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Truth

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C.S. Lewis, writing in "God in the Dock," said that "The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact. The old myth of the Dying God, without ceasing to be myth, comes down from the heaven of legend and imagination to the earth of history." But most of us, of course, do not have such a liberal definition of "myth." In common usage, if a story is a myth, then it didn't really happen. The question, then, is did the events in the Bible really happen? Does the Bible contain total truth, or is it just a collection of interesting stories meant to teach and frighten?

I'm going to answer that question in three different ways. First, I will point out that the Bible itself claims that the information contained therein is completely true - that is, the authors and others quoted in scripture claim that it is really true, not a collection of fables. If you agree with that, then we will go on to try and decide whether the books we have that make up the Bible today are the ones they had in mind. Finally, we will consider whether extra-biblical sources support biblical claims where the two overlap.

THE BIBLE ON THE BIBLE

Consider first the view Jesus had of scripture recorded in the Gospel of John. In John chapter 10 (NKJV for all quotes), when defending himself from Jews who accused him of blasphemy, Jesus states that "the Scripture cannot be broken." According to theologian Don Macleod (see end of article), the word used for "broken" is the same word used for breaking a commandment. The Bible, then, has the authority of law, according to Jesus.

He makes a similar comment in Matthew 5, saying that "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled." According to Leon Morris' commentary on Matthew, "the Law" means the 5 books of Moses. The Jews spoke of the books from Joshua to 2 Kings as the "former prophets," and the books we normally consider prophetic today as the "latter prophets." Thus, this statement by Jesus validates the truth content of all or nearly all the books of the Old Testament.

For an example from one of the apostles, turn to the third chapter of 2 Peter, where Peter, speaking of Paul, calls his writings scripture: "He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which

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