Why Should I Trust the Bible, and How Do I Know Christianity Is True? | Ask A Pastor Ep. 15

Can the Bible really be trusted? Is Christianity based on blind faith, or is there solid evidence to support its claims?

In this episode of Ask A Pastor, Pastor Todd explores one of life's biggest questions by examining the historical reliability of Scripture and the evidence for the Christian faith. From eyewitness testimony and fulfilled prophecy to archaeology and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you'll discover that biblical faith isn't a leap into the dark—it's a response to compelling truth.

Join us as we discuss why Christianity stands apart from every other belief system, why Jesus Himself trusted the Scriptures, and why everything ultimately hinges on the resurrection. Whether you're wrestling with doubts, exploring Christianity for the first time, or looking to strengthen your confidence in God's Word, this conversation will encourage you to investigate the evidence and take the next step toward Jesus.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why biblical faith is built on evidence—not blind belief.
• How history and archaeology continue to affirm the reliability of Scripture.
• Why Jesus' view of the Bible matters.
• Why the resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith.
• How evidence leads us to faith, but faith calls us to follow Christ.

No question is too difficult for God, and honest investigation has nothing to fear. We pray this episode strengthens your confidence in God's Word and points you to the Savior it reveals.

If you have a question you'd like Pastor Todd to answer in a future episode, we'd love to hear from you. Be sure to subscribe, share this episode with a friend, and join us next time as we continue answering life's biggest questions through the truth of God's Word.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, welcome back to another episode of Ask a Pastor. It is so awesome to have you with us today. Hey, it is it's been a joy to be doing this podcast. It's episode 15. Uh, so if this podcast is adding value back to you, back to your life, if you can like, subscribe, share all the things uh and help it go out. Really, my heart, the heart of this podcast is I hear uh all over social media and all over the world that the church is unwilling to answer the difficult questions. So my hope is as a pastor to get on here and answer the difficult questions uh and to just draw more people into God. And so that is my hope and that is my heart. And so you liking, sharing, subscribing, all the things just helps more people hear about the deep truth of God and helps the gospel spread to all the nations. So if you could do that for me, I would really appreciate it. So today, um, kind of a broad topic, kind of a big topic, uh, but why should I trust the Bible? And how do I know that Christianity is true? You know, there's a lot of there's a lot of people that have a lot to say about why they believe the Bible uh is true. And this is one of the most important questions you can ask. And so if we if we say that we everything we do needs to line up with scripture, then it must be a trustworthy book. If Christianity isn't true, obviously, then nothing that we do matters. Christianity is not built on blind faith, uh, it's built on a lot of uh a lot of truth. Uh, and honestly, many Christians would tell you uh Christianity is built on the greatest truth ever known to man. And it's built on historical evidence centered around the one event, which if you go back to episode one, I talked about this one or one event, the resurrection of Jesus. Uh so there will be a little bit of crossover in this episode with episode one, uh, but I but I think it's good because it's it this is focused on the Bible, not necessarily uh the resurrection of Jesus. So let's look at five reasons why you can confidently trust the Bible and know that Christianity is true. So five reasons today that you can trust the Bible and know that Christianity is truth. Number one, Christianity is built on evidence, not just on blind faith. Christianity is built on evidence, not just blind faith. Luke 1, 1 through 4 says, in as much as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the thing of things that have been accomplished among us, just as one. Hang on, I forgot to check something before I did this. Uh oh, I'm using the switch. Okay, so that should sound better now. Uh, but just uh let me let me read the whole thing. Luke 1, 1. So, inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered to us, it seemed good to me, also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things that have been taught. Luke, his heart behind writing, he was a physician, his heart writing behind writing the gospel of Luke was so that we could have an orderly account of the things that gone on have gone on. So, what are some misconceptions? Many people think the Bible Christians simply believe because we want it to be true. They people think that us as Christians just simply believe uh what we believe because we hope it's true. Um, and that the Bible never defines faith that way. Um, the the thing is the Bible never defines faith that way. Uh the Bible defines faith uh isn't blind believing without evidence, and faith is trusting because of the evidence. Uh, and so Luke's purpose in writing the Bible, like I said, was careful investigation. He wanted to carefully look at uh all the events that go on. He interviewed eyewitnesses, he wrote an orderly account, he wanted readers to have certainty. And so, you know, Luke wanted the readers to have certainty of all the things that that they were reading, uh, not just take his word for it. And and you see, with the gospel writers, he doesn't start his gospel out with blind faith. He starts it out with, I hope to give you the evidence so that you can have faith in what you believe. Uh, you also have