Can We Trust the Bible Is True?

Though written in several genres and three languages by approximately 40 authors with various backgrounds, writing styles, and purposes, the Bible maintains a consistent message without contradicting itself. At Answers in Genesis—the parent ministry of Answers magazine—our statement of faith declares, “The 66 books of the Bible are the written Word of God. The Bible is divinely inspired and inerrant throughout. Its assertions are factually true in all the original autographs.” Those are bold claims, but how can we be so confident?

Some people claim that the Bible is riddled with errors. Their charges against Scripture generally center on scientific and historical matters, such as the age of the earth, the origin of man, and the evidence for the flood and other major events described in the Bible.

We cannot use the scientific method to prove whether certain conversations took place, such as God instructing Noah to build an ark. Nor can we use it to demonstrate whether a historical event resulted in a spiritual truth, such as Jesus’ death on the cross paying for our sins.

But while we can’t examine all the Bible’s details by scientific or historical inquiry, we can investigate plenty of evidence that corroborates biblical details.

Evidence for Biblical Veracity

Archaeologists have located scores of buried cities located precisely where the Bible describes. Excavations have also uncovered an abundance of evidence for events and individuals mentioned in the Bible. For example, several seals (or bullae) belonging to King Hezekiah have been found, and in the past decade, another one was unearthed just 10 feet (3 m) from a seal that may well have belonged to the prophet Isaiah, one of the king’s advisors. Furthermore, consistent with the biblical accounts, ancient war records from Assyria detail Sennacherib’s conquest of Judean cities and cryptically imply his unsuccessful siege of Jerusalem. Critics challenge the historicity of certain biblical accounts, but their arguments are often silenced by new finds.

Scientific evidence for the Genesis creation and flood accounts abound within other disciplines as well. Astronomical research on short-period comets in the solar system yields data consistent with the biblical timeline. Because they break down relatively fast, these comets cannot survive for millions, let alone billions, of years, as evolutionists imagine.

The biblical flood account is corroborated by geological evidence around the globe. The violently eroded rock surface called the “Great Unconformity,” caused by the initial rising of the floodwaters to cover the pre-flood land, is found across every continent. And only above this “Great Unconformity” do we find all the rapidly buried and preserved graveyards of megascopic fossilized animals and plants, representing the destruction of all pre-flood animals and plants outside the ark, as described in the biblical account. We find also the same rock layers spanning several continents, indicating that they were deposited on a global scale at the same time.

Anthropological investigations among ancient cultures have revealed hundreds of flood legends sharing an uncanny number of details with the biblical record. Similar legends correspond with the Bible’s account of man’s creation and fall and of Babel.

Biological research, particularly in the field of genetics, has shown that one “kind” of animal (such as the dog kind or cat kind) can never be transformed into another kind of animal over time because it does not possess any mechanism to acquire the necessary new genetic information to evolve into another kind. This observation that one kind does not change into a different kind and that variation is only produced within a kind matches Genesis 1, which repeatedly states that God made the animals as distinct kinds, to reproduce “after their kind.”

Paleontologists have uncovered dinosaur remains containing soft tissue and blood cells, which could not exist in fossils that are millions of years old, as evolutionists assume. But these finds are consistent with the biblical account of those bones being buried thousands of years ago during the flood.

Divinely Inspired

In addition to evidence from scientific disciplines, the Bible is filled with unique proofs of being inspired by the Holy Spirit. Hundreds of detailed prophecies were written centuries before the events they accurately described. For example, just as the Old Testament foretold, the Messiah Jesus was born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), as a descendant of Abraham (Genesis 12:1–3), Isaac (Genesis 17:19), and Jacob (Genesis 28:14). He was betrayed by a friend (Psalm 41:9) for 30 pieces of silver that were used to purchase the potter’s field (Zechariah 11:13). Then he was mocked and ridiculed, pierced in his hands and feet, and lots were cast for his clothing (Psalm 22:7, 16, 18). He died (Daniel 9:26) as a sacrifice for our sins and was buried in a rich man’s tomb (Isaiah 53:8–10). After a short time in the grave, he lived again (Psalm 16:10; Isaiah 53:10).

In addition, the central events described in Scripture—the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ—have as strong historical support as any event in ancient history.

God Cannot Lie

All these reasons and many others provide compelling evidence that the Bible is true. However, even without these supporting evidences, we should believe the Bible primarily because it is the Word of God. Since it is impossible for God to lie (Titus 1:2), the Bible must be true in all that it affirms. In fact, it is the Bible that reveals to us the proper grounding for knowledge: God made us in his image with the ability to learn about him and his world. And unless we base our thinking on the truths revealed by God, we couldn’t prove anything at all.

Significantly, the Lord Jesus Christ treated Scripture as being authoritative and without error, stating that it cannot be broken (John 10:35) and citing it frequently to correct those in error and respond to their questions (Matthew 12:1–8). Since he is the Son of God, we must follow his example.

Though historical and scientific investigations offer strong evidence of the Bible’s authenticity and reliability, they cannot prove the Bible to be true in its entirety. But the Holy Spirit, given to all believers (2 Corinthians 5:5), grants us the ability to recognize his Word (1 Corinthians 2:10–14), instilling in us a steadfast confidence that the Scriptures he inspired are true.