The Bible: A Reliable Source

While eating breakfast the other day, my 6 year old said, “I thought it was supposed to rain today.” I asked why he thought that and he told me that he had heard it on the radio. I told him that sometimes the radio is wrong. He looked at me with complete surprise and replied, “really?”
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The innocence if youth is refreshing, but it also reminds us that we should not believe everything we hear. As school starts, many teachers and playground supervisors are going to be drug into conflicts between students. They will have to try to figure out what the truth is as they hear two different stories about what happened. The rest of us face the same challenges as we turn on the radio or the television. Fox news and MSNBC can report and the same story, yet have different “facts” about what actually happened. If you do a quick internet search on the conflicting reporting, you will soon find that there are a number of different versions of what actually happened.
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Of course we know that the weatherman will be wrong sometimes because he is trying to guess about things that have not even happened yet. It would be nice if we could go to a place where reports of events that have already happened and predictions about the future were always accurate.
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There actually is such a place. You can even find it online. All you have to do is type in www.bible,com and hit a link to start reading the word of God. The Bible, whether in electronic or printed version is trustworthy and accurate.
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The reason that the Bible is trustworthy and accurate is not because it had great editors and fact checkers. The Bible is accurate because it came from God. “For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (II Peter 1:21 NASB) When you watch Fox or MSNBC the reporting is filtered through humans with wills and agendas. The Bible, however came about as God moved men to write what He wanted them to write. He allowed them to use their own writing style, while still ensuring that what they wrote was completely accurate. “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;” (II Timothy 3:16 NASB).
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When the Apostle Paul came to a city called Berea, he told them about Jesus Christ. The Old Testament scriptures speak of Jesus in many places. Just a few examples are Micah 5:2, Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah 7:14, and Isaiah 53. The Bereans listened to Paul, but they realized that he may not be any more reliable than some biased reporter. Instead of just accepting whatever he said, they went and checked it out with the Bible. “And the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea; and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so.” (Acts 17:10-11 NASB)
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Notice that these Bereans did not just look up a verse or two and then agree with what Paul had said. Instead they examined (the Greek word here actually means scrutinized) the scriptures. We know that the Bible is true and accurate, but just like a biased reporter, many people take it out of context and misuse it. Since the Bible is true, we should study it carefully. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15 NASB) Men are often wrong, but God is never wrong and the Bible is God’s word.