How Accurate Is The Bible?
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About this ebook
I'm primarily publishing this for two groups of people: the Christians and the non-Christians who are honestly curious and interested in the truth. Sadly, many people—Christian and non-Christian alike—don't care about truth. They believe what they want to, and they're not concerned with what the evidence has to say. Many go through life clinging to what they were taught as children, accepting what friends, celebrities, or "experts" tell them, or believing whatever makes them feel good. Searching for the truth behind their beliefs is rarely ever done.
Truth is incredibly important, however. Think of all the religions out there, the ancient mythologies, the crazy cults, and all the bizarre beliefs people have had over the ages. There is so much variety—so many differences among them. And since most have claimed to be the only source of spiritual truth—to the exclusion of all others—clearly, most of them have to be wrong.
These beliefs are extremely significant. At the small scale, they shape our morals and ethics, coloring how we view other people, as well as ourselves. At the large scale, fanatical religious views have led to countless holy wars. They fuel modern Muslim terrorism. They convinced numerous ancient tribes to sacrifice their own children to their gods. In the 20th century, the rise of atheistic communism in such countries as Russia and China led to the deaths of over 100 million people. These are not minor issues! Put simply, beliefs have consequences.
Again, the majority of spiritual beliefs throughout history must have been wrong, which means the victims of the atrocities I just mentioned died for nothing. How much pain, suffering, and death has resulted from people believing in myths and errors?
Everyone should want to know what is true. And everyone should be curious about the evidence behind what they believe so they can know whether or not it's true. It is to that end that I present this book: a look at the evidence surrounding Christianity, as well as other religions, for the curious reader.
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How Accurate Is The Bible? - Brandon Church
HOW ACCURATE IS THE BIBLE?
By Brandon Church
Copyright 2016 Brandon Church
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Table of Contents
Preface
The Importance Of Apologetics
Other Religions
Biblical Evidence
New Testament Reliability
New Testament Accuracy
Old Testament Reliability
Old Testament Accuracy
The Accuracy of Genesis
Archeology
Prophecy
Statistics
One Final Point
Conclusion
References
Preface
This book began as a series of classes I taught in the mid-2000's about historical evidences for the Bible. In my research, I gathered information from several different sources, and I put it together in what I feel is a concise, easy to understand format. Many have told me this information was absolutely fascinating, and I agree, so I wanted to make it available to the general public.
I'm primarily publishing this for two groups of people: the Christians and the non-Christians who are honestly curious and interested in the truth. Sadly, many people—Christian and non-Christian alike—don't care about truth. They believe what they want to, and they're not concerned with what the evidence has to say. Many go through life clinging to what they were taught as children, accepting what friends, celebrities, or experts
tell them, or believing whatever makes them feel good. Searching for the truth behind their beliefs is rarely ever done.
Truth is incredibly important, however. Think of all the religions out there, the ancient mythologies, the crazy cults, and all the bizarre beliefs people have had over the ages. There is so much variety—so many differences among them. And since most have claimed to be the only source of spiritual truth—to the exclusion of all others—clearly, most of them have to be wrong.
These beliefs are extremely significant. At the small scale, they shape our morals and ethics, coloring how we view other people, as well as ourselves. At the large scale, fanatical religious views have led to countless holy wars. They fuel modern Muslim terrorism. They convinced numerous ancient tribes to sacrifice their own children to their gods. In the 20th century, the rise of atheistic communism in such countries as Russia and China led to the deaths of over 100 million people. These are not minor issues! Put simply, beliefs have consequences.
Again, the majority of spiritual beliefs throughout history must have been wrong, which means the victims of the atrocities I just mentioned died for nothing. How much pain, suffering, and death has resulted from people believing in myths and errors?
Everyone should want to know what is true. And everyone should be curious about the evidence behind what they believe so they can know whether or not it's true. It is to that end that I present this book: a look at the evidence surrounding Christianity, as well as other religions, for the curious reader.
The Importance of Apologetics
We're going to examine the topic of Bible apologetics. The term apologetics may be unfamiliar to some, so we should start with a brief definition. The English language has changed over time, but originally, apologetics simply meant a defense. It was not about being sorry or apologizing in the modern sense of the word. Bible apologetics, then, is a defense of the Bible. This is what we'll be considering—how to defend the Bible through a knowledge of history, archeology, and similar factual, scientific studies. We're going to start with what may be a more important topic, however: the importance of apologetics itself.
