I know a lot of people don't think too much of the Bible, for one reason or another.  A common reason I hear is that it was written so long ago that there's no way it could have come through all these years with people translating it and making copy after copy without it being changed in some way.  Well, I'm sure there were some things lost in translation, at least to some extent.  I've noticed that even in the Spanish Bible I have, some passages end up actually having more clarity in Spanish than in English.  The Greek had a much more descriptive and broader language than we have in the English we speak today.  So that's why it's so important to STUDY!  When you read a passage, if you don't understand a word, look it up in the dictionary (there's one online, I'm sure.)  But even if you don't get down into the nitty-gritty and start dissecting the Greek and Hebrew, the basics are all right there, plainly written.

The first step is to actually start reading it.  And for heaven's sake, don't start in Genesis.  If you want to learn about Jesus and what Christianity is all about, start in one of the Gospels, and go find a church that will help you if you have questions.  It's often recommended to start in the Gospel of John.  My favorite is Luke.  Luke tells it beginning to end-- where John the Baptist came from to Jesus' acsension into heaven after the crucifixion--with a little humor here and there.  Then Acts is written by Luke, too, and continues where the Gospel of Luke left off.  Both Luke and Acts are letters to Theophilus, a man who apparently wanted to know what Christianity was all about.  Remember, at that time, people were being tortured and killed because they believed in Jesus.  (It still goes on today, but thank God for establishing a country where we're free to worship.)

But as far as the authority of the Bible and it being the infallible word of God--I guess there are two ways to look at it:

1.  What better means could there ever be to pass information on (that never changes) than to do it in written form.  It's not being passed by word-of-mouth or in the form of stories told from one generation to another.  It's written down, and can be copied from generation to generation.  Of course that generation will teach it to their children, but the hard copy is still there.

Do I think the monks who copied the scrolls over hundreds of years may have made a mistake?  It's possible.  But don't you think the God of the universe could keep his instructions to us accurate, even if he was using a man to pass it on in written form?

"Why doesn't God come down and tell us Himself?"  He did, in Jesus, and he was rejected.  He also was face-to-face everyday with Adam and Eve, and they also rejected him.  He also talked directly to Cain (Adam and Eve's son), and he also rejected him.

I've also heard the argument that some of the monks who copied the scriptures changed them for their own benefit at the time.  I can't buy it, because then the Bible would tell us to live like monks, and it doesn't.

There's a book out now, titled "Misquoting Jesus", which talks about how the author believes that the monks and copiers of the scriptures changed them to suit their own political and religious views.  I listened to an interview with the author, who gave some examples, and then I looked at it myself.  The examples he cited could very well have been true, but they had nothing to do with the basics of Christianity.  For instance, he said that some scribes took the ending part off of the Lord's prayer, and some left it on.  Well, who cares?  Chanting the Lord's prayer isn't going to get you to heaven.  It's whether you've accepted who and what Jesus Christ is and made him the absolute Master of your life that matters.

2.  It plain old works.  Like I said before, if you do anything by the Bible, it will work.  Period.

Another argument I've read is that the Bible was written by a bunch of old men trying to scare gullible masses into submission--I may not have the wording exactly right.  If anything, the Bible is about "PLEASE do what God wants you to, so he can bless you."  (If you want to see scaring people into obedience, read the Quran).

In the Old Testament, there are times when God lays it on the line and says, "Look, you entered into this agreement with me.  YOU said you'd serve ME, not the gods of the nations around you.  Therefore, I expect you to keep your end of the deal.  If you do, I will bless you till the cows come home--which is what I want the most.  If you don't, I have no choice but to hold my blessings from you and let you fall to the consequences of sin."

God repeatedly told the Israelites that if they would simply do right, he could take care of them--and would.  But if they were going to go head-long into sin, what could he do?  His hands were tied because they did not want him.  There came times when they realized they messed up, and then called out to God for help.  He did save them, but how many times was he supposed to be stepped on?  He related it to a wife sleeping around on her husband.  How many times is he supposed to take her back while she's getting it on with somebody else?  Wasn't there a binding agreement between them?  What obligation does he have to her if she's broken the contract?

So, is that scaring someone into submission?  If a person just wanted to avoid the consequences of sin, I suppose so.  But continually God said he didn't want the rituals and sacrifices just for their sakes; He wanted the people to seek Him for Him, to love Him.  It's a reverence, a respect, a willingness to serve Him because you LOVE Him, not because you're scared of Him.  Like one preacher has said, He's not a big policeman in the sky, waiting to zap you for every little mistake you make.

In the New Testament, it's shown even more so that God doesn't want a bunch of robots for servants.  In fact, the total opposite of scaring people into submission is shown.  If you want to float through life with no persecution, just stay the way you are--a sinner.  But to be a follower of Jesus, you must deny yourself, TAKE UP YOUR CROSS, and follow him.  The cross was an instrument of execution.  People who had been sentenced to death by crucifixion had to carry their own crosses to the execution site.  To be a disciple of Jesus Christ, he said we have to take up our cross, and essentially allow ourselves to be put to death.  The Bible talks about putting our old man--that is, our old nature--to death.

So, that also doesn't sound like scaring anyone into submission.  As far as a natural man is concerned, it's easier not to serve God.

If you want to talk about hell being the leverage of fear used to brow-beat people into submission--again, it's not God's desire for a person to serve him because he's afraid he's going to be burned.  Hell was not originally intended for human souls, but because people chose to be followers of Satan--the one it was created for--they also will have a part in his punishment.  If you reject God, you have no part with Him.  There's no floating around for eternity, not when God has eternity clearly planned out.  Like in the Old Testament, the plea is for a person to PLEASE accept God, not because he's ruthless, but because you simply want to give him glory.