The Bible: Is it Really Accurate and Reliable?
Is the Bible historically accurate? For a skeptic like me, this question demanded an answer. After all, I was being asked to base my entire life on a book written over 2,000 years ago. It is not like I could find eye witnesses to Jesus’ death and resurrection and ask them to give me an account of what they saw and heard and then compare notes. Somehow, I needed to determine whether the Bible was historically accurate and not just made-up stories. The only thing I had to rely on was what was written in the Bible, and I was not yet convinced that the Bible was a reliable source of truth. I needed to understand why so many people were convinced that the Bible was historically accurate and reliable. So I began searching and here is what I found: THE BIBLE, AN ANCIENT TEXT The Bible is an ancient, historical collection of books. The first book was written around 3,400 years ago and the last book around 1,900 years ago. Historians who study ancient texts like those written by Homer, Plato and Aristotle use certain criteria to determine their reliability. This same criteria can also be (and has been) applied to the Bible. There are three tests that historians commonly use to test the reliability and accuracy of ancient documents: 1. The bibliographical test2. The internal evidence test 3. The external evidence test When these tests are applied to the Bible, there is no doubt that the Bible is an accurate and historical document. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL TEST HAS THE BIBLE BEEN TRANSMITTED ACCURATELY? The bibliographical test helps one determine whether the Bible has been transmitted accurately. This test compares the date the original text was written to the date of the earliest copies found of that same text. The closer these two dates, the more reliable the copies. The New Testament was written between A.D. 50 and A.D. 100. So far, the earliest copy of the New Testament found is dated A.D 130. This means that there is less than 100 years between the original manuscript and the first copy that was found! Compare this to Plato, where the time span between the original and the first copy was 1,200 years and to Homer (Iliad) where there is a 500 year difference. Historians consider Plato and Homer to have been transmitted accurately. Using this same test, the accuracy of the Bible far exceeds the accuracy of these other ancient texts, a fact historians cannot deny. Dead Sea Scroll Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the earliest copy of the Old Testament was dated around 90 A.D., which means there was a time gap of around 1,300 years between the first book written and the earliest copy discovered. This is about the same as Plato, who is considered reliable by an overwhelming majority of historians. In addition to the length of time between the original text and the earliest copy, Historians relied on how the Old Testament was transmitted to bolster its accuracy. The Old Testament was transcribed by Hebrew scribes who were bound to strict laws on how they transcribed the text, meaning mistakes in transmission were very unlikely. But until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, no one knew exactly how accurate these transcriptions were. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947 in a cave in Qumran. The scrolls contained fragments of every book of the Bible except Esther and were dated anywhere between 250 B.C. and 50 A.D. The entire book of Isaiah, dated 75 B.C., was part of the Dead Sea discovery. This discovery closed the gap between the original text of Isaiah and the earliest copy found. In addition, when scholars compared the previous oldest copy of the book of Isaiah to the Dead Sea Isaiah, they found 95% consistency. Of the 5% variation, most variations involved omitted letters and misspellings. Scholars can confidently assert that the scribal process resulted in a very accurate transmission of the Old Testament. Another facet of the test involves the number of copies found. The more copies found, the more accurate the text is. Seven copies of Plato and 1,757 of Homer (the Iliad) have been found, whereas over 5,500 copies of the New Testament written in Greek have been found. When you add versions written in other languages to those written in Greek, there are over 24,000 copies of the New Testament. Even more impressive is that after comparing these copies, the New Testament was found to be 99.5% accurate! Only 40 lines of the New Testament are in doubt. Historians consider Plato and Homer reliable texts. The bibliographical test shows the Bible to be much more reliable than both Homer and Plato. If Homer and Plato’s authenticity has not been questioned, then why should we question the historical authenticity of the Bible? Internal Evidence Test ARE THE BIBLICAL AUTHORS CREDIBLE? The internal evidence test helps us determine whether the authors of the Bible are credible. An author’s credibility is directly related to their proximity to the reported