Why Do I Believe What the Bible Says?

Is it Reliable?

The Bible is the most read book ever!!The Bible is the one book that has been translated in more languages ever!!The Bible is the foundation for the Constitution and Declaration of

Independence for the United States of America!!The Bible’s main focus is the greatest philosophical concept ever: love!!The Bible is the most accurate historical document ever!!The Bible is the most archeological attested document of antiquity ever!!The Bible changed my life!!

Outline

• Arguments for Not Believing in the Bible• Why is the Bible a historically reliable

document?• New Testament• Old Testament• What are the ramifications of the Bible

reliability

Good Books

• “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist” by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek

• “The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict” by Josh McDowell

Critiques of the Bible• Two main themes:

– It is not authentic– It is not authoritative

• Arguments:– the bible is not reliable because it has been translated so many

times– We don’t have original manuscripts and overzealous monks

rewrote the bible– We cannot know the history– The New Testament contains miracles and hence cannot be trusted– The New Testament writers were biased– The bible was written by humans and as such contains errors and

contradictions– The bible is not scientifically proven

Argument: We cannot know the History

• Rebuttal: these are often the people that say we “know” that the first life spontaneously generated from nonliving matter

• This objection is against common sense– We know who were the leaders of our country without

ever seeing them– We know that various occurred without our experiencing

them– We know who won past sporting events without our

presence there– If we can’t know the history, then the skeptic cannot

criticize that Christianity is untrue

Argument: The New Testament Contains Miracles So Cannot Be True

• Rebuttal: Since the internal consistent argument is that a supernatural creator made everything, he then is above nature and can induce “miracles” or supernatural events into the natural order.

Argument: The New Testament Writers Were Biased

• Rebuttal: • True, the NT writers were converted and hence

biased, but every writer is biased and that does not mean that they lied or embellished their eyewitness

• The NT writers could be most accurate taking in the local historical accounts than others because of their honesty toward gross errors by those in the church

Argument: The Bible is Full of Errors and Contradictions

• Rebuttal: • True that humans err, but they don’t always err• Inerrancy would be invalidated if any error were to be

found in the original scrolls• Christianity would be invalidated if someone could

find the body of Jesus• If after 2000 years nobody can find an error in the

bible nor the body of Jesus, isn’t it possible that neither exists?

• One scripture can help translate another one (story of elephant with blind Indian leaders; each sees in part)

Argument: the Bible is not scientifically proven

• Rebuttal: of course, it is not scientifically proven, because it is a historical document and should be judged by the metrics of judging historicity not science.

• Science requires observable, measurable, and repeatable events; the events in the bible cannot be observed today, measured today, nor can they be repeated today. Science is limited.

• History is judged by a reliable source, internally consistent, and corroborated externally. The Bible was written by 40 authors (eyewitnesses) in 3 different continents in 3 languages and 66 volumes over 1600 years with only one redemptive story.

Why should I believe the Bible?

• Wrong Answer: God said it, I believe it, that settles it• Wrong Answer: My parents taught me to believe in

the Bible or that is how I grew up• Right Answer: I believe the bible because it comes

from a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses who reported supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and claim that their writings were divine rather than of human origin

Reliability of New Testament

• “Unlike most other religious worldviews, Christianity is built on historical events and can therefore be either proven or falsified by historical investigation. The problem for skeptics and critics is that all the historical evidence points to the resurrection” Geisler and Turek, “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist,” p. 374.

2 Peter 1:16-21• We have not followed cunningly devised fables when we

made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory “this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more more sure word of prophecy; whereunto you do well that you take heed…knowing this first,that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

We did not follow cunningly devised fables – “a reliable collection of historical documents”

• Luke 1:1 eyewitnesses of the events and an orderly account of the events

• Written by 40 authors (eyewitnesses) in 3 different continents in 3 languages, and 66 volumes over 1600 years and only one redemptive story.

