Introduction: Is the Bible Reliable?

“I think I might be losing my faith,” said Mackenzie.

Home for semester break, the college junior was having coffee with Terry, her former youth leader. “My doubts started at the beginning of my freshman year of college and have only gotten worse. I thought they would go away if I just prayed more or read my Bible more, but they haven‘t. I don‘t know what to do.”

As a science major, Mackenzie sees too much complexity and fine-tuning in the universe to doubt the existence of an intelligent and purposeful creator. She still believes in God, but she struggles with the Bible. She‘s not sure she can trust it to give her a clear picture of who the designer of the universe really is.

Recently, one of her literature professors spent two full weeks working through a series of lectures titled “The Bible—Mythic History or Historic Myth?”

During this section of the course, the professor attacked the reliability and authenticity of the Bible, making three specific statements that troubled her:

“There is no significant historical or archaeological support for believing that the Bible is historically accurate.”

“There is little textual evidence to support the claims of the Bible aside from a few ancient and inconsistent scraps.”

“Modern science has made it impossible to believe the Bible is true and trustworthy.”

“So what do I do?” Mackenzie concludes. “How do I keep believing the Bible when there are so many problems with it?”

Dennis Moles