The rest of that well known saying is: ‘swims like a duck and quacks like a duck - it’s probably a duck!’

From Wikipedia: “The duck test is a form of abductive reasoning...The test implies that a person can identify an unknown subject by observing that subject's habitual characteristics.” (Wikipedia 2021)

The Bible promises that a perfect man is going to come down from the sky (addressed in detail in an earlier blog here) and save the world! Most people would say that’s wildly improbable. Perhaps as improbable as the Bible truth that God created the world and everything in it. Including us. After all it’s become an accepted ‘scientific’ fact that we actually evolved hasn’t it.

Well there’s another way to look at it all. If we apply the ‘duck test’ to the Bible we can find a massive amount of information that is provably correct. Historical material. Predictions fulfilled. Statements about the earth and its position in space and relationship with the sun and moon. Health standards centuries ahead of becoming accepted practice in our societies. And more.

So the ‘duck test’. If the Bible contains a large body of truth and in particular demonstrates the power of God why wouldn’t what it says about creation be true? And what it predicts about the man in the sky coming back to save the world, the return of Jesus. In the light of the many fulfilled predictions couldn’t that be true too? Yes it certainly could! 

Can it be proved? No. But think about it this way. There are other things in daily life that we accept as correct that aren’t certainties. A simple example: the traffic will stop at a red light. We have faith it will. And mostly it does. And we act on that faith. All the time. 

The Bible has this to say about faith: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”  (Hebrews 11:1-3, NIV)

That’s fairly straightforward. And a few verses later the Bible goes on to say: “...without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”  (Hebrews 11:6, NIV)

For me it’s a safer choice than the traffic light. To have faith and believe offers so much. To not believe offers nothing. It helps me to think about it all that way. Hope it’s some help to you too. Find out more by reading your bible and decide for yourself. 

Reference:

“Duck Test” Wikipedia 2021 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_test (7 April 2021)