Thank you for the question on trusting the Bible, “What leads you to believe that the Bible is true?”
Growing in a non-Christian home, I never owned a Bible until I was in high school so I never really read the Bible. I heard Bible stories, saw movies or TV programs about Bible character. Yes, I even attended Catholic school for two years as a young child.
I never questioned the Bible until I was in high school and in college. I came across people who held different beliefs about the Bible or adamantly opposed to the Scriptures. Living through the sixties and seventies was a turbulent time as beliefs and moral values were questioned by society.
When God called me to be a pastor, I went to seminary. It was in seminary that I learned the content of the Bible as well as the context of the Bible. Questions on textual criticism, interpretation of the text as well challenges to the Christian faith led me to a deeper interest in seeking to understand the conflict between the Bible and science.
As a student of the Word and as a pastor, I had to study the text in greater detail and being true to myself and to those who listen to his Word on Sundays and in Bible studies. Reading diverse views were interesting, but ministry kept me quite busy to say the least. It is in the last 3 years that I have had more time to devote to reading archaeological findings in the Middle East, understanding history, the various theories of cosmology, seeking to understanding radio-active dating and geological layering, etc. has continued to affirm for me the moment I believed Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord. I don’t recall having a crisis of faith in God or in the Bible.
As I write on Quora, it is my goal to explain the Christian faith and to address the questions as honestly as I can based on my understanding of Scripture and what scientists have uncovered especially in the last 20 years. I never thought that tectonic shifts had anything to do with the Bible but it does in Genesis 1. The discovery of potential bodies of water in the Earth’s crust gives more credence to Genesis 1 and even to Genesis 6. The first surgery in Genesis 2 and what biologists has uncovered about DNA/RNA including stem cell research does provide something to when God created Eve out of a the rib of Adam. We are not there yet, but I wouldn’t be surprise that research will enable “making” body parts or replicating humans. We are at the beginning stage of genetically engineering people.
It’s my personal opinion that as physicists, cosmologists, archaeologists, geologists, and all fields of science will give greater credence to the statements of the Bible as being true. It doesn’t prove the existence of God, but it gives greater credence to it. Each person ought to do their own research, due diligence to be honest with what one believes or don’t believe in.
SUMMMARY: Science is continuing evolving in its understanding of the Universe and our world. The Bible still remains the beacon of light in this world.
For more perspectives:
https://www.quora.com/What-leads-you-to-believe-that-the-Bible-is-true