How do I prove the inspiration of Holy Scripture to a skeptic?

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Holly3278

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Hey everyone. My boyfriend is a skeptic. He does believe in God but he does not believe that the Bible is inspired by God. He doesn’t believe the Bible to be God’s revelation to us. He says that the reason he doesn’t believe it is because there are so many things in the Bible such as the talking snake in the Garden of Eden that shows him that the Bible is not a revelation of God to us. He also points out stories such as Jonah being swallowed by a whale and God speaking to Moses in a burning bush. How can I prove to him that the Bible really is inspired by God and that it is a public revelation of God?
 
I would explain to him that as Catholics, we do not necessarily believe that the Old Testament is literal truth, but rather metaphorical. The New Testament however, we do take as literal truth. We believe that the New Testament is a completely factual record of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ as told by his disciples. I recommend listening to some talks on Youtube given by Dr. Peter Kreeft, a well respected theologian at Boston College. He argues not only why there is a God, but why Catholicism is the true religion. The talks are a little long, but they are very interesting and Kreeft is a brilliant speaker.

Here is a link to Kreeft arguing why God exists:

youtube.com/watch?v=WKBjZ7KFhIg

Here is a link to Kreeft arguing why Catholicism is the one true religion:

youtube.com/watch?v=JfSsPqjYC9c&feature=related
 
Holly, I hate to break it to you- but it’s very, very hard to change people. You can be as reasonable as you can be-you can show him books, nag him with facts and bible verses-it rarely works.

Having said that, if he is a truly open minded athiest (a rare breed) give him the book by Lee Strobel, “The Case for Christ”. It’s a great read and might change his mind.

Don’t hold your breath though.

I do **not **mean to be cynical. It’s just what I’ve seen.
 
I recommend bringing him to Fatima or Medjugorje. But if that is not an option ask him to say this prayer sometimes:

O God of infinite goodness, if You exist, make me know You
from The Holy Ghost: Our Greatest Friend by: Fr. Paul O’Sullivan

I don’t guarantee anything, but I’ll keep you and him in my prayers. God Bless!
 
Rascalking said:
Holly, I hate to break it to you- but it’s very, very hard to change people. You can be as reasonable as you can be-you can show him books, nag him with facts and bible verses-it rarely works.

**Having said that, if he is a truly open minded athiest **(a rare breed) give him the book by Lee Strobel, “The Case for Christ”. It’s a great read and might change his mind.

Don’t hold your breath though.
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Hey everyone. My boyfriend is a skeptic. **He does believe in God **but he does not believe that the Bible is inspired by God
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Rascalking said:
Holly, I hate to break it to you- but it’s very, very hard to change people. You can be as reasonable as you can be-you can show him books, nag him with facts and bible verses-it rarely works.

Having said that, if he is a truly open minded athiest (a rare breed) give him the book by Lee Strobel, “The Case for Christ”. It’s a great read and might change his mind.

Don’t hold your breath though.

I do **not **mean to be cynical. It’s just what I’ve seen.
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First of all, Holly said he believes in God, so he’s not an atheist. But I’ve met many Christians who are equally impervious to evidence, especially in the “young earth” camp.

To convince a thoughtful skeptic that the Bible is inspired, you would need to reconcile the birth narratives of Matthew and Luke, and the four resurrection narratives, and resolve the many other contradictions in the scriptures; explain why a God who is love would order the massacres and atrocities of the Old Testament (or if you interpret them “metaphorically,” explain what reality they are metaphors of, and justify not interpreting them as history, which they seem intended to be by the authors). That would be a good start. Best of luck with that.
 
Thank you everyone for your answers. If you all can recommend some good articles that I can print out and give him or e-mail to him, I’d appreciate it. Thanks again!
 
First there is the Roman Empire in which Caesar is worshiped as a god. Then come a bunch of fishermen who say that Jesus Christ is God and Caesar is not. Caesar responds by killing said fishermen.

If the “skeptics” are right then it should have ended right then and there. Rome was a military power the likes of which has never been rivaled, even with modern technology. Certainly a ragtag group of fishermen who had the audacity to deny the divinity of Caesar would have been no big deal for the legions to “handle.” Unless, of course, the Jesus that the fishermen were proclaiming by using and writing the Scriptures truly is God, in which case Caesar would be fighting not against fishermen and paper but against God and His Word.

Caesar lost.
 
Holly3278 said:
Hey everyone. My boyfriend is a skeptic. He does believe in God but he does not believe that the Bible is inspired by God. He doesn’t believe the Bible to be God’s revelation to us. He says that the reason he doesn’t believe it is because there are so many things in the Bible such as the talking snake in the Garden of Eden that shows him that the Bible is not a revelation of God to us. He also points out stories such as Jonah being swallowed by a whale and God speaking to Moses in a burning bush. How can I prove to him that the Bible really is inspired by God and that it is a public revelation of God?
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You could try introducing him to presuppositionalism . Here’s a blog that briefly covers it

reformedinquisitor.wordpress.com/2011/03/27/no-matter-what-you-think-you%E2%80%99re-a-presuppositionalist/

It’s from a protestant source but you get the general idea
 
Really, you can’t persuade him that scripture is infallible or even that it is divinely inspired. But one thing that might help is how revolutionary the ideas of the Bible actually were at the time. Judaism came forward with monotheism at a time when there was only polytheism (and the Jews, Christians, and Muslims are actually the only ones who believe this).
Then it comes forward with the belief that the universe was created out of nothing along with a verse in Job that says God hangs the world nothing. This can be compared to the beliefs that the world came out of a formless chaos and that the earth was on the back of a turtle.
Then you find that this nomadic race of Jews survive throughout multiple enslavements and wars. It’s a miracle in itself that this group has survived today after everything they have gone through.
Finally we find Christ. An amazing man who went through the area healing and casting out demons. He gathers up a following and then is killed on a cross for claiming to be God. In support of this claim, Christ rises on the third day and the first people who see him are women. If this were not the truth but just a story then why doesn’t it record that a large group of men found him instead of two women whose accounts would be worth little in ancient societies.

