June 9, 2025 • 22 mins
In this episode of the One "Yes" At A Time Podcast, hosts Susan Dies and Keidra Hobley engage in an in-depth discussion on the authenticity and trustworthiness of the Bible. They highlight the historical, archaeological, and prophetic evidence supporting the Bible's divine inspiration, emphasizing the importance of absolute truth in a modern world increasingly driven by feelings and cultural norms. They reference statistical studies, including a recent survey by The Barna Group that reveals a significant shift away from biblical absolutes among Americans. The hosts aim to provide listeners, both believers, and skeptics, with compelling reasons to trust the Bible and encourage them to explore its teachings. The episode concludes with a challenge for skeptics to decide for themselves by putting God's word to the test, and a prayer for all listeners to trust the truth of God's Word.
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Episode Transcript
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Susan Dies (00:00):
Welcome to the One Yes At A Time Podcast.
My name is Susan Dies and I'mhere with my cohost, Keidra
Hobley.
Keidra Hobley (00:05):
Hey everybody.
Susan Dies (00:06):
And today we are celebrating what God has done
already with the launch of ourpodcast, and the release of our
first two episodes.
We were just talking about it,and just praising the Lord for
that.
And Keidra, I don't know aboutyou, but my heart is so full.
Keidra Hobley (00:20):
Oh yeah.
Susan Dies (00:21):
What's so exciting to me is that every single
download represents the heart ofsomebody who wants to grow
closer..
Mm-hmm...
in their relationship with theLord and that is what motivates
me.
Yes.
And I know that that is whatmotivates you.
And Of Course, I want people tolisten, but what I want far
more than the numbers is just tomake a difference in the lives
of those who are listening bysharing the truth of God's word.
(00:45):
Because we know from our ownexperiences with God, that as we
get into God's word and weapply it to our life, and we
align our lives with his will,that it positions us to receive
the outpouring of God'sblessings and his grace.
And all that he has for us.
Keidra Hobley (01:01):
Yes.
And I just wanna say thank youto everyone who shared feedback
or shared how the first coupleof episodes have blessed your
life because that encourages usto keep going.
So thank you for that.
Susan Dies (01:11):
That's right, that's right.
I got to thinking about thefact though, that not everyone
believes that the Bible is God'sword.
Not, everyone believes thatit's absolute truth.
Meaning that every word of itis true.
So many people approach theBible as a book that you just go
to when you need affirmation.
Mm-hmm.
Or you need some words ofencouragement.
Maybe you need someinspiration, but they don't
(01:31):
necessarily see it as the bookto go to when they're looking
for answers to life.
Yeah.
Or direction...
or even the standards by whichwe live our lives.
And that wasn't always true.
As a country, we used to, lookto the Bible.
In fact, when America wasfounded, according to the study
that was done in 1988 by a mannamed Donald Lutz, who wrote
(01:52):
Origins of AmericanConstitutionalism, that's a
mouthful.
Mm-hmm.
The Bible was the mostfrequently cited source in
political literature from 1769to 1805.
And what falls in the middle ofthose dates is 1776, which we
know is when?
That America was founded.
Our founding fathers, some wereChristians and some were not,
(02:13):
they did look to the Bible asthe source for truth when they
were penning the Constitutionand when they were defining
what, we as Americans would belike, what our society would
look like.
And really all we have to do islook at our justice system, and
our laws, and the moralconstructs of our American
society to see that they areheavily influenced by biblical
(02:33):
principles.
But we've also seen over timethat in our country, where 70%
of people say that they'reChristians, meaning they
identify as a Christian, they'vemoved away from the Bible as
the source of truth.
And I wanna share somestatistics today that I think
are really maybe alarming,disappointing, concerning.
(02:54):
And since our podcast is basedon our belief that the Bible is
God's word and that every wordof it is true, and that if we
apply it to our lives, we willexperience that true freedom
that God offers us in Jesus.
I think it's important that wetalk about this, and that we
answer a couple of questions.
Number one, can we trust thatthe Bible is truly God's word?
Mm.
And if so, what evidence are webasing our belief on?
(03:18):
Because if some of ourlisteners don't believe that the
Bible is truly God's word, andwe can't clearly convey why they
should trust it, they're notgonna have the motivation to put
it into practice when wechallenge them and encourage
them to say yes to it.
Mm-hmm.
And so this is a key episodethat I hope our listeners will
find interesting.
I hope that you'll stick withthis to the end so that if we
(03:38):
have any doubters, you'll havethe opportunity to weigh the
evidence for yourself andhopefully make that conscious
choice to say yes to the Bibleas the ultimate source for
truth.
Are you ready?
Keidra Hobley (03:49):
I'm ready.
But I do wanna interject herebecause there may be some that
are listening, that arethinking, well, I already
believe in the Bible.
Well, I don't want you to tuneout either, because you may run
across someone who does notbelieve the Bible and then
something we share...
you may be able to share withthem to help them to see why the
Bible is the absolute truth.
Susan Dies (04:05):
That's a great, point.
Mm-hmm.
Alright, well before we divein, I wanna share a few
statistics with you and with ourlisteners that underscore this
need for the discussion thatwe're having today.
And these stats are hot off thepress.
This was one week ago today.
Wow.
This is from the Barna group.
Do you know who the Barna groupis?
Keidra Hobley (04:22):
I know of the Barna Group.
