But is the Bible Really Reliable?

• “It’s a good book but I don’t know that I could say it is completely true.”
• “Yeah, I believe the Bible but I think it has errors.”
• “I mean…let’s face it. It was written by men so it has to have some mistakes.”
• “Don’t get me wrong: I really like the Bible. I just don’t know if it is reliable.”

Have you ever heard statements like these? If you work with students…your answer is probably yes. Recent surveys show that 61 percent⁽¹⁾ of the students involved in evangelical churches say the Bible is accurate. But of those same students, 63 percent⁽²⁾ think all religions pray to the same god, 46 percent⁽³⁾ believe Jesus committed sins, and 51 percent⁽⁴⁾ say He did not rise from the dead.

The Word of God is foundational for all we know and believe about God – for our faith as well as for eternity – so its reliability is critical.

For this reason we have chosen to address four critical topics at Word of Life Snow Camp this season in our Saturday night meetings. We are calling it the “I Can Trust” series:

• I Can Trust the Bible – Mike Calhoun (Live Date: February 2)
  
• I Can Trust Absolute Truth – Mike Calhoun (Live Date: February February 9)
  
• I Can Trust Jesus Christ – Ric Garland (Live Date: February 16)
  
• I Can Trust Creation – Jeff Cutting (Live Date: February 23)
  

You can watch the sessions live each Saturday night at 6:45pm by going to the Word of Life Snow Camp website and clicking on the “Live” button. You can also find the recorded sessions, notes and PowerPoints at 2013 Snow Camp Media or on my website (under Resources / Downloads) in the “I Can Trust Series” folder.

The Bible is reliable and can be trusted. It has been divinely preserved for us and we can be confident as we share this truth with our students.

Dr. Bernard Ramm speaks well of the preservation of the scriptures when he says, “A thousand times over, the death knell of the Bible has been sounded, the funeral procession formed, the inscription cut on the tombstone, and committal read. But somehow the corpse never stays put… The Bible is still loved by millions, read by millions, and studied by millions.”⁽⁵⁾

1. George Barna, Third Millennium Teens: Research on the Minds, Hearts and Souls of America’s Teenagers (Ventura, Calif.: Barna Research Group, Ltd., 1999), 52.
2. Ibid., 48.
3. Ibid., 48.
4. Ibid., 48.
5. George Ramm, Protestant Christian Evidences (Chicago, Moody Press, 1953), 171.