Question:
“I don’t believe in the Bible. Why should I believe something just because an ancient book says so?”
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Hello Team,
That is a fair objection.
Well, at least, it sounds fair at first.
TLDR: The Bible should not be believed merely because it is ancient, but because it tells the truth about God, humanity, and the life we were created to live.
However…
Here’s the problem: we believe things from books all the time.
We believe math books when they teach us how numbers work.
We believe cookbooks when they tell us how to make a meal. We even believe IKEA instruction manuals, though sometimes I swear they were translated from Swedish into some kind of lost hieroglyphic.
The issue is not whether something is written in a book. The issue is whether that book tells the truth.
Nobody says, “I refuse to believe this cookbook because it is a book.” We ask whether the recipe works.
Does it make sense of the ingredients?
Does it guide us toward what it promised?
Does it help us do something we could not do on our own—make a delicious, tasty meal?
Can Something Be Old and True?
The same is true with the Bible.
Christians don’t believe the Bible merely because it is old. Something can be ancient and false. But something can also be ancient and deeply true.
Ancient doesn’t mean outdated or stupid. Some of the most important things we rely on today came from ancient wisdom: writing, law, philosophy, mathematics, government, architecture, and moral reasoning. We don’t reject those things simply because they came before the twenty-first century, because that wouldn’t be very smart.
In fact, that type of thinking smells of historical arrogance and recency bias.
And to be clear, it is good to question the validity of any book, especially one that is ancient. But the question I would encourage you to ask is this: “Does this ancient book tell the truth about reality?”
Or, to say it another way, does the recipe work?
The Big Ideas The Bible Teaches Still Matter
And this is where the Bible continues to matter, even though it is older than me.
The Bible tells us that human beings are made in the image of God. Whether you believe that or not is up to you, but that claim means people have intrinsic value.
And that value comes before they achieve anything, earn anything, win anything, or prove anything. You are not valuable because of your grades, your athletic ability, your good looks, your swaggering personality, or your usefulness to society.
You have value because God made you.
That is not a small idea.
That is a foundation stone that everything in the Bible is built upon.
The Bible teaches that we shouldn’t murder because human life is sacred. It teaches that justice matters because God is just, and mercy matters because God is merciful. We pursue these things not because they are trendy moral ideas, but because we are called to reflect our Creator, and our Creator is good.
It teaches that love is not just a feeling but part of what we were created for. It teaches that the weak, the poor, the widow, and the orphan must not be ignored but cared for.
It teaches that power should be used to protect, not exploit; to raise people up, not tear them down.
Those ideas, from that ancient book, have shaped the world more than most people realize.
Yes, Christians Can Fail
Now, does everyone who reads the Bible and claims to be Christian live that way?
Nooooo, of course not.
Christians are human and fallible, and Christians have failed, sometimes badly. People have used the Bible as a weapon while ignoring the God and the principles that same book reveals.
But abuse of a thing does not erase the truth within that thing. A bad cook does not disprove the recipe. A corrupt judge does not disprove justice. A hypocritical Christian does not disprove Christ or the truth contained in the Bible.
The Bible is ancient, but it shouldn’t be accepted simply because it is old or thought of as sacred. It should be judged by what it actually teaches and by the life it calls us into. And as imperfect as we are, it gives us the best recipe for a peaceful, loving life.
Imagine a World
So, just imagine for a moment a world shaped by the kind of moral vision we find in that book. Where we are told:
Do not use God’s name to justify evil. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not be greedy. Do not envy someone else’s life, success, or possessions.
Now, imagine if all people followed those commands. Would that world be worse than ours today? Or would it be closer to the world we all say we want to live in?
And that is why, after thousands of years, the Bible still matters. It is not just an ancient religious book sitting on a shelf. It’s a living book that tells the truth about God. It tells the truth about us. And it tells the truth about the relationship between God and humanity.
It tells us why we are valuable, why we are broken, why we need grace, and why we have love, justice, mercy, and forgiveness.
These are not just nice ideas someone made up in the last twenty years. These ideas are reflections of who God is, laid out in a book that is till speaking into human life today.
Final Thoughts
So, is the Bible an ancient book?
Yes.
Do Christians believe everything in it just because it’s an ancient book?
No.
We believe it because it tells the truth about reality, and that truth has endured across centuries. It has proven itself reliable, and for those who follow the Way of Jesus, it not only reveals God, but it also changes us, just like a good recipe turns ordinary ingredients into a meal worth sharing.
As a book, it explains the human heart with uncomfortable accuracy. And in the process, it gives our society a foundation for dignity, justice, mercy, and love, things all people long for.
So maybe instead of saying, “I can’t believe something just because an ancient book says so.”
Maybe the better question is, “What if this ancient book understands me better than I understand myself?”
There’s a thought…
Until next time, God bless.