What Star Wars Proves about the Bible

With the recent release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the last installment of the main Star Wars movie series, fans are once again fervently discussing the merits and flaws of the film. This latest episode has divided those who liked Rian Johnson's more subversive, experimental approach in The Last Jedi to J.J. Abram's more traditional approach, with all its "fan service" and nods to the original trilogy.

Whether you are a Star Wars fan or not, or whether you are on Team Abrams, Team Johnson, or even Team Lucas, one thing everyone can agree on is that the Star Wars movies contain a variety of visions and a broad, almost daring range of ideas. The films contain everything from classic adventure and campy humor to thriller-level tension and drama.

One common criticism of the latest trilogy is that it really does seem like a work designed by committee; ever since Disney took over, the Star Wars franchise has suffered from a lack of cohesive vision, the type that George Lucas was able to bring to the universe when he was at the helm. Some have even gone as far to say that The Rise of Skywalker is one long, extended apology for The Last Jedi.

“One common criticism of the latest trilogy is that it really does seem like a work designed by committee.”

This inconsistency in theme and vision actually serves to prove something very important about the Bible. It proves that the Bible is a supernatural work of God rather than an invention of man.

How does it prove that, you ask?

Supernatural Consistency

The Bible is a collection of 66 books written by about 40 authors in three languages in three continents over a span of over 1,500 years. With that kind of diverse background, you would expect the Bible to be full of inconsistencies and disagreements. After all, if just three producers/writers/directors (Lucas, Abrams, and Johnson) who all live in the same country at the same time and work with the same production company (Lucasfilm) can't agree with one another, how can the dozens of biblical authors agree with one another? It seems rather impossible.

And yet, the Bible is the most remarkably consistent and uniform body of work ever written in the history of humankind. Sure, there are tons of critics who say that the Bible is riddled with contradictions and inconsistencies. But the truth is that 99% of those so-called contradictions can be explained with a sound application of hermeneutics, historical reconstruction, and the rules of biblical interpretation. Most criticisms of the Bible fail to take into account basic things such as genre (e.g. poetry vs. epistles, prophecy vs. historical narrative), ancient literary devices and practices (e.g. hyperbole, chronological vs. thematic organization), translation issues (e.g. dynamic vs. formal equivalence), and philosophical biases (e.g. naturalist or materialist presuppositions).

“The Bible is the most remarkably consistent and uniform body of work ever written in the history of humankind.”

In every important aspect, the Bible agrees with itself from Genesis to Revelation. The Bible gives a consistent witness as to who God is, who we are, what the problem is (i.e. sin), and what God's plan is to deal with the problem. The Bible is the most archeologically-supported document and the most reliable ancient text known to humankind. In fact, the incredible internal consistency of the Bible is one of the many proofs of its supernatural origins.

Conclusion

The chances of 40 men from many different cultures and eras, all writing with perfect agreement about the nature of God, humankind, sin, and salvation is virtually zero. And that's the point. The chances of it happening are so low that, if it did happen, it would be a bona fide miracle.

But it did happen, and that's why the Bible is a miracle. It could not have been written with such consistency by so many people with different personalities, values, and experiences, and goals through natural means. The Bible could only have been written by God—through human hands, yes, but as they were carried along and inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:21).

And if there was any doubt about the supernatural nature of the Bible, just watch the Star Wars movies. They're fun, imaginative, and engaging, but consistent is not a word most people would use to describe them.