So You Think The Bible Is Real-Prove It To Me!
Written by: A New Me
2 Timothy 3:16-17: The number one rebuttal I get when speaking to a non-believer regarding the Bible is that they can’t believe in it because it was written by man. Now I can easily combat this from a Christian perspective. There are numerous scriptures in the Bible that refer to the Word of God being infallible and inspired by God, but to the non-believer that is not proof. The Lord has recently laid it on my heart to do an in-depth study on the evidence, both historically and scientifically, regarding the proof of the Bible’s reliability. I am confident that whether you believe in God or not, that this article will shed light on the truth that God’s Holy Word is real.
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
One of the biggest arguments from the non-believer is that science can’t prove the Bible. Not only is this not accurate, but the reality is science can’t prove anything that is not able to be recreated. I mean, can science prove that George Washington was the first president or that Martin Luther King was a civil rights activist? The answer is no, science can only prove what can be recreated in a controlled environment. When we refer to history and historical events, we must look at written and oral evidence. It’s fair to say that most of us know who Napoleon is or what Christopher Columbus is known for, but this is not because science proved it; rather, because historical evidence has shown this to be factual. The Bible is the most widely researched, studied and documented piece of literature in all of antiquity. There is no other “book” that has attempted to be discredited more than the Bible, and when you think about it, in the over 2000 years since the Bible has been in circulation, no one has been able to disprove it. In fact, more than 80% of the Bible’s people, places and stories have been historically and archeologically proven.
Nelson Glueck, a respected Jewish archaeologist, claims, “It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever contradicted a biblical reference.” Thousands of religious leaders, scientists and historians have made attempts at discrediting the Bible to no avail, and what used to be arguments regarding the inaccuracies of the Bible, modern science ironically enough has proven otherwise.
The completed Bible and all of its 66 books took more than 1500 years to complete. It was written by 40 different authors on 3 different continents in 3 different languages. However, the continuity of the message has been unparalleled and unwavering: “God’s redemption of mankind.” This in itself speaks of a divine Creator, a higher power that inspired these individuals, who more often than not did not know of each other or the message they were spreading. There is no other piece of literature in all of history that has this type of continuity of message or hand in creation. Ancient manuscripts of both the Old and New Testaments continue to be unearthed, and when we compare the number of ancient manuscripts from the Bible to any other piece of literature in history, the results are overwhelming.
Although it was first written on perishable materials, and had to be copied and recopied for hundreds of years before the invention of the printing press, the Scriptures have never
diminished in style or accuracy, nor have they ever faced extinction. The evidence of its reliability is based on the number of ancient manuscripts which have been located, and the comparisons from the original to the current texts. It is the comparison of the original writings to the ones which have continued to be passed down through the years that proves it to be an accurate document. Below is a breakdown of some popular historical events and the number of manuscripts we have on them:
· Caesar’s Gallic Wars- 10
· Tactius’ Annals- 20
· Homer’s Illiad- 643
· Williams Shakespeare’s work- 420
Compare those numbers to that of the total number of New Testament manuscripts collected from archeology and antiquity – 24,970 (and counting). One may ask, “Why does the Bible have so many manuscripts?” and the reason can easily be explained in the book of Isaiah 40:8, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”
Another major aspect of the Bible’s authenticity is the element of predictive prophesies. The Bible is the only religious book that contains prophecy that has proven to become true. Approximately 70% of biblical prophecy has been fulfilled to date. Give history enough time, and it will catch up to the Bible. Here’s a list of some specifically fulfilled prophecies:
· Obadiah 1:4- Destruction of Edom
· Isaiah 11:11- Israel re-gathered to the promised land
· 1 Kings 13:2- Man named Josiah would rule from Judah and destroy pagan altars (300 years before he was born)
· Isaiah 44:28- Man named Cyrus would overcome Babylon (150 years before he was born)
Then we have Messianic prophesies (which are more than 300):
· Timing of His coming- Daniel 9:25
· Birthplace- Micah 5:2
· Virgin Birth- Isaiah 7:14
· Betrayal- Psalm 41:9
· Crucifixion- Psalm 22:16 (centuries before crucifixion was ever practiced)
The statistical probability of one man fulfilling only 8 of these prophecies are 10^117 power (a 10 followed by 17 zeros). To give you an example, that is like filling the entire state of Texas with silver dollars 2 feet deep and marking one of them with an “X.” Then you would blindfold a man, and tell him to pick up one silver dollar, and have him pick (on his first try) the marked coin. Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophesies; conversely, the Muslim’s Koran, Hindu’s Vedas, Buddhist’s Tripitaka, and all other “religious books” lack any prophetic element. Only God can do that!
