He will reveal Himself accurately and honestly. I trust the Bible because I trust the character of God.
- The Testimony of Its Pages
I also trust the Bible because I trust the testimony of its pages. If the Bible is not God’s Word, it is perhaps the most arrogant, self-confident, full-of-itself book ever written.
If it is not God’s Word, it is not just a nice book with nice stories and nice morals. If it is not God’s Word, it is evil, because it claims to hold the very words of God, and to be the greatest, most important, most sacred book ever written. Trust it or trash it.
The claims it makes.
Listen to just a few of its claims:
2 Samuel 7:28: Now, O Lord God, You are God, and Your words are truth…
2 Samuel 22:31: This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true.
Psalms 12:6: The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.
Psalm 18:30: As for God, His way is blameless; the word of the Lord is tried…
Psalm 19:7: The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
Proverbs 30:5: Every word of God proves true.
2 Timothy 3:16-17: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
2 Peter 1:19-21: And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention…knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Revelation 22:6: And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place.
The Story it tells.
The Story it tells also nudges me toward belief. I can’t tell you if its words are true, and perhaps I’m only speaking from my own experience, but the Story of Scripture has a ring of truth about it. Yes, it is easy to get lost in the details or all the individual stories, but when you see its grand narrative, many of our questions and longings find compelling answers. The grand Story can be summed up in four chapters: Creation, Fall, Redemption, New Creation.
Creation. The world had a beginning. It was made with purpose and significance, with humans made in the image of God. Regardless of what you believe about how or when God made the world, the fact that He made it answers so many questions. It compellingly explains why we live as if our lives matter, why beauty touches us so deeply, why love and relationships are so essential, and why, even now in the 21st Century, we just can’t seem to shake our longing for a Maker. The Bible shows us how we were created with these things in mind.
Fall. But everything is broken. We hurt the people we love. We run from God. We choose self-destructive paths. We break the things we touch. And despite all our effort, we can’t fix it. Then add to that cancer, viruses, tornados, infertility, pain in childbirth, loneliness, depression, anxiety, terrorism, war, racism, trafficking, and eventually death. We know in our bones the world shouldn’t be this way. The Bible tells us why.
Redemption. Yet we long for things to be better, and we work to that end. We strive toward self-improvement and we long for it in the people we love. We celebrate stories of forgiveness and reconciliation, rescue and redemption. These things are hard-wired into us by a God who offers them to us, and we see them on display through the climax of this Story in His Son. The Bible explains these longings.
New Creation. One day things will finally and completely be made whole. We want utopia. We want to live forever. We want to be reunited with the people we’ve lost. We want to see God. All these longings find fulfillment in the Story of Scripture.
No, none of this proves the Bible is true or that this grand narrative is the narrative we’re living. Yet, it gives me just one more piece of confidence in believing. It tells a compelling Story.
The way it speaks.
And if you thought that last point was too subjective, you’ll hate this one.
The way this Book speaks to my heart reinforces its veracity. When I read it I can almost hear God’s voice. I feel comforted in my heartache, convicted of my sin, and exposed at my deepest level. I don’t just read this Book. It reads me! It knows me and speaks directly to me. I trust the Bible because I trust the testimony of its pages.
So what now?
So what are we supposed to do with all this? I want to end with three action steps.
- Bring Him your doubts
First, bring God your doubts. I know I didn’t answer your questions and I realize there are fair reasons to doubt the Scriptures. Don’t sweep your doubts under the rug. Take your doubts seriously enough to look into them.
Sometimes people say things like “the Bible is full of contradictions” without actually looking at any supposed contradictions. Or sometimes we reject the Scriptures not because of any logical argument, but simply because we don’t like what it says. I don’t want to obey this so it must not be true. There are also times when we assume the Bible must be false simply because we haven’t taken the time to properly understand it in its cultural context.
Instead, take your doubts seriously enough to do some of the work to really understand. I discovered early on that many of my doubts had more to do with a lack of understanding or an unquestioning loyalty to my own cultural assumptions than with anything inherent in the text. Do the work. Bring Him your doubts.
- Trust that God knows better
Second, in all matters, trust that God knows better. Easier said than done I know, but if God has spoken, trust that He has spoken for our good. His Word is for your good. I love how the statement of faith for our denomination the Evangelical Free Church of America summarizes what we believe about the Scriptures. Pay close attention to how it ends.
