From the Author

The idea for this book came out of my monthly meetings with the Lakeside Church High School Bible Class in 2005. On those occasions we discussed some of the issues covered in the following pages, although there was not enough time to cover them all. Hence the book, which was originally intended for young people in the final years of high school and the early years of college or university.

There were basically two reasons why the book was originally aimed at young people in that age range. First, those young people often meet questions about the Bible head-on, either from their friends or especially when they leave school and go into the workforce or to university. They need to have the answers. Second and equally important, young people need to know for themselves what they believe and why they believe it. It is not sufficient in this sceptical, questioning age to be a social Christian, to go to church because that’s where our friends go or because that’s where our parents took us when we were small and we’ve been going there ever since. We all need to be convinced about the Bible for ourselves. Those who aren’t, unfortunately, may not last the course.

However, as the various chapters were being written, it became increasingly clear that much of the material could perhaps be of interest to others, including older people who also might be challenged by the questions raised by the book’s title and who might even have been thinking about these things for years. As a result, the book has been written for a wider audience than originally intended. I can only hope my young friends at Lakeside and the many thousands of other young people their age who deserve to understand the issues discussed in the following pages will be happy with that.

My own teaching experience has been related to college-level undergraduate and postgraduate students. Years in the classroom with them and more recently with the Lakeside teenagers have convinced me that most young people want to know the facts for themselves and then want to be able to make up their own minds about the important issues in life. And that is how it should be—for the Bible, as well as for other matters.

For various reasons, some of which we examine later, the facts about the Bible have too often been distorted or ignored, so that many people have come to believe fiction is fact and fact is fiction, with serious consequences for all concerned. This book is an attempt to restate the other side of the story, the side that is often ignored by the media and attacked by those hostile to Christian belief, often quite unjustly.

It is important to understand from the outset that this is not a storybook. While there are a few real-life stories here and there, it is in the main a book based on facts, reasons, arguments, examples and conclusions. It contains history, geography, biography and archaeology, with occasional references to old languages and the views of eminent specialists in various fields. And, of course, it contains material from the Bible itself.

Some chapters will be easier to read than others. While each chapter stands by itself and while the chapters can be read in any order, it is recommended that readers at least begin with the Introduction, which sets the scene, and then read Chapter One before deciding which chapter to read next. Of course, the best way to read the book is to go from beginning to end, but that’s a personal choice! The chapters have been divided into readable sections of a few pages in length so it is not even necessary to read a whole chapter at a time in order to “get the message.” Younger readers in particular may want to remember that.

Finally, a word about the notes at the end of each chapter. They are there for those who would like to look up for themselves biblical references not given in the text or for those who want to read more from the various authors cited or who would like to read a quotation in context. Not everyone will want to do any of these things. So it is quite possible to read this book without referring to the notes at all. In fact, it might be a good idea to do that anyway. Let the facts speak for themselves and assume they can be verified. Then, if you wish, look at the sources and judge for yourself whether they have been used honestly.

I hope this will help readers of all ages understand why this book has been written and what its contents mean for each of us as individuals and for the world in which we live.

Bryan W Ball
Martinsville, NSW
January 2007