Why Do I Need the Bible?

In the sweltering heat of August in 1885, six and one-half inches of rain fell in Chicago in 24 hours. Sewage from the city’s 750,000 residents and runoff from the stockyards washed into the Chicago River. The polluted water flowed into Lake Michigan. According to an exaggerated story in the Chicago Tribune, this toxic brew was sucked into the city’s drinking water. Soon it was claimed that cholera, dysentery, and typhoid were ravaging parts of the city. In later years it was said that one in eight Chicagoans died. For years this was known as the 1885 Chicago epidemic. The problem was that when an investigative writer began researching the story in 2000, she found the entire story to be a hoax. In reality, fewer people died in Chicago in 1885 than in other years, not more. The entire 1885 epidemic was gossip and tall tales that took on a life of their own over the years. There was no evidence to back it up. Many people feel the same way about the Bible. They claim the Bible is nothing more than a collection of legends that have taken on a life of their own. Join me in this study as we learn why the Bible can be trusted and we desperately need it in our life.