Critically Thinking through The Bible: Staying Rooted in Truth

Reasoning Through Scripture

Let me say upfront: this isn't a topic that fits neatly into a single post. Scholars spend entire careers researching and debating these very questions, and I don't claim to have any groundbreaking new insight to offer. I simply want to share a few thoughts worth considering.

What is Critical Thinking

Let’s define terms because incorrect assumptions complicate arguments. Critical thinking, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is: "The act or practice of thinking critically (as by applying reason and questioning assumptions) in order to solve problems, evaluate information, discern biases, etc."

Simply put, thinking critically calls us to take an objective look at something, research, gather context and facts, and come to a reasoned conclusion. I believe that Scripture, when critically evaluated, holds up to such scrutiny. Let’s look at the arguments.

First Up: The Authenticity of Scripture

Notably, many passionate former atheists, such as Lee Strobel, have set out to scientifically and historically disprove Christianity and have instead become Christians themselves because they could not refute the evidence for the truth and authenticity of Scripture.

Christianity, as stated by J. Warner Wallace, “stands unique among worldviews because it rests on public, testable claims.” Other worldviews cannot claim eyewitness testimony or dig up compatible historical records to support their claims. He makes the further point that Christianity doesn’t hinge on mystic revelation given to a single person, but on factual, provable evidence, witnessed by multitudes.

If the gospel account is made up, it seems unreasonable to me to believe that an entire movement of people kept silent while the New Testament writers circulated the incredible claims they did. It also seems unreasonable to me that all the claims and testimonies about Jesus would fit together and actually build on one another if they had made it all up.

Looking at the whole of Scripture, things get even more interesting. Roughly 40 different authors contributed to its writings, spanning over 2,000 years. Answers in Genesis points out something else that’s incredibly important to our understanding of how the Bible was penned:

Shepherds, kings, scholars, fishermen, prophets, a military general, a cupbearer, and a priest all penned portions of Scripture… They composed their works from palaces, prisons, the wilderness, and places of exile while writing history, laws, poetry, prophecy, and proverbs.

Scholars throughout the centuries have worked diligently in researching evidence for the authenticity of God’s Word. If you’re familiar at all with the Dead Sea Scrolls, then you’ll understand how their discovery alone is tremendous proof that these ancient manuscripts were not fabricated, as experts were able to match them with writings in what we now know as the Old Testament. (If you’re not familiar with what they are, you can check them out here.)

Fun fact: these scrolls were written mostly on parchment or papyrus, which makes them difficult to preserve, as their organic nature leads to rapid decomposition. However, they just so happened to have been located in an area of the world that was arid enough to keep them from decomposing, which is why we were able to find them in the first place…

Coincidence? I’ll let you decide on that one.

Next Up: The Moral Dilemma

If we believe Scripture to be authentic, the next idea to think through would be its contents. We could spend decades debating this, so let’s turn our focus to just one question: How could a good God allow evil? Again, not a simple topic, but here are some things to consider about this age-old question, at least. In the comment that sparked this article, one of the views offered was:

I don’t believe anyone applying critical thinking to the Christian biblical narrative can come away believing it represents a just, merciful, and loving God.

This made me pause, because I believe it shows us the crux of the issue. When I read Scripture, I can’t help but see how just, merciful, and loving God is. So how can two people read the same thing and come away with two completely different conclusions?

Of course, there are many plausible explanations for this difference in opinion, like maybe they haven’t read Scripture. Maybe they were hurt by the church. Maybe they’ve only read some of Scripture, or had someone teach it to them incorrectly. I don’t know the answer, but I do know Scripture repeatedly points back to the goodness of God. It’s filled with testimonies of His mercy, grace, steadfastness and justness.

The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation. ~ Numbers 14:18

God allows evil, but He doesn’t leave it unpunished. Many argue that God could just stop evil from happening, but imagine with me for a second: what if a parent never “allowed” their child to do anything bad? Imagine if that parent stepped in and prevented every single instance of their child attempting to throw a toy at their sibling, or lie, or gossip, or think an impure thought.

For starters, this wouldn’t be possible for human parents. But if it were, can you imagine what a miserable life that would be? How awful would it be to live such a controlled life?

Now think about how miserable our lives would be if God controlled evil the way we often think He should.

Critical Thinking and the Bible: Suffering

The argument I usually hear is something along these lines: If God is good, how can he allow good people to suffer? It’s because we live in a broken world. The Lord created humans to be in fellowship with Him, but we broke that fellowship of our own volition, and we experience suffering as a result.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. ~ Genesis 1:31 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. ~ Genesis 3:17

We weren’t flawed from the start. We were given free will from the start. When God placed Adam and Eve in the garden, he effectively made them His administrators over the earth. They had dominion over all the animals, and the garden sustained them. The command to keep away from the fruit was for their protection, not to control them or to set a trap for them.

The fact that they were told about the tree and instructed to stay away from it confirms that the Lord gave them the freedom to choose it if they wanted to. God could have locked the tree down or placed it somewhere they’d never find it; then He wouldn’t have even needed to tell them about it. But he didn’t want us to choose Him out of obligation or control.

