What if Christians are guilty of circular reasoning?
A charge frequently leveled against the Bible is that Christians argue in circles. The charge goes that Christians claim the Bible as the inspired Word of God and, as proof, quote a passage from the Bible that says so. This type of argumentation is known as ‘begging the question’, or circular reasoning. It is based on assuming something to be true, using that assumption as fact to prove another assumption and using the “proved” assumption to prove your original assumption! Some Christians (and many non-Christians) do argue in circles, but about the Bible they certainly do not need to. Instead of assuming the Bible is the Word of God, we can begin by demonstrating that the Scriptures are reliable and trustworthy historical documents. This is confirmed by applying the ordinary test of historical criticism to the Scriptures. After establishing that the Bible is a valid historical record, the next point is realizing that Jesus Christ claims to be the unique Son of God and that He bases thi
