Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. John 17:17

Josh McDowell, a one-time agnostic turned apologist, has asked over 1400 young people whether or not they believe the Bible, and when they respond that they do, he asks, “Why?” While Josh says there are more than 50 legitimate answers to that question, only one person has ever given him an adequate answer.

Speaking to a group of 250 high school seniors, Josh walked into the audience, and singled out a 17-year-old young man who seemed to be a leader. The conversation went like this.

Josh: “Do you believe this [holding his Bible] is the Word of God?”
Student: “Yes.”
Josh: “Do you believe it is true?”
Student: “Yes.”
Josh: “Do you believe it is historically accurate? Can you trust it?”
Student: “Yes.”
Then dropping his voice Josh asked, “Why?”
The student had no response.
The following day Josh was outside an auditorium talking with a group of people when the same youth walks up and blurts out, “I know the answer to that question.”
“What question?” asks Josh, having forgotten the conversation that had taken place some 14 hours earlier.
“The young man held up a Bible saying, “Why the Bible is true.”
Josh got excited, thinking, “This kid has really thought through the issue.”
Everybody was listening.
“Why?” he asks.
“Because I believe it!” exclaims the young man.
“Come again?” says Josh.
“Well, it’s true because I believe it,” the youth answers.
Josh: “Is it true for your friends at school?”
Reply: “No, not unless they believe it.”
“Do you know the difference between you and me?” Josh asked without really waiting for an answer. Continuing he said, “To you it is true because you believe it; for me I believe it because it is true.”
Then said Josh, “In his mind his belief created the truth of the Word of God. It is not true objectively for his friends unless they believe it, and then it becomes true.” Think about this for a moment. Is something true because you believe it, because you have faith and can accept it as such? In other words, what makes something true?  Believing it, having faith in it, thinking that it is so, or because a meter is a precise measurement regardless of what you think, and a liter or quart is the same regardless of your beliefs?

Our problem today is that the perception of truth is far more important than truth itself, and that’s why we are in trouble, drowning in a sea of existentialist half-truths and a hodgepodge of relativism.

To be very personal, may I ask you, “Why do you believe the Bible, anyway?” Uh-huh, before you are too hard on the students who had no clear answers, perhaps we should also look at our own defenses—which may explain why we have so little confidence in this book that has blessed the lives of Christians down through the centuries. Josh McDowell says that there are at least 50 clear, logical reasons for accepting the Bible as the Word of God—truth by which you can live and survive in a world that accept falsehoods as legitimate and half-truths as acceptable.

Your confidence in the Bible should include an understanding of how the Word has been preserved and passed down from generation to generation, an understanding of biblical prophecy and how its fulfillment is historically documented. Discover, to your great surprise, that while the Bible is not a textbook on science, it is accurate in the statements that it makes of a scientific nature. Find out about archaeology and how it confirms names, places, events, and geography, and with your investigation get acquainted with the author. That’s the only way to go.  Someday, you’ll be glad, very glad, you did.

Resource reading: Psalm 44:1-8