There is quite a lot of controversy surrounding the Bible. Is the Bible true or false? Some believe that it is the infallible Word of God; others argue that because it was written by men, that some things in it may not be true. Some believe that the events that took place within it never occurred, others believe that they did. These beliefs are expressed by non-Christians and even people who profess that they are believers.
So which is it? Is the Bible the Word of God or is it not? Are the events in it true or are they false? But most importantly how can we find out?
The answer is, through spiritual discernment.
The Bible Is Discerned Spiritually
If you are trying to figure out whether the Bible truly is the Word of God, you can’t do so intellectually, by using just your human mind. The Bible is unlike any other book written in the world. To understand it you need spiritual discernment.
This means that you are not just relying on your human understanding to figure out whether what you are reading is true or false. But you rely on the witness of the Holy Spirit in your heart. (John 16:13)
But not everyone approaches the Bible in this way. And that’s where the problem lies. It’s true that God has given us brains to use, but our brains are not the ones that can accurately discern whether the Bible is true or not.
What you must be aware of is that we are spiritual beings; we are not just flesh and blood. We have a natural mind as well as a spiritual mind and this is the one that receives the words of the Bible as truth.
The Spiritual Mind vs the Natural Mind
Paul writes in the book of 2 Corinthians 2:14
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
To the natural mind most of the things penned in the Bible will not make sense. The Bible is a book filled with radical concepts. It says that we must bless those who curse us. It tells us that the more we give, the more we will actually receive. The Bible is also filled with miraculous events. In it, people rise from the dead and get healed by a simple command. To the natural mind these things are impossible.
How can one be cured without receiving medicine? Or how can a dead person be brought back to life unless their heart was defibrillated?
But it is possible, because we are more than natural bodies that respond only to stimulus and treatment. And this is what the spiritual mind understands.
It says in the Bible that God’s words are spirit and they are life. (John 6:63) The fact that they are spiritual means that you cannot rely on your natural mind to deduce whether they are true or not. You must use your spiritual mind which is the only one that will comprehend them. But the truth is not all people are willing to doing this.
Some People are Just Unwilling
To know whether the things written in the Bible are true or false, you have to let go of your human understanding. You must be willing to accept that there is more to life than what we can see, hear, touch and smell; that there is a spiritual realm, where things operate in a different way from the natural. But unfortunately, some are just unwilling to do that.
They are determined to believe that life only consists of what they see in the world around them and they accept only what they can understand with their minds.
If you approach the Bible with this mentality much of what is written will appear false, far-fetched and fictional. But if you let your spirit man assess what you read, the man that is aware that there is more to life than what we see before us, it will ring true.
You Cannot Rely On Yourself
The reason some people may hold the Bible in some esteem but still believe that certain things written in it are false is because they have opted to rely on their own understanding. But you cannot rely on yourself if you want to find out whether the Bible is true or false.
This is what some people do not understand. They have taken it upon themselves to try and deduce the truth from the lie. But if the Bible is the Word of God then surely you would need the help of God to comprehend it?
So What is the Verdict?
The Bible can only be understood at a spiritual level. If you approach it with the eyes of the spirit man who understands that there is an unseen realm and that there is more to life than what we can see, the Bible will ring true.
But for as long as you approach the Bible at a purely natural level you will always find fault with it. There will be things you will not comprehend and so you will discard them as false. You will choose to believe only those things that make sense to you.
The truth is that the Bible is the Word of God, it is infallible and it is true. But you will only believe this if you truly believe God, God who cannot lie (Titus 1:2) and who has told us that all Scripture has been breathed out by Him. (2 Timothy 2:16) He has given us the Word, written by man, yes, but He promised that it is true. To accept this you just have to have faith.
