Can we Trust the Bible? ("Debunking the 7 Myths that Deny Biblical Truth" Series)

Myth number one is, while the Bible may be inspired by God, it's not inerrant and parts of it are just

myth.

Some professors may also challenge the historical validity or reliability of the Bible.

Inerrancy refers to God's original word having no heirs.

Why is inerrancy important?

Well, the question of ultimate authority is of the highest importance to the Christian.

It's not just a theological argument.

You see, we can't offer the world a reliable gospel if it comes from an unreliable scripture.

How can we offer the truth on any issue if we're suspicious of heirs everywhere?

Airline pilots will ground their planes even with the most minor of faults, knowing that one fault can destroy

confidence in the whole machine.

If you pick your car up after being serviced and find out they missed something simple, wouldn't that call into question the rest of

their work?

The entire core message of the gospel, including sin, redemption, and forgiveness, is rooted in Genesis

history.

If these core events are not true, how can we trust the theology behind them?

Did Jesus die for the sins of a mythical Adam who lived in a mythical garden?

The Bible itself claims to be much more than myth.

It claims to be God's Word delivered through human authors to all humankind.

Passages like 2 Peter 1 21 and 2 Timothy 3 16 assure us that God

himself authored the scriptures.

Psalms 119 verse 89 also makes clear that God's Word is fixed or settled in heaven.

Jesus confirms this by saying not even a dot on a letter will pass away from God's Word until heaven and earth

pass away.

He also prayed to the Father saying, Sanctify them by your truth.

Your word is truth.

Jesus also confirmed that Moses authorized the Torah rather than it being a compilation of ancient Near East

mythology.

Jesus referred to the Old Testament over 40 times and every time he treated it as real history,

including creation, the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, Jonah and the fish, and the account of Cain and

Abel.

To Jesus, the Bible was clearly inerrant, inspired, and historical.

The New Testament writers were so convinced that the writings of the Old Testament were the actual words of God that they even

claimed scripture says when the words quoted actually came directly from God.

In Romans 9, Paul accepted that God delivered his word directly to Moses.

Paul also treats Isaiah's words as God himself speaking.

In Acts 4, both Peter and John affirmed the creation account in the fourth commandment written by God.

The believers who heard Peter and John also acknowledged that David wrote Psalm 2 by the Holy Spirit.

There is some classic historical test we can use to evaluate the validity of the New Testament writings.

First, we can determine whether what we have today matches what was written originally.

Second, we can evaluate whether the recorded events describe true historical events.

Let's see how the Bible holds up to each of these tests.

One way to apply the first test is to look at the time gap between the original writing and the copies that still exist

today.

The closer the copy is to the original, the greater chances that it more accurately represents the original.

Ancient manuscripts like the New Testament were written on fragile material such as papyrus.

This required ancient writers to continually make new copies.

When we evaluate the number of New Testament manuscripts we have compared to other famous works of antiquity, the Bible

exceeds them all with 5 ,366 manuscripts.

Adding the copies from other languages such as Latin, Ethiopic, and Slavic results in more than 25

,000 manuscripts that predate the 15th century printing press.

By comparison, the runner -up historical text Homer's Iliad has only 643.

We can also see that the time span between the original and these copies is closer than any other work compared.

There is more.

Even if all the copies of the Bible from AD 350 to today were destroyed, the entire New Testament,

except for only 11 verses, could be reconstructed using only quotations by the early church fathers in the

first few hundred years after Christ.

This is because the church fathers frequently quoted large sections of scripture in their letters to each other.

Next, we can test to see if what was written down actually happened.

The Gospels written by Matthew, Mark, and John were written with or by direct eyewitnesses of the events in

Jesus's life.

Luke, a physician, wrote the account of Jesus's life for Theophilus, a high -ranking official.

Luke said, Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed

down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the Word.

Luke continues to state that he carefully vetted his account of Jesus's life and ministry.

With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I, too, decided to

write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

Other New Testament writers had similar testimonies.

1 John 1 3 states,.

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us.

2 Peter 1 16 says,.

For we do not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we

were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

We should also consider that 11 of the 12 disciples died terrible deaths, being killed for their unchanging

testimony of who Christ was and of his resurrection.

They were so sure that Christ was who he claimed to be that they signed their testimonies with their own blood.

Who would die for a resurrection that never happened?

Paul said that without the resurrection, we are of all men the most pitiable, if indeed they suffered persecution for

falsehood.

It's also incredible that numerous Bible prophecies have come true over the years.

Even prophecies that we now can confirm were written before the actual events occurred.

For example, Isaiah 53 specifically foretold Christ's trial, crucifixion, and burial.

Isaiah 53 describes a Messiah, a Savior, who would be despised and rejected by men, a

man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, a man who would be despised and not esteemed by others, one who would

bear the griefs and carry the sorrows of humanity.

These descriptions could apply to many people throughout history, but it gets more specific as it continues by saying that

people would consider him to be stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted, and that he would be wounded for our

transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, and the punishment for our peace would be set upon him.

Then it says, by his stripes, we would be healed, and that the Lord would lay upon him the iniquity or sins of

us all.

The passage continues to be incredibly specific about Jesus's death and crucifixion.

By stating that he would be oppressed and afflicted, yet like a lamb led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its

shearers would be silent, he would not even open his mouth in defense.