Susan Dies (04:23):
Okay.
The Barna Group, is a researchgroup out of Arizona Christian
University, and for the past 40years they have tracked how
faith influences our Americanculture and how our American
culture influences our faith.
And the Barna group did whatthey called an American
worldview inventory.
They wanted to find out if ourworldview as Americans, is it
(04:44):
secular or is it biblical?
Keidra Hobley (04:46):
Okay.
Susan Dies (04:47):
And I think even without a survey, we already
know the answer to that, right?
I mean, did we really need asurvey for that?
But listen, they track it,okay?
And so.
This is how the report began.
It says, A new national studyshows that most Americans no
longer believe in absolute moraltruth, and instead rely on
feelings and cultural norms tomake their moral decisions.
Keidra Hobley (05:09):
Ooh, that's scary.
Susan Dies (05:10):
It is scary.
Interestingly, they found thatthe data was the same for both
Christians and non-Christians,which to me is astounding, and
you're gonna see why I say thatin just a moment.
This study revealed that 90% ofAmerican adults, Christians,
and non-Christians have embraceda blending of secular and
biblical worldviews.
(05:30):
Mm.
Just, let's just put it alltogether.
74% of American adults trustfeelings over facts to discern
moral truth.
69% of Catholics, 61% ofProtestants, and 50% of
conservative EvangelicalChristians admit to rejecting
the idea of absolute truth.
Keidra Hobley (05:52):
Ooh, that breaks my heart.
Susan Dies (05:53):
Mm.
So in a nutshell, this isbasically saying that the Bible
is no longer the source that themajority of Americans turn to
for truth.
The majority of Americans arejust basing their decisions on
their feelings.
And it's interesting to me thatwe would choose feelings that
change..
Yeah...
over facts that never change,to determine the decisions that
(06:16):
we're gonna make.
Keidra Hobley (06:17):
Mm-hmm.
And we wonder why we have theoutcomes that we have.
Susan Dies (06:21):
That's right.
It's dangerous, really.
Yeah, because for societies towork...
for our communities to work...
for our families to work...
for our churches to work..
Mm-hmm...
for our own life to work, therehas to be a standard by which
we determine what is right andwrong, what is good and bad,
what is lawful and unlawful.
Otherwise, we have confusionand chaos, and unfortunately
(06:42):
that's exactly what we're seeingin our nation today.
Mm-hmm.
Our country has actuallyembraced something called
pluralism.
Okay.
Do you know what that is?
Keidra Hobley (06:51):
More than one.
Susan Dies (06:53):
More than one.
That's right.
Pluralism is the idea thatmultiple, and even
contradictory, moral viewpointscan all be true.
Keidra Hobley (07:01):
Uh, yeah.
Susan Dies (07:02):
In fact, this same study revealed that 47% of
Christians have embracedpluralism.
Wow.
Almost half of Christians.
Which to give people thebenefit of the doubt is probably
birthed out of our desire to becompassionate...
and to seem that we are notintolerant...
as we're often accused ofbeing, but in our desire to be
(07:23):
liked and accepted, and to beseen as someone who accepts
everybody, we've compromised thetruth.
Yeah.
And the standard that God hasgiven to us to live our lives by
is now no longer the standard,even with many Christians.
But a person who is followingJesus...
we just gotta say this...
cannot follow Jesus in theworld at the same time.
(07:45):
Right?
These are two separate paths.
They do not run parallel, andthey take us in opposite
directions.
And so at some point,Christians who have embraced
pluralism are gonna findthemselves at a crossroad, and
they're gonna have to make thatchoice regarding which direction
that they're gonna take.
Keidra Hobley (08:01):
Yeah.
Susan Dies (08:02):
And we can either follow God and look to his word
as the standard for absolutetruth and clear direction for
our lives, or we can follow theworld it's ever changing
standards for truth that tend topull us in every direction.
But the beauty of it is as itwas from the beginning of time,
even with Adam and Eve, we getto choose.
Keidra Hobley (08:21):
That's right.
We get to choose.
That's free will.
Susan Dies (08:23):
That's right.
But to do that, we need somefacts.
So I gave you a little homeworkin preparation for our time
together today.
I ask you to research how canwe know for certain the Bible is
God's word...
that every word of it is trueand trustworthy...
and I can't wait for us to talkabout this today.
I didn't know any of what we'regonna talk about today until I
was probably in my late thirtiesbecause most people who grew up
(08:46):
in church are raised onscripture.
We never really question..
Right...
if it's God's word.
But one Sunday we had a guestspeaker who talked about the
need for Christians to know whythey believe what they believe.
Yeah.
And you know, I never reallythought about that, that so many
people, especially those whoare raised in church, and in
their different religions...
they never question..
Mm-hmm..
'Why do we believe what webelieve?'...
(09:07):
so that we can determine forourselves?
And so for a lot of years, thefaith that we have is really the
faith of our parents.
Mm.
And so at some point in life,we come to that crisis of belief
or that moment in time in ourown life where we have to find
faith for ourselves.
And this is such a great placeto start.
Where did the Bible comefrom...
(09:28):
and how can we be sure thatit's God's word and not just a
bunch of stories that are madeup by men?
What did you learn?
Keidra Hobley (09:35):
I think I learned from, uh, I guess looking at it
from an author's perspective.
Mm-hmm.
Like for example..
Because you are an author..
