Quick Shot: “You can’t trust the Bible because it was written by humans”

Our “Quick Shot” series offers brief answers to common objections to the Christian worldview. Each response is limited to one paragraph. These responses are designed to (1) answer the objection as concisely as possible, (2) challenge the objector to think more deeply about his or her claim, and (3) facilitate a “gospel” conversation. In this article, we’re offering “Quick Shot” responses to the objection, “You can’t trust the Bible because it was written by humans.”

Response #1:
“Can you trust Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, or Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion? Can you trust any of the human-authored science or philosophy textbooks you read in high school or college? Every bit of knowledge you possess today came from a text written by a human. Even the scripts used to produce educational videos are written by humans. Why should we trust anything a human says, including the human objection, ‘You can’t trust the Bible because it was written by humans’? Do you see why this objection is too broad? The question shouldn’t be, ‘Who wrote it?’ – but, ‘Is it true?’ Would you like to discuss the evidence for the reliability of the Bible?” Why should we trust anything a human says, including the human objection: You can’t trust the Bible because it was written by humans? Do you see why this objection is too broad? Share on X

OR

Response #2:
“The New Testament includes a collection of gospels that claim to be reliable eyewitness accounts of the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. It’s fair to test these accounts to determine if they are trustworthy, just as we might test an eyewitness in a criminal trial. We should ask, ‘Were the New Testament records written early enough to have been written by true eyewitnesses? Can they be corroborated in some way? Have they been altered or changed over time? Did the authors possess a bias that would cause them to mislead their readers? If the gospels passed these kinds of tests, would you accept them as reliable?” The New Testament includes a collection of gospels that claim to be reliable eyewitness accounts. It’s fair to test these accounts to determine if they are trustworthy. Share on X

OR

Response #3:
“Christians believe that the Bible was written by humans but inspired and guided by God. One of the reasons Christians believe this is because the authors of the Old and New Testament predicted future events with incredible accuracy. The biblical authors correctly predicted dozens of historical events related to ancient countries, battles and people groups. This consistent ability to predict the future is hard to explain if it wasn’t directed by the knowledge of God. Can you see how these kinds of fulfilled prophecies might demonstrate that the Bible is more than simply a human-authored book?” The biblical authors correctly predicted dozens of historical events related to ancient countries, battles and people groups. Share on X

Our “Quick Shot” series was written specifically for the Cold-Case Christianity App (you can download it on Apple and Android platforms – be sure to register once you download the App). When confronted with an objection in casual conversation, App users can quickly find an answer without having to scroll beyond the first screen in the category. Use the App “Quick Shots” along with the “Rapid Responses” and Case Making “Cheat Sheets” to become a better Christian Case Maker.

J. Warner Wallace is a Dateline featured Cold-Case Detective, Senior Fellow at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, Adj. Professor of Apologetics at Biola University, author of Cold-Case Christianity, God’s Crime Scene, and Forensic Faith, and creator of the Case Makers Academy for kids.

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