Do you believe the Bible is true? A recent poll by the Barna Group revealed a startling fact about Christians and the Bible: “Just half of all self-identified Christians firmly believe that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles (not the facts, just the principles) that it teaches.”
The entire basis of Christianity’s faith stems from what the Bible reveals about God, humanity, sin, and salvation. Is the Bible true?
(Photo by Photodune)
Although any belief is ultimately a matter of faith, it should have a basis of credibility, reliability, and correspondence with reality. In a world where opinions of truth vary wildly, truth has to be based on more than preference.
Is the Bible true? Ultimately, the decision to believe it is up to you.
Here are 8 extraordinary facts that support the Bible as the Word of God.
1. Consider archaeology.
Nelson Glueck, undoubtedly the most prominent archeologist of his day, wasn’t a Christian and wasn’t even an Orthodox Jew. In other words, he had no reason to try to prove the Bible true when he said: “It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference” (Rivers in the Desert, p. 31).
William Ramsay purposed to disprove the historical geography of the book of Acts. What he found completely changed him. Archaeology supports the historicity of Scripture.
(Photo: Beth Shean Excavations. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
2. Consider the literature of antiquity.
We base world history on the writings of Thucydides, Herodotus, and Tacitus, but we only have between 3 and 75 copies of their works. Even with the most-read author of antiquity, Homer, we have only 643 copies of his Iliad. But we have 5839 Greek New Testament manuscripts, more than 15,000 manuscripts in other ancient languages, plus more than one million quotations from the early church fathers.
The New Testament stands better attested than any other work of antiquity.
3. Consider indomitable Israel.
No other race, among all nations that have risen and fallen in history, has survived the beating Israel has. They never reigned as a world power, except during the 80 years of David and Solomon, and yet God has kept this race alive and distinct for 4000 years. Why? Because God promised a future for Israel as recorded in the Bible.
4. Consider mankind’s attempts to destroy the Bible.
Voltaire said that within 25 years the Bible would be forgotten, and Christianity would be a thing of the past. Forty years after Voltaire’s death in 1778, individuals printed the Bible and other Christian literature in what had been Voltaire’s house!
People have tried repeatedly to destroy God’s Word, but they die and the Bible lives on.
(Photo: A portion of the Dead Sea Scrolls)
5. Consider the Bible’s impact on mankind.
A study conducted by the National Institute of Healthcare Research and Prison Fellowship found that of the prisoners who participated in Bible study while in jail, only 14% committed another crime. But of those who didn’t participate, 41% were repeat offenders. This is only one example from history where God’s Word transforms lives.
6. Consider the unique message of grace.
How many of us would invent a religion that deemed us totally depraved and utterly unable to earn our way to God? All other world religions claim that we get to God (or their version of God) by means of good works. But the Bible says all our good works can’t erase our sin, and so we come to God only by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
The Bible’s message of grace stands alone.
7. Consider the odds of unity among such diversity.
If I took 40 of you and asked you to write your views on God, Jesus, sin, and salvation, do you think we’d all agree? Not hardly! And most readers of this blog are Christians who speak the same language and live at the same time in history. The Bible has 66 books by 40 authors, written over 1500 years, in 3 languages, on 3 continents, and yet there is one consistent theme: the glory of God in the salvation of man through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel.
If the Bible isn’t true, what are the odds of this kind of unity amidst diversity?
8. Consider the odds of fulfilled prophecy.
What are the odds of more than four dozen specific prophecies in the Old Testament coming true of one historical man, Jesus of Nazareth? Yet, they did. Once we do the math, there can be no coincidence.
(Photo: by Erweeduijn. Own work. CC-BY-SA-3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Could such a book be just a book?
The Bible gives an explanation for all these seeming coincidences: The Bible itself claims to be the Word of God. “All Scripture is God-breathed.” —2 Timothy 3:16
Jesus said, “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:12). In other words, Jesus expected that the accuracy of His words in matters that we could test could serve as the proof that He was telling the truth about spiritual matters we cannot test.
Is the Bible true? The Bible stands up to the most stringent scrutiny. What’s more, it consistently points us to a God of love who sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. By faith in Him, our sins are forgiven.
What’s more, regular Bible reading and application remains the single source of growth in the Christian life.
If you’d like to take it a step further, I have put together a post of Christian Apologetics Resources that point you to answers to questions you may have.
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