Good Answer

As you can imagine, my adherence to Scripture as authoritative, knowable, and reliable garners no small amount of outrage from those who don't. "That's your opinion" is a mild response. "Repent" is popular. "We don't think so" seems to often be considered a "sufficient retort." (I put that in quotes because, as seems to be the rule, there is no counter argument. Just a disagreement. I never see, "No, that's not what that means. This is what that means and here's why.")

My recent claim that Jesus believed the Bible to be authoritative and reliable is a prime example. I said that Jesus believed Moses wrote the Pentateuch and gave references. "Those don't say that," was the outraged response. So, for instance, when the Sadducees said, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ..." (Mark 12:19) and tested him on the subject of levirate marriage, that doesn't mean that they thought Moses wrote it. And when, in His response, Jesus spoke of "the book of Moses" (Mark 12:26), certainly that didn't mean that Jesus thought there was a "book of Moses." So because I can't provide a reference where Jesus declares, "I believe that the Torah was written by Moses" even though it was the clear belief of the Jews at the time and the clear belief of Christians at least until the 17th century, obviously it's not true that Jesus believed that.

I believe that God gave us the Scriptures. I believe that He breathed it to various authors as Paul says in his second epistle to Timothy (2 Tim 3:16-17). I believe it because Peter said that Paul wrote Scripture (2 Peter 3:15-16). Ultimately I believe it because I believe God is willing and able to do it. On the other hand, those who cherry pick the Bible -- "This is good but that is not" -- and discard it when they want or use it as a bludgeon if they want cannot be viewed as having a high regard for God's Word.

Ultimately, it is God who is on trial here. "Did God say ...?" is all over this discussion. If God did breathe this book and superintend it and protect it, then they believe He is a monster, ordering the deaths of the Amalekites on one hand and the crucifixion of His Son on the other (for instance). They hold to a view of God that excludes the miraculous although if there is the God of the Bible, He would certainly be miraculous. What they demand is that God meet their standards, arbitrary as they are, and carefully exclude anything that would suggest that their standard could be wrong. To me, I hear Christ's response to the Sadducees: "Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?" (Mark 12:24)