For a human book filled with myths, it seems to propose a lot of revolutionary ideas that seem to fit the universe we find ourselves in. Yes, a lot of the stories in the Old Testament may have been parables but it seems your boyfriend is more against miracles than he is against the Bible. He doesn’t believe in miracles so he doesn’t think the Bible is real. If you convince him that there are miracles and then that Catholicism is right, then I think his beliefs about the Bible will quickly fall in line. So, good luck and I hope everything works out. 👍
 
There are two different issues here.
Holly3278 said:
He says that the reason he doesn’t believe it is because there are so many things in the Bible such as the talking snake in the Garden of Eden that shows him that the Bible is not a revelation of God to us. He also points out stories such as Jonah being swallowed by a whale and God speaking to Moses in a burning bush.
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He is saying that the bible contains stories which are very difficult to take literally. This indicates that he doesn’t understand that the bible contains many different types of literature - legend, myth, parable, allegory, history, etc. most of these are teaching tools and are not meant to be taken literally. This is the teaching of the church as stated in Dei Verbum. The idea that the bible is inspired by God has nothing to do with the literary forms of the stories. A good readable reference on this topic is “And God Said What?: An Introduction to Biblical Literary Forms” by Margaret Ralph.
How can I prove to him that the Bible really is inspired by God and that it is a public revelation of God?
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Fiction, myth, legend, etc are all valid vehicles for revelation. The belief that the writings were inspired by God is purely a matter of faith - it is outside the realm of human understanding and can’t be “proven” using any human standards. This topic is discussed well in Biblical Fundamentalism, What Every Catholic Should Know" by Ronald Witherup, S.S.
 
Proverbs 30:33
Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.

Very literal.
 
Alder said:
You could try introducing him to presuppositionalism . Here’s a blog that briefly covers it

reformedinquisitor.wordpress.com/2011/03/27/no-matter-what-you-think-you%E2%80%99re-a-presuppositionalist/

It’s from a protestant source but you get the general idea
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Presuppositionalism is circular reasoning and violates Romans 1:20, which states that God is knowable through reason and the senses. Hence there is nothing to presuppose.

[BIBLEDRB]Romans 1:20[/BIBLEDRB]
 
SGWessells said:
First of all, Holly said he believes in God, so he’s not an atheist. But I’ve met many Christians who are equally impervious to evidence, especially in the “young earth” camp.

.
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I missed that part. Sorry. I’ll never forgive myself.
 
Cat_Herder said:
Presuppositionalism is circular reasoning and violates Romans 1:20, which states that God is knowable through reason and the senses.
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If you showed that to a presuppositionalist I think their head would explode :eek: . …Alternatively, he could just interpret it in a way that supports presuppositionalism… 😃
Cat_Herder said:
Hence there is nothing to presuppose.
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Except Romans 1:20…
 
Alder suggester: "You could try introducing him to presuppositionalism . "

Presuppositionalism is the philosophy of Christian Reconstruction, a group founded by Rousas R. Rushdoony in the 1960s. It is reformed in theology and intensely anti-Catholic. Just a heads-up. They also believe that Biblical law (meaning Old Testament moral law) should replace our current legal system. I would steer clear of them if I were you.
 
Cat_Herder said:
First there is the Roman Empire in which Caesar is worshiped as a god. Then come a bunch of fishermen who say that Jesus Christ is God and Caesar is not. Caesar responds by killing said fishermen.

If the “skeptics” are right then it should have ended right then and there. Rome was a military power the likes of which has never been rivaled, even with modern technology. Certainly a ragtag group of fishermen who had the audacity to deny the divinity of Caesar would have been no big deal for the legions to “handle.” Unless, of course, the Jesus that the fishermen were proclaiming by using and writing the Scriptures truly is God, in which case Caesar would be fighting not against fishermen and paper but against God and His Word.

Caesar lost.
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There are a lot of possible explanations of why Caesar lost. The top-heavy taxation system, overextended boundaries, civil wars between emperors, barbarian invasions, insane leaders, and so on.
As for religious reasons, they can be explained within the parameters of human nature without the necessity of divine intervention. Roman religion was united with the state, but otherwise secular and worldly; its mythology was so little believed that mystery religions stressing individual salvation and eternal life abounded. Christianity was one of these. It succeeded in its beginnings for the same reason that Mormonism is spreading today: aggressive evangelization plus intensely close-knit social organization which provided the assistance to the poor and neglected which other religions did not.
Once Constantine became a supporter, there were worldly inducements as well. Christianity became, first an assistance, then a requirement, for social advancement. Bishoprics began to receive the monetary rewards of civil power, which intensified the conflict between various doctrines claiming to be truth, and labeling their opponents heretics. The social unrest prompted many emperors to place the power of the state behind the most popular and organized form of Christianity, the Roman Catholic Church, to keep order. You can read in Freeman’s The Closing of the Western Mind how bishops like Athanasius hired thugs to intimidate his theological opponents, and incite mobs to destroy pagan temples. When the civil machinery of the Empire collapsed, the Church was there to take up the slack. It doesn’t take the hand of God to explain Christian dominance; human nature does just fine all by itself.
 
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