Is the Bible just ancient folk tales...

Lesson 2: Can You Trust The Bible?

James McBride: There are literally billions of copies of "The Bible" scattered around the world. It's said to be the world's most read book. You'll find it in almost every top drawer in any hotel. It ranks year by year as the top-selling title. Millions pick it up every day - for guidance in life, for intense study, for comfort.

But what is it? Certainly the Christian religion is based on the Bible. The word "Bible" (Gk. biblia) means "books". Indeed without the Bible Christianity would not exist. But what if it could be shown to be riddled with error? That it depicts non-events? That it is simply imagination run riot? That it is inconsistent? That's what scholars - many of them professing to be Christians have long sought to do.

The Bible has been undermined in the public mind to such an extent that it is now largely scorned - and sidelined to the point of irrelevance as a source of religious truth.

Yet many of the world's great have extolled its virtues and testified to its value for them.

"...the [Bible] is the Book that has held together the fabric of western civilization...it has unified and kept together great masses of people...it is the handbook of life to countless millions of men and women, it has explained the world to the mass of our people and has given them moral standards and a form into which their consciences could work." [H.G. Wells]

"If we abide by the principles taught by the Bible our country will go on prospering." [Daniel Webster]

In this lesson of Bible Basics we explore the question Can you trust the Bible? Using the sciences, using the study of the very text of the Bible, using the records of history we will investigate the "book that nobody knows" to find out whether or not you can literally "stake your life" on it.

If the Bible is "just another book" then any future lessons of Bible Basics will be pointless. But if it is indeed "the Word of God" - and can be shown to be so - then all of us need to sit up and take notice.

What is the Bible?

Pick up any full Bible in the Protestant tradition and you will find it has sixty-six "books". Some are long narratives, some are short letters. There are histories, songs, practical manuals, biographies, prophecies. You will see it has two divisions - named the Old Testament and the New Testament. (The word testament means a covenant.)

Which Testament did Jesus use?

Jesus and his apostles used only the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament. The original Scriptures were arranged differently from our own versions. These were in three divisions: the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms (Luke 24:44). The Law was the Torah, the first five books of our Bible. "Torah" means "instruction". The Prophets were Joshua, Judges, Samuel, kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the 12 minor prophets. The Psalms (or The Writings) comprised the remaining books (including Daniel). It was upon these - collectively termed The Scriptures that they based their teachings (Luke 24:27,32)

Paul commended the inquirers in Thessalonia for their diligent checking of his teaching compared to the Scriptures (Acts 17:11). See, too, his comment to Timothy (II Timothy 3:14-15). Be sure to follow up all references in your own Bible! Read not only the verses indicated but also the context.

What Scriptures did the early church use?

It's clear that the church of the first century based their teachings on the Old Testament [OT]. Indeed, there are over 275 direct quotations from the OT in the New. The apostles, while holding firmly to the meaning of the inspired text of the OT, quoted freely from a Greek translation (the Septuagint or LXX) as their primary source. Note, too, that not always did they quote the text exactly.

The documents we know as the New Testament (NT) were written many years after the first NT Pentecost in 31 AD. The earliest was probably Paul's letter to the Thessalonians (ca. 51 AD). Fragments of the gospel of John are dated soon after 100 A.D.

Precise dating of events in the New Testament is not possible, so we give the most likely dates, considering all the evidence. For details of the complexities of dating, see the book "Chronos, Kairos, Christos" edited by J. Vardaman and E.M. Yamaguchi, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1989.

But Can You Trust The Bible?

Christians take a variety of positions regarding the authenticity of the Bible. Since the middle of the 19th century, it has been attacked and its authority undermined by some "scholars". But, at the same time, other scholars have demonstrated into trustworthiness! Sadly, in this materialistic age, the Bible's moral influence has sharply declined. Many more now read the Scriptures than a century ago - but it has little impact on life. Even professing Christians pay mere lip-service to its teachings. The Bible presents itself as the very Word of God. It claims divine inspiration. Yet if it is shown to be in fundamentally flawed then how can we believe its claim to be God's revelation to mankind - of his nature' of his purpose for us, of the one and only way of salvation through Jesus Christ?

