Investigate the Bible

In the 18th century two British lawyers by the names of Lord Lyttleton and Gilbert West came up with a plan. As atheists, they wanted to undermine the credibility of the New Testament, and they believed the resurrection of Jesus and the conversion of Saul of Tarsus (the apostle Paul) were the two most important pillars of the faith to attack. If, they believed, they could disprove those events, they could get people to leave Christianity. Their plan was to each take one of the topics, investigate it, and write a book about it. They parted ways and agreed to meet back to share their results with each other.

West set out to disprove the resurrection while Lyttleton took on Paul. When they next met with each other one of the men confessed that through his research he was beginning to believe the biblical account; the other man confessed the same thing was happening to him. When they were finished, Gilbert West published, The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and Lyttleton published The Conversion of St. Paul. Both books were a defense of, not an objection to, the claims of the New Testament.

Similar stories abound. Lee Strobel wrote The Case for Christ (and several other “Case For” books) instead of the book he hoped to write that was going to be critical of Christianity. Josh McDowel did the same thing when he wrote Evidence that Demands a Verdict. So did C.S. Lewis when he wrote Mere Christianity.

Isn’t it amazing that when sensible, highly educated people investigate the Bible in order to attack it that they end up believing it? How many times do we hear that Christianity is for the weak and simpleminded? It is also interesting that people have a strong enough opinion that God doesn’t exist that they feel they need to write about it. People believe in Big Foot, unicorns, space men, and the tooth fairy; that doesn’t bother me. I couldn’t imagine being so motivated as to write a book criticizing something I do not believe in. Your belief in Big Foot doesn’t bother me, but our belief in God drives others crazy.

I think the reason people do that is they know deep down that there is a God who created all things. All the evidence points to intelligent design, not random chance. Not wanting to have a Lord, these people deny God, hoping to convince themselves that He isn’t real so that they can feel better living outside of His will. When they go down the path of investigating God so they can criticize Him, they end up accepting what they have denied all along.

So maybe you have your doubts about God and the Bible. Maybe violence, starvation, crime, and pandemics have got you saying, “If God is real, then why…” No problem. Investigate it. Investigate God. Investigate the Bible. God can handle it; in fact, He invites it. You may just end up accepting what you have denied all along.

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him (Psalm‬ ‭34:8‬)!”