Reasons We Believe By Rev. Wallace Shea
INTRODUCTION
Whether you are someone who has decided to become a
Christian, or someone who is just looking into reasons to believe, you will be
powerfully impacted by the overwhelming evidences and reasons there are to have
faith in God, The Bible, and Jesus Christ.
The purpose of this study is to give you a “Quick Start”
on the evidences and reasons to believe. Often times there are very good books
on particular subjects, but they focus deeply in just one area. We hope here to
offer a “digest” with a quick overview of the scope of what there is in all
areas. Since the purpose of this writing is to be just a quick introduction, we
have dispensed with all the footnotes and references; the facts enclosed here
are generally known facts, which can be accessed through many other more
thorough books.
After this overview, individuals can go as deeply as they
wish, for there is overwhelming support for our faith. Indeed, Christianity has
the “high ground” when it comes to reasons and evidences for faith. Indeed
Christianity is the best faith one can have for support in the modern age,
because of its evidences and reasons. It came about in openness in our history.
As the Apostle Paul said to a government official of his
time: For the king knows about these matters, and I speak to him also with
confidence, since I am persuaded that none of these things escapes his notice;
for this has not been done in a corner.
This manual is not a Bible study, though verses and
Scriptural principles are included. It is to be a reference manual, which is
hoped to become a resource that will continually be added to though out your
life.
 The
goal of this quick study is to give you “handles”, those memorable facts and
reasons you can easily remember and refer to. We want to be a digest from many
sources.
This study is the first quarter of a year’s worth of
discipleship materials. The purpose is to give a “quick start” basis for a
strong faith which will bring you into spiritual maturity in Christ. For that
is our goal: Colossians 1:28.
Chapter One
Giving Reasons For Our Beliefs
do not fear their
intimidation, and do not be troubled, 15but sanctify Christ as
Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks
you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and
reverence;
I Peter 3:14-15
NASB
When we come to consider reasons why we believe, I have
been amazed at the overwhelming support there is to believe in God, the Bible
and Jesus Christ. I have seen many arguments when first presented seemed
threatening, but when the facts and reasons are openly looked at it becomes
overwhelming the weight of evidence and reason which supports belief; more so
than supports doubt.
If we are sincere in our search for truth we must be open.
Now some people think that anyone holding to strong views, especially religious
views, must be narrow-minded. But on the contrary, anyone who thinks their open
minded will, hopefully by their open-mindedness be all the more to see all the
ideas, evidences and reasons and be therefore more able to come to a conclusion
as to what is true.
A scientist who carefully studies all possibilities is not
considered narrow-minded because he comes to conclusions that there are natural
laws of physics. Do we condemn him because he insists there is gravity or
electro-magnetism? The truth of God is therefore open to reason and yet
declaring certain spiritual laws at the same time.
Indeed the Bible speaks of God’s wisdom:
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then
peaceable, gentle,
reasonable…
Ja 3:17.
What I have found is that Christianity has the High
Ground of Reason and Evidences. I found that often the challenges, at first,
sounded weighty, but when fully studied and reasoned they are found to be very
weak. Usually what I find is that when critics deny what we believe they
usually substitute some other idea, but when you ask to see their reasons and
evidences, there isn’t any, or no logical reason for support. Indeed, we have
the High Ground. Instead, I have been overwhelmed with the strong amount of
weighty evidence for our faith in God, the Bible, and Jesus Christ.
So don’t be intimidated, but stand strong in the
challenges, for we do follow truth and God will reveal His truth, wisdom,
and evidences. In fact, one fun thing to do is to ask critics what their faith
is and what their support is. To openly summarize their standards of reason
often shows the great lack of reason and facts that support an ungodly stance.
As Josh McDowell has said, “The shallowness of critics speaks louder than the
voice of believers.”
Another thing I found, to my surprise, is that many, even
theologians take the approach that faith is what we have when we have no reason
to believe; I strongly disagree with that view, rather, our faith is based on
the facts of what we know and who we know. It is foolish to say we believe in
something when we do not have any reasonable proof of it.
That fallacy follows along a prevalent common notion that
people just choose what to believe, not based on fact and reason, but based on
what they simply choose to believe. There is a misunderstanding among many that
there is no real evidence as to what to believe, therefore we just pick and
chose randomly as we desire – that would be very foolhardy. As Paul Little
said, “Believing something doesn’t make it true; refusing to believe it doesn’t
make it false.”
