Why should you read the Bible in search for the truth? “If you are an intelligent person, you will read the one book that has drawn more attention than any other.”[1] It is unique in nature and the one book that is relevant to everyday life, although it was written centuries ago.

Webster defines being unique as “being the only one” or “being without a like or equal.”[2] The Bible stands alone in its accuracy of translation. “Not only does the New Testament text have far superior evidence for reliability than the classics, but it also is in better textual shape than the thirty-seven plays of William Shakespeare written in the seventeenth century, after the invention of the printing.”[3] As well as the fact that it was written on three continents and in three different languages.

The Bible is also unique in the fact that it has survived attacks that have tried to burn it, ban it and outlaw it throughout history. Of course, this is no surprise to God since it is consistent with His Word. “The sum of your Word is truth, and every one of your righteous ordinances is everlasting” (Psalm 119:160). Cleland B. McAfee penned it this way, “if every Bible in any considerable city were destroyed, the Book could be restored in all its essential parts from the quotations on the shelves of the city public library.”[4]

Relevance is another unique factor of the Bible. Although it was written centuries ago, it speaks to daily practical application. For example, it speaks to finances, sickness, child rearing as well as, who am I, why do I exist and what will happen after this life?

You may have the question, how can I find the truth in the midst of the Bible that lacks chronological order. Of course, it may appear this way if you are opening the Bible for the first time, but think of this thought. “If God wants the Bible to be a book that interests and challenges people around the globe for their whole lives, that guides us into life’s deep mysteries, that trains us to see the world from diverse points of view and in so doing, stretches us to not be so limited by our own inherited point of view then of course it can’t be like the phone book or a high school biology textbook. If God wants the book to be an authentic medium of spiritual enlightenment and instruction, then how can it be a book that we feel we can fully grasp, have control over, take pride in our knowledge of, feel competent in regards to.”[5] Instead, it is brought about by a wonderful creator whose ways are higher than our ways.

In conclusion, in your search for truth you can find that the Bible is unique and one of a kind that bleeds truths through every page for the meaning of life and the practical living of life. Are you one opposing the truth before ever reading it?

“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heeds the things which are written in it; for the time is near.”
The Apostle John from the book of Revelation

Deanna

[1] McDowell, Josh and Wilson, Bill, The Best of Josh McDowell “A Ready Defense”Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville TN. 1993.
[2] Webster’s Dictionary
[3] McDowell, Josh and Wilson, Bill, The Best of Josh McDowell “A Ready Defense”Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville TN. 1993.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Newman, Randy. Questioning Evangelism. Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids MI. 2004.