Wow, what a BIG question to ask! I will try to my best to give you the gist and also provide you some links.
Firstly, please listen to this sermon that I have preached on about the Bible: Click HERE
Now, visit the people over at carm.org to read the many articles about the Bible. Click HERE
So now, you should have a better idea of the Old Testament and what kind of a role it plays in our Christian walk.
In my opinion, there are 2 ways of looking at the validity of the Bible. Both are important and needs to be thought over:
1. The "Intellectual" Way. I use quotations for this because I believe that both are intellectual. This way just takes out the spiritual aspect of it. Biblical Scholars can be Bible believing Christians or not...but the validity of the scriptures still remain the same. There is much research supporting the Old Testament. Areas of this support come in the form of archeological findings (like the Dead Sea Scrolls as mentioned in the sermon on the Bible, link above) as well as other non-Biblical literature. For more information on the Dead Sea Scrolls, may I suggest that you take a visit to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) this summer and go to the Dead Sea Scroll Exhibit. You can find the link HERE
2. The Spiritual Way. For us Christians, the Bible is not only an accurate history book, we believe it is a book that gives us instructions on how to live a God righteous life. We believe that this book is inspired by God (as in He used humans to write it), and it is to help us live our lives in the ways of God. Many people have a hard time believing that the Bible is such, but I would like to encourage you to take time to read it. If we already come at the Bible with the attitude that it is wrong, or that it's not of God...we have already made up our minds about it. However, if you could just open your heart and read it with an open mind...I do believe that God will work in your heart and help you understand it the way that it was intended.
[Answered by Pastor KJT]