That leads us to a major point, Christianity is a “Revealed
Religion,” meaning, it is not a philosophy of men, but God Himself has made
Himself and His will known; that is a very strong point of the Gospels:
II Peter 1:16 We did not follow cleverly invented stories
when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we
were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
God has revealed Himself in our history, openly, for the
record. Jesus and His Miracles are a fact in our history. These facts were
“not done in a corner” and were addressed by “eye-witnesses.”
There is no reality, which I can just choose to create. I
just do not have the brainpower to create the world and reality. If it is only
a made-up belief in my mind or the mind of others, I am sadly lacking. What
matters is what has God revealed and commanded.
In fact, in the search for God’s truth we must rather be,
even more, careful to, objectively, keep our own thoughts and intentions out of
the way of truth. As someone has pointed out, Christianity has stood the
extreme tests over 2000 years of its existence, so no question is going to bring
it crashing down. I trust by now you understand that to be a Christian does not
mean we do not use academics, science, or reason; in fact, we should be better
at these things than anyone should be.
Sometimes we may not know an answer; it is all right to
say, “You know that’s a good question, we will have to think and pray about
that.” It is OK to think, investigate, pray, and seek an answer for God can
give you an answer that will be an amazing answer of fact and wisdom. Questions
are good because they will help us recognize the answer when we come across it.
Chapter Two
Reasons We Believe in God
Colossians 1:16-17 For by Him all things were created, both
in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorizes— all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He
is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
PART I – Belief in God Makes Sense
The
Obvious
Because we cannot put God in a test tube, some erroneously
charge we can not prove the existence of God. Such reason equals that of a
person riding in a car denying the existence of a carmaker.
In Psalm 139 David sees the amazing facts of our creation:
For You formed my
inward parts;
You wove me in my
mother’s womb.
I will give thanks
to You,
For I am fearfully
and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your
works,
And my soul knows it
very well.
Now in our scientific, time we have more reasons than ever
to believe. Science is increasingly detailing the amazing intricacies of
everything in our universe. How many times I have heard it said, if something
was not in place just so, we could not have life on earth, in our bodies, in our
universe. If it were not for the extremely complicated and balanced machinery
of our bodies, we would not have life. If it were not for the right balance of
the solar system, we would not have life on earth. If we did not have a moon,
there would not be life on earth. If there were not diatoms (small microscopic
organisms), we would not have life on earth. If the earth was not tilted at the
exact degree it is, there would not be life on earth.
The extremely complicated and complex machinery of the
universe is astounding. Increasingly scientists are coming to faith from this
obvious fact. It is too ludicrous to deny a creator.
The
Human Cell
The unveiling of scientific knowledge, even the very
smallest part of our bodies, the human cell, is astounding scientists. They
used to say the cell was just proto-plasma, or just a blob of jelly. Now
scientists are saying the cell is as complicated and involved as New York City,
for there is tremendous manufacturing, communication, and transportation going
on in each cell.
The Human Genome Project is mapping a sequence of DNA
representing the functional blueprint of the human species. Here is a picture
of a “map” from the Human Genome Project from the National Center for
Biotechnology Information web site. They are trying to categorize the millions
of bits of information contained in each cell. It is obvious a “blueprint”
constructs us all. Each cell contains over 3 million bits of information
detailing how each person is uniquely made: the color of your hair, your
stature, fingernails, longevity, etc. All of this is going on in each of your
60 Trillion cells that make up YOU!
Another amazing fact is that there are 60,000 different
types of proteins within every cell of your body. Each type of protein has its
own particular function and has its own “zip code” so it knows where to go in
the cell.
In fact, if you would unravel all the DNA ladders that are
twisted up in the chromosomes of your body and put them end to end they would
reach from the Sun to Jupiter, and back, seven times. This is obviously coded
information. Somebody, a GREAT Creator, has put a lot of time and thought into
you!
Another report said, if you put this genetic code, which is
in the chromosomes in one cell into a computer code written in a book. The book
would be as tall as the Washington Monument!!! Now remember – all of this is
going on in just one of your cells, which is so small you need a microscope to
see it!
Each process in each cell is a great study in itself. I
remember seeing on TV a class on cellular biology. In order for a cell to
reproduce a chromosome, the chromosome would split and float into a type of
“garage” where it would have to fit perfectly onto one part of the system that
had a unique four-part connector. Once it was found to be perfectly connected
then the “garage” would recreate another identical chromosome. In this way, the
chromosomes could be reproduced and cause growth of more cells.
