Why should we defend the historical truth of the Bible?

I've been realising that many of the most devious attacks against the Gospel come from attacking an issue which seems at first to be secondary. But the Gospel is built upon the real space-time historical events recorded in the Bible; so undermining the historical accuracy and clarity of the Bible is then quite simply an undercover attack on the Gospel itself.

In particular the early chapters of Genesis which lay down the real historical events that give the foundation for all the major Christian doctrines, such as the nature of God, the nature of man, the nature of sin, the consequences of sin, the origin of death, the need for a saviour and more. Once the foundation of these doctrines is removed, the fundamentals doctrines that lay the foundation of the Gospel are removed.

But there is a lot of encouragement to be found, as many have not laid bare their foundations:

See: http://creationontheweb.com/content/view/5774/

R. C. Sproul says: "According to the Reformation hermeneutic, the first option is to follow the plain sense of the text. One must do a great deal of hermeneutical gymnastics to escape the plain meaning of Genesis 1–2."

The more that this age progresses with all its apostasy and lies and deceptions and even false signs and wonders, the more we will need to cling to the Bible and let go of everything else which claims to have any authority on truth.

It is vital that we fervently believe that Scripture itself is the only authority by which to interpret Scripture.

Otherwise we will be caught headlong in the snare of Satan’s lies, the evil of compromise, the malady of the world’s wisdom and the degeneration of doctrine, the death of certainty, the ignorance of the truth, and the defilement of the church.

Yet we have the precious promises of Christ; His Church will endure, His bride will know the truth and the truth will set her free.