Is The Bible True?
by Jeremy Reynalds

A simple column I wrote recently for the University of New Mexico student newspaper defending the Bible as the Word of God drew howls of outrage from a number of the University of New Mexico community and reminded me of the need for continued fervent prayer for our secular schools and universities.

The protests against the article extended over three days. Reynalds uses "rather aberrant appeals to divine authority," sniffed one angry critic.

Another writer pontificated, "Reynalds' interpretation of a vengeful and angry God is certainly different from my higher power." Not to be outdone, another writer railed about my "irrational and bigoted point of view."

A number of the letters even called into question the UNM Daily Lobo's independence and editorial credibility in printing the column. I have written for the UNM Daily Lobo for about the last three years and have dealt with a variety of subjects from abortion to Dr. Laura Schlessinger to talk radio in general. There are usually a few responses but never have there been the number of vitriolic attacks that apparently flowed into the Lobo offices after I wrote this column dealing with the Bible. It really shows the convicting power of God's Word.

With that in mind, I thought you may appreciate reading the column. As you do so, I encourage you to pray for YOUR secular academic community and ask that you consider getting involved in whatever way the Lord makes possible.

Here is the column that generated all of the furor:

It wasn't exactly a run-of-the-mill cover story on a recent issue of U.S. News and World Report. Under the banner headline "Is the Bible True?" the front cover read, "New discoveries offer surprising support for key moments in the Scriptures." That's almost worthy of headlines itself-a story about the Bible of all things-in a national news
magazine.

The article was extracted from a book titled "Is the Bible True?" by Jeffery L. Sheler, who wrote that "modern archaeology may not have removed all doubt about the historical accuracy of the Bible. But thanks

to archaeology, the Bible 'no longer appears as an absolutely isolated monument of the past, as a phenomenon without relation to its environment,' as the great American archaeologist William Albright write at mid century. Instead, it has been firmly fixed in a context of knowable history, linked to the present by footprints across the archaeological record."

That's not all. There is strong evidence for the historical accuracy of the Bible in other formerly hotly disputed areas. The same author also wrote that one archaeological discovery "has been widely acclaimed as a significant affirmation of Biblical history because, in short, it confirms that the man depicted in the Gospels as Judea's Roman governor had precisely the responsibilities and authority that the Gospel writers ascribed to him."

So what does all of this mean for you? Well, if the Bible's true-as I believe it is-it means that you need to seriously evaluate what it has to say about your life and the reason you're alive on the earth. If the Bible is indeed the infallible, inspired, inerrant Word of God it means rather than constantly indulging in useless academic pontification about moral relativism you need to start obeying the moral absolutes contained within the pages of Scripture. (It's like someone once said. The 10 Commandments are just that-commandments and not suggestions).

You also need to realize if the book that sits unopened and dusty on your parent's coffee table is indeed "God-breathed," it means your life was not a result of evolution or random chance. You were rather created by a loving God to serve Him, and as such He has a stake about what you do with the life which He gave you.

Think if you will about what a thoughtful consideration of the Bible could do for you. You could come into a relationship with Jesus Christ, and start obeying the words contained in Scripture. Instead of having "one night stands," you would save your body for your future life-long marriage partner. You wouldn't be looking for emotional happiness in illicit sexual relations (risking unwanted pregnancy and lifelong health complications from sexually transmitted diseases) because you would have already found personal fulfillment and the answers to all of life's questions in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Obedience to the Word of God would also result in the virtual elimination of date rape. It just wouldn't be a problem anymore as women wouldn't have any need to worry about boyfriends who obeyed the Word of God taking advantage of them.

There are so many practical advantages offered to us by the Bible (and that's not even taking eternal life into account) if we start obeying and stop disobeying God's Word. Of course, beginning to see the Bible as a book we need to obey would necessitate a change in our vocabulary. Our modern culture has softened the terminology for sin. When we see an unmarried couple living together we typically gloss over what God calls the relationship-adultery or fornication-and instead say, "Susie is Joe's 'significant other,'" (Significant other 'what,' I always want to say).

Instead of calling an abortion the termination of a fetus, or the removal of unwanted tissue, we'd need to call it exactly what it is-murder. And we'd have to stop calling homosexuals "gay," (which they most definitely are not) and call them what God calls them, "Women (who) exchanged the natural use (of their bodies) for what is against nature and men (who) leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error."

So isn't it time that we gave the Bible its rightful place as a historically accurate and truthful document that needs to be obeyed and not just mocked by morally and ethically challenged professors. Such a decision could, quite literally, revolutionize the University of New Mexico.
__________________________________________________________________________

Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the founder of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter.

He was honored with the prestigious Jefferson Award in 1994. Reynalds emigrated from England to the United States in 1978 and became a naturalized American citizen in 1998. He has a masters degree in communication from the University of New Mexico. He is married with five
children. He may be reached by e-mail at reynalds@joyjunction.org

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