When you read the account of the fall in Genesis chapter 3, you see how the serpent (Satan) tricks Eve by twisting God’s words. He places doubt in Eve’s mind about God’s motives behind telling them not to eat the fruit, and she succumbs to his lies.

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ~ Genesis 3:6

God had already told them both what would happen if they ate the fruit, but all it took was an inkling from the enemy for them to doubt God. Adam and Eve were living in perfection. They had all the food & freedom they could ask for, but they wanted more.

The fruit looked good. It sounded good. It probably tasted good, too. A subtlety in this story usually goes unmentioned. God didn’t just say not to eat the fruit. He told them to stay away from it.

…but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ~ Genesis 3:3

Here, Eve was recounting to Satan what God had told them. She mentions that God had said not to touch or eat it, meaning they should avoid the tree altogether. Could it be that God knew who was lurking around the tree, waiting for one of them to venture near enough to entice them? Either way, now there’s a problem. Sin has officially entered the picture.

As we saw above in Genesis 3:17, Adam and Eve were now sent to live a life outside the garden, which God had warned them about before they ate the fruit. Whereas before they’d only known a life of perfection and easy work, they would now have to toil all their days.

Their children and the coming generations would only know hard labor because they were no longer inside the protection of the garden.

Enter: Jesus

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ~ Romans 5:8

There are so many other verses that reveal God’s heart towards us, but I especially love this one because it truly sums up what Jesus did on the cross. God allows us to choose to live as we desire. He doesn’t force us to follow His commands or choose Him out of obligation. He allows us to choose sin, which is why there’s evil in the world today. However, even as sinners, He still loves us and wants to provide a way out for us. That’s where Jesus comes in.

Jesus willingly chose to take on the sins of the world, on the cross, as punishment for every single one that has ever been committed. He did this because he knew we’d never be able to do enough good things to earn our way into Heaven, so he became our scapegoat.

He didn’t have to. He could have said, “LOL, good luck, guys!” and laughed from heaven as we all floundered around down here. But that’s not God’s heart. His heart toward us is that of a loving Father who desperately longs for time with His children.

Unfortunately, some children choose different paths than the ones their parents would like them to. Some children choose to leave home and never come back. It’s heartbreaking for parents, but it’s a sad reality. God gives us that choice, too.

The Final Question: Is God Just?

Skeptics often point to the Old Testament when questioning God’s morals (to which, I’d like to add: God can handle your questions, but watch your heart when asking. Seeking truth is one thing; questioning God is another). Specifically, passages like Deuteronomy 20, where God commands the Israelites to lay siege to enemy cities and, in some cases, completely destroy them.

Many claim this is immoral because those cities would have had women and children in them. Without context, I’d agree. However, there are some facts to consider. The Israelites were surrounded by nations that performed vile, satanic rituals. The Canaanites, for example, did heinous things like sacrifice their children to false gods such as Moloch. Even secular scholars agree on this, which you can see here.

God didn’t just tell the Israelites to slaughter whoever they wanted because He hated women and children. He sent His small nation of people into battle to protect them from being annihilated by the much larger enemy nations surrounding them.

The same things happen today when countries fight against one another, whether for good reason or not. Innocent lives are tragically lost, and that is part of the price we pay for war. It sounds barbaric because it is. But that doesn’t inherently make it unjust.

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you. ~ Psalm 89:14

God is faithful and just, and everything He has done or will do stems from His love for us. Because of this, we can trust that His motives are always pure. There’s nothing He does out of selfishness or pride, but rather His actions flow from His righteousness.

In contrast, however…

This great dragon — the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world — was thrown down to the earth with all his angels. ~ Revelation 12:9

Satan is not just. He has twisted God’s words from the beginning and will continue to do so until Jesus comes back. He’s a crafty wordsmith who makes sin look holy, and he will deceive multitudes of humans straight into the pits of hell. There is hope, however, because:

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. ~ Romans 10:13

God loves us so deeply that He provided a means for our salvation, and Jesus’ gift of salvation is available to anyone who will call on his name. He offers us this gift, not simply as a “get out of hell free” card, but as an opportunity to choose to spend eternity in the holy and gracious presence of the Almighty.

It’s up to us to decide whether we want to be in His presence. Why wouldn’t you?

Unfortunately, this evidence won’t be enough to convince some. But my prayer is that someone, somewhere, will consider these words and genuinely seek out the Lord.

Don’t get caught up in Satan’s lies, friends. Read Scripture for yourselves and ask God to help you understand. Critically think about lofty statements thrown around so casually, and ask yourselves if it’s based on truth or emotion.

© 2026 Stephanie M Press on, friends! 🫶🏼

Thanks for reading! My heart is truly to see others dive deeper into Scripture and reason through things biblically. These are wild times, but together we can chase clarity in a confused world!

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From the Editor: Critical thinking and the Bible go hand in hand, since Scripture was never meant to be accepted blindly but examined honestly.

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