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What does “biblical truth” or “the truth of the bible” mean to you?
‘Biblical Truth’ means so much more to me than just accurate information. The Bible certainly contains a great deal of knowledge, but more importantly, it also includes instructions that God knows are best for his creation to have and follow. And even more significantly, it’s backed by God’s ‘authority’ to tell us, as humans, how we are to live in this created world of His.
When a 5 year-old tells the truth, in most situations, no one is held accountable for failing to respond to their words. In the Bible, just the opposite is true. In the early days of creation, God gave very clear directions to Adam about what he should and shouldn’t do. He was given the job of working and caring for the Garden of Eden but warned, in no uncertain language, not to eat from a certain tree.
When he decided, through his own free will, to eat the forbidden food, God initiated a strict punishment that included banishment from the garden paradise, a life filled with difficulty and suffering, and ultimately, death. These penalties for disobedience, we learn through other biblical passages, were also passed on to all mankind. Adam didn’t hire a lawyer to bring suit against God for an infringement of his personal rights. Instead, we learn from passages in Genesis and elsewhere, that he lives out the sentence dictated by the Creator, and it doesn’t take a genius to recognize that our world is clearly living under something that looks remarkably like the same price Adam paid for his actions.
‘Biblical Truth,’ as I’ve defined it, is not accepted by everyone and I see some important factors that need to be evaluated before deciding if my take on ‘Biblical Truth’ is correct. But there is also a unique and powerful significance for mankind if I’m right.
When I start talking about my faith with people, I often preface my statements with that amazing two letter word, ‘if’. IF the Bible is truly given to us through God’s influence in the spiritual realm; IF it is an accurate accounting of what He wanted us to know; and IF we are understanding it correctly, then…and only then, does anything I have to say carry much weight.
So much depends on those three ‘if’ propositions being true. If they’re not, the Bible may not have any legitimate claim on how we act or what we think. Conversely, should my three ‘ifs’ be true, and I think they are, then the Bible becomes something exceptional and unlike anything else I know of.
God’s Word, a favorite term of many Christians for the Bible, would be a direct revelation of His will for creation. Our lives could be directed by it’s contents, giving us an objective way to determine how our life must look to please the one who gave us our very existence. We could compare what we, or others, say, think, or do, against what we read in this book, and determine if any modifications in behavior are needed be in line with God’s plan for our lives.
In closing, some ‘Biblical Truth’ isn’t entirely clear to me but when I reflect on that, I’m not surprised. We know that our five year-old, from earlier in the article, can’t possibly have a perfect understanding of his earthly father and yet could one day, be very similar to him in knowledge, wisdom, patience and other virtues. I, on the other hand, can’t rationally expect to gain enough knowledge to fully understand the God who created me, and with Him being defined as all knowing, all powerful, and perfect in every way, I’m positive no one will ever compare me to Him.
