- [Narrator 1] Is the Bible a guide for life?
Maybe, maybe not.
Maybe that brings up questions like,
how much weight do I give the Old Testament?
Why is there so much violence?
Why do Christians misuse it?
Why is there so much sacrifice?
How is it still relevant?
All right, pause.
That's a lot of questions.
And honestly, they don't all have clearcut answers.
But it's okay to ask those questions.
The words I don't know can sometimes seem off limits,
but that's not the case.
Here's the thing.
God tells us everything we need to know,
but not necessarily everything we want to know.
So you might not get every answer,
but it's the pursuit of those answers
that can lead us closer to God.
With that in mind, let's talk about some Bible questions.
The Old Testament documents
God founding a nation called Israel
with a covenant that says
if his people, the Israelites, uphold the law,
then he'll be faithful to protect them,
provide for them,
and save the whole world through them.
And the law can seem odd, outdated, or just plain weird.
Here's what our friends at the Bible Project
had to say about that.
- [Narrator 2] Israel is enslaved in Egypt,
so God saves them,
and then invites them into a covenant relationship,
like a marriage.
And the laws make up the terms of that covenant.
- [Narrator 1] And so do we get a catalog
of all these laws that God gave Israel?
- [Narrator 2] Actually, no, we don't get all of the laws,
only examples,
and these have been strategically placed in between stories
about how Israel keeps violating the laws.
- [Narrator 1] So I'm supposed to see
the Israel's no different than the humans in the garden.
They don't trust God or live by his wisdom.
- [Narrator 2] Right.
And so it leads to another round of tragedy,
violence and death.
- [Narrator 1] And it ends in exile.
- [Narrator 2] And so while the laws are good
and show God's wisdom,
they also expose Israel's inability
to be God's faithful partners.
- [Narrator 1] I'm following.
But when I read the laws, I find a lot of strange stuff,
like not allowing clothing
to be made of two different fabrics.
How does that show God's wisdom?
- [Narrator 2] Okay, so it's important to realize
that many of these laws are ancient ritual symbols
that set Israel apart, that is, made them holy.
So some laws made Israel distinct from neighboring nations,
while other laws kept them away
from things that in their culture
symbolized death, disease, and moral corruption.
- [Narrator 1] Okay, but what about
all of the ritual killing of animals?
- [Narrator 2] Sacrifices were also ritual symbols
that connected people to God.
Since you, a mortal,
can't ascend up to God's presence in the heavenly temple,
a blameless animal that was offered
could go up in your place,
covering for your failures,
so you can know you're accepted by God.
- [Narrator 1] I see.
But not all of the laws are ancient rituals.
Some of them are just about being a good person
and treating others well.
- [Narrator 2] Well, yes,
but these laws aren't just about being good.
They're about justice, which is a big deal to God.
On the first page of the Bible,
we learn that every human is made in God's image
and is worthy of dignity,
and these laws apply that ideal in Israel's day.
In fact, these laws still underlie
many of the concepts of justice and equality
that we take for granted.
- [Narrator 1] So a lot of people have this perception
that God was angry and mean in the Old Testament
and then had a radical 180
and is really nice in the New Testament.
Not the case.
God's character never changes.
God fulfilled his original covenant with Israel
by sending Jesus
because of his unending love for us.
That's what the New Testament is about,
Jesus fulfilling the old covenant and all those laws
through his death and resurrection,
and establishing a new covenant
to love one another the same way Christ loves you.
And just so we're clear,
just because we no longer have to follow 600-plus laws
doesn't mean we get off the hook.
Jesus actually said all of those are about two things.
Loving God and loving one another.
Yeah, it sounds super nice.
And yes, you've seen it on bumper stickers, coffee mugs,
and all sorts of places that give you the warm fuzzies.
But do you know how hard it is to love people sometimes?
Loving others means loving all others all of the time,
including people you can't stand to be around.
It includes internet trolls.
It includes people
you have political disagreements with online.
It includes those neighbors who blare music at 2:00 a.m.
And it includes those family members
you're not always excited to see at holidays.
Not to mention, love is a verb, not some fluffy idea.
You can't passively love others.
Jesus calls us to love others with radical
others-first mentality
that will wreck your world in the best way.
It means asking, is this loving?
And if the answer is no, don't do it.
So adultery, murder, lying, all off limits,
because it's not loving towards others.
So it's not easier, it's just less complicated.
You may still have a lot of questions about the Bible,
the violence, rules, all the things.