We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.
Believed, obeyed, and trusted. Not just read or studied or proclaimed, as important as those things are.
Jesus said: Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. (Matthew 7:24-27)
Trust these words. Obey them. Build your life upon them. They are for you from God. Trust that He knows better.
- Make this Book your food
And finally, eat this Book! Make it your food. It is strange to me how regularly the Bible refers to itself as a kind of food, sweeter than the best dessert and more satisfying than the richest feast. For Jesus while fasting even chose God’s Word over bread. He said, quoting the Old Testament: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).
So eat up, Church! Read it regularly and systematically. Memorize it and meditate upon it. Learn to study it and dig deeply into it. Know it so that you can trust it, love it, obey it, and build your life upon it.
Where else can we go?
I love this Book and I want you to love it too. It has been twenty-three years since that half-hearted prayer in my parent’s basement. Twenty-three years and I still feel like I’m just barely at the beginning, still struggling, still doubting, but still growing.
Whenever I’m wrestling with my faith (which is more often than I care to admit) I often think of one of my favorite stories from the Gospels. Jesus was at the height of his popularity but then preached a really hard sermon. After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life…” (John 6:66-69).
I often feel like Peter. For I am often burdened by doubt and unanswered questions, tempted, like the crowds, to walk away. But where would I go? Jesus has the words of eternal life! So here I am, learning to trust (and love) the Bible.
by Bill Gorman | Jul 8, 2020 | Featured, Headlines |
Have you ever attempted to read the entire Bible in a year? There are lots of great plans out there that can help you do this. Two of my favorites are the Read Scripture plan from The Bible Project and the Robert Murray M’Cheyne plan.
If you’ve never read the entire Bible before, it’s a great thing to do. We believe that ALL of the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments are “God-breathed,” inspired by the Holy Spirit. If you haven’t had the joy reading all those God-breathed words at some point in your life, you’re missing out.
However, sometimes attempts to read the Bible in 365 days leave us feeling hurried in our reading or frustrated when we fall behind.
This is why it is better to read the Bible every day than every year. Reading the Bible in a year is a goal. Reading the Bible every day is a habit.
In the end, our habits shape us more than our goals. Indeed, it is our habits that ultimately enable and empower us to reach our goals. This is how James Clear, author of Atomic Habits and one of the best contemporary writers on the topic of habits, puts it:
You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Your goal is your desired outcome. Your system is the collection of daily habits that will get you there. This year, spend less time focusing on outcomes and more time focusing on the habits that precede the results.
What if this year you gave your greatest energy not to getting through the entire Bible, but in establishing a habit, a system, a routine of reading the Bible every day? No matter what. Come hell or high water. (Do people still use that expression?) You read the Bible every day.
The Bible is mediation literature. Read it every day, and soak in it. Reflect on Psalm 1.
1 How happy is the one who does not
walk in the advice of the wicked
or stand in the pathway with sinners
or sit in the company of mockers!
2 Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction,
and he meditates on it day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams
that bears its fruit in its season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
4 The wicked are not like this;
instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand up in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.
Be like a tree this year—read the Bible every day—see how long you can keep the streak going. Worry less about completing a certain amount of reading. Instead, focus on establishing the habit of reading.
If you happen to read the Bible in a year because you installed the habit of reading the Bible every day, that’s wonderful. But even if you don’t read the whole Bible this year, I can promise you that if you read it everyday—with a posture of seeking to know, love, and obey Jesus—your life will change.
The change will probably be imperceptible at first. But it will happen. And you will find deeper joy as the roots of your life soak up the nurshing, refreshing, fruit-enabling waters of the Word.
Take the Next Step
If you’re looking to start this habit but don’t know where to start in your Bible or what to read each day, Christ Community’s Open Here reading plan is a great place to start. It gives you a short passage to read each day that relates to the current sermon series.
by Andrew Jones | Sep 11, 2019 | Featured, Headlines |
In Matthew 7:14, Jesus warns us to avoid the wide path that leads to destruction and instead to follow Him on the narrow path that leads to life. For much of my Christian life, I thought that meant I had two choices: to follow Jesus or to follow nothing. I pictured Jesus’ narrow path as the rugged mountain trail, arduous and always upward to the summit. The wide path was like a lazy river, drifting passively through life, no direction and no purpose.
