It�s true that the Bible was written by men. But these weren�t just your ordinary men, sitting around an office writing books. Out of the 66 books of the Bible, written over 1,500 years, there are 40 different authors who lived on three different continents and spoke three different languages. And they all have the same messages!
There are variations and so-called contradictions between the books of the Bible. But lets take a look at these. One reason for variation is the different writing styles of the authors. Minor variations include different word orders and spellings of various phrases. For example, using �Jesus Christ� instead of �Christ Jesus.�
Take a look at the four gospels, which provide us with a biography of Jesus. Each author provides the same story, but in a different way. Variants occur in writing style and details that the authors used to tell the story. For example, the gospel of John provides us with a few parables that aren�t in the other three books.
But there are also similarities between the three books. For one, the message that the books are proclaiming: that Jesus Christ is the son of God, who died for our sins and was resurrected on the third day. The chronology of Jesus� life is different in each gospel, but the events are the same. There are parallels between each book.
The parallels might lead you to believe that the four authors harmonized their stories before publishing them. But they are not alike enough to prove this. A Harvard Law student named Simon Greenleaf said it well when he said, �There is enough of a discrepancy to show that there could have been no previous concert among them; at the same time such substantial agreement as to show that they all were independent narrators of the same story."
But it�s not just a story that the forty authors of the Bible were writing. The Bible claims to be history, not mythology. What makes people believe that the Bible is historically accurate? A number of things.
First of all, the books of the New Testament were written only between thirty to forty years after the events that they were writing about happened. At this time, there were still many eyewitnesses living who could have disproved what the authors wrote. But no one did. Even people who hated Christ and his followers didn�t try to disprove their story. They called him names and put him down, but not one person said that Christ didn�t exist.
There are also outside sources whose stories line up with those of the Bible. The ancient Jewish historian Josephus wrote: �Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. � The Roman historian and governor Cornelius Tacitus mentioned Christ�s death. Even people who opposed Christianity referred to his miraculous deeds by trying to accuse him of sorcery.
Archeology supports the historical accuracy of the Bible as well. A group of people named the Hittites who are mentioned in the Old Testament were thought to fictional for years, until archeological digs in 1906 revealed that they had existed. Places mentioned in the Bible have been discovered through archeology. Nothing has ever been found through archaeology that disproves anything in the Bible.
How about some prophecies that came true? The Old Testament frequently mentions a coming Messiah, or Christ. There are 191 prophecies of Christ in the Old Testament. They range from his ancestry to his city to birth to the miracles that he would perform. Hundreds of years later, Jesus appears. And he fits every characteristic mentioned in the Old Testament prophecies!
For example, in Isaiah 7:14 it says �The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel.� This is fulfilled when Mary, a virgin, has a child. Psalm 78:2 says, �I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.� Most of Jesus� teaching was done in parables. Isaiah 53 is an entire chapter devoted to prophecies about the coming Messiah. Characteristics described in this chapter include �no beauty or majesty�nothing in his appearance that we should desire him�, being despised and rejected by men, and being oppressed and afflicted yet not protesting. It tells us that after �the suffering of his soul he will see the light of life and be satisfied.� All of this describes Jesus and his time on earth.
If the Bible claims to be history, and is proven historically accurate, doesn�t that mean that the story of Jesus is true? That everything that was written thousands of years ago about a living God and a Savior is still correct today? The Bible isn�t just another religious handbook, best seller, or history book. It�s the truth.