This is an objection I have often hear against Christianity. The objection could come up for a variety of reasons. Maybe someone has mentioned the Bible as a reason to believe something. Maybe someone is talking about how Jesus was God and we can tell because the Bible says so. Maybe someone argues that we can’t the Bible is clearly biased because it records miracles or because it says Jesus was God. No matter what the reason I have to challenge the argument that we can’t trust the Bible because it is biased.
I’ll acknowledge the Bible obviously has it’s viewpoints on things, but I don’t think we can simply deny it because of this.
Bias is not equal to being wrong
Sure the Bible is biased, but isn’t everything? I mean to say that everything that says something implies that opposite of what they say is wrong.
If I say I am Abraham Lincoln existed I am biased against the notion that Abraham Lincoln did not exist. If I say I 2+2=4 I am biased against anyone that thinks 2+2=6 or 7 or 8. Does my opinion on those things make me biased? Absolutely! Does my opinion on those things make me wrong? No.
The fact is biased does not equal being wrong.
Someone can be biased and be right
The second problem with this is that it fails to acknowledge where the basis of their bias claims to come from. Luke makes it clear at the beginning of his Gospel that he is writing about events that actually happened, events that people actually saw.
Let’s think about that for a second. Luke is claiming that people actually saw Jesus alive and well after they saw him die. He is claiming that people actually saw him turn water into wine, that people saw Jesus heal blind and sick men, women and children. Imagine someone who witnessed these events came to you and then you said to them, ‘we can’t trust you your biased!’ That would not make sense. Of course he is biased he saw someone rise from the dead!
Of course the writers of the Bible are biased they saw God perform miracles in their lifetime confirming the message in which they wrote about!
If bias can show someone is wrong, can’t we say that everyone is wrong?
I understand that there are other sources out there that talk about who Jesus was and say that Jesus was not actually God, only that those following him believed he was God. But if someone believed He was God, and he was God, wouldn’t that be what we expect?
If someone didn’t believe Jesus was God, witnessed one of these events and then became a believer would they now be biased because they believe but not before? No, they had biases no matter what end of the argument they were on.
If we can define biased as those who disagree with our interpretation can’t we turn this whole argument on its end? What if instead of saying the Bible is biased because it believes such and such I said that non-biblical sources are biased because of such and such?
In the end I know this doesn’t mean the Bible is true, we haven’t even begun to touch the surface of why we can trust the Bible. All I have done here is show that saying ‘it’s biased’ is not a viable argument against the Bible.
BEARDED DISCIPLE 