Is the Bible True?
04_Is the Bible true?
Here are 9 pieces of evidence that prove it is.
A few years ago, I worked with a guy who said to me, “the Bible was just a book full of allegorical stories, like old fairy tales to tell young children, and that none of it could be proven.” I tried to reason with him and share more about the authenticity of the Bible, but he just flat out refused to listen. Do you ever wonder if any of it actually happened and if it can be trusted? If you are like my coworker, for the next 30 minutes put your biases aside, have an open mind, and explore that with me.
Over the last two episodes of the Grafted Podcast, we have talked about where the Bible came from, and how to choose a good translation of the bible to study. After listening to those two episodes, my friend and church planter Michael Coppock pointed out that there are some theories, that people believe, that says that the Bible is not the true authoritative Word of God. That brings up the question, “How do we know the Bible is true?” That is what we are going to talk about on this episode: Is the Bible true?
If you were to start digging in on this topic, you would find many different theologians who have written books upon books proving that the Bible is the authoritative word of God. The problem with most of these books is that they are written by theologians for theologians. They use terminology that the majority of us wouldn’t be able to understand unless we have degrees in theology. Which in our case isn’t helpful. There is, however, one book that I found incredibly helpful for us normal people to read and understand. Global University’s “Christian Life Series” by Missionary L. Jeter Walker is this book. Most of this episode is derived from this book. Lesson 6, titled Your Bible, specifically talks about 9 clues that help prove the Bible is true. I’ll put a link to this lesson in the description. http://www.globalreach.org/english/images/L2120ENE08_L06.pdf
Walker uses a 9 letter word as an acronym to give evidence that the Bible is true. That acronym is the word E•V•I•D•E•N•C•E•S.
Now, as I mentioned earlier, there has been so much research done on this topic I am unable to go into full detail about each part. Because of this, I am going to try and give a good synopsis of the topic to stay within the time parameters for this episode. So here are the 9 evidences.
1. E = Effects of Scripture
The effects of scripture are miracles. In his book “Systematic Theology,” Wayne Grudem says, “when miracles occur, they give evidence that God is truly at work and so serve to advance the Gospel.” In other words, miracles help to authenticate the message of the Bible. When miracles happen, God used them to bear witness about himself as he sparks people’s interest with awe and wonder. This could be through some sort of physical healing, deliverance from addiction, answers to prayers, or many other miraculous things that God does to transform lives. These miracles are the Effects of Scripture, and they prove that God is alive and active, making his word true and authentic.
2. V = Variety and Unity
In episode 2: Where did the bible come from, we looked at how God used 40 men over 1500 years to write the Bible. God used everyone from Kings to peasants, from politicians to religious leaders to record his word. The law was written by Moses 1500 years before Christ, and Revelation was written about 100 years after Jesus’ birth by John. The thing that unites each writer is that each one wrote about the relationship between God and humanity as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Charles Chandler wrote, “‘The Old Testament prepares you for the New, and the New explains the Old.’ ‘Jesus is the subject and is basically the red line, the crimson line of blood, that runs throughout all of its books. He’s really the message of the entire Bible—not just the New Testament.’” Each writer carried out the same theme and harmony that is found throughout the entirety of the Bible. This is evidence that each writer, who wrote hundreds of years apart from each other, received their inspiration from God.
3. I = Inerrancy
The inerrancy of Scripture means that the Bible in the original manuscripts does not confirm anything that opposes fact. The Bible is free from mistakes. It is an accurate historical record of events, people, places, genealogies, social customs, and many other things. If you look at your text books from school, as we learn more about any given subject, the text books change to reflect that research. But when we look at the Bible, it does not change. The writers were exposed to all kinds of mistaken beliefs, but God kept them from writing about them in the Bible. The writers also never contradicted each other. The Bible was written to show the facts in an impartial and accurate way. We see this by reading the records of people who were righteous along with people who failed and sinned. The inerrancy of the Bible is known because it does not try to hide anything.
4. D = Discoveries
Many of the Bible’s historical accounts have been proven true through archaeological discoveries. In his article “10 Crucial Archaelogical Discoveries related to the Bible,” John Currid talks about some of these findings. He includes the Rosetta Stone which is used to decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics; the dead sea scrolls that contain over 800 Hebrew writings including 190 biblical scrolls; The Epic of Gilgamesh contains the story of Noah. These are just 3 of the 10 listed in his article, and there are still many others archaeological discoveries that prove the authenticity of the Bible. These discoveries help give the skeptic plenty of evidence that God’s word is true and worth taking a look at.