Because I am an author...
and, I help authors Yes...
birth their books.
And so I was helping an authorjust last week with her book.
And I found it interesting thatthe greatest way I was able to
assist her was to identify theinconsistencies in her book.
(09:56):
Mm.
And so, just something assimple as if this happened in
chapter three, there's no waythis could have happened in
chapter 12.
Right.
And pointing those things outto her that she didn't even
realize.
So why do I say that?
Because when I looked into whyI believe the Bible is the
absolute truth...
and it's reliable...
came from the fact...
when I found out that...
some of this I knew, a coupleof these I didn't...
(10:17):
but here's how I wrote it outin one big long run on sentence.
The summary of what I found.
The Bible absolutely had to beinspired by someone supernatural
in order for it to have 66books, written over 1500 years,
by over 40 different writers,that lived on three different
continents, who spoke threedifferent languages, that when
(10:40):
brought all together, told onestory that collectively made
over 300 prophecies, all ofwhich Jesus fulfilled.
Wow.
Like you have to know thatthere had to, like, God had to
do all of that.
There's no way man could havedone that.
Susan Dies (10:54):
Right.
The 300 prophecies are the onesthat were just about Jesus.
Just Jesus.
There were hundreds ofprophecies throughout scripture
that have also been fulfilled.
Yes.
So that is amazing.
Keidra Hobley (11:06):
Yeah.
And not only that, but theBible tells us in John 17:17
that the word is truth.
That's right.
And we know there that the wordthat it's referring to is the
Bible.
Susan Dies (11:16):
So the Bible claims to be God's word, but just
because the Bible claims to beGod's word, we know that that
doesn't necessarily convince thedoubters.
That's what's called a circularargument.
So we need something outside ofscripture to validate what the
Bible claims to be true.
But for anybody willing to lookat the evidence that we're
gonna, uh, share today...
the unity of this messagethroughout bible is stunning.
(11:39):
For all the things that Keidramentioned to be true...
and then for all the stories tocome together with one
beautiful theme...
the theme of the Bible isJesus.
Mm-hmm.
The Old Testament is pointingto Jesus.
And Jesus came in the NewTestament, and of course Jesus
is always pointing us back tothe Father, but the old and the
New Testament both point toJesus, and the evidence is
(12:02):
overwhelming for divineinspiration, even for the
skeptic if they're willing toconsider it.
The other thing..
You mentioned prophecies.
About one fourth of the Bibleis prophecy.
Mm-hmm.
Which is basically justpredictions about people, and
places, and events that wouldhappen in the future.
And about two thirds of all theprophecies in the Bible,
including the 300 that youmentioned about Jesus, were
(12:24):
fulfilled down to the smallestdetail.
Mm-hmm.
For example, that he would beborn of a virgin.
Yes.
Uh, that he would be born inBethlehem.
That his ministry would beginwith a forerunner or a
messenger.
Someone who would prepare theway for his ministry.
That Jesus would enterJerusalem as a king, riding on a
donkey.
Yeah.
(12:44):
That Jesus would be betrayed bya friend for 30 pieces of
silver.
Mm-hmm.
That is so specific.
That's exactly what happened.
That Jesus would die bycrucifixion..
Mm-hmm...
at a time when stoning wasreally the preferred method.
There was a guy in the 1950s,his name was Peter Stoner.
He was the chairman ofmathematics and astronomy at
Pasadena College, and hecalculated for just eight of
(13:08):
those prophecies about Jesus tobe fulfilled exactly as
predicted.
Is one in 10 to the 28th power.
Yeah.
That's a lot of zeros.
Yes.
In other words.
It is a statisticalimpossibility for Jesus to
fulfill over 300 propheciesexactly as predicted.
He would have to be God to beable to do that.
Keidra Hobley (13:28):
Absolutely.
I think it said somethingabout, in his study, he found
that it was 10 to the hundredand 57th power...
so 10 with 157 zeros...
in order to fulfill all 300 ofthem, or something crazy like
that.
Wow.
Yeah.
Susan Dies (13:42):
Wow, wow.
That is incredible.
So again, that's a statisticalimprobability, but the Bible is
also filled with all kinds ofother evidence...
some historical, somegeographical, that talk about
people and places and events allrecorded with incredible
accuracy that has been proventhrough historical writings
outside of the Bible, but alsothrough the archeological
(14:04):
discoveries that affirm exactlywhat was written down right down
to the smallest detail.
I think one of the greatest.
Discoveries as recent as 1994.
I love that God has allowed usto just discover things.
Yeah.
That confirm and affirm all thethings that are written in the
Bible, but he didn't allowpeople to discover it all at
once.
I mean, people are stillmm-hmm.
(14:25):
Finding these things.
And in 1994, all these storiesin the Bible that we have about
King David, he was the firstking that God chose for Israel..
For centuries, skeptics pointedto the fact that nothing of
David's had ever beendiscovered...
no archeological evidence toprove that he ever lived.
And then in 1994, theydiscovered a stone slab...
(14:48):
in Northern Galilee where hiskingdom was....
that was inscribed with thewords, The House of David, as
well as other references to himas king.
Another great example is thebook of Luke.
It is full of historical andgeographical information,
probably more than any otherbook in the Bible.
And one of the world's mostrenowned archeologists who was
(15:08):
also an agnostic, his name wasSir Ramsey, made it his life's
mission to disprove Luke'saccount of the gospel because if
he could prove that it's fullof errors he could in turn say,
well, if this isn't true, thennone of of the Bible is true.
