★★★★★ 5
Fantastic book! Great introduction to some of the current misunderstandings about the Bible.
Format: Kindle
As a believer, I have wrestled with the issue of why I trust the Bible to be God’s defining word. After all, simply saying that I have faith in God and Jesus and therefore the Bible must be true creates an ever-tightening inward spiral based on nothing more than a belief that it’s true. Probably not the best standard to be waiving. Why I Trust The Bible by Dr. William Mounce answers not only this question, but also whether or not Jesus was real and why the different Bible translations are so different.
We live in an age where we are bombarded with half-truths and deceptions by purported experts whose only requirement is to have a YouTube page. The Bible is no more immune from these barrages of untested and ill-researched ideas than is science or politics, but the stakes are higher. While many refute the authenticity and truthfulness of the Bible, one name stands out among the rest: Bart Ehrman. He seems to be very good at nuancing just the right word to cause a reaction in support of his unfounded claims. Fortunately Dr. Mounce is superb at refuting the often-ridiculous claims as well as correcting minor misunderstandings. What I especially liked about Why I Trust The Bible was the way Dr. Mounce not only disproved the inaccuracies touted by Ehrman, but revealed the underlying false premises and sensationalist comments that Ehrman uses. Dr. Mounce’s corrective approach was very helpful.
Why I Trust The Bible easily counters the common claims and misrepresentations against the Bible’s inspiration. If you want to understand the background of how and why our Bible is accurate, real, truthful, and God’s inspired word, this resource is for you. Dr. Mounce systematically addresses key issues originating from contradictory arguments presented by unbelievers while at the same time answers questions many believers have about their Bible. I especially appreciated the way Dr. Mounce included enough material for each section so that I was able to understand the issue without feeling overburdened. It is an enjoyable read: comprehensive and coherent.
This book opens by evaluating the reality of Jesus, then moves to dismantle common criticisms against the Bible, examines the processes and decisions necessary when translating from the original languages into English, and finishes by addressing some of the perceived claims against the nature of God. While these issues tend to be technical, Dr. Mounce expertly navigates the waters to keep the reader engaged as he addresses the Bible’s history, fundamentals of textual criticism, and interpretative and translation principles. Whether you begin this book with a blank slate in these areas or already understand these issues, the book will fill the gaps.
Too often people confuse their faith in the Bible with how faith (in any proposition) reinforces beliefs and closes one’s mind to other possibilities. Much of what we believe is actually an outgrowth from our paradigms. Dr. Mounce points out that we all have faith-beliefs. For example, if I believe God is able to alter the laws of nature to perform a miracle, then that is my faith-belief. But if I believe there is no God or that miracles cannot happen, then that is also my faith belief. We each assess everything by our paradigms. Although we live in a world that seeks to accept every idea as a relative truth, only one of these propositions can be correct; in the case of miracles, they can either happen or they cannot. One thing that stood out was the tendency for the non-believers to try to make the believer prove them wrong. Dr. Mounce flips the script and places the onus on the non-believer to prove that miracles can happen. He can do that because through his systematic approach to answer the critical questions about the Bible, he shows that it is not a work of fiction and that the events in the Bible were not late additions or were not the result of conspiracies perpetrated by a cabal of nefarious theologians of the past. His book documents the veracity and reliability of the Bible that we now have, and while we may not have the first-edition autographed copy, we are confident we have what the original authors wrote.
There are some who attempt to use the faith-belief premise as an argument against the truthfulness and accuracy or our Bible, but that is the wrong approach because it does not accurately represent the stalemate that exists between believers and non-believers. The problem is much deeper and is more centered on the belief that just because we don’t have the original documents, and that because there are too many discrepancies in the Bible itself, that it is untrustworthy. These are unfounded or inaccurate statements which are not backed by any facts, but are simply distortions, untested by any historic or scientific means. Why I Trust The Bible breaks through the unfounded arguments against authenticity by providing the documentation and proof that it is real, that what it says happened actually did happen, and that those who so diligently protected the text for us through the many generations did so with the utmost respect for God and his word. Yes there are what appear on the surface to be discrepancies. Yes there are variants between the 5,600 plus manuscripts (less than 1/10 of 1 percent even warrant further research). But Dr. Mounce shows how it is not the number of textual differences that matter, but whether or not the differences are significant in any way that they alter the basic understanding of God, Jesus, or salvation. He guides the reader in understanding that although there seems to be a lot of discrepancies, only a small number are viable; they do not alter any truth in the Bible. He proves that, “there is not a single viable variant that calls into question any point of biblical theology, major or minor.”
This book is an excellent choice for anyone wanting to understand how we got our Bible, why we can trust it to be true, that it is the faithful word of God, and how Bible translators struggle with real issues relevant to helping us understand what God said. I have many of the resources listed in the footnotes of this book and have studied these issues in the past, but as in most books I read, I discover new insights and information. This book is not just for the person beginning this study, but is applicable for even those who have studied these concepts. If you don’t have the foundation necessary to believe that the Bible we now have “is the very words of God” or want to learn more about the processes involved in interpreting words and phrases and the various theories of Bible translation, then this is the book for you.
Mike F., MDiv, Theology
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Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2021
