God on My Side

On Monday night the ABC aired Andrew Denton’s documentary from the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Dallas, Texas last year. As a Christian, I found myself strongly identifying with what some of the interviewees said, but at other times I felt myself grimacing uncomfortably at some of the stuff that goes on under the banner of Christianity. If you didn’t see it, it’s well worth a look.

One of the key themes that Andrew brought out was the importance of the Bible as the source of truth for Christians. Christians believe that the Bible is inspired by God and therefore infallible. In other words, it was God Himself who inspired the Biblical authors with the words to write, and so what they wrote down is a reliable and trustworthy guide for us. The Bible therefore influences us (or at least it should!) in every area of life.

The issue that Andrew probed toward the end of the documentary was: What about the Muslims? Don’t they have just as much right to believe that their book is the truth? The response he received was “No, it’s a lie”. That seems like a very bigoted and arrogant view!

In actual fact, it’s the only view that it is possible to hold if you believe the Bible is true. They can’t both be! Either you accept that they are both less than what they claim to be, or that one is right and the other is wrong. So how do you decide?

I have volumes on my bookshelf full of information about the reliability of the Bible. There is some really mind-blowing evidence to support it’s divine origin, but it wouldn’t be fair for me to give just one side of the argument. One thing the Bible does say, though, is that the truth becomes clear to those who are willing to receive it. I give this challenge: get hold of a Bible and a copy of the Qu’ran, and read both. Ask God (if He exists!) to reveal Himself through what you read. Either you will conclude that they are both bogus, or one of them will strike you as the truth.