John's testimony. First John 1, 1 through 3 says, That which was from the beginning, which uh we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life, the life has made manifest, and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaimed to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us, that which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and the Son Jesus Christ. Notice things he said, we heard, we saw, and we touched him. And so Christianity begins with eyewitnesses. It began with the eyewitnesses, and they wrote it down of the uh of the gospel accounts, of the accounts of Jesus going throughout in his ministry, then going to the cross, then dying, then raising from the dead, and they give accounts of witnesses that saw him after he rose from the dead. So Christianity began with eyewitnesses. Our faith is rooted in historical events, not just legends. You can go back through history and line up all the things that the Bible is saying and see that it is true. It's not just a legend that we believe. There is truth behind it. Because ultimately, biblical faith isn't a leap into the dark, it's a step into the light. Biblical faith is not a leap into the dark, it's a step into the light, and it's a step into facts, it's a step into history, it's a step into evidence. Point number two today. The Bible has proven itself historically reliable. Consider the Bible itself. It is 66 books written over 1,500 years, more than 40 writer authors over three countries, and with multiple languages, Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Yet it's one unified story, one central hero, that being God, and one plan of redemption. And it's amazing. You can go back and read, and the Bible never contradicts itself. The Bible is always working together uh in in perfect harmony, and it was written by uh by over 40 people across three continents over a thousand years. It's it's just amazing how the Holy Spirit worked it all together, and that's what we believe. We believe that the Holy Spirit worked it together, but it's historically reliable. Archaeology continues to confirm cities, kings, customs, geographies. Uh, critics have repeatedly been proven wrong by what the archaeologists have found. And I can tell you, there has never been an archaeological find that has disproven anything that the Bible has to say. So why does this matter? If scripture it is trustworthy where history can verify it, it gives us confidence where history cannot directly verify. So if we can verify people that the Bible is saying, if we can verify events uh that the Bible is saying, if we see that the Bible speaks truth in other parts of the Bible where sometimes we can't verify it, we know that it is a truthful document that we can take uh to heart. Uh and so the more history digs, the more the Bible stands. The more history, the more scientists, the more archaeologists, the more it digs into the things of the Bible, the more we find that it stands on the truth. And that truth is built on the one true God. The third thing is Jesus trusted the scriptures. So an important question. Even if someone questions the Bible, what did Jesus believe about it? Jesus affirmed the scriptures in John 10, 35. If he called them gods to whom the God of uh the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken. Notice it says the scripture cannot be broken. John 17, 17. Sanctify them in truth, your word is truth. Notice it says, your word is truth. Jesus fulfilled the scriptures. There were prophecies that were told about him hundreds of years before he came. They said he would be born in Bethlehem. His ministry uh was foretold. He was it was foretold that he was betrayed, it was foretold that he'd be crucified, it's foretold that he'd be buried, it was foretold that he'd be raised from the dead. All of this happened many, many years before he ever came on this earth. And he he went and uh and fulfilled every prophecy. One of the prophecies was that not a bone in his body would be broken during his crucifixion. And amazingly enough, not one bone on his body was broken, no matter the gruesomeness that he experienced. And so, if Jesus is trust trustworthy, then his view of the scripture deserves to be trusted. And so if you're trying if you trust Jesus, you should trust the book he trusted. So if you trust Jesus, you should definitely trust the book that he trusted. Number four, everything hinges on the resurrection. And this is where we have a little overlap from let from episode one. So if you watched episode one, just bear with me for a minute. But 1 Corinthians 15, 14 through 17 says, and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and our faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testify uh about God that he is raised Christ, whom he did not raise. If it is true that the dead are not raised, for if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins. So Paul's argument: if Jesus didn't raise, our preaching is empty, our faith is worthless, and Christianity itself collapses. But Paul points to the evidence. There were hundreds of eyewitnesses, many of whom, when Paul was writing, were still alive and people could verify the claims. Listen, if Paul was writing and there weren't people that could verify the claims, this would look very silly in that day and time. And do you really think that if a document like this looked that silly in this day, that day and time, that it would last uh thousand 2,000 years later to be in our day and time? I doubt it. And so the resurrection, it matters. It explains the disciples' courage. Notice the disciples, they went from a bunch of scared dudes when Jesus was crucified to going and spreading the gospel all over the world. I encourage you, if you've never looked it up, go look at a map of where all the apostles died uh after they dispersed after the resurrection. Go see where they all died. It's amazing. It it really