On last Saturday’s Battle Lines broadcast (1/10/09), we asked the question, “How do we know the Bible is true?” According to the statistics, about 20% of Americans believe that the Bible is myth and only 30% believe that it is the literal Word of God. If you are one of those people that believe that the Bible is true, as we are, you may have been asked the question, “How do you know?” You can’t just say, “Because it says so.” That’s circular reasoning. We presented three lines of evidence for the truthfulness of the Bible. First, fulfilled prophecy. There are over 2000 prophecies in the Scriptures that have been fulfilled. For example, Micah 2:5 accurately predicted the place of the Messiah’s birth. And Psalm 22:16-18 foretold details of the crucifixion. The probability of even just a few prophecies being fulfilled by chance is 1 to… well a number too big to understand. Fulfilled prophecy is evidence that the Bible is true. Second, archeological discovery. In the past, scholars doubted the truthfulness of the Bible because there was no archeological evidence of a Hittite civilization as described in the Bible. But now archeologists have discovered evidence (and you can even major in Hittite studies). And, as another example, archeologists have discovered what is called the “Cyrus Cylinder” confirming the decree of Cyrus in II Chronicles 36:23. Third, Christological testimony. Jesus Himself confirmed that the Bible is true. He directly endorsed the truthfulness of the Old Testament and indirectly that of the New Testament. We believe that the Bible is true – not just in its spiritual message, but also in its facts, detail, and history. We believe that the Bible is true – and that faith is not blind; our faith has reasons. In addition to these three lines of evidence, we both have a more personal reason that we believe the Bible is true: it makes sense of our world. The grand narrative of the Scriptures explains our origins, gives our lives purpose, provides a remedy for evil in the world, and offers a vision of the future. We believe that the Bible is true… and for good reason.