Many people today are asking, “How can I know what is true?” We have all experienced believing something only to find out later that it was a lie. Trust in the government and mainstream media is at an all-time low, and many are skeptical of voices of “authority” on different matters. So how can we confidently get to the bottom of the big questions of life: Where do I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going when I leave this world?
No Truth?
Some people say that we can’t know the answers to those questions because the truth is elusive. I once met a man in London who had just come out of a church service. When I asked him what he believed, he told me he didn’t believe anything for sure because he was “living the question.” Another man recently told me that the only thing we can be sure about is that we can’t be sure about anything. The problem with this line of reasoning is that it is logically self-defeating. How can we be sure that we can’t be sure about anything? That is a claim of certainty, claiming there is no certainty!
Science to the Rescue
Others claim that we can arrive at the truth by scientific observation. If we apply the scientific method to the world around us, we can answer the big questions of life. However, as useful as the scientific method is, it is inherently limited. It can only study physical processes and materials. It can tell us what is there, what it’s made up of, and how it works, but it cannot tell us why it is there, what its ultimate purpose is, and where it originally came from. Those questions have to be answered another way.
The problem with this view is that human thought conflicts across cultures and times.
Human Thought and Reason
Still, others think that as we acquire knowledge and build on the centuries of human thought that have preceded us, we will eventually come to the truth. The problem with this view is that human thought conflicts across cultures and times. How different cultures view time, morality, purpose, and eternity has varied throughout history.
Take, for example, the issue of slavery. For many years, slavery was culturally acceptable. Now in most cultures today it is outlawed, while in others it is still practiced. Or take how we view time. In the West, time is generally viewed as linear, whereas in the East, time is generally viewed as cyclical. To try and base truth on the shifting sands of human knowledge and speculation can give no solid basis for knowing anything. So if science and human reason cannot give us answers to ultimate questions, where can we find them?
Revelation from God
The Bible teaches that God has spoken to us using two books. One is a picture book, the other is a written book. The picture book is the book of nature. In the wonder and majesty of creation, we see God’s glory and power on display. Every beautiful flower and every great mountain speaks of God as our great creator. In our own hearts, God has given us a moral conscience and a sense of justice. The Bible says that, “The heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament shows the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1). But the book of nature doesn’t lead us into ultimate truth. That’s why humanity is often in conflict over these questions. For solid, clear truth, we need a clear, unchanging book in which God speaks to us.
… Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find;
The second book God has given is the Bible. The Bible is a collection of 66 historical documents which are united together in how they answer questions like “What is God like?”; “How can we know him?”; “How can we find forgiveness?”; “What is right and wrong?”; “What happens after we die?”; “What went wrong with the world?”; “Is there any hope for a broken and messed up world?”; and “Is there ultimate justice in the universe?”.
In the Bible, God used human instruments to record his message to humanity. The Bible reveals what God is like and what he wants us to know. Millions of people have come to a settled assurance of the truth by studying its pages and seeking the truth. Jesus Christ is both the ultimate Author of the Bible and the primary subject of its pages. During his life, he made a promise to those who seek God and listen to His word:
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Matthew 7:7–8.
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