By Eric Lyons

His preacher described him as a “solid Christian.” He was a young, dedicated follower of Christ who was enthusiastic about living for Jesus. From the time he was a young boy, his grandmother had taken him to worship God on the first day of every week. After becoming a Christian, he had, according to his preacher, “attended every service of the church” He grew in the faith, and began taking part in leading the congregation in prayer. Later, he personally taught the congregation by occasionally standing before the church and reading the Bible to them aloud, at times even delivering short talks. Before leaving for the university an hour from his hometown, the young 18-year-old from West Virginia was considered by those who knew him best as a devout Christian with impressive potential—one whose shield of faith would stand strong when worldliness attacked, and whose Christian foundation would remain firm when shaken by the devil’s doctrines.

 

Sadly, only a short time passed before this young man lost his faith. He went to college as a believer in the God of the Bible, and came home an “enlightened” skeptic. One of the first classes he took at the university was an elective course on world religions. Initially, he thought he could handle the questions that came his way about Christianity. After all, he had been attending Bible class and worship since he was a young child. He knew what the Bible taught on fundamentals of the Christian faith. He could tell people what to do in order to become a Christian and have their sins forgiven. He knew about the uniqueness of the church. It took, however, little time for one teacher in one class in one university to turn this “solid Christian” into an unbeliever.

 

What led to the demise of this young man’s belief in God and the Bible as His Word? Why did the young man’s faith crumble so easily? It all began with his inability to handle the “factual discrepancies” that his professor and new-found friends had convinced him were in the Bible. When asked to explain to his instructor and fellow classmates how hundreds of “Bible contradictions” are not contradictions at all, but simply misunderstandings on man’s part, he would not … because he could not. After being bombarded with hundreds of questions that he was incapable of answering, he eventually began denying the truths he once believed. Not long after this young man’s “transformation,” he gave one of his childhood mentors (the preacher of the church where he was reared) a document titled Factual Discrepancies. Because this frustrated young man from West Virginia (who had been taught the Bible his entire life) was unable to answer these allegations, he gave up on the God of the Bible. His faith in the inerrant, inspired Word of God was replaced with the hollowness of a skeptic’s uncertainty—all because he was unable to defend the Truth against the frequent attacks leveled against it by infidelity.

 

I wonder how many times this sad (but true) story could be rehearsed by mothers and fathers all over the world? How many grandmothers (like the one above) have seen their “work” (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15) destroyed at the hands of infidels? How many young college students leave home as “solid” Christians, and return four years later as “enlightened” skeptics? Sadly, countless thousands have departed the faith as a result of their inability to deal with alleged Bible contradictions.

 

Lord willing, in the coming months and years many of the allegations made against God’s inspired Word will be answered in this column. Some of the criticisms to which we will respond come directly from the handout of Factual Discrepancies that the young West Virginian received while in college. Many others have surfaced over the years in journals, books, pamphlets, and web sites from around the world.

 

The Bible certainly has been the brunt of much criticism through the centuries, but its ridicule seems to have reached unprecedented heights in the last few decades. But just like the blacksmith’s anvil—which wears out many hammers but itself remains unaffected—the Bible wears out the skeptics’ innocuous charges, all the while remaining unscathed. Governments come and go. Nations rise and fall. People live and die. Jesus warned that “heaven and earth shall pass away” (Matt. 24:35), but went on to note, “my words shall not pass away.” Isaiah wrote: “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand forever” (40:8). The Bible is truly the only God-breathed book in existence, and literally is filled with examples that support its accuracy and authenticity—examples that demonstrate the power and authority of Almighty God. Thus, it is our hope that you will find this column useful as it presents reasonable responses to the charges leveled against God’s inspired Word.