5. E = Excellence in Scripture
Excellence in Scripture is referring to the teachings found in the Bible. The bible is a book that Children can read and understand, while at the same time theologians cannot fully unpack its truth. We can read it many times from cover to cover, and each time we read it find something new. God uses his word to continually speak to his people. If we really think about it, many of the laws we have today are based off of the Laws that God gave Moses like do not steal, dont murder, etc. On top of that the Bible is so excellently written that even university scholars have recognized it because of its example of what good literature should have in it. Because of its excellence, it is the most high-caliber book ever produced, which leads us to believe that its ideas and theories are from God.
6. N = Name of Author
While there were 40 individual writers of the Bible, God is the author. Each writer was inspired by God to write and record the Bible into human words. There are many different verses through out scripture that name God as the author. Here are three of many examples:
Deut 18:18 “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”
Jeremiah 1:19 “Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, ‘Behold, I have put my words in your mouth’”
Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
Even though these words are spoken in ordinary language, the authority and truthfulness still show that they are completely God’s word’s.
7. C = Completion of Prophecy
The ancient Jews were very carful when it came to prophecy. Moses set an extremely high bar for anyone who was considered to be a prophet. Deuteronomy 18:22 (NLT) “If the prophet speaks in the Lord’s name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the Lord did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared.” Moses knew that prophecy was evidence that God was at work in the prophet, and gave him insight to something that only God knew about. Many of the prophecies were warnings of punishment but were also promises for those who changed their ways like with what happened when God sent Jonah to Ninava. (give the reference…)
God used prophets to tell about many things that were going to happen. For example Jeremiah said that Babylon would rule over Judah for 70 years in Jer. 25:11-12, and it was fulfilled approximately 50 years later. He also said that the Jews will survive the Babylonian Rule and would return home in Jer. 32:36-37, and it was fulfilled in 536 BC. There are many more prophecies from the Old Testament, which all of them came true. In the New Testament, there were over 300 Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled through Jesus Christ. The prophecies that are found in the Bible reaveal that it was the inspired word of God. This was because they were all true, and they always pointed people towards a relationship with God.
8. E = Elimination of Alternatives
WhWt are the Alternatives to God insparation? The writers could be writting of their own thoughts and ideas, or it could be inspired by Satan. We know that the writters where not writting thier own thoughts because they pointed out thier own sin, thier own unholiness, and their own shortfalls as they shared what God asks of us. If a man in his own right was going to write something to change the mind of the masses it is human nature that it would be for his own benifit or to make him look better, not to better others while also showing the weakness in himself.
These men were not inspired by Satan because they combated agains evil and condemned Satan. They even predicted Satan’s future failure and punishment. Without the inspiration of God, the writers could not have acurately forseen and predicted the fulfillment of prophecy. There are many Alternative (different) thoughts about how the writers came up with what they put in the bible. But, when we logically examine scripture, looking at the lives of the authors and how the message of all the authors was the same, these alternative possibilities can be eliminated. This leads us to the conclusion that God inspired these men to write and record what they did.
9. S = Survival
For most books, time is the worst enemy. Over time books become outdated, warn out, the pages turn yellow and ink starts to fade, fewer people read it, and eventually it disappears. But, this is not so with the Bible. The oldest parts of the bible are over 3500 years old, and the newest are 1900 years old. The fact that the bible is this old shows that God cares for both his word and his people. There is no book in the history of earth that has been copied, translated, and printed more than the Bible. There have been some, like world leaders, who have tried to destroy every Bible that they could, put bible readers to death, and attacked the bible mercilessly. Even with all that, the Bible has stood the test of time, and is read more now than ever. It has even made its way to being the all time best selling book in the world. The Bible has outlived every enemy who has come against it. The Apostle Peter wrote in his first letter chapter 1 verse 24-25a for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25but the word of the Lord remains forever.” With everything that has come against God’s word, this verse has proved its self true time and time again.
There you have it… Nine evidences that prove that the Bible is the authoritative and true word of God.
God inspired the writers of the Bible to give a good picture of God’s holiness and love towards us, to show our rebellion against him, and for us to see his amazing plan to rescue us from our own sin and death inorder to restore us to eternal life with Him. If we allow it to, the Bible will transform our lifes, and we will be way better off for it.
I hope that this episode has helped you see that the Bible is a very special book that can be trusted. Because it can be trusted, we should read and follow what it says.
