THE VARIOUS TRUTHS IN THE BIBLE

Question: Is the Bible true?

Answer: This question can only be answered if we understand that there are different kinds of truth.

The Bible is primarily religious truth. Religion is concerned with our relationship with God, and the Bible is the record of the relationship between God and God's chosen people, the Hebrews. It tells how God treated them and how they responded (or failed to respond) to God.

The Bible also contains a great deal of moral truth. Moral truth tells us what is right and wrong, what we must do and how we must live if we want to be good people and close to God. However, the Old Testament reflects the morality of the Hebrew people and their standards were very different from ours. For instance, according to the Hebrew morality, if a person poked out your eye, you were permitted to poke out one of his. The New Testament tells us that Jesus expressly raised the moral standards. "it was said of old... but I say to you..."

Much of the truth in scripture is told in symbols, parables, myths and allegories. We have to read between the lines to discover the truth being presented. The story of the tree of good and evil is an example of such a symbol. There is truth there, but it is religious truth, not factual truth about apples and snakes.

Much of the Bible, especially the Wisdom books, is the kind of folksy truth contained in proverbs, like: Do unto others, as you would have other do unto you.

The Bible contains the history of the Hebrew people, from about 2000 BCE to 100 CE. Though much of this history was passed down orally for generations before it was written, it is, nonetheless, surprisingly accurate. There are, however, some historical errors in the Bible.

SCIENTIFIC TRUTH

The biblical writers reflect the scientific understandings of their day, which-we now know-were very primitive. For instance, the Bible describes the earth as flat, says the sun stood still, says the world was created in seven days. We are able to read right through the scientific errors in the Bible and find the religious truth the writer was trying to get across. There was no need for God to reveal a more accurate understanding of science to the people. Revelation is concerned with religious truth not scientific truth. The Hebrew people didn't have to know that the world was round in order to be close to God.