Preface
God had something to say, and He wrote it down. If this statement is true, could there be any words more important than those authored by God Himself? Wouldn’t they be words worthy of being read, studied, and treasured above all others? Of course, they would be, just as they have been for more than two millennia. Providentially preserved and unchanged since their penning, they are the words which form the basis of Western civilization. They are words which determine the fate of nations, driving physical prosperity and moral credibility, or crippling prospects and dooming generations. And yet, they are also the words which create family, define love, and offer the only hope of peace and contentment to a broken and humiliated heart. They are the words that bring life and bring it more abundantly, for they are the words that bring Christ. They are the words that anchor us.
It is of little wonder then that these words of God would find themselves under enemy assault. From our governments, through our schools, and even in our pews and behind our pulpits, the authenticity and validity of the Bible has been called into question for generations. The result is a society disconnected from its anchor. We are now adrift, ruled by the ever-changing winds of man’s philosophy and political correctness. Biblically minded pastors and counselors have been traded for earthly minded therapists. Heartfelt repentance for sin has been traded for pills designed to dull senses and quiet anxieties. The Creator’s explanation of His creation has been traded for the fickle suppositions of the secular scientist, ironically and cleverly packaged as unassailable truths. In other words, God’s never-changing Word has been exchanged for the always-changing words of man. And so, we find ourselves with nothing to hold us steady in an unsteady world. No rock upon which to cling in the often-violent storms of life. We are flailing our arms, searching in desperation for something solid to help us remember and define who we are, what we believe, and why we exist. But having rejected the Bible, there is nothing for us to grab onto which will endure beyond the latest whim of man’s devising, and we are swept further and further into the churning sea of Relativism.
As troubling as it is to see the greater part of our society leave behind the anchor of Scripture, more troubling still is the sight of Christians doing the same. In misguided attempts to relate to the unbelievers, many within the larger Christian community have distanced themselves from the historical convictions that believers in Jesus Christ have held through the centuries — convictions on the Bible’s divine authorship, in its position as the single source of truth, in its absence of error, its necessity, its clarity, and its sufficiency. Many pastors are now willing to speak in the open about their rejection of these historical tenants of the Christian faith. For every pastor willing to do so, there are likely many others who agree but would never admit to it openly. In the pews of our churches, there are well dressed boys and girls who reject outright the first two chapters of Genesis. They do so in large part because for every minute of the Bible they hear, they hear hours upon hours of secular skepticism. This skepticism comes to them in the classroom, on television, and the digital devices that have overtaken their minds and left them with little ability to think for themselves. In this stew of relativism in which our youth are now swimming, absolute truth is tossed out, leaving nothing but the dry and bitter taste of the empty and cynical opinions of men. If this trend is not reversed soon, our nation will find itself as Israel once did, with a generation who not only did not obey the voice of God, but one who no longer even recognized it.
I have written this book for three primary reasons. First, to obey God. An acute sense of a lack of qualification has attended the writing of this book. But the lack of qualification (real or imagined) is not the central issue. Many have shied away from obedience due to a sense of inadequacy or lack of qualification. Yet, God equips the called more often than He calls the equipped, and I cling to this hope in the completion of this work. Second, I desire to offer encouragement to those who believe the Bible to be what it claims to be but have not had the necessary teaching to confront and counter the accusations of those who attempt to belittle and dismiss it. There is no cause for concern at a close look at Scripture. There are no hidden rocks that once overturned will strike a killing blow to our faith. We will find instead a storehouse of affirmation that our Bibles do in fact contain the very words of God. Third, I pray that God might put this book in the hands of the skeptic. It is my desire to provide reasons for the hope that lies within me and my fellow believers. Many immediately discredit anyone claiming to believe the Bible, thinking them to be simple, naive, or weak-minded. In the pages of this book, I aim to provide evidence that the Christian belief with reference to the Bible is not based on a whim, superstition, or some silly flight of fancy. Rather, it is based on historical evidence, reason, and a faith established in the substantive and real presence of God in the heart. As has been said, faith is not a leap in the dark, it is a leap to the light. I hope the pages of this book are a source of light in the darkness amid a country that is teetering on the edge of losing its way. A nation in great danger of losing its ever-weakening grip on the anchor of truth, the Word of God.