But I’m no longer sure that’s the right analogy.
The real danger of the wide path Jesus talked about is not a lack of direction, but the presence of misdirection. It is not passive and aimless. It is active and purposeful, just like the narrow one. The difference is where they lead: following Christ leads to life, following anyone or anything else leads to death.
James K.A. Smith, author of Desiring the Kingdom, gives the wide path even more nuance. Example after example in his book show that the spaces we inhabit, the books we read, the television we watch, and the music we play all shape us and move us down one path or another. In other words, all of life is liturgy, a means of formation and worship, either unto Christ or unto something else. His best illustration is the truly spiritual nature of shopping at the mall – walking past images meant to arouse and inspire the spending of money to make us feel better, look better, and be better. This is part of the wide path Jesus talks about- an intentional and powerful but ultimately dead end journey of spiritual formation.
What even Smith could not have imagined was when the mall grew a mind of its own. I’m talking now of the powerful algorithms and analytics of what is sometimes called “Big Tech.” As companies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook have grown in popularity and influence, so too has their temptation to use that influence to shape users. If you don’t believe me, just Google search (oh the irony) “big tech algorithm” and read the dystopian headlines. Here is one that got my attention: in 2014, Facebook apologized for purposefully experimenting with over half a million users’ emotions by manipulating the number of positive or negative posts on their feed. With mental illness, depression, and anxiety on the rise, this was a dangerous game to play and was met with public outcry. The stated reason for this idea? To refine powerful algorithms designed to cater news feeds to specific users.
Here’s another one: Caroline O’Donovan of Buzzfeed wrote just this year about YouTube and its inability to control its own recommendation algorithm. She and several colleagues reported that, despite promises from the company to fix its “what’s next” feature, it took only nine clicks to get from an innocuous PBS documentary to a highly partisan and divisive clip from a known hate group. Yikes. In fact, what O’Donovan found is that the YouTube algorithm jumped very quickly to partisan content with little prompting from the user.
Why do I bring all of this up?
I am beginning to wonder if the content we consume on the internet is growing in its ability to consume us back.
We are increasingly (though subtly) influenced where to go and how to feel when we are online. Let’s call it what it is: the internet is a potential catalog of “wide paths” of spiritual formation designed to take us somewhere we may not want to go, or flat out should not go.
In some ways, this is nothing new. Christians have been saying the same thing for years about all forms of media and entertainment. But this feels different to me. It’s more personal and weaponized by powerful tools we haven’t considered before. I am no expert, and want to keep thinking about this, but for now, here are a few thoughts on staying on the straight and narrow path.
Spend less time on social media. These tools are not necessarily bad, but they are not neutral either. They are designed to keep you engaged for hours and hours, and to shape you in ways that keep you coming back. Be intentional with the amount of time you spend online. Set a timer. Use the App Limits constraints on your smartphone. Put your phone away when you’re done.
Pick a reason to go online and stick to it. I often find myself browsing Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube because I’m bored. This is absolutely the worst reason to go online. If I have no reason to be on there, you can bet those platforms will find a reason to keep me there. If you want to simply check on friends, see how an event went, or catch new photos of the grandkids, great! But stick to that and sign off when you’re done.
Evaluate your daily liturgy. James K.A. Smith is right: every day you are on a spiritual formation path. Every minute of your week is formational. Take an audit of how you spend your time. How do your choices shape you? Compared to other activities (especially TV, video games, and internet time), how often are you practicing God’s presence in silence, prayer, Bible reading, and study? If the difference is stark, what changes can you implement to make room for Jesus’ narrow path in your life again? How can you take other time in your day, at work, at school, or at home, to invite God’s presence into what you are already doing?
Bring God online.
Here’s a crazy thought: pray through your Facebook feed. Talk to God about what is trending on Twitter. Use YouTube to listen to speakers and thinkers who can help you grow in faith.
Abraham Kuyper famously said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’” That includes cyberspace! Who knows how God might use His people as a faithful presence online, if only we made room for Him there.
I do not say any of these things as one who practices them perfectly. I’d love your thoughts on how to do this better.
