Lost in Translation

If there are answers to life’s biggest questions and existential anxieties, where can they be found? Many consider the Bible to be a reliable source for truth, wisdom, and direction regarding these ultimate issues of humanity. But is the Bible equal to the faith that’s placed in it?

Is the trustworthiness of scripture something that we “read” into it, something activated by personal faith, or is there objective criteria and evidence that establish it as a reliable guide to truth? In this essay, legal scholar John Stewart, examines the facts, evidence, and reasoning that support the Bible’s own claim to be a reliable ground of meaning and truth.

Does God exist? If so, has He revealed the answers to ultimate issues such as “Why are we here?” “What is the purpose of life?” and “Is there an afterlife?” If there are answers, where can they be found? Many people consider the Bible as a reliable source for answers to the ultimate issues of humanity.

But is the Bible trustworthy? Can the question of the Bible’s reliability be investigated, and evidence adduced to determine whether the Bible is a reliable guide, or is the Bible’s trustworthiness solely a matter of faith?

The following essay presents facts, evidence and reasons in support of the reliability of the Bible as a source of truth. The reader is urged to be like a juror in a courtroom trial who considers testimony first, then renders a verdict. The issue for the jury to decide is whether the evidence is sufficient to conclude, indeed, that the Bible is a reliable guide for truth.