That's true.
Mm-hmm.
True.
Trying to disprove the Bible bysaying that it's full of
mistakes, that it's nottrustworthy.
But after 30 years of researchand trying to prove that it was
(15:31):
untrue, Ramsey finally admittedthat the book of Luke contains
no historical or geographicalerrors, and that he should be
named among the world's greatesthistorians.
He then..
Wow...
converted to Christianity..
Mm...
and wrote a book on thetrustworthiness of the Bible.
Keidra Hobley (15:46):
Come on.
Come on.
That's right.
Susan Dies (15:49):
The Bible is also filled with scientific
information and discovery,things that were spoken about
hundreds, even thousands ofyears before they were
discovered and not one thing,not one scientific discovery has
ever been able to refute theBible.
In Isaiah 40:22 the prophetwrote, "The Lord sits enthroned
(16:10):
above the circle of the earth."Mm-hmm.
So he talked about the factthat the earth was round long
before that was discovered.
In Job 26:7 he says, "Hesuspends the earth over
nothing"...
talking about gravity...
and indeed the earth issuspended in space.
Mm.
In Ecclesiastes 1:6-7, thewriter is describing the
atmospheric circulation andstages of the water cycle.
(16:33):
In Psalm 8:8 it's talking aboutocean currents.
And so we have all thesethings.
We have historical discovery.
We have archeologicaldiscoveries.
We have scientific discoveriesall pointing to the validity,
and the truth of scripture...
but we also have eyewitnessaccounts.
Mm-hmm.
We can't discount that.
The 12 apostles...
(16:54):
over 500 witnesses who alltestified they saw Jesus alive
after his death andresurrection.
Thousands of followers whoconverted to Christianity after
hearing these eyewitnessaccounts, many of whom were
persecuted and killed for notrecanting, their testimony.
Listen.
People are willing to die fortruth.
Keidra Hobley (17:13):
Yes.
Susan Dies (17:13):
They're not willing to die for a lie.
No one is gonna be tortured andkilled for a lie.
People were tortured and killedfor the truth, and because they
died as martyrs..
Mm-hmm...
for this message, it onlyfueled the fire that helped
Christianity spread throughoutthe known world.
And then there's changed lives.
Yeah.
Your life and my life..
(17:34):
Mm-hmm...
and the billions of otherpeople down through the
centuries who've had anencounter with the living God of
heaven, whose lives have beenchanged.
People who've had an encounterwith Jesus...
and experienced his love andhis forgiveness...
who by faith, received him astheir savior...
who then turned from their sinand Jesus began to just
radically transform their lifefrom one that was steeped in
(17:57):
sin...
and one that was going theopposite direction of God...
to one that now seeks to live alife that honors God.
The point being that Jesuschanges everything when he comes
to live on the inside of us.
It reminds me of those busesall over town that we see from
the Word of God church...
that have Jesus ChangesEverything painted on them.
(18:17):
You can't miss the buses, andyou can't miss the difference in
the life of someone who istruly walking with Jesus.
Yeah.
Because he does changeeverything.
If we say that we are followingJesus, but nothing is different
in our life..
Mm-hmm...
to show that we are walkingdifferently from this world,
then something is wrong withthat.
Yes, absolutely.
Then finally, Jesus testifiedto his own authority.
(18:41):
In fact, when he began hispublic ministry, he read a
scripture from the prophetIsaiah that was written seven
hundred years before he wasborn, and when he finished
reading it, he said, "Today thisscripture has been fulfilled in
your hearing." Mm-hmm.
And so Jesus himself quotedGod's word.
He taught it, he lived by it,and he claimed that not one word
(19:01):
of it would pass away..
Amen...
until every bit of it wasaccomplished.
I think about that verse thatsays, "Your word, have I hidden
in my heart that I might not sinagainst you." So when we know
what God's word says, it's morelikely that we're gonna make the
right decisions because we'regonna be able to base it on the
truth of God's word, which weknow was written for our best..
(19:22):
Yes...
and to teach us how to live alife that honors God.
But again, everyone has toconsider the evidence and make a
decision.
Yeah.
And if we conclude that it isGod's word, then it is time that
we get serious about puttingthat into practice in our lives,
making the decision to alignour lives with it so that we can
experience all that God has forus.
(19:44):
But ...if you're stillskeptical, then my suggestion is
a simple test.
Try just picking one thing outof God's word.
Put it into practice in yourlife...
and see if what God says isn'ttrue.
That's so good.
Find out for yourself because Ipromise you that whatever God
says is gonna be exactly the wayhe says it is.
For the Christian, it's soimportant that we know why we
(20:07):
believe what we believe...
and for anyone willing to lookat this evidence objectively,
there's just no other conclusionthat we can come to, because
the Bible passes the test.
Yes.
It is the word of God and assuch, it is the only reliable
source for absolute truth and itcan be trusted 100%.
Jesus said it this way inMatthew 24:35..
(20:29):
He said, "Heaven and earth willpass away..
Yes...
but my words will never passaway." The point being that
God's words are eternally true.
They were true when he spokethem and they're gonna be true
in eternity.
We can trust it, and our hopetoday is that after this
podcast, if you have everdoubted God's word that you will
trust it too.
(20:50):
Amen.
Amen.
All right.
