“Can we trust this book?”
KEY SCRIPTURE
- 2 Peter 3:15-16
- Numbers 6:24
- Luke 3:1-2
- Acts 18:12
- 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
(Click on each passage listed to view it at bible.com)
START TALKING
- What’s the last book you read? What’s your “desert island book”?
- What’s the earliest memory you have of reading the Bible yourself?
START SHARING
- Matt shared many examples of archaeology and historical research that seem to confirm the Bible as authentic and reliable. What did you learn from the examples? Was any of it new to you? How does it change the way you view the Bible?
- What doubts do you have about the reliability or authenticity of the Bible? How are you wrestling with those now (research, conversations, etc.)?
- In what ways has the Bible been a source of wisdom, strength, or comfort for you? How do you incorporate it into your daily life or spiritual disciplines?
START LIVING
- Check out “Explore: Bible Study” this Saturday, November 21 from 9:00am-12pm. Explore: Bible Study will be a practical, hands on opportunity to learn one method for studying the Bible. Get more details here: http://www.commonwaychurch.com/have-you-ever-struggled-to-understand-the-bible/
- If you don’t already have the Bible App on your smartphone, download it today at bible.com/app
RESOURCES & QUOTES MENTIONED
- Matt’s three main points on the historical case for the Gospels (by way of Tim Keller):
- The timing is far too early for the gospels to be legends.
- The content is far too counterproductive for the gospels to be legends.
- The literary form of the gospels is too detailed to be legends
- A response to heresy: “The canon was a response to the ways people were abusing these various books and letters that were well-known and highly regarded in the early church.”
- “In the most basic sense, neither individuals nor councils created the canon; instead they came to recognize and acknowledge the self-authenticating quality of these writings, which imposed themselves as canonical upon the church.” – Bruce Metzger
- “I’ve been reading poems, romances, vision literature, legends, and myths all my life. I know what they are like. I know none of them are like this. Of this [gospel] text there are only two possible views. Either this is reportage…or else, some unknown ancient writer…without known predecessors or successors, suddenly anticipated the whole technique of modern novelistic, realistic narrative…” C.S. Lewis