• Ask anyone who is in a state prison and ask them if they had

40 witnesses would they be in prison? No obviously.

• 1 John 1:1-3 the point is the eyewitnesses (seen and heard) is the base fundamental point for faith in Christ

“written during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses”

• 1 Cor 15:1-9 at the time of the writing of 1 Cor, there were 300 eyewitnesses still alive at that time.

• Verse 6 he was seen of 500 brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto the present…

Other eyewitnesses• Critique: The bible is not reliable because it was

translated so many times. What was said at the beginning is not what is reported at the end.

• Rebuttal: This critique assumes that the second translation came after the first one in a series. However, the truth is that the bible is not translations after other translations. Each of these are translations from the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic, not of each other. Each of the translations talked about the original events, persons, etc.

Other eyewitnesses (2)• Critique: we don’t have the original manuscripts and the overzealous

monks rewrote things• Rebuttal:. The early church fathers quoted the New Testament so often,

that if we just wrote what they quoted, we would have all of the New Testament except for just 11 verses.

• The overzealous monks had to collect 6000 manuscripts, get all of the second tier documents (18,000) in the four languages, 300 years later and altar all of the changes…..not likely

Greek

Syriac

Coptic

Latin

20-70 AD 70-100 AD

6000 manuscripts 24000 manuscripts

monks

400-500 AD

Nelson Glueck, Palestinian Archeologist, wrote in Rivers in the Desert, 1959.“It may be stated categorically that no archeological discovery has ever contradicted a biblical reference. Scores of Archeological findings have been made which confirm in exact detail, historical statements in the bible.”

F.F. Bruce, Historian “There is no body of ancient literature in the world which enjoys such a wealth of good textual attestation as the New Testament.”

Author Date Written Earliest Copy Span #copiesCaeser 100-44 BC 900AD 1000yrs 10Plato 427-347 BC 900 AD 1200yrs 7Aristotle 384-322 BC 1100 AD 1400yrs 49Homer 900 BC 400 BC 500yrs 643(Illiad)New 20-100 AD 125 AD 25yrs 24,000Testament

Other Eyewitnesses (3)

“Report Supernatural Events from Prophecies”

•More than 300 prophecies regarding the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus•To mention just a few examples:

Isaiah 53 occurred 750 years before birth of JesusGen 3:15 occurred over 4000 years before the birth of JesusMicah 5:2 born in Bethlehem occurred over 700 years before Jesus……..

Wilbur Smith, DD: “Not in the entire gamut of Greek and Latin literature…can we find any real specific prophecy of a great historic event to come in the distant future….neither can the founders of any cult in this country rightly identify any ancient text specifically foretelling their future…the Bible is the only volume ever produced by man, or a group of men, in which is to be found a large body of prophecies relating to individual nations, to Israel, to all the peoples of the earth, to certain cities, and to the coming of the One who was to be the Messiah.”

“writings are divine and are not of human origin”

Critique: men wrote the bible and it can’t be perfect because imperfect people wrote it.

Rebuttal: If you believed this logic, then don’t read or believe any other book because humans wrote them too.

The Endurance of the Bible (Word of God) Over Time

SkepticsKant, “In the next 100 years, the Bible will be a forgotten manuscript”Nietsche, “God is dead.”

BibleIs 40:8 the grass withers and the flower fades but the word of our Lord shall stand for ever.Matt 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my (Jesus) words will not pass awayHeb 11:3 the world was framed by the word of God2 Peter 3:5-7 the world will end by the word of God

The Bible: Logos and Rhema•Logos: the written word• 2 Timothy 3:16 all scripture is given by inspiration of God

and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness• It has to do with physically hearing

•Rhema: the revealed word • Hebrews 4:12 the word of God is quick, and powerful, and

sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart• It has to do with spiriturally hearing

Why should I believe the Bible?

• Right Answer: I believe the bible because it comes from a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses who reported supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and claim that their writings were divine rather than of human origin