I'm talking about the Bible's transparency when it comes to its authors’ and leading figures’ failures, weaknesses, and sins. Over and over, the authors of the Bible avoid the temptation to cast themselves, the fathers of the faith (e.g., Abraham or Moses), or their own people (the Israelites) in good light. This is surprising to first time readers of the Bible.

Have you ever gone to a website, maybe for a company or charity, and clicked the “About Us” button? There's nearly always a carefully-crafted, glowing overview of what that company, political organization, or religious group is about. If they have an “Our History” button or “Our Founder” button, again you nearly always get a favorable overview of the founder. You never read  that the founder is  an adulterer or has a  criminal record—for  obvious reasons. Well, not so with the Bible! Again and again, the Biblical writers are very transparent, very forthright, about the failures, weaknesses, downfalls, and sins of its leading characters and even its authors. Does this prove the Bible is trustworthy? No. But I think this transparency helps strengthen the case that the Bible appears to be an honest work. Allow me to remind you of some transparent details we read about in the Bible. We read of...

•  Noah getting drunk shortly after getting off the ark (Genesis 9:21)


•  Abraham lying (on more than one occasion) about Sarah being his sister (Genesis 12:13, 20:2)


•  Moses’s murder of a man in Egypt (Exodus 2:11–12), his outburst of anger in the wilderness, how he misrepresented God and as a result wasn’t allowed to enter into the Promised Land (Numbers 20:10-12). Who wrote the books of Exodus and Numbers where these matters are explained? Moses. He tells us about his failures and sins in his own writings. These sound like the words of someone who was committed to communicating the truth.


•  The nation of Israel rejecting God on numerous occasions to worship other false gods (e.g., the Book of Judges). What nation did God use to write down the Scriptures? Israel (the Jews). Is this the kind of thing they would make up about themselves? How unfaithful they were to the very God who saved them from their slavery in Egypt? I don't think so.


•  David’s adultery with Bathsheba and subsequent murder of her husband Uriah (2 Samuel 11)


•  Jesus called Peter "Satan" (Mark 8:33)


•  Peter denying he knew Jesus, after promising he would never do such a thing (Matthew 26:33ff)


•  The time Paul had to rebuke Peter for his fear of being seen eating with Gentiles (Galatians 2:11-12)


•  The disciples' prideful argument over which one of them was the greatest (Luke 22:24)


•  The disciples falling asleep when Jesus asked them to pray (Mark 14:32-41)


•  The disciples running away to save their own necks when Jesus was arrested (Mark 14:50)...not to mention Peter cutting off the ear of the priest’s servant a short time earlier, swiftly drawing a rebuke from Jesus (John 18:10)


•  Paul's confession that he was “a wretched man” (Romans 7:24) and the “chief” of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15)


•  Paul and Barnabas's argument over Mark being allowed to travel with them (Acts 15:37-39)

I could go on. Question for you: Do these sound like the words of men who were lying?

Not at all. And if you add to this evidence the fact that these men imparted to the world the highest standards of conduct the world has ever seen, the case is only strengthened.