5 reasons to trust the Bible

Over the years I have been asked if we can really trust the Bible. I think this is a very good question because as Christians we base our whole faith on what the Bible says about God, life, salvation and heaven. Here are five reasons that I have found we can trust the Bible.

  1. Old Testament Prophecies Fulfilled – A prophecy is when a person speaks on God’s behalf and tells what will happen in the future. Hundreds of Old Testament Prophecies from the Bible have come to pass. Many of these refer to the coming, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. A careful study shows that Jesus is the promised one that the prophets spoke about.
  2. Archaeological Discoveries – Many of the places and cities mentioned in the Bible have been confirmed by archaeological discoveries and research. A number of these cities were destroyed by wars or the passing of time, but have been rediscovered during archaeological digs. It is interesting to note that the Bible is the only “Holy” book that consistently links people and events with places.
  3. Unity of Theme – While the Bible is a collection of 66 books that was written over a 1600 year time period from 1500BC to 100AD by 40 authors (under God’s guidance), it has a unity of theme and purpose. The Old Testament (OT) tells of creation, mankind’s separation from God and God’s coming Saviour. The New Testament (NT) re-affirms the OT and points readers to Jesus Christ who was God’s Saviour for all mankind.
  4. Original Manuscripts – Until the invention of printing in the middle of the 15th century, all copies of the Scriptures were made by hand. The ancient Jewish scribes copied the OT with extreme care and many of these are still existence today. Evidence for the reliability of the NT text includes about 4,500 Greek manuscripts. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947 in a cave and confirmed much of the original writings that had been handed down over time were not changed or added to.
  5. Biblical Claims – The Bible itself claims to be the Word of God. A number of verses refer to it being “God-breathed” or inspired . 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness”. It is also interesting to note the phrase “Word of God” appears 48 times in the King James Version of the Bible.

Copying the patterns of Christmas

One verse that I think a lot about is Romans 12:2. It says, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

Copying the behaviour and customs of this world can be putting your trust in money above God, working long hours and never seeing your family, valuing yourself by what you do or own, trusting in your own good works rather than Christ for salvation or a host of other things.

One thing I have been thinking about is the pattern or way many people celebrate Christmas. Christmas can be about running around to buy presents for everyone, driving hundreds of kilometres for a meal, rushing from one house to another to visit different sides of the family, or getting the table just right to impress everyone.

These are not necessarily bad if you enjoy these things, but if you don’t enjoy them and Christmas Day becomes a chore, then you may just be conforming to the behaviour and customs of Christmas. You may not be celebrating Christmas in the way God wants you to celebrate it as a family.

Several years ago we decided to jump off the Christmas Day expectations of everyone else. We chose to stay at home and celebrate a quiet Christmas. We opened some presents, went to church and had a quiet family meal together.

It felt like we redeemed Christmas. It felt like we were able to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas – the birth of the Saviour of the world. We had a day that remembered Him.

As someone said to me recently, we travel a long way to sit with people we don’t see the rest of the year, we often fight and get really stressed out and we do what everyone else wants from us on the day. It is far from being about Christ.

With Christmas Day fast approaching I wonder if you will be focusing on Christ or something else on the 25th? Will you be copying the behaviour and patterns of the world or celebrating the birth of the Christ child some 2000 years ago?

What does Jesus’ death mean?

Here is another simple answer to a great question. It is from “To be a Christian” #65…

  1. What does Jesus’ death mean for you?
    Jesus bore my sins and died the death that I deserve, so that I could be saved from sin and eternal condemnation and reconciled to God. (Psalm 32:1–2; Isaiah 53:10–12; Matthew 20:28; Romans 5:8–10; 2 Corinthians 5:17–21)

Jesus died so our sins could be forgiven and we could be in right relationship with God.

I would encourage you to download a PDF copy from this website for free.

Proclaim Your greatness

Why does this blog exist? I was reading Psalm 71 just now. This expresses the reason why – to tell others of the wonders of God…

Psalm 71:16-18 NLT
[16] I will praise your mighty deeds, O Sovereign LORD. I will tell everyone that you alone are just. [17] O God, you have taught me from my earliest childhood, and I constantly tell others about the wonderful things you do. [18] Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me.

Making prayer beads

What skills or lessons have you learned recently?

In the last year or so I have started making prayer beads. In the examples above I have learned to make three types.

  1. The Anglican or Christian Rosary has 33 beads. One this you can prayer the Jesus prayer or the Come Lord Jesus prayer. It has an Invitatory bead, four Cruciform beads and 28 smaller weeks beads.
  2. The one decade rosary has 11 beads – an Our Father bead and 10 Hail Mary’s. This is small enough to be easily carried in your pocket.
  3. The traditional Rosary is the longer one that is used by Catholics to pray the Marian Rosary or the Divine Mercy.

I have mainly making them for my own enjoyment and to learn a new skill. I have given away quite a few of them as gifts to be a blessing.

I have really enjoyed this new skill.