One reason I believe in the Bible and Jesus

For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. – 2 Pet 1:16 (NIV)
For many professing Christians today, faith, doubts, and questions are incompatible. Having faith is synonymous with having no doubts, not wavering, believing promises and prophecies and not questioning what the Bible, our Pastors or even Christian traditions have to say. As a friend once told me, “I won’t allow myself to be confused.” For a growing number of people, however, “Pastor says” and the “Bible says”are not enough; their doubts and questions must be addressed if they are to believe in Jesus or what the Bible says. Let me try to persuade you with at least one reason I believe in the Bible and Jesus.
In the heading verse from 2 Pet 1:16, Saint Paul argues that he and the other apostles did not follow cleverly devised stories but were eyewitnesses. But is his witness enough? I think not. Timothy Keller, in the book “Reason for God” provides compelling food for thought. He mentions that most of the Biblical books that detail the account of Jesus’s life were written sufficiently close to Jesus’ time on earth that if the authors attempted to create a legend or fake the story, there would be many eye witness accounts that would challenge the truth of it and provide an alternative version. He could not find any credible sources that called the accounts in question.
The second problem that emerged for me with the account of Jesus’ records in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John was the fact that there were some differences in the accounts. In my mind, all four authors should have stated it in exactly the same way for it to be credible. As Craig Bloomberg notes, “if the gospels were too consistent, that in itself would invalidate them as independent witnesses. People would say we really have only one testimony that everyone else is parroting.” What I additionally learned from Lee Strobel’s, “The Case for Christ,” is that in assessing historical accounts, historians allow a certain margin of error or difference between accounts. If they are exact retellings, they are more inclined to believe the story was fabricated. The differences between the four accounts of the Gospel fall within the range of error allowed by historians.
Nothing drew my attention more to this than the recent social media brouhaha about Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama. As at this writing, he has about two weeks in office. A Twitter user tweeted that he had spent the Christmas of 2015 in Dubai but following his political defeat was spending it in Bole his hometown. President Mahama’s response was that he spent it in Bole and yet the Twitter backlash supported the initial claim. Two days later, a journalist wrote an article in which he clarified that the President spent Christmas of 2013 (not 2015) in Dubai with his family. The point is that while many on Twitter retweeted and liked the initial claim that he spent 2015 in Dubai, it took just one person with facts who was as well an eyewitness to dispel the falsehood and re-establish the truth. If all the historical claims about Jesus were false there would have arisen a journalist or journalists like this one that set the record straight.
The Christian faith is not a blind faith. As Tim Keller notes, “believers should acknowledge and struggle with their doubts.” That is the only way we can come to be truly persuaded about what we believe. True faith in God is not a blind, mindless following but a genuine seeking after God asking Him the tough questions about suffering, abortion, pride, career, meaning, pain, failure, victory, etc. We may not discover all the answers on this side of eternity but we will find sufficient to bolster our faith in Him. Jesus often questioned people or answered theirs and He still answers today.
I leave you with a simple reminder from Luke 10:26-27
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
The question I put to you is what does it mean to love Him with your “mind?” Are you coming genuinely and seeking Him with your mind?
May God Himself give you the witness that He is bigger than any questions you can ever ask. Love Him with your mind and your Christian experience will not be the same.
Selah.