Keidra, would you pray for usas we get ready to close out our
time together today?
Absolutely.
Father, we thank you so muchfor your word.
We thank you that your word,the Bible, is the absolute
truth.
We pray, dear Lord, that thosewho may be questioning it, that
you would reveal yourselfthrough your word in their lives
experientially, that they mayhave an encounter with you, that
(21:13):
they would test you and seethat you are faithful to your
word.
We thank you for it.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Welcome to the One Yes At A Time Podcast.
My name is Susan Dies and I'mhere with my cohost, Keidra
Hobley.
Keidra Hobley (00:05):
Hey everybody.
Susan Dies (00:06):
And today we are celebrating what God has done
already with the launch of ourpodcast, and the release of our
first two episodes.
We were just talking about it,and just praising the Lord for
that.
And Keidra, I don't know aboutyou, but my heart is so full.
Keidra Hobley (00:20):
Oh yeah.
Susan Dies (00:21):
What's so exciting to me is that every single
download represents the heart ofsomebody who wants to grow
closer..
Mm-hmm...
in their relationship with theLord and that is what motivates
me.
Yes.
And I know that that is whatmotivates you.
And Of Course, I want people tolisten, but what I want far
more than the numbers is just tomake a difference in the lives
of those who are listening bysharing the truth of God's word.
(00:45):
Because we know from our ownexperiences with God, that as we
get into God's word and weapply it to our life, and we
align our lives with his will,that it positions us to receive
the outpouring of God'sblessings and his grace.
And all that he has for us.
Keidra Hobley (01:01):
Yes.
And I just wanna say thank youto everyone who shared feedback
or shared how the first coupleof episodes have blessed your
life because that encourages usto keep going.
So thank you for that.
Susan Dies (01:11):
That's right, that's right.
I got to thinking about thefact though, that not everyone
believes that the Bible is God'sword.
Not, everyone believes thatit's absolute truth.
Meaning that every word of itis true.
So many people approach theBible as a book that you just go
to when you need affirmation.
Mm-hmm.
Or you need some words ofencouragement.
Maybe you need someinspiration, but they don't
(01:31):
necessarily see it as the bookto go to when they're looking
for answers to life.
Yeah.
Or direction...
or even the standards by whichwe live our lives.
And that wasn't always true.
As a country, we used to, lookto the Bible.
In fact, when America wasfounded, according to the study
that was done in 1988 by a mannamed Donald Lutz, who wrote
(01:52):
Origins of AmericanConstitutionalism, that's a
mouthful.
Mm-hmm.
The Bible was the mostfrequently cited source in
political literature from 1769to 1805.
And what falls in the middle ofthose dates is 1776, which we
know is when?
That America was founded.
Our founding fathers, some wereChristians and some were not,
(02:13):
they did look to the Bible asthe source for truth when they
were penning the Constitutionand when they were defining
what, we as Americans would belike, what our society would
look like.
And really all we have to do islook at our justice system, and
our laws, and the moralconstructs of our American
society to see that they areheavily influenced by biblical
(02:33):
principles.
But we've also seen over timethat in our country, where 70%
of people say that they'reChristians, meaning they
identify as a Christian, they'vemoved away from the Bible as
the source of truth.
And I wanna share somestatistics today that I think
are really maybe alarming,disappointing, concerning.
(02:54):
And since our podcast is basedon our belief that the Bible is
God's word and that every wordof it is true, and that if we
apply it to our lives, we willexperience that true freedom
that God offers us in Jesus.
I think it's important that wetalk about this, and that we
answer a couple of questions.
Number one, can we trust thatthe Bible is truly God's word?
Mm.
And if so, what evidence are webasing our belief on?
(03:18):
Because if some of ourlisteners don't believe that the
Bible is truly God's word, andwe can't clearly convey why they
should trust it, they're notgonna have the motivation to put
it into practice when wechallenge them and encourage
them to say yes to it.
Mm-hmm.
And so this is a key episodethat I hope our listeners will
find interesting.
I hope that you'll stick withthis to the end so that if we
(03:38):
have any doubters, you'll havethe opportunity to weigh the
evidence for yourself andhopefully make that conscious
choice to say yes to the Bibleas the ultimate source for
truth.
Are you ready?
Keidra Hobley (03:49):
I'm ready.
But I do wanna interject herebecause there may be some that
are listening, that arethinking, well, I already
believe in the Bible.
Well, I don't want you to tuneout either, because you may run
across someone who does notbelieve the Bible and then
something we share...
you may be able to share withthem to help them to see why the
Bible is the absolute truth.
Susan Dies (04:05):
That's a great, point.
Mm-hmm.
Alright, well before we divein, I wanna share a few
statistics with you and with ourlisteners that underscore this
need for the discussion thatwe're having today.
And these stats are hot off thepress.
This was one week ago today.
Wow.
This is from the Barna group.
Do you know who the Barna groupis?
Keidra Hobley (04:22):
I know of the Barna Group.
Susan Dies (04:23):
Okay.
The Barna Group, is a researchgroup out of Arizona Christian
University, and for the past 40years they have tracked how
faith influences our Americanculture and how our American
culture influences our faith.
And the Barna group did whatthey called an American
worldview inventory.
They wanted to find out if ourworldview as Americans, is it
(04:44):
secular or is it biblical?
Keidra Hobley (04:46):
Okay.
