How the Biblical Narrative Provides Evidence that the Bible is God's Word
The Bible shows us as we truly are.
I’ve been reading books about Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. It has been interesting to read how they sometimes tried to change the narrative around their lives and business dealings.
They were very good at ignoring certain details or giving a more favorable point of view. Sometimes they were just flat-out dishonest.
We are familiar with politicians and the news media that try to control the narrative and slant things to favor their agenda.
While it’s easy to point at other people who try to control the narrative - don’t we do this as well? Many of us have become so used to controlling the narrative around our lives that we don’t even realize that we do it.
What people post on social media is the side of themselves they want people to see. Everyone’s life seems perfect, everyone’s kids are always smiling, and everyone appears at their best. Prolonged exposure to this behavior on social media has actually proven to be harmful to young people - especially young girls.
People have been trying to control the narrative about themselves for as long as we have existed. I believe this presents compelling evidence that the Bible is from God.
We like to control the narrative about ourselves. We like to hide our flaws and failures and exaggerate our successes. But the Bible doesn’t do that - it shows us as we truly are.
The good about us.
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)
The Bible shows that humanity is made in the image of God. Every person matters because every person is made in God’s image.
But the Bible doesn’t stop there.
The bad about us.
What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written:
“There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:9-18)
The Bible shows that we have all chosen to sin (Romans 3:23), which means we have all earned death (Romans 6:23). The Bible describes many horrifying acts done by people.
But even after all this - God still loves us.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:16-17)
Jesus came to be the sacrifice for us because of our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). Because of His blood, we can have our sins washed away when we are baptized into His death (Romans 6:3-4).
The Bible is from God (2 Timothy 3:16-17) - and one piece of evidence is that the Bible shows humanity as we truly are, not who we would like to be or who we pretend to be.
God tells the story - and the story includes things about ourselves we wish weren’t true but are.
Will we keep trying to control the narrative and fight the truth? Or will we accept the truth and submit to God?