The fact that the Bible openly shares the sins of different people is one reason it has such credibility. Archaeologists have discovered many histories of kings and kingdoms; most of their battle scenes and depictions of royalty are exaggerated and leave out the defects of main characters, which the Bible does not do.
Even today, biographies skip over or soften the bad and overstate the good. So “telling it like it is” gives people more confidence that the Bible can be trusted. It doesn’t cover up everything or give a glorified picture of Israel or Jesus’ disciples.
The winner of a war often gets to chronicle the story, and it’s often more glorification and propaganda than fact. There are hundreds of examples of efforts to cover up the facts regarding nations that have committed war crimes—even retouching photos to hide the truth. The Bible does not gloss over the sins of even its greatest leaders, such as King David, who not only committed adultery, an acceptable practice of most kings in those days, but also murder to cover up his trail.
Satan wants to convince people that we are such terrible sinners that God could never save us. Yet time and again, the Lord redeems His people. When Israel turned away from the Lord, the nation was exiled into Babylon. Yet God heard their cries and said, “But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine’ ” (Isaiah 43:1).
We can learn from David, who repented and was forgiven by God. We can have hope when we read of how Peter denied Christ, but bitterly wept and was restored. Such stories strengthen our faith.
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Romans 15:4
The fact that the Bible openly shares the sins of different people is one reason it has such credibility. Archaeologists have discovered many histories of kings and kingdoms; most of their battle scenes and depictions of royalty are exaggerated and leave out the defects of main characters, which the Bible does not do.
Even today, biographies skip over or soften the bad and overstate the good. So “telling it like it is” gives people more confidence that the Bible can be trusted. It doesn’t cover up everything or give a glorified picture of Israel or Jesus’ disciples.
The winner of a war often gets to chronicle the story, and it’s often more glorification and propaganda than fact. There are hundreds of examples of efforts to cover up the facts regarding nations that have committed war crimes—even retouching photos to hide the truth. The Bible does not gloss over the sins of even its greatest leaders, such as King David, who not only committed adultery, an acceptable practice of most kings in those days, but also murder to cover up his trail.
Satan wants to convince people that we are such terrible sinners that God could never save us. Yet time and again, the Lord redeems His people. When Israel turned away from the Lord, the nation was exiled into Babylon. Yet God heard their cries and said, “But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine’ ” (Isaiah 43:1).
We can learn from David, who repented and was forgiven by God. We can have hope when we read of how Peter denied Christ, but bitterly wept and was restored. Such stories strengthen our faith.
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Romans 15:4
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