Susan Dies (04:47):
And I think even without a survey, we already
know the answer to that, right?
I mean, did we really need asurvey for that?
But listen, they track it,okay?
And so.
This is how the report began.
It says, A new national studyshows that most Americans no
longer believe in absolute moraltruth, and instead rely on
feelings and cultural norms tomake their moral decisions.
Keidra Hobley (05:09):
Ooh, that's scary.
Susan Dies (05:10):
It is scary.
Interestingly, they found thatthe data was the same for both
Christians and non-Christians,which to me is astounding, and
you're gonna see why I say thatin just a moment.
This study revealed that 90% ofAmerican adults, Christians,
and non-Christians have embraceda blending of secular and
biblical worldviews.
(05:30):
Mm.
Just, let's just put it alltogether.
74% of American adults trustfeelings over facts to discern
moral truth.
69% of Catholics, 61% ofProtestants, and 50% of
conservative EvangelicalChristians admit to rejecting
the idea of absolute truth.
Keidra Hobley (05:52):
Ooh, that breaks my heart.
Susan Dies (05:53):
Mm.
So in a nutshell, this isbasically saying that the Bible
is no longer the source that themajority of Americans turn to
for truth.
The majority of Americans arejust basing their decisions on
their feelings.
And it's interesting to me thatwe would choose feelings that
change..
Yeah...
over facts that never change,to determine the decisions that
(06:16):
we're gonna make.
Keidra Hobley (06:17):
Mm-hmm.
And we wonder why we have theoutcomes that we have.
Susan Dies (06:21):
That's right.
It's dangerous, really.
Yeah, because for societies towork...
for our communities to work...
for our families to work...
for our churches to work..
Mm-hmm...
for our own life to work, therehas to be a standard by which
we determine what is right andwrong, what is good and bad,
what is lawful and unlawful.
Otherwise, we have confusionand chaos, and unfortunately
(06:42):
that's exactly what we're seeingin our nation today.
Mm-hmm.
Our country has actuallyembraced something called
pluralism.
Okay.
Do you know what that is?
Keidra Hobley (06:51):
More than one.
Susan Dies (06:53):
More than one.
That's right.
Pluralism is the idea thatmultiple, and even
contradictory, moral viewpointscan all be true.
Keidra Hobley (07:01):
Uh, yeah.
Susan Dies (07:02):
In fact, this same study revealed that 47% of
Christians have embracedpluralism.
Wow.
Almost half of Christians.
Which to give people thebenefit of the doubt is probably
birthed out of our desire to becompassionate...
and to seem that we are notintolerant...
as we're often accused ofbeing, but in our desire to be
(07:23):
liked and accepted, and to beseen as someone who accepts
everybody, we've compromised thetruth.
Yeah.
And the standard that God hasgiven to us to live our lives by
is now no longer the standard,even with many Christians.
But a person who is followingJesus...
we just gotta say this...
cannot follow Jesus in theworld at the same time.
(07:45):
Right?
These are two separate paths.
They do not run parallel, andthey take us in opposite
directions.
And so at some point,Christians who have embraced
pluralism are gonna findthemselves at a crossroad, and
they're gonna have to make thatchoice regarding which direction
that they're gonna take.
Keidra Hobley (08:01):
Yeah.
Susan Dies (08:02):
And we can either follow God and look to his word
as the standard for absolutetruth and clear direction for
our lives, or we can follow theworld it's ever changing
standards for truth that tend topull us in every direction.
But the beauty of it is as itwas from the beginning of time,
even with Adam and Eve, we getto choose.
Keidra Hobley (08:21):
That's right.
We get to choose.
That's free will.
Susan Dies (08:23):
That's right.
But to do that, we need somefacts.
So I gave you a little homeworkin preparation for our time
together today.
I ask you to research how canwe know for certain the Bible is
God's word...
that every word of it is trueand trustworthy...
and I can't wait for us to talkabout this today.
I didn't know any of what we'regonna talk about today until I
was probably in my late thirtiesbecause most people who grew up
(08:46):
in church are raised onscripture.
We never really question..
Right...
if it's God's word.
But one Sunday we had a guestspeaker who talked about the
need for Christians to know whythey believe what they believe.
Yeah.
And you know, I never reallythought about that, that so many
people, especially those whoare raised in church, and in
their different religions...
they never question..
Mm-hmm..
'Why do we believe what webelieve?'...
(09:07):
so that we can determine forourselves?
And so for a lot of years, thefaith that we have is really the
faith of our parents.
Mm.
And so at some point in life,we come to that crisis of belief
or that moment in time in ourown life where we have to find
faith for ourselves.
And this is such a great placeto start.
Where did the Bible comefrom...
(09:28):
and how can we be sure thatit's God's word and not just a
bunch of stories that are madeup by men?
What did you learn?
Keidra Hobley (09:35):
I think I learned from, uh, I guess looking at it
from an author's perspective.
Mm-hmm.
Like for example..
Because you are an author..
Because I am an author...
and, I help authors Yes...
birth their books.
And so I was helping an authorjust last week with her book.
And I found it interesting thatthe greatest way I was able to
assist her was to identify theinconsistencies in her book.
(09:56):
Mm.
And so, just something assimple as if this happened in
chapter three, there's no waythis could have happened in
chapter 12.
Right.
And pointing those things outto her that she didn't even
realize.
So why do I say that?