Why should we study apologetics? Why should we learn to defend the Bible, or learn about the evidence that supports it? Many reasons could be given, but we'll consider some of the more practical ones before getting into the defense. First, it's relevant to the way we live. It's relevant to our Christian morals, ethics and principles. As Christians, why do we take stands against the homosexual lifestyle? Against Abortion? Against Pornography? We take these stands because the Bible tells us how God expects us to live. It contains numerous historical accounts that detail the behavior of a person or a society, as well as the results of their behavior: peace and happiness for righteous living, torment and destruction for unrighteous living. In some cases, the results were the direct outcome of their lifestyles. In other cases, God worked in peoples' lives, rewarding or punishing them for their faith, actions, and the condition of their hearts. The Bible goes on to describe God and His nature, especially in the person of Jesus, and then it calls us to be like Him. It also has specific instructions for godly living, such as the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17), the proverbs (book of Proverbs, for example), and the sermon on the mount (Matthew chapters 5-7).
If the Bible is highly inaccurate—which is what many say, and which is what we are attempting to determine through the evidence—it would mean one of two things: either the book was never divinely inspired and was purely from the minds of men, or maybe it originally came from God, but it's been corrupted or edited by men over time. In either case, much of it—or perhaps all of it—is not from God, but from men. And this would include its moral teachings. So why should we follow these teachings if they're largely the opinions of men? What's more, men's opinions can't guarantee the nature of existence or the meaning of life, or certainly anything about the afterlife. We need to know that our Bible is from the mind of God, not from the minds of men. It's relevant to how we live as Christians.
Apologetics is also needed because of the great commission. Jesus commanded us to teach the Gospel—to go into the world and spread His message of hope.¹ We need to know what we're spreading, but we also need to have assurance in what we're spreading. How would it look if you tried to witness to someone—tried to tell them about Jesus—and you seemed uncertain or even doubtful about what you were saying? We need to have confidence in the Bible. It must be our firm foundation.
In the book of Romans, Paul writes:
I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes ...²
To the church in Corinth, he wrote:
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.³
Again, he wrote to the church in Rome:
... Let God be true, and every man a liar. ...⁴
Paul had confidence in God. If he knew only one thing, it was Christ. That's the confidence we need to have to be effective in the great commission.
Speaking of spreading the word, we as Christians send Bibles to foreign countries. But what good is sending a Bible if it isn't reliable? And why should we teach people to believe something if we don't really believe it ourselves? That doesn't make much sense. As Christians, we need to believe the Bible—not just for esoteric, philosophical reasons, but for very practical, concrete reasons.
A third reason to learn to defend the Bible is because we are all called to be priests of God. The apostle Peter writes:
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God ...⁵
He says further:
... Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. ...⁶
What if someone questions the authenticity of the Bible? What if someone questions its history, or its prophecies? How do we know these are accurate? Why should we believe any of this? These are valid questions. They deserve valid answers.
Yet another reason—a major reason—to learn about apologetics is because there are several religions based on Christianity: Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, numerous cults, and so on. One of the major differences between these religions is how they interpret the Bible. Mormons will often say, for instance, that they believe the Bible so far as it is interpreted correctly. So how do we know who interprets it correctly? How do we know who's right? How do we know any of us are right?
Many people like to base this on feelings. In fact, Mormon missionaries will describe a burning in the bosom,
a sign that supposedly tells you that what they're saying is true. However, feelings can be very unreliable. The prophet Jeremiah wrote:
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?⁷
And Paul, again writing to the church in Corinth, said:
... for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.⁸
If this is true, that good feeling you get may be coming from Satan—not God.
The Bible says feelings can be unreliable, but it promotes reason. The prophet Isaiah wrote:
Come now, let us reason together,
says the Lord.⁹
And Paul wrote to the Thessalonians:
Test everything. Hold on to the good.¹⁰
Test everything—including the Bible! Don't be afraid to ask questions. What happens if we test gold to see what it's made of? We find that it's made of gold. What happens if we test anything else? We find that it's not gold. If the Bible really is true, the evidence should confirm it.
What happens to you in eternity is the most important question you'll ever face. This life is only 80 or 100 years (and maybe much less). Eternity is forever. Do you really want to make a decision that important without evidence? By the way, many Christians seem hesitant to test the Bible, like they're afraid of what they might find. They might say, I don't need evidence; I have faith.
That's good. But have enough faith to test