The question came from nowhere. I was leading a youth Bible study one Wednesday night when a high school freshman asked me, "How do you know the Bible came from God?" The look in his eyes showed how serious he was. His father was a Sunday school teacher and leader in our church, but that wasn't good enough. Nor should it have been.

He wanted to know for himself. He explained his question: "Did the Bible just drop out of heaven? How do you know that someone didn't just sit down a hundred years ago and write the whole thing? Where did it come from?"

That's a good question. A few days later at work, a friend and I got into a discussion about my faith and he asked, "Why do you trust the Bible? After all those centuries of copying, surely you don't think you have what was first written. How can you trust it today?" Another good question.

Maybe you've asked questions like these yourself, or you've tried to answer them for someone else. The fact is, not many Christians know where the Bible came from. The making of God's word is a neglected subject for many, and a real problem for others. So it's important that we learn how God's word came to us, and why we should trust it today.

In a world which considers "truth" to be personal and subjective, "the Bible says" is seldom definitive proof that our beliefs are right. Many consider the Bible to be outdated and irrelevant. Some reading this essay today may wonder why you should treat the Bible as your life authority, not just your Sunday religion. And we all know someone with such a faith issue.

Wednesday night I began teaching a course at our church on the Bible and its interpretation. The class is part of the Carroll Institute, a new church-based seminary with whom our congregation is partnering. What follows is the first part of the text I prepared for that class. What 40 of us discussed two nights ago is a relevant subject for anyone interested in the Christian faith. We begin this week by investigating the origins and trustworthiness of God's word.