Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the GospelSample

Does the Bible Even Matter?

Sometimes someone will say to me, “Why investigate the Bible at all? Is it still relevant today?”

I think this is one of the most important lines of questioning I get. Why would anyone take time to consider the claims of an irrelevant book written two thousand years ago?

To answer this question, I typically offer an analogy:

Every time I purchase a new device (whether it’s an electric garden tool or a smartphone), I store the original instruction manual in a drawer. I occasionally return to these guides when I have a problem or need an answer. But once I’ve mastered the devices they describe, I throw the manuals away.

In contrast, my collection of Bibles and related study materials increases. Why? Because the Bible continues to answer life’s most important questions. It solves the most pressing problem we face as humans, a problem we simply can’t resolve on our own.

I hope you’re not a murderer, like the people I hunt down, but I bet there’s still some secret you don’t want others to discover. We’re all moral lawbreakers of one kind or another. And that’s why the Bible is still relevant today.

The instruction manuals I routinely discard are still true, but they are no longer necessary. The Bible, however, is both true and necessary.

The New Testament accurately describes the Savior, and it accurately describes our need for a Savior. It provides the only solution to the most important problem we’ll ever encounter: our separation from a holy, perfect God. We can’t solve this problem on our own; Jesus is still the only answer. There’s a reason He said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away” (Matt. 24:35).

The Bible is still relevant today.

Prayer: Help me to never forget my own need for a Savior and to humbly help others see that Jesus is the answer to their need.