But remember, the Bible was written in a context
very different from our own.
And when you have context for the Bible,
you realize how amazing and revolutionary it actually is.
Not to mention, the Bible gives us continual reminders
that God keeps his promises.
He is trustworthy.
He is just.
And he is loving.
Will there still be stuff that doesn't seem crystal clear?
Of course.
But having questions just points us closer
to the one who has all the answers.
Plus, here's something really important to remember.
God doesn't endorse every behavior committed by his people,
even in times when people said they were doing it for God.
And unfortunately, that happens a lot.
- [Narrator 2] Most Bible characters are deeply flawed.
You should not be like them.
But we are supposed to see ourselves in them,
which helps us then see our lives and failures
from a new perspective.
And without even realizing it,
these stories will start to mess with you
and change how you see the world
and other people and yourself.
- [Narrator 1] So the Bible isn't just a guide
for what to do.
Sometimes it's a guide for what not to do.
Don't confuse what's for learning with what's for living.
Sometimes we read a story in the Bible
where people made mistakes,
meaning we learn from them
but we don't repeat what they did.
So why should anyone trust the Bible?
David, who got a degree in biblical studies,
spent time questioning that for himself.
Here's what he learned.
- So from a really young age
I had a deep passion for the Bible.
I grew up in a Christian home.
And so when it was time to select a college and a major,
I decided to go to a private Christian university
and study Bible and biblical languages.
Through all of that and reading some books
that weren't necessarily prescribed by my professors,
I really lost my faith in the reliability of the scriptures.
I started to doubt if the Bible could be trusted.
And I just felt like my faith in the Bible had eroded
by the time I finished a degree in Bible.
And so after I graduated college,
I was actually still doing full time ministry.
I was doing all the external things
that you're supposed to do as a Christian
and using my gifts,
and yet my joy in what Jesus was to me was just gone
because the floor had dropped out
'cause I couldn't pick up my Bible and believe it.
I couldn't hear the words of Jesus
and think they were for me.
It was in that season that a local church asked me to come
and write a poem for them
called "I Believe in the Scriptures."
And the irony really hit me square between the eyes.
And so I decided to have this moment with God
where I would say, okay, God,
I'm going to study again what it means to say
I believe in the scriptures.
And by the end of this I need to come down on a firm place
one of two directions.
Either I am going to walk away from believing
that the Bible is what I've always believed it is,
or I'm going to come back to this pure understanding
that the Bible is inspired and infallible
and points me to you.
So after giving God this ultimatum,
God took me to the opening of the Bible, Genesis 1,
and he showed me that moment when he breathes in the dirt
and makes man a living being.
And I realized that that's the same language that Paul uses
when he tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16
that "all Scripture is God breathed."
That's the word where we get inspired.
It inspirited, in the Spirit of God.
The breath of God
that animated man into a living being out of dust
is the same breath that could breathe on people like Peter
and Paul and Isaiah and Amos
and create a living text.
And so for some reason
that realization broke everything for me
in the best possible way.
There were really good, well-researched,
scholarly answers to,
is the Bible reliable,
that I had been overlooking.
And as I started piecing together the data,
I realized that the answers that we have
that say the Bible is reliable
are better than the questions that the critics are asking
that say that it's not.
And so that mix of faith and truth
came together in a really powerful way
and changed my life to the point where I said,
I'm going to be able to put both feet
firmly on the Word of God
and stand on it like it's solid ground.
So after all this wrestling I was able to do with God
and after coming to the conclusion
that I do believe in the scriptures,
I started writing this poem,
"I Believe in the Scriptures."
And in it, I think it's like four or five times,
and it even ends with this line,
I say the words, "I believe in the scriptures."
And I didn't realize how powerful of a confession
that would feel like
whenever I would finally perform it live
at the church that commissioned it.
But there was something that happened in that room
after the poem was finished,
when the crowd stood on their feet
and they clapped and they cheered,
that for the first time in my ministry I felt like
they weren't clapping for me.
They were seeing something above me
and they were applauding the veracity
and the reliability and the beauty of God's Word
and of the God who authored it.
And so after I performed this poem,
I started getting swept up into the Bible translation
and Bible engagement world
on a scale that I never even imagined
or wanted to even think about.
I was in India seeing an unreached people group
hear God's Word in their own language for the first time.
And amazingly, it was Genesis 1 to 3.
The translator looked at me and said,
"Is there anything you want to ask the people
"about their experience with God's Word?"