Lastly, although the Bible never claims to be a scientific textbook, it makes scientific statements that predate official discoveries by several centuries:
· Earth is a sphere- Isaiah 40:22 (not proven until 1600 years later)
· Water cycle keeps land watered- Job 36:27-28 (2500 year gap)
· Earth is suspended in space- Job 26:7- (3600 year gap)
· Ocean currents flow through the sea- Psalms 8:8 (2800 year gap)
· Earth’s crust rests upon a foundation- Job 38:4 (4000 year gap)
When you look at all the evidence, both historically and scientifically, it is impossible to deny that the Bible was created with divine inspiration. It was the Holy Spirit which led these men to create the Bible in order to convey the message of redemption to man, and I trust that this evidence will open your eyes to see that. Truth can stand examination. Psalm 147:5 says, “Great is out Lord! His power is absolute! His understanding is beyond comprehension!”
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I am always interested in reading views on how people interpreter this book we call “BIBLE”. I usually do not making statements because I believe that everyone has the right to their opinion concerning religious believes, but lately I have been growing increasingly concerned about the direction society as whole is going. First, I want to state that I do believe that every person should be instilled with a strong moral code. (E.I. - Honesty, Kindness Etc.). With that said, I disagree with statements you have made in your posting. Science can prove George Washington was the the First President because all we have to do is some research and investigation to separate fact from fiction. Isn’t that what science is all about? Religious believes aside, the bible does provide information that helps us piece together our past just like any other object, book, or thing. The difference is though, science allows for all points of view and brings those views (THEORIES) to the table because the goal of science is to find the hard cold facts. The bible is only one view of how certain historical events took place and it wasn’t put together until well after the fall of the roman empire and not all the books where placed in the bible so from the beginning the bible is allowing only for one point view and that view is from the certain uneducated individuals that history has proven time and time again that believed science was evil in some way. These individuals took the easy route because they didn’t want to do the work to find the facts and why would they? its easier just to say this is how God wanted it. How many people have been hurt or worst yet, died? How many wars or confrontations have we been involved in because of this narrow view. I say all this because I don’t believe that God wanted us to take the easy route if anything he/she would encourage us to learn from our mistakes and not to repeat them. So in-conclusion, the debate is not about the bible being factual or not. No the debate is and always as been about doing the work and finding out the facts. Jesus stated that over and over again. (E.I. embarrassing a prostitute and allowing forgiveness) When Jesus did this he was going against all religious law of the day but he was basically didn’t care because he knew that people interpret things incorrectly without knowing the facts. So what I am saying is, the bible is only one point of view and we as society need to taking in every point view until we find the facts. This is the only way we can grow and establish peace and happiness for everyone not just a certain group.
Dear Someonewhocares:
I’d like to begin by thanking you for your comment, as we always appreciate difference in view points in any of the postings. I\’d also like to take a moment to ask the Holy Spirit to guide my thoughts and words as I take a this time to respond back to you.
