THE most important question in religious thought is, “Is the Bible the Word of God?” If the Bible is the Word of God, an absolutely trustworthy revelation from God Himself of Himself, His purposes and His will, of man’s duty and destiny of spiritual and eternal realities, then we have a starting-point from which we can proceed to the conquest of the whole domain of religious truth. But if the Bible is not the Word of God, if it is the mere product of man’s thinking, speculating, and guessing, not altogether trustworthy in regard to religious and eternal truth, then we are all at sea, not knowing whither we are drifting, but we may be sure that we are not drifting toward any safe port.
I did not always believe the Bible to be the Word of God. I sincerely doubted that the Bible was the Word of God. I doubted that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. I doubted whether there was a personal God. I was not an infidel—I was a skeptic. I did not deny—I questioned. I was not an atheist—I was an agnostic. I did not know, but I determined to find out. If there was a God, I determined to find that out, and act accordingly. If there was not a God, I determined to find that out, and act accordingly. If Jesus Christ was the Son of God, I determined to find that out, and act accordingly. If Jesus Christ was not the Son of God, I determined to find that out, and act accordingly. If the Bible was the Word of God, I determined to find that out, and act accordingly; and if the Bible was not the Word of God, I determined to find that out, and act accordingly. I found out. I found out beyond a peradventure that there is a God, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that the Bible is the Word of God. To-day it is with me not a matter of mere probability, nor even of mere belief, but of absolute certainty.
I did not always believe the Bible to be the Word of God. I sincerely doubted that the Bible was the Word of God. I doubted that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. I doubted whether there was a personal God. I was not an infidel—I was a skeptic. I did not deny—I questioned. I was not an atheist—I was an agnostic. I did not know, but I determined to find out. If there was a God, I determined to find that out, and act accordingly. If there was not a God, I determined to find that out, and act accordingly. If Jesus Christ was the Son of God, I determined to find that out, and act accordingly. If Jesus Christ was not the Son of God, I determined to find that out, and act accordingly. If the Bible was the Word of God, I determined to find that out, and act accordingly; and if the Bible was not the Word of God, I determined to find that out, and act accordingly. I found out. I found out beyond a peradventure that there is a God, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that the Bible is the Word of God. To-day it is with me not a matter of mere probability, nor even of mere belief, but of absolute certainty.