So - can you trust the Bible?

Attacks on the Bible focus on the text, on its historical references, on whether or not it is mere myth - i.e., man's attempt to make sense of life through imagery.

Is the text of Scripture reliable?

Recall that Jesus stated the essential meaning of the Scriptures would remain intact through time... Matthew 5:18, Luke 16:17, John 10:35.

The evidence for the reliability of the New Testament texts is equally strong:

We can rest assured that we have a reliable text both for the OT and the NT.

At this point in your studies, list - and file for later reference - all your own favorite doctrinal beliefs and practices. Refer to this list as we proceed through Bible Basics.

The Bible claims: "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." II Timothy 3:16-17

CAUTION: be aware of the changed meaning of our language since the last revision of the King James Version. Cross-check with a modern version easily misunderstood KJV words like "tarry" and "prevent".

Has God "signed" His Book?

Biblical research over the last decade has revealed that God may have "made his mark" on the very text of Scripture. Through the use of the incredible search power of modern computers, scholars seem to have discovered hidden depths to the text of the Scriptures.

The results of these researches have been published in the learned Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, the Bible Review and Statistical Science Journal. Each has the most rigorous screening process to ensure published items are thoroughly checked by experts, are scientific and won't bring the journals into disrepute.

In essence, stimulated by a 14th C. A.D. Rabbinical comment, a Jewish scholar discovered - in 1988 - hidden "codes" underneath the text of the Hebrew Scriptures. Normal statistical coincidence is no more than 1 in 20. But the chance of such codes occurring are one in tens of thousands, even billions in some instances. In one search the chances of its occurrence coincidentally was calculated at one in fifty quadrillion. The method is known as equidistant letter spacing.

In Equidistant Letter Spacing, the Hebrew text, without spaces. is analyzed to identify hidden words the letters of which are separated by equal numbers of letters. For example, the word torah was repeatedly found using every 50th letter of the text of Genesis and Exodus. The odds against this are three million to one!

Computer searches uncovered numerous "coincidences" including historical persons and events - in and out of the Scriptures - later than when the books were written.

Can we also rely on the Biblical narrative?

Did "holy men of God spoke as they were moved of the Holy Spirit" [II Peter 1:21], or is the Bible just a collection of fables on a level with the Brothers Grimm? Or is it real history, an account of real events of long ago, of real people and nations and empires?

When the blind prejudices of scientists in many disciplines are set aside, then the Bible stands out for its integrity and its ability to honestly and accurately reflect its times. It was written by more than forty-four authors over a period that may stretch for nearly four thousand years, yet it has a unity of purpose and perspective unique in all religious history.

The Bible accounts are confirmed by archaeology and historical records:

Truly, the lives and events recorded in the Scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments - and now vindicated by the finds of history, archaeology and paleontology - leave no doubt that the skeptics of years gone by were totally wrong in assigning the Scriptures to the trash-pile of ancient mythology.

"Faith comes by hearing [the message] and hearing by the Word of God." [Romans 10:17]

You can indeed trust the Scriptures as the sure record of God's dealings with mankind since his original direct creation by God "from the dust of the ground". It is the record of God's revelation of his perfect way, of his dealings with rebellious man, of his plan to ultimately raise mankind to become integrated into God's Family.

Future lessons of Bible Basics will address important aspects of Bible teaching. Lesson 3 will consider the pivotal figure of Jesus Christ. Did he really live? Who was he? Was he resurrected from the dead? These are among the questions answered in our next lesson.


Reprinted with permission of Church of God, UK. Email comments to: COGUK@aol.com
Editor: James McBride.
Request literature mentioned from Church of God Outreach Ministries at information@cgom.org

Bible Basics is published by:
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