Do you generally trust others?
On one extreme are those who trust no one until trust can be earned. On the other extreme are those who trust everyone until trust has been violated. Many fall in between.
Trustworthiness is vital. And yet, you can’t trust everyone. You can’t trust everything you read. With the video manipulation tools of our day, you can’t trust everything you see. Trustworthiness is important, but often elusive.
The Bible claims to be true and to offer truth.
Many people reject the Bible because they think it clashes with science. That’s silly. Science arrives at truth by testing and measuring and analyzing material things. Yet, the message and purpose of the Bible stands beyond the boundaries of the physical universe. Science is not equipped to evaluate the message of the Bible.
The Bible is not a history book, and yet, it does have relevant and accurate historical statements. So, it should hold up to historical scrutiny. And yet, history has not, and perhaps cannot, validate all the historical information in Scripture. Yet, the absence of information proves little. For example, at one time some scholars doubted the existence of the Hittite nation because the Hittites were not known outside of the biblical record. Eventually, evidence of the Hittite nation was discovered. So, just because the truth had not been validated by history did not make is false. So, historical proof may not exist for all things biblical.
It is important to understand that the Bible makes the claim of being a revelation from the God who created the universe. This revelation is about God and His relationship to created mankind.
Within the Bible are statements about truth and the evaluation of truth. God gave the Israelites a law in which they were told how to evaluate the word of a prophet claiming to speak a message from God. In short, if a prophet spoke of future events that did not come true, that prophet had not spoken God’s word and was untrustworthy. (Deuteronomy 18:20-22)
Years later a prophet communicated God’s promised that He would provide for His people. God then challenged them to test Him to see if He was being honest with them. (Malachi 3:10)
God is perfectly willing for you to investigate Him and His word. However, you need to use the right instrument for investigating. Remarkably, God invites you inside. He allows you to personally investigate His claims. This is far different from a demanding leap of blind faith based on nothing more than one’s desire. And it is different from standing on the outside and looking in with science and history as judges.
The first words of the Bible challenge the mind, “In the beginning, God created….” Science and history are ill-equipped to evaluate that statement. If a person decides to reject it, then nothing in the Bible will make sense because that first statement is the foundation to all that follows. That first verse of the Bible must not be rejected arbitrarily. If rejected, there must be a reason, and it must be a reasonable reason.
Science evaluates material things; history, events which have been recorded. God invites each person to look at Him and look at His record, and to personally evaluate His trustworthiness. If His past is trustworthy, then so also are His future warnings and promises.
If God is trustworthy, all must respond.
Mark Stinnett
May 14, 2023
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