Because when I looked into whyI believe the Bible is the
absolute truth...
and it's reliable...
came from the fact...
when I found out that...
some of this I knew, a coupleof these I didn't...
(10:17):
but here's how I wrote it outin one big long run on sentence.
The summary of what I found.
The Bible absolutely had to beinspired by someone supernatural
in order for it to have 66books, written over 1500 years,
by over 40 different writers,that lived on three different
continents, who spoke threedifferent languages, that when
(10:40):
brought all together, told onestory that collectively made
over 300 prophecies, all ofwhich Jesus fulfilled.
Wow.
Like you have to know thatthere had to, like, God had to
do all of that.
There's no way man could havedone that.
Susan Dies (10:54):
Right.
The 300 prophecies are the onesthat were just about Jesus.
Just Jesus.
There were hundreds ofprophecies throughout scripture
that have also been fulfilled.
Yes.
So that is amazing.
Keidra Hobley (11:06):
Yeah.
And not only that, but theBible tells us in John 17:17
that the word is truth.
That's right.
And we know there that the wordthat it's referring to is the
Bible.
Susan Dies (11:16):
So the Bible claims to be God's word, but just
because the Bible claims to beGod's word, we know that that
doesn't necessarily convince thedoubters.
That's what's called a circularargument.
So we need something outside ofscripture to validate what the
Bible claims to be true.
But for anybody willing to lookat the evidence that we're
gonna, uh, share today...
the unity of this messagethroughout bible is stunning.
(11:39):
For all the things that Keidramentioned to be true...
and then for all the stories tocome together with one
beautiful theme...
the theme of the Bible isJesus.
Mm-hmm.
The Old Testament is pointingto Jesus.
And Jesus came in the NewTestament, and of course Jesus
is always pointing us back tothe Father, but the old and the
New Testament both point toJesus, and the evidence is
(12:02):
overwhelming for divineinspiration, even for the
skeptic if they're willing toconsider it.
The other thing..
You mentioned prophecies.
About one fourth of the Bibleis prophecy.
Mm-hmm.
Which is basically justpredictions about people, and
places, and events that wouldhappen in the future.
And about two thirds of all theprophecies in the Bible,
including the 300 that youmentioned about Jesus, were
(12:24):
fulfilled down to the smallestdetail.
Mm-hmm.
For example, that he would beborn of a virgin.
Yes.
Uh, that he would be born inBethlehem.
That his ministry would beginwith a forerunner or a
messenger.
Someone who would prepare theway for his ministry.
That Jesus would enterJerusalem as a king, riding on a
donkey.
Yeah.
(12:44):
That Jesus would be betrayed bya friend for 30 pieces of
silver.
Mm-hmm.
That is so specific.
That's exactly what happened.
That Jesus would die bycrucifixion..
Mm-hmm...
at a time when stoning wasreally the preferred method.
There was a guy in the 1950s,his name was Peter Stoner.
He was the chairman ofmathematics and astronomy at
Pasadena College, and hecalculated for just eight of
(13:08):
those prophecies about Jesus tobe fulfilled exactly as
predicted.
Is one in 10 to the 28th power.
Yeah.
That's a lot of zeros.
Yes.
In other words.
It is a statisticalimpossibility for Jesus to
fulfill over 300 propheciesexactly as predicted.
He would have to be God to beable to do that.
Keidra Hobley (13:28):
Absolutely.
I think it said somethingabout, in his study, he found
that it was 10 to the hundredand 57th power...
so 10 with 157 zeros...
in order to fulfill all 300 ofthem, or something crazy like
that.
Wow.
Yeah.
Susan Dies (13:42):
Wow, wow.
That is incredible.
So again, that's a statisticalimprobability, but the Bible is
also filled with all kinds ofother evidence...
some historical, somegeographical, that talk about
people and places and events allrecorded with incredible
accuracy that has been proventhrough historical writings
outside of the Bible, but alsothrough the archeological
(14:04):
discoveries that affirm exactlywhat was written down right down
to the smallest detail.
I think one of the greatest.
Discoveries as recent as 1994.
I love that God has allowed usto just discover things.
Yeah.
That confirm and affirm all thethings that are written in the
Bible, but he didn't allowpeople to discover it all at
once.
I mean, people are stillmm-hmm.
(14:25):
Finding these things.
And in 1994, all these storiesin the Bible that we have about
King David, he was the firstking that God chose for Israel..
For centuries, skeptics pointedto the fact that nothing of
David's had ever beendiscovered...
no archeological evidence toprove that he ever lived.
And then in 1994, theydiscovered a stone slab...
(14:48):
in Northern Galilee where hiskingdom was....
that was inscribed with thewords, The House of David, as
well as other references to himas king.
Another great example is thebook of Luke.
It is full of historical andgeographical information,
probably more than any otherbook in the Bible.
And one of the world's mostrenowned archeologists who was
(15:08):
also an agnostic, his name wasSir Ramsey, made it his life's
mission to disprove Luke'saccount of the gospel because if
he could prove that it's fullof errors he could in turn say,
well, if this isn't true, thennone of of the Bible is true.
That's true.
Mm-hmm.
True.
Trying to disprove the Bible bysaying that it's full of
mistakes, that it's nottrustworthy.
But after 30 years of researchand trying to prove that it was
(15:31):
untrue, Ramsey finally admittedthat the book of Luke contains
no historical or geographicalerrors, and that he should be
named among the world's greatesthistorians.