challenges your faith that they truly did take the gospel to all of the known world. The rapid growth of the church. Uh, like I said, the the this the apostles took Jesus' calling very seriously and they spread it to all over the world and their willingness to suffer and died. All I believe, but one apostle died a gruesome death, proclaiming that Jesus had risen from the dead. Uh, and it would have stopped their death if they would have renounced it, but they never did. People may die for something they mistakenly believe, but they won't die for something they know was invented. And so Christians, Christianity rises and falls on this one event. Did Jesus really raise from the dead? And I, if you didn't go watch episode one, I encourage you to go back and I go into a little bit more depth and detail uh into that. But it's it's uh, you know, really, we have a lot of evidence for the resurrection. But the resurrection isn't one uh doctrine among many, it's the foundation in which we claim everything, it's the foundation beneath all of what we stand on. And number five today, evidence leads to faith. Evidence that we have leads us to faith because there's an important balance. Evidence can bring you to the door, but faith walks you through it. Christianity isn't merely intellectual. Eventually, every person must answer what will I do with Jesus? Faith doesn't ignore evidence, uh, it responds to evidence. And so stop standing outside of Christianity examining Jesus. God calls us to start following him. Here's the problem in Christianity: there's a lot of people, and most of them drop in my comments on Ask a Pastor. There's a lot of people that know a lot about the word and want to argue a whole lot about the word, but they don't want to apply it to their lives. And the problem is we want to spend so much time studying the scripture, but we never want to put it into action. We are more uh saturated now with some of the best teaching on the Bible that we've ever had in our history, but yet the church is on decline. So make that make sense to me. You can't make that make sense. The only way you can make that make sense is the church is full of a bunch of people that hear and and hear the word, but never do the word. We're like a bunch of ticks. All we do is eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, get fat, and don't do anything with it. God says put your faith into action. So evidence may convince your mind, but only faith surrenders your heart. Evidence may convince your mind, but only faith surrenders your heart. So some application today. You know, I always try to end the podcast with some things uh that you can you can do to take this teaching and apply it to your life. So, number one, don't fear difficult questions. Listen, God isn't threatened by your doubts. The God of the universe who created your brain is not threatened by your doubts. I encourage you study the Bible, read, investigate, do some work for yourself. And I think what you will find is that the Bible just points to it being true over and over and over and over again. I know this because I've spent my life studying such thing. Number two, read the Bible for yourself. Let God speak through his word, build confidence through daily reading. And I'm not just saying listen to other people exposit the Bible or teach the Bible to you. Get in the Bible and read it for yourself and allow God to just shape you and move you. Uh, and you know, for me, I'm I'm I do better when I listen to God's word. Uh, and so don't be afraid that if you sometimes you can't read it and comprehend it, listen to it. I mean, there's Bible apps that'll read it to you for free. Uh, and so just just dig deep uh and truly get into God's word because you can't understand it if you don't know it. Obey what you learn. Knowledge alone doesn't transform, obedience does. Matthew 7 24 says, Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them is like uh will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The wise man doesn't simply hear it, he does what Jesus says. So don't just simply hear the word, do it. You'll experience God's truth personally when you live it out yourself. I tell people some of the best thing you can do uh to really learn who God is is to serve Him and watch it move in your life. So why should we trust the Bible? Jesus trusted it, history supports it, archaeology confirms it, prophecy points to it, eyewitnesses recorded it, and the resurrection validates it. Christianity isn't asking you to make a blind leaf, it's inviting you to follow the evidence that Jesus is alive. And so if you've never trusted Christ today, maybe today you stop and ask, is Christianity true? And if you find that it is, then maybe you begin asking, what would it look like for me to trust Jesus? Because Christianity isn't ultimately about being believing a book, it's about believing the savior in which the evidence of the book points to. And so thanks for joining with me today, kind of a kind of a shorter one today, uh, but I think it's it's it's very foundational. So if you don't have a church that you're a part of, we would love to have you here uh at Hope Church here in Cleburn. We have a location here in Cleburn and Meridian. Cleburne meets at 9:30 and 11 on Sunday morning. Uh and Meridian meets at 10:30. We'd love to have you at either location. Uh, if you would love to give to the show, this show is supported by Hope Church here in Cleburne. A gift to Hope Church in Cleburne helps keep this show going uh and helps keep us putting these things on the air. And so it was great to have you today. Uh, I just want to encourage you, go out there and do what God tells you to do. Because, yes, podcasts like this, this is great to learn more about Jesus. But the way the world will change is if you go out there and do it. So thank you for joining me today on Ask a Pastor. It was so good to have you, and we'll see you next time.