And I said, "Yeah, what did it mean to you?"
And it had to go through three translators
to get to the original local language.
And by the time it made it back,
it was this woman who had stood up,
and she said,
"I always knew there was one true God who made everything,
"but I didn't know it in my heart
"until I heard it in my language."
And I was like, that is the power of the Word of God.
Like it just goes out.
And that was all the validation I needed
in physical proof to see, like,
this is the living act of breath of God
that made Adam out of dirt.
This is the living act of breath of God
that has inspired these written words.
And now that breath of God is going out
and changing hearts and minds around the world.
Like it is true.
It is real, it is reliable, and it's changing lives.
- [Narrator 1] Maybe, just like David,
wrestling with the Bible can actually help you believe it.
The Bible is inspired by God
and Jesus confirms the validity of Scripture.
He says this in John 17:17.
"Make them holy by your truth.
"Teach them your word, which is truth."
He also said this in John 14:23-26:
Jesus replied, "All who love me will do what I say.
"My Father will love them.
"And we will come and make our home with each of them.
"Anyone who doesn't love me will not obey me.
"And remember, my words are not my own.
"What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me.
"I am telling you these things now
"while I am still with you.
"But when the Father sends the advocate
"as my representative, that is, the Holy Spirit,
"he will teach you everything
"and will remind you of everything I have told you."
So, Scripture is pretty important, but let's be clear.
Knowing and trusting the Scripture
is not so that you can win arguments
or justify your desires
or weaponize it to hurt others.
But it's for correcting us, encouraging us,
and transforming us into a person more like Christ.
And it's tempting to twist Scripture or cherry-pick things
to say what we'd like them to say
instead of what it actually says.
That's unwise for many reasons.
And it's actually one of the ways we see Satan
trying to tempt Jesus.
Satan tells Jesus to throw himself off a cliff
and allow the angels to save him,
and he's actually quoting scriptures from Psalm 91.
But Jesus responds by saying scriptures also say
not to test the Lord your God.
So taking Scripture out of context
is a twisted tactic from the enemy we shouldn't repeat.
To get to the heart of why it's still so relevant
for us today
is the truth that media changes, struggles don't.
Sure, you may think the Bible won't have anything to offer
about technology or social media or current events,
but the underlying emotions are similar
to the ones experienced by people all throughout Scripture.
We all have the same issues of comparing,
competing, worrying, envying, getting angry, being afraid,
and tons of other things that get in the way
of us making wise choices.
But through God's Word,
we find an unchanging God and time-tested truth.
God's power is found in Scripture.
It can actually rewrite our brains.
Check out the story about that.
- Coming home from my last deployment was really tough.
I was suffering from PTSD,
and that really wears down the spirit.
(gentle music)
I was basically being tormented every night
through vivid hallucinations
and reliving events that had occurred in Afghanistan.
(guns firing) (voice speaking indistinctly)
(helicopter whirring)
My whole self worth as a man, as a husband and a father,
was completely deteriorated.
I was looking for a way out.
My mind was completely broken.
And in those dark days, I couldn't see a way out.
There was no light.
My brain just wasn't functioning properly.
It was incredibly frustrating.
It's just one of the symptoms of PTS and TBI.
I couldn't actually read.
I'd read the same sentence four, five, six times.
The words just weren't making sense.
And I had this app on my phone, the Bible app.
You know, I was like, okay, this is great,
but I know I need God's Word but I can't read it,
but you can listen to it?
And I did, I started listening to it, and it was amazing.
You know, you can't hear God's Word and not be affected.
- [Narrator] The testimony about our Lord,
nor of me, his prisoner.
But share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,
who saved us- - And it was amazing.
That journey through hearing the Word of God
was growing my faith.
And it was amazing.
Through that I found healing.
All right, we're gonna do the old army crawl,
you wanna do that one? - Oh yeah.
- [Soldier] Because I've listened to God's Word,
I've listened to the whole Bible over and over again,
and as a result he's ignited my spirit
in ways that continue to blow me away every day.
I feel that he's turned my entire life around.
I've had physical healing, emotional healing.
I've got real purpose in my life again.
A glimmer of light right at the bottom
when I had nowhere else to go.
He showed up in a real way.
- [Narrator 1] Scripture has power in and over our lives,
and there are people waiting for it.
The Bible relates to your life
because it tells us what to do and what not to do.
It gives us wisdom.
It renews our minds.
It gives us peace.
(gentle music)