I too am a firm believer that people should have a strong moral code, but lets face reality… they all don’t! The news is filled with everyday circumstances of people who not only don’t have a “moral code” but may even seem outright “evil”. Have you taken time out to really ponder “what can make people do the things they do?” Mankind is in a battle everyday, but its not against each other, its against good and evil (Ephesians 6:12). Have you ever had the feeling to do something you know you shouldn\’t but still do? This is the enemy, this is true, and science can’t prove it!
You commented that “the goal of science is to find the cold hard facts,” but the truth is that science rarely deals with fact. Science is nothing more or less that a method of inquiry based on hypothesis testing facilitated by collecting data. Technically what science deals with are hypotheses (tentative explanations for an observation). Science doesn’t prove anything that cant be recreated, but that doesn’t mean science is useless! What science does is pare away less plausible explanations for any given phenomenon. The point of the article was to help people better understand that there is significant data, historical evidence and history that cannot disprove that which the Holy Bible documents. If it cant be dis proven, then you have to lean on faith or faithlessness. And faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see! (Hebrews 11:1).
Now I also think that it is very important to look at the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Bible -vs- the teachings of “The Roman Catholic Church” (which was solely responsible for the Crusades and the persecution of others and was even responsible for hiding the Bible “Dark Ages” for a very long time). Nowhere in the teachings of Jesus Christ, did He want anything besides equality among all, peace among all, love among all and happiness for all. The Bible says that God doesn’t want even one person to perish (2 Peter 3:9). You made a great statement when you said “the debate is and always has been about doing the work and finding out the facts.” The fact is Jesus came into this world, not to condemn us, but to save the world (John 3:17).So you see, this is soo much bigger than my view -vs- the next, this is about TRUTH!
Though the Bible, as “one book”, wasn’t put together until the Roman Empire was introduced to Christianity, the teachings of Christ and the Early Church, the Gospels (which comprise the New Testament) and the Pentatauch, historical books and prophetic books (Majority of Old Testament) had been in circulation for thousands of years before. To say that the Holy Bible doesn’t include all “books” or to say it was put together by uneducated people is not only incorrect, but continues to this day being scientifically dis proven. The books your speaking of I’m sure are the dead sea scrolls (Gospel of Mary, Thomas, etc…) even secular studies and programs testify that these books where written well after the days of the Early Church and therefore never belonged in the Bible in the first place.
The books you refer to as being part of the Bible are referred to as the “canon”, the term “canon” is used to describe the books that are divinely inspired and therefore belong in the Bible. The difficulty in determining the biblical canon is that the Bible does not give us a list of books that belong in the Bible. Determining the canon was a process conducted first by the Jewish rabbis and scholars and later by early Christians (definitely not uneducated people). Ultimately, it was God who decided what books belonged in the biblical canon. A book of Scripture belonged in the canon from the moment that God inspired its writing. It was simply a matter of God convincing His human followers which books should be included in the Bible.
Again, it is crucial to remember that the church did not determine the canon. No early church council decided on the canon. It was God, and God alone, who determined which books belonged in the Bible. It was simply a matter of God’s imparting to His followers what He had already decided. The human process of collecting the books of the Bible was flawed, but God, in HIS sovereignty, and despite our ignorance and stubbornness, brought the early church to the recognition of the books He had inspired.
Be very careful attempting to take in every point of view in order to try and determine your own… Millions of citizens and people at one point thought that the point of view to “eradicate all jews” was the right point of view…. This group of people where called Nazi’s. And there is currently a large group of people that believe everybody not like them should die…. This group is called the Muslims, now go ask one of them what the right view point is to them, I bet its not the same as yours!
God is raising up a generation of believers in Jesus Christ, not religion or ritual. This generation is about being doers of His teachings and not hearers (James 1:22), and we are ready at anytime to defend the Truth of the Gospel to a world that is slowly perishing and getting worse (you cant disagree with that fact!)
I leave you with this:
John 3:16-18 (The Message Bible)-
“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
Be Salt, Be Light…. Spread Truth!
Sincerely,
A New Me