Every day around the world millions of people open a book known as the Holy Bible, and read it with the expectation that it will tell them the truth about God. Are they mad? Or does this book have some special properties which make it a reliable source of information about the divine?

The Da Vinci Code claims that the Bible is a great book of made-up stories that help people to get on in life. "Those who truly understand their faiths understand the stories are metaphorical," says Robert Langdon. "Religious allegory has become a part of the fabric of reality. And living in that reality helps millions of people cope and be better people (DVC 451-2/342).

In other words, the novel claims that people who trust a book like the Bible have deceived themselves into thinking that it is telling them about reality, when in fact it is merely giving them a way of interpreting life that keeps them happy.

This is an arrogant claim. It assumes that people are too dumb or ignorant to be able to accept that something is made up, and would instead go on living out a fantasy because it suits them. It also underestimates how seriously people care about the big questions of life-about whether there is a God, what is right and wrong, whether life has any purpose, and whether there is any kind of existence beyond death. People strive very hard to answer questions such as these, and definitely are not happy just to accept whatever story sounds good enough.

When people turn to the Bible, they are genuinely seeking answers, and it is the kind of book that really does provide them.

The Bible contains the longest story you could ever write-it starts with the creation of the universe, and ends with the re-creation of a new universe out of the old one. You can't get any more comprehensive than that!

And yet, in the pages in between, it is mainly about one nation, Israel, and how God deals with the Israeli (Jewish) people. In the New Testament, a Jew named Jesus is born and he changes the course of world history through what he teaches, how he dies, and his miraculous return from the dead.

So how has this collection of books ('bible' just means 'library' or 'writings') become the cornerstone of so much of human existence?

The answer lies in the fact that Christians believe the story of God's relationship with Israel reveals to all of us who God is, what God wants and how we live in harmony with God. Christians base their confidence in the Bible in a number of things:

* The accuracy of the storytelling in the Bible. Despite the rumours, the Bible tells an exceedingly accurate history of the ancient world. It does it in the literary styles of its time (you could hardly expect it to give precise scientific data about stars, for example), but with impressive care for getting the details right.

* The richness of the Bible. People find that the Bible's teachings really do match with human experience. In the Bible, we read about characters who are very believable-full of flaws, often wicked, yet also wanting to escape their own wickedness and strive for good. The Bible's teachings about how to live a good life still ring true with many people (though of course not everyone).

* The coherence of the Bible. The story of the Bible really does fit together, as we discover that Jesus is the climax of God's plan for the world, and his crucifixion and resurrection are all part of God's method for drawing history together and answering the great problems of the human race.

When you read the Bible, it can take a while to get your bearings. But after a bit of work, you start to see how this book really could bring you into an encounter with the true and living God.