How do I know the Bible is true?

Have you ever asked a believer how they know that the Bible is true?  What do they say?  "Because it is..." or "You just have to have faith..."   Does that sound like a convincing answer to you?  Not to me.  I always hated the "because I said so" response from my parents even though sadly I have used it on occasion.  I don't know about you, but I would want to be really convinced that I am resting my eternal hope on something that is true.  So, how do you know that the Bible is true?

I have really enjoyed doing a lot of research on the Bible.  It has fascinating origins.  Have you ever heard of any other piece of literature that took more than 1500 years to write?  Or one book with 40 different authors from immensely different backgrounds and walks of life that all attest to the wonder of God without contradiction?  How is it that any person's writings can be passed through so many centuries intact without the help of a printing press?  Anything that is the source of such explicit and absolute truth is, of course, going to be held up to a large amount of scrutiny.  After all, we are talking about 66 books of history, theology, prophecy, etc. that must withstand all truth "tests".  We have come a long way in our understanding of archaeology and science since those times.  Many things that were stated in the Bible weren't even properly understood at the time, and yet, in hindsight, we can see the truth behind these statements.   It is through historical and biblical analysis that we see the Bible prove itself over and over again as truth.

Let's talk a little about how to use your bible.  I use the New American Standard Bible (NASB), however no English translation is perfect, so don't get too caught up in the differences.  If you are new to searching scripture, you should know that there are a LOT of resources available to aid in your search.  To start, see if your Bible has a concordance.  It is probably located in the back and contains many words in the Bible as well as their locations.  There are more complete concordances available, but this should get you going.  Also located in many Bibles, and equally valuable, are cross-references of other verses that contain similar words and/or phrases.  These are usually located in the margins.  You can learn a lot about the context and meanings of many verses by using these cross-references.  Also, a favorite of mine, is bible.com.  It is an online version that allows you to change to whatever translation you desire as well as Passage and Keyword look-up.

Does the Bible itself state that it is truth?  Now for the fun...looking up scripture to see what it says.  The word "truth" is located in the Bible 192 times, so it clearly has something to say on the matter.  Let's look at a few of those.

Psalm 25:10 - "All the paths of the LORD are  lovingkindness and truth To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies."
Psalm 40:11 - "You, O LORD, will not withhold Your compassion from me; Your  lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me.
Psalm 111:7 - "The works of His hands are truth and justice; All His precepts are sure."
Psalm 119:142 - "Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And Your law is truth."
Psalm 119:151 - "You are  near, O LORD, And all Your commandments are truth."
Psalm 119:160 - "The sum of Your word is  truth, And every one of Your righteous ordinances  is everlasting."
Luke 20:21 - "They questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You speak and teach correctly, and You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth."
John 8:32 - "and you will know the truth, and  the truth will make you free.”
John 17:17 - "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth."

So we can clearly see that God's word is truth.  How do we know that the Bible is God's Word?  Paul spoke directly about that to Timothy.
2 Timothy 3:16 - "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness."

If ALL scripture is inspired by God, and God's word is truth, we must be able to examine the Bible to see if anything in it has proven to be true.  Out of the 671 prophecies in the Bible, 668 have proven to be true while the other three are, as of now, unconfirmed.  While the success rate is extremely important and can only be attributed to an all-knowing, Almighty God, the other statistic that is equally important is the fact that no prophecy in the Bible has been proven false.  Why is it so important that God's inspired word cannot be proven false?  The Bible answers that question as well in Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 18:20-22 - "But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die. ²¹ You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’ ²² When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him."

We can learn from these scriptures that God's word is truth, that all scripture is inspired of God, and that God will not allow anything false to be incorporated in his word.  Historical research will show you persecutions that God's Word had to endure.  Skeptics point to the process of canonizing the scriptures as a show that men controlled the process.  How ironic...to admit that God can inspire 40 different people over a 1500-year time period to write 66 books containing only true history and prophecy and believe that He doesn't have the power to inspire a group of people to put it all together for Him?  How do these skeptics respond when asked why they believe the Bible isn't true?  "Because I said so".  That response didn't work for me either.

Dear Father, we are so grateful that You gave us Your word.  We are comforted in the fact that You will never lie and never change.  Thank you so much for being in control.  Please continue to encourage us to seek Your truth by opening up the Bible every day.  Please speak to us and relate Your truth to us every time we open up the Bible so we can apply daily your gift of mercy and patience for all.