| How do you know the Bible is true?
There are several ways to demonstrate the Bible is correct in all that it affirms. 1. History. There have been more than 25,000 sites discovered that pertain to biblical history and all have proven exactly what the Bible says. Much of this fits into the next category but to name a couple, until just a few years ago historians balked at the record of king David until last century a partial clay tablet was found east of Israel that mentions the �House of David� confirming that David was indeed a real person and king. The same thing was thought of a nation called the Akaddians mentioned in scripture, until a site was uncovered that confirmed their existence. 2. Archaeology/science. Archaeology has been named by some as the Bibles greatest friend. As mentioned above over 25,000 sites have been uncovered that are biblically related. Everyone of them have confirmed the Biblical record exactly. 3. Biblical Prophecy. One of the things that is amazing when looked at is the accuracy of the biblical record regarding predicted future events. Over 2000 different predictions made in the Bible have come true exactly as the Bible said it would. One example is found in Ezekiel 26 were he predicts the destruction of Tyre. That prediction was made about 250 years before it�s destruction, but the details which Ezekiel gives matches exactly what the Greeks did to Tyre in 332 B.C. and it still holds true today. Micah 5:2 tells of the very city that the Messiah would be born which was one of over 200 prophecies made about the messiah that were fulfilled exactly in the person of Jesus Christ. 4. Eyewitnesses � Almost the writers of the New Testament were eyewitnesses to Christ�s life. Only Luke and Paul were not, but Paul had a face to face encounter with him after the resurrection. At least three of the writers, Matthew, Peter & John were personal disciples of Jesus. 5. Manuscript Evidence. Here is where the greatest amount of evidence shows up. The most manuscripts of any writing in antiquity we have from one source is from the Illiad and it has about 643 manuscripts (copies) and no one questions it. There are approximately 24,000 manuscripts in the New Testament alone that verify that the Bible we have today is an accurate rendering of the original manuscripts. No other manuscript of antiquity even comes close. Where all manuscripts of antiquity other than the Bible have their closest copy of that manuscript about 1100 years after the original was written, the Bible has manuscripts that now date as close as 35-50 years from the original manuscript. The general rule used in this discipline says that the closer the manuscript to the original, the more accurate it is generally considered to be. Since the Bible has manuscripts closer in date and more numerous than any other writing in antiquity, and all the manuscripts fit the rules of manuscript evidence, we can have confidence that the Bible is an accurate copy of the originals. 6. Endurance through time. For centuries now, people have tried to destroy the Bible or prove it wrong, of which all attempts have failed. This fact alone showing the endurance of the Bible through time has to speak loudly for its reliability. People have tried to show discrepancies in every area of scripture, all to no avail. It�s internal testimony/consistency. One of the things that proves the Bibles reliability is its amazing internally consistent message of its 66 books over some 1500 years. The theme and the consistent moral message, its consistent plan of salvation from beginning to end, all speak to the miraculous nature of this book. 7. Changed lives. In addition to all the above, there are the millions and millions of changed lives of people who have put their faith in the central person of the Bible, Jesus Christ, not to mention all the changes that Christianity has brought to the world because of the message of this book. The more one spends time in an unbiased manner, studying this book, the more likely they are to see just how true this book is. |
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