What have you got to say for yourself now?

Say something!

Don't

you realize I have the power to release you?

Have you crucified?

It even says that his grave would be made with the wicked, and his death with the rich.

Even the very purpose that Christ came was foretold by this chapter, stating that he would pour out his soul unto

death, so that he would bear the sin of many.

He was despised and rejected of men, man of

sorrows, and acquainted with grief.

He was oppressed, and afflicted, yet he opened

not his mouth.

He was brought as a lamb to slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearer

is dumb.

He hath borne our griefs,.

And carried our sorrows.

Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions.

He was abused for our iniquities, and through his wounds.

We are healed.

Is there any other person throughout recorded history who fits these descriptions better than Jesus Christ?

Not only does this chapter show how the Bible predicted Christ's life, crucifixion, and burial, it demonstrates

just how reliably the Bible has been transmitted over the centuries.

Consider this.

There's the original book of Isaiah written in the 8th century before Christ.

Next, there's the copy found in the Dead Sea Scroll collection that dates about 125 years before Christ.

Then we have the copies that are from about 1 ,000 years ago.

And finally, today's version.

Now that the Dead Sea Scrolls have been discovered, we have proof that these incredibly specific prophecies were written before

Christ was even born, showing their divine inspiration.

We can now also test how reliably the Bible has been transmitted over a 2 ,200 year period.

The results?

Incredible.

Famous theologian, Dr. Norman Geisler writes, of the 166 words in Isaiah 53,

there are only 17 letters in question.

Ten of these letters are simply a matter of spelling, which does not affect the sense.

Four more letters are minor stylistic changes, such as conjunctions.

The remaining three letters comprise the word light, which is added in verse 11, and does not affect the meaning greatly.

Thus, in one chapter of 166 words, there is only one word with just three letters in

question after a thousand years of transmission.

And this word does not significantly change the meaning of the passage.

Wow.

Over two millennia of copying this text, and over 99 of it matches an original written

before Christ.

In the incredibly specific prophecies it tells about Christ, all of them came true.

It's no surprise that the field of archaeology continues to confirm the historical accuracy of the Bible.

Check out this list of 53 people in the Bible confirmed by archaeology.

These are some of the reasons why tens of thousands of ministry professionals have signed the Bible petition, affirming that the

Bible alone, and in its entirety, is the infallible written Word of God in the original text, and is,

therefore, inerrant in all that it affirms or denies on whatever topic it addresses.

So, this leaves us at a crossroads.

Either this book is divinely inspired and true in all it says, including historical events, or it's not.

It can't be true and untrue at the same time.

What gives us the right to pick and choose which parts we want to believe?

People understand, if the Bible is not based in real history, but claims to be historical, it's not

authoritative.

And if it's not authoritative, they won't follow and obey it.

If it is not true, then there's no reason to submit to it.

Since the Bible is true, it has authority over all matters of life.

When Christians understand that the scripture is inerrant and historically valid, their faith and their minds are fused

together, like two pieces of a puzzle.

This provides a solid foundation for their faith in the work of Christ, as revealed in the words of Christ, resulting in

a solid foundation for their faith, a real faith that produces good fruit.

So, there we have it.

One authorized compilation with 66 books spanning over two millennia, with incredible reliability and

accuracy.

Governments ban it.

Philosophers dismiss it.

Scientists ridicule it.

The media makes fun of it.

But most in our society simply ignore it.

But the Bible is still the world's best -selling book, with over 4 billion copies sold over the last 50

years.

Currently, the complete Bible is available in over 600 languages and rising.

Nothing can equal its power to change lives, and an unbelieving world cannot change it from being God's

authoritative revelation to mankind.

To a person who says that he is a Christian, but denies the inerrancy of scripture,

I would say several things.

You are denying God's own claim for the Bible.

You're denying what God, the Holy Spirit, who authored scripture, says about

scripture, that all scripture is given by inspiration of God, that every

word is pure, that the scripture is God

-breathed.

Not only that, not only those explicit statements are you denying, but you're denying every time in scripture

it says, thus says the Lord.

And then you're denying the overall superintending power of God over his revelation.

Now, what that does, essentially, is say this, you are the judge of scripture.

You've just made yourself the authority over the Bible.

So you're going to be the one we have to trust to tell us what's true and what's not true in

the Bible.

And here's the problem with that.

If you deny inerrancy, the only reason you would ever deny inerrancy would be essentially to

deny something in the Bible that you don't like.

And when you've done that, you've now said what the Bible says about that,

it can't be true, it's not true.

Once you have broken the link in the chain, how do we know that anything is true?

So when the Bible claims inspiration for all of it, and you break that,

then where do you go?

How do you trust any of it?

You could start, for example, say, well, I don't believe Genesis 1 and 2.

I don't believe in a six day creation.

I believe in some kind of evolutionary process.

That's not in Genesis 1 or 2.

So the question is, if that's not true, what else isn't true?

And who's the person that's going to tell us what else isn't true?

And what isn't true is hiding something that is true.

And where do we go for that?

You literally unravel the scripture if you deny its inerrancy.

Looking for answers about what the Bible teaches about creation, the fossil record, dinosaurs?

Download the Genesis Apologetics app from the iTunes or Google Play stores for answers to these questions and

more.