He then..
Wow...
converted to Christianity..
Mm...
and wrote a book on thetrustworthiness of the Bible.
Keidra Hobley (15:46):
Come on.
Come on.
That's right.
Susan Dies (15:49):
The Bible is also filled with scientific
information and discovery,things that were spoken about
hundreds, even thousands ofyears before they were
discovered and not one thing,not one scientific discovery has
ever been able to refute theBible.
In Isaiah 40:22 the prophetwrote, "The Lord sits enthroned
(16:10):
above the circle of the earth."Mm-hmm.
So he talked about the factthat the earth was round long
before that was discovered.
In Job 26:7 he says, "Hesuspends the earth over
nothing"...
talking about gravity...
and indeed the earth issuspended in space.
Mm.
In Ecclesiastes 1:6-7, thewriter is describing the
atmospheric circulation andstages of the water cycle.
(16:33):
In Psalm 8:8 it's talking aboutocean currents.
And so we have all thesethings.
We have historical discovery.
We have archeologicaldiscoveries.
We have scientific discoveriesall pointing to the validity,
and the truth of scripture...
but we also have eyewitnessaccounts.
Mm-hmm.
We can't discount that.
The 12 apostles...
(16:54):
over 500 witnesses who alltestified they saw Jesus alive
after his death andresurrection.
Thousands of followers whoconverted to Christianity after
hearing these eyewitnessaccounts, many of whom were
persecuted and killed for notrecanting, their testimony.
Listen.
People are willing to die fortruth.
Keidra Hobley (17:13):
Yes.
Susan Dies (17:13):
They're not willing to die for a lie.
No one is gonna be tortured andkilled for a lie.
People were tortured and killedfor the truth, and because they
died as martyrs..
Mm-hmm...
for this message, it onlyfueled the fire that helped
Christianity spread throughoutthe known world.
And then there's changed lives.
Yeah.
Your life and my life..
(17:34):
Mm-hmm...
and the billions of otherpeople down through the
centuries who've had anencounter with the living God of
heaven, whose lives have beenchanged.
People who've had an encounterwith Jesus...
and experienced his love andhis forgiveness...
who by faith, received him astheir savior...
who then turned from their sinand Jesus began to just
radically transform their lifefrom one that was steeped in
(17:57):
sin...
and one that was going theopposite direction of God...
to one that now seeks to live alife that honors God.
The point being that Jesuschanges everything when he comes
to live on the inside of us.
It reminds me of those busesall over town that we see from
the Word of God church...
that have Jesus ChangesEverything painted on them.
(18:17):
You can't miss the buses, andyou can't miss the difference in
the life of someone who istruly walking with Jesus.
Yeah.
Because he does changeeverything.
If we say that we are followingJesus, but nothing is different
in our life..
Mm-hmm...
to show that we are walkingdifferently from this world,
then something is wrong withthat.
Yes, absolutely.
Then finally, Jesus testifiedto his own authority.
(18:41):
In fact, when he began hispublic ministry, he read a
scripture from the prophetIsaiah that was written seven
hundred years before he wasborn, and when he finished
reading it, he said, "Today thisscripture has been fulfilled in
your hearing." Mm-hmm.
And so Jesus himself quotedGod's word.
He taught it, he lived by it,and he claimed that not one word
(19:01):
of it would pass away..
Amen...
until every bit of it wasaccomplished.
I think about that verse thatsays, "Your word, have I hidden
in my heart that I might not sinagainst you." So when we know
what God's word says, it's morelikely that we're gonna make the
right decisions because we'regonna be able to base it on the
truth of God's word, which weknow was written for our best..
(19:22):
Yes...
and to teach us how to live alife that honors God.
But again, everyone has toconsider the evidence and make a
decision.
Yeah.
And if we conclude that it isGod's word, then it is time that
we get serious about puttingthat into practice in our lives,
making the decision to alignour lives with it so that we can
experience all that God has forus.
(19:44):
But ...if you're stillskeptical, then my suggestion is
a simple test.
Try just picking one thing outof God's word.
Put it into practice in yourlife...
and see if what God says isn'ttrue.
That's so good.
Find out for yourself because Ipromise you that whatever God
says is gonna be exactly the wayhe says it is.
For the Christian, it's soimportant that we know why we
(20:07):
believe what we believe...
and for anyone willing to lookat this evidence objectively,
there's just no other conclusionthat we can come to, because
the Bible passes the test.
Yes.
It is the word of God and assuch, it is the only reliable
source for absolute truth and itcan be trusted 100%.
Jesus said it this way inMatthew 24:35..
(20:29):
He said, "Heaven and earth willpass away..
Yes...
but my words will never passaway." The point being that
God's words are eternally true.
They were true when he spokethem and they're gonna be true
in eternity.
We can trust it, and our hopetoday is that after this
podcast, if you have everdoubted God's word that you will
trust it too.
(20:50):
Amen.
Amen.
All right.
Keidra, would you pray for usas we get ready to close out our
time together today?
Absolutely.
Father, we thank you so muchfor your word.
We thank you that your word,the Bible, is the absolute
truth.
We pray, dear Lord, that thosewho may be questioning it, that
you would reveal yourselfthrough your word in their lives
experientially, that they mayhave an encounter with you, that
(21:13):
they would test you and seethat you are faithful to your
word.
We thank you for it.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
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