I enjoyed Barry Cooper’s new book, Can I Really Trust the Bible? (from the same series as Sam Allberry’s Is God Anti-Gay?). The book covers the basics about the Bible—what it is, how it’s organized, etc.—and was written with both Christians and non-Christians in mind.
Cooper outlines the book’s approach this way in the introduction:
- Does the Bible claim to be God’s word? What does it say on the outside of the jar? Does the Bible have anything to say about itself?
- Does the Bible seem to be God’s word? What does it look like when we “take off the cover” and peer inside? Does the Bible look like something only God could have written?
- Does the Bible prove to be God’s word? What does it taste like? Can we know, in our own personal experience, that the Bible really is God’s word?
The beauty of this little book (only 82 pages!) isn’t merely that it explains what the Bible is, but that it does so in a way that stirs up awe and a desire to immerse oneself in God’s powerful written words. Read it, and you can’t help but be moved to “taste and see” that those words are good.
From the book’s conclusion:
To help us grasp how powerful Scripture is, the biblical writers say it’s like fire. To express how penetrating it is, they describe it as being sharper than any double-edged sword. To explain how vital it is for life, they speak of it as bread and milk, food and water. To show how necessary it is for seeing clearly, they speak of it as a light, and as a mirror. To communicate how much we need it if we’re to be secure and grounded, it’s spoken of as an anchor, and as a rock. To underline how valuable it is, they speak of it as being more precious than thousands of pieces of silver and gold. To convey the fact that it creates life, it’s spoken of as being like a seed. And when it describes how satisfying it is, God’s word describes itself as being sweeter than the very sweetest honey.
Taste and see.