Is The Bible REALLY the Word of God?
We accept fully the writings of the entire Old and New Testament as the inspired,
inerrant, and objective Word of God. The Bible is our final authority in all matters
of doctrine, and decisions as individuals and as a New Testament Church.
Who wrote the Bible?
The Bible was written over the course of over 1500 years by over 40 authors.
Does this make it the work of MEN?
No. This is actually A proof that the Bible is inspired by God Himself, because the bible does not contain
internal inconsistencies, even though authored over centuries by so many different people.
Give me PROOF God wrote the Bible.
There are several important tests to prove that the Bible is the Word of God, rather than MAN.
Historical Accuracy
The Bible accurately describes events that occurred centuries ago.
While this does not prove that GOD wrote it rather than MAN (even a MAN can accurately record the events that
are transpiring in front of him), if there was clear archaeological evidence that contradicted what the bible
said about an event, then it's a pretty sure thing that GOD didn't write that. (By Definition, GOD knows what's
going on.)
Check out the following links:
Christian Advice Website
Archaeological Evidence Supporting the Bible
Recent discoveries in Archaeology that support the historicity of the Bible:
Recently, on the Discovery Channel, a special was aired where they found a home of an Egyptian Noble who may very well
have been Joseph. The program was aired in October 2006.
(However, I can't find a link to an article discussing this.)
www.BibleAndScience.com
Some skeptics have brought up supposed discrepancies in archaeological evidence when compared to the Biblical record:
Moabite Stone - The discovery of the Moabite Stone, that records (from the Moabite perspective) a king of Moab
named Mesha, and King Omri of Israel. The record on the stone discusses Mesha's conquests and victories. Yet
2nd Kings 4 discusses a definite defeat of Mesha, up to the point where he sacrifices his own son on the
battlements, and Israel goes back home. Also, the Stone says it is Omri's SON (Ahab) that he defeats, and not
his grandson, Jehoram.
Wikipedia Article
However, the actual inscription on the stone does not name the king that attacked him. It states that it is Omri's
son. But the word here, 'ben' means 'descended from' and can mean any level of generations.
It's also possible that the inscription describes conquests while Ahab is King of Israel, and that the battle described
in 2Kings does not occur until after the stone is inscribed.
Yet the stone DOES declare several things that are supported by the Bible passage - Moab was led by King Mesha. He was a
contemporary of the time of King Omri, and King Ahab, and that he was at war with them, That he rebelled against the tribute Israel was
levying against Moab.
Another one skeptics claim is the Tell of Ai, where the bible declares that Joshua defeated it, burned it, and it was
never rebuilt. There is evidence in the Tell that Ai existed, that it was destroyed, and that it was never rebuilt.
However, through some dating means I have not been able to uncover in digging through the net, they claimed that Ai
was destroyed almost 1000 years before Joshua and crew arrived in Canaan. Not sure if this was through a C-14 dating of matter
found at the same strata, or what. However, these can be reconciled if we consider the possibility that these events
could have transpired 1000 years earlier.
This solution also resolves dating conflicts with Jericho.
Prophesies Fulfilled
The average psychic hotline makes predictions and prophecies (for cash) for thousands of individuals each year.
Many of these so-called psychics catalog predictions in the tabloids every fall. Yet (far as I know) their
'predictions' are not judged at the end of the year to see which ones have come true.
The bible states in Leviticus that if a person comes to you and claims to be a 'prophet', you are to examine him to
see if it is true or not.
The test of a prophet is pretty simple - If what he says does NOT come to pass, then he is NOT a prophet, and you are
not to be afraid of him.
The implied message here is that the prophet should be removed from the land of the living.
Unfortunately (for the prophet) many of his prophecies may not have come to pass until centuries after his death.
J. Barton Payne’s, Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy (New York: Harper & Row, 1973) lists 1,239
prophecies in the Old Testament, and 578 prophecies in the New Testament, for a total of 1,817.
These encompass 8,352 verses.
That is an extraordinary amount of prophecies, and the statistical probability that they could ALL have come true,
is by far too big a number to grasp.
The following link describes just 10 such prophecies given by Old Testament
prophets concerning the Messiah, and the odds that they could 'accidentally' come to pass in any one person.
www.jesusplusnothing.com
The following link gives a listing of many of the prophesies in the old and new testaments and when and where
they were fulfilled.
www.aboutbibleprophesy.com
Eyewitness Accounts
Historical Accuracy
The Bible says:
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. - 2 Tim 3:16-17
Is the Bible free of errors?
Generally, there are four arguments used to try to claim that the bible has error. I'll address each with
links to outside references that will explain how these attacks fall down:
Claim 1: We have no originals, so we cannot know what the originals said.
While it is probably true that original texts and letters that comprise the gospels and epistles are no longer in
existence, this does NOT mean that we cannot know what the original works said. There are over 24,000 manuscripts that
are partial or complete copies of the New Testament, and over 86,000 quotations from early church fathers.
We can ascertain the text of the originals THROUGH these Manuscripts
Claim 2: The copies we have now are from 250AD or later, and were related word-of-mouth from myth.
See the link above, it also addresses this issue. We have fragments from within 1 generation from the original writing,
whole books from within 100 years, and the entire New Testament from within 250 years.
The degree of accuracy is incomparable to any other book.
Claim 3: The copies we have now are NOT identical and therefore expose scribal errors.
See the link above, it also addresses this issue. The variances in the transcriptions are minor - word transpositions,
missing letters, etc. but do not vary significantly from one text to another. Many bibles today note these differences
in margins and footnotes. These variances help underline by comparing multiple different copies, what the original text was.
Claim 4: The Bible has internal discrepancies and contradictions.
A lot of Skeptics have attacked the bible, compiling quite a list of alleged contradictions in the Bible.
It's a very large list (somewhere around 4000), many of them frivolous even at first blush, and MOST of them reduntantly
referenced in every verse that is alleged to be contradictory. But most are refuted or defended adequately
enough either here or elsewhere.
You can view the list and see defenses for each by clicking HERE.
Is the Bible Objective?
(and what does that word really mean anyway?)
Let's do a little dictionary digging first.
Here's a definition from an Online Dictionary:
Objective -Uninfluenced by emotions or personal prejudices
The bible is NOT subject to our personal prejudices and emotions. It says what it says.
In today's world there is a strong movement of moral relativism. What is WRONG to ME may be OK for you. In
moral relativism's frame of reference, I have no right whatsoever to tell YOU what is right or wrong.
You'd be absolutely right to say that I myself have no right to tell you what is right or wrong. Our frames of
reference are subjective, and I do not have the authority to tell you what NOT to do (unless you are my kid).
You can simply say 'Oh YEAH? Sez WHO?' - And I don't have legal authority to press my point. (Perhaps the police and
the Government do, but you can always move to another country, etc.)
However, this is NOT true of the Bible. IF the bible is inspired by God Himself, and He is the Judge of all the
earth, then His word is objective and NOT subject to the Grand 'sez who!?'
Does the Bible Have Final Authority?
Well, the bottom line is that if the Bible is the Word of God, He HAS the final say. We should follow His guideline for
living.
Because after you are dead, you are going to meet Him, and He'll be evaluating how you did in this life.