events and the time between the event and their report. In the case of the New Testament, the authors were either eyewitnesses to the event or relaying the testimony of an eyewitness to the event. John, a disciple of Jesus, was an eyewitness to all he wrote in the Gospel of John. He said in John 21:24, “This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.” Other authors of the New Testament wrote based on eyewitness accounts. John Mark, the author of Mark, was Peter’s translator. Mark’s gospel records the teachings of Peter, who, as Jesus’s disciple, had first-hand knowledge of Jesus, his teachings, and his life. Another way to determine an author’s credibility is to examine whether he had any motivation to lie. Early Christians were persecuted and killed for proclaiming Jesus. Their enemies were numerous. Why would the New Testament authors risk their lives
Liar, Liar: Extinguishing the Lies of Satan
“Don’t let one lie spoil a thousand truths.” ~unknown When I read that, it struck a chord with me. Any of these lies sound familiar? That healing will never come. They always… They never… That relationship is too broken. I’m alone. No one understands. I’m not good enough. The list of lies Satan uses is extensive. He is a liar. Period, no wiggle room because scripture tells us so in John 8:44. And one day quite literally his pants will catch fire. Well, maybe not his pants, but you get the idea. Ok, back to the point. The enemy of our souls, he thrives when we start to believe the lie. He likes to use the same hurts and old triggers to start us down a slippery slope of believing the lie. He isn’t picky, he’ll use the one that strikes us, the one that causes discomfort, pain, or doubt. That’s the one he’ll keep coming at. In his limited abilities and limited creativity, he may use a slightly tweaked version, a different person, a new hurt that feels like an old one, a circumstance that feeds the word “always/never.” But God, He is unlimited in his ability and creativity. That’s the truth we each need to stand on… We need to remember what God has already healed, in body, heart, or spirit. Praise Him for the relationship already restored and blossoming. Believe we are called His, we are enough and never alone. He is always there for us but in His unlimited wisdom gave us family and friends to share life with. Understand that “always” and “never” are strong words when it comes to imperfect and flawed humans because each one of us needs God’s grace, daily. Pause for just a moment and look at this image. For the most part, they look the same; however, if you really looked, you may have noticed one is slightly different. The image on the right is courser, not as refined as the one on the left. However, here’s the full picture and a reminder that our God is always a truth-teller. It’s up to us not to trust everything we see or feel. Even sugar looks like salt sometimes. Or as a friend recently said to me, “Shahla, your feelings are real, but that doesn’t make them reality.” So, what lie do you need to stop in its tracks? What one lie are you allowing to destroy a thousand truths? Let’s allow the truth to push back the lie. That’s where the enemy loses, that’s where victory is found. “Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.” Mark 9:50 “Through the Lord’s mercies, we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23 “But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together.” Ephesians 2:4-5 Oh Jesus, thank you for being unlimited in power, grace, and mercy. Thank you for being the ultimate truth-teller. Lord, for any lie being believed or any crack the enemy is trying to sneak into, may Your word make him flee, may the salt you offer and call us to be make the enemy shrivel as we stand firm and hold tightly to Your truth. Help give us discernment to recognize lies, to see clearly the liar the enemy is, and know the difference between the enemy’s course false sugar and Your refined truth giving salt. In Jesus’ Name. Amen. This weeks playlist:https://www.youtube.com/embed/XE2NAzqSDPQ?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent Haven’t Seen It Yet Danny Gokeyhttps://www.youtube.com/embed/NT2SPCP-PZ4?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent See A Victory Caleb and Kelsey Cover (Elevation Worship)https://www.youtube.com/embed/G2XtRuPfaAU?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent Raise A Hallelujah Bethel
Jesus Wept
As Christ-followers we should be weeping for what grieves God. We should be paying attention and weeping for what’s happening in the nation we live, pray to see what grieves Him, and praise Him that we still have the freedom to openly worship Jesus. We should be weeping for those that have blended Christianity into a dying world instead of boldly standing on the fullness of the Word. We should be weeping for and intentionally reaching out to the lost, whether in our families, our places of work, or social media pages; praying for the souls that will be lost if they don’t come to know and believe Jesus.