THE BIBLE

THE BIBLE IS UNIQUE

1. Written over a span of 1,500 years 2. Written by over 40 different authors over three different continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe 3. Written in three languages: Hebrew - The language of the Old Testament Aramaic - used from 500 to 300 B.C. Greek - The language of the New Testament Despite this, the Bible is internally consistent from the beginning to the end. The theme of the first book (Genesis) is the fall of man and loss of paradise, the theme of the last book (Revelation) is the redemption (saving) of man and the regaining of paradise. In between are recorded the events that took place so that God's redemption of man could occur.

HOW WAS THE BIBLE PREPARED?

1. Writing Materials: Papyrus - reeds that were stripped, beaten, and pressed together; was used up until about 300 A.D.; sheets of papyrus were glued together and wound around sticks to form scrolls. Others - Stone, Parchment, Clay 2. The Canon is the "officially accepted list of books" that are considered to be inspired by God at the time of their writing. Tests for inclusion include: Old Testament - Is it authoritative - "thus says the Lord" - Is it prophetic - written by a man of God - Is it authentic - if in doubt throw out - Is it dynamic - life changing New Testament - Was it written by an apostle or approved by an apostle Why Canonized: Old Testament - Jews were being scattered over many regions, Temple destroyed New Testament - People were circulating doubtful books, church needed official list

THE RELIABILITY OF THE BIBLE

"The historical reliability of the Scripture should be tested by the same criteria that all historical documents are tested." Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands A Verdict, 1972, 1979, page 39.

NEW TESTAMENT
We no longer have the original copies of any ancient texts; however, we do have copies of the originals. The document that has the best manuscript evidence besides the Bible is Homer's Iliad. There is currently no debate as to the authenticity of the Iliad, so lets compare the New Testament to the Iliad and see how they stack up. Work Homer (Iliad) New Testament When Written Copy Earliest Time Number of Span Copies

900 B.C. 400 B.C. 500 Yrs 643 40-100 A.D. 125 A.D. 25-85 Yrs over 24,000

Therefore, since we have so many copies and the oldest copies are so close in time frame to the originals, we are certain that the copy we have today is essentially unchanged and uncorrupted compared to the original. "If we compare the present state of the New Testament text with that of any other ancient writing, we must...declare it to be marvelously correct. Such has been the care with which the New Testament has been copied." Benjamin Warfield (from Evidence That Demands a Verdict, McDowell, p. 45)

OLD TESTAMENT
1. Talmudists: A.D. 100 to 500; catalogued canonical law by transcribing synagogue scrolls. 2. Massoretic Period: A.D. 500 to 900; The Massoretes edited the text and standardized it; painstakingly copied texts and counted every dot and letter. 3. The Dead Sea Scrolls - before they found it the latest copy of the book of Isaiah was from 900 A.D., the dead sea scrolls contained a copy of Isaiah dated 100 B.C. which was over 95% accurate, the 5%

errors occurring in mainly spelling variations and "slips of the pen", but in no significant doctrinal issues.

THE BIBLE IS CONFIRMED BY ARCHAEOLOGY

The events of the Bible and history recorded in the Bible have been confirmed over and over again by archaeology. I will provide only one example of many: "During the excavations of Jericho (1930-1936) Garstang found something so startling that a statement of what was found was prepared and signed by himself and two other members of the team. In reference to these findings Garstang says: 'As to the main fact, then, there remains no doubt: The walls fell outward so completely that the attackers would be able to clamber up and over the ruins into the city.' Why so unusual? Because the walls of cities do not fall outwards, they fall inwards. And yet in Joshua 6:20 we read '...The wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city every man straight ahead, and they took the city.'" (from Evidence ..., McDowell, page 69)

CONCLUSION
The Bible is historically trustworthy. If the Bible is considered to be unreliable, then almost all other ancient literature must also be considered unreliable.

INTERPRETING THE BIBLE

Two ways to interpret the Bible: 1. Verbal Plenary Inspiration "God so moved the authors of Scripture that the resulting product was the Word of God written, totally without error in the original copies, in every area including theology, history, geography, and science." (McCallum, Delashmutt) II Timothy 3:16 "All scripture is God breathed..." 2. Partial Innerancy The part of scripture pertaining to spiritual things is inerrant, the rest of it is not necessarily inerrant. Arguments against Partial Innerancy:

This makes the Bible essentially useless unverifiable. How do you determine which is which? Jesus believed in verbal plenarism. Most "errors" can be resolved.

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SO WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?

The Bible is proven to be historically accurate and completely reliable. There was a person who walked the face of this Earth named Jesus Christ. This is a fact of history, and McDowell's book Evidence That Demands a Verdict contains 12 extra-biblical references from the first century A.D. that talk about Jesus. The Bible has some incredible things to say about God and Jesus that are worth the attention of any rational, logical person interested in finding out about life and the truth. If you ignore the Bible you will be ignoring the most important thing in life (according to the Bible!), and you won't be able to blame anyone but yourself when your life is over. Wouldn't any sensible, logical, and rational person seeking the truth about life at least check out the Bible? Sean Keith BIBLIOGRAPHY: Most of this paper is taken from: Evidence That Demands A Verdict, Josh McDowell, Here's Life Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 1576, San Bernardino, CA, Campus Crusade for Christ, 1972, 1979.