As a thinking man ponders the reality of Jesus, he must inevitably come to one of two conclusions: That He was who He says He was or that He wasn’t; or, for that matter, that maybe He never really existed.
If Jesus was the Son of God and His story is true, then I dare say reading the Bible is something everyone would want to do. The offer and chance to have eternal life is a pretty strong motivation, in my mind. However, the teachings of Jesus also present us with an equally strong motivation of a different variety. To not believe in Jesus and repent of our sins causes us to bear the penalty for those sins ourselves. This penalty is eternal separation from God and the banishment of our souls to a literal Hell. Indeed, if Jesus was real, the bookshelves in our bookstores should not have too many Bibles left on them.
What if Jesus existed but His claims were not true, either distorted or presented as outright lies? And for that matter, maybe He never really existed, but was a mythological character, a made-up tale such as the Greek god Zeus.
The implications of this statement are most startling and alarming. If the most influential person in the history of humanity and the most impact-making book are a lie or at best a hoax, then our entire world and its history have been molded by a lie and not the truth.
This goes contrary to our very nature, where the quest for the truth and reality are part of our fundamental being. How could a lie set the tone and the pace for so much of what we are today? This one concept should in and of itself provide a most provocative motivation to read the Bible. (Proverbs 12:19 TLB) provides a most interesting challenge to your intellectual mind. It says: “Truth stands the test of time; lies are soon exposed.”
The Bible has withstood the test of time. But for it to have withstood this test and be based on a lie or a hoax would without question make for the most fascinating reading ever conceived – just to ponder and find out how this could be.
So, unlike most dilemmas, which lead us to choose between two different alternatives, there really is no dilemma with the Bible, but only one alternative: It demands to be read, because its claims are so amazing, whether you believe them or not. In addition, its influential nature is so far-reaching.
Abraham Lincoln summed it up best when he said: “I decided a long time ago that it was less difficult to believe that the Bible was what it claimed to be than to disbelieve it.”1
This book, the Holy Bible, is too hot to let it lie dormant and unopened as it does in millions of homes throughout our country. In these homes, the only time it is touched is to remove the dust that has accumulated on it through neglect.
1 Hal Lindsey, The Terminal Generation (New York: Bantam Books, Inc., 1980), p. 106.