There are many intricate components of cells such as power
stations and numerous “floating”, “intelligent” gates on the cell walls which
discern what substances are helpful and harmful. Then they only let in the
helpful substances. All this is floating unattached within the cell. The cell
is floating by itself with out strings attached yet, all this, works together to
form you - your body. Design, plan, and purpose are overwhelmingly present.
Scientists
Discover God
In a Newsweek’s cover story “Scientists Discover God” it
said, many scientists are being over-whelmed with the complexity in everything.
Many are concluding it is too improbable, anymore, to say it could have all just
happened - God must be behind it all.
New studies continue to reveal the great complexities of
creation, even parts of our bodies, like the eye, or the human brain, which
defies evolutionists. For instance, the cells in the retina of your eye are
processing 10 billion calculations a second. That is a phenomenal computer
function which evolution could never produce or explain.
For example Carl Sagan admitted the extreme complexities of
the human brain and said of the bits of information in a brain: “If written out
in English, say, that information would fill some twenty million volumes, as
many as in the world’s largest libraries. . . . The neurochemistry of the brain
is astonishingly busy, the circuitry of a machine more wonderful than any
devised by humans.” -Carl Sagan, Cosmos p.4.
Example: “Sir James Jeans one of our greatest modern
astronomers said that the more he examined the vast expanses of space and the
tremendous complexity of these things, the more the universe seemed to be one
gigantic thought of a great mathematician.”
The word “Cosmos” means “ordered and beautiful.” That is
also, why we derive from it the word cosmetics. There is so much evidence of
beautiful order.
Another Example is in Quantum physics. At the level of
subatomic particles, there is an irresistible urge towards symmetry. There is
an amazing cosmetic aspect to the whole universe.
Max Planck started Quantum Physics in 1900, then Einstein
and others continued the work. Before Quantum Physics, mankind held to the
view, in opposite contention with the Bible, that matter and energy always
existed, with no beginning or end. Yet the Bible repeatedly states that God has
created everything out of nothing. But now, Quantum physics is showing that the
whole universe has had a beginning. The Big Bang theory is showing the universe
had a beginning - out of nothing. “God spoke, and “bang” it happened!”
One of the laws of physics called “Entropy” states that
everything is run- fling down and if there are any changes, they go to a more
deteriorated state. In other words, there has been a beginning and will
probably be an end. The Greeks, up to modern man, held the opposite view, but
now science is catching up to what the Bible has always stated.
PART
II – A Delicate Balance
We constantly see purpose in the universe and in our lives.
If we see a computer, we do not think it created itself. We know, without
question, someone created it and put it there. Even in the smallest of details,
if anthropologists see square stones on top of one another they declare these
stones did not just happen that way. Obviously, men intentionally set them
there for a purpose. When we see clear patterns of intention and purpose in
creation, we would be foolish to deny God’s creative intent, intelligence, and
purpose. So much more so, when we see extremely complex machinery and balance
in effect we would be foolish not to identify intentional creation.
In our solar system, Earth is the only planet tilted on its
axis. This provides equal distribution of sunlight and temperature to moderate
the planet. If the earth averaged 4 degrees colder, we would be an ice planet.
Without the moon, all life on earth would cease. The moon
causes tides which regularly clean up our shores and waterways, otherwise they
would become stench pools. The oceans are therefore aerated providing oxygen
for the plankton, which is the very foundation of the food chain of our world.
Without this balance, man could not live on the earth.
The changing seasons of our world continually mix the
atmosphere. This keeps a perfect mixture of 78 percent nitrogen and 21 % Oxygen
and 1 % other trace elements.
This mixing causes lightening. Lightening places the
nitrogen into the soil, which plants need to grow. God worked it out so that
the 100,000 lightening bolts strike the earth every day around the world. This
produces a hundred million tons of usable nitrogen plant food in the soil every
year. God provides the needed rains. Trainloads of water could never provide
nearly enough.
A thin layer of Ozone protects us in the upper atmosphere.
If compressed, it would only be 1/4 inch thick. It filters out eight varieties
of killer rays that come from the sun. Yet, it filters just enough of some of
these rays to kill green algae to keep them from overgrowing and filling up all
our lakes, waterways, and oceans of the world.
The earth’s crust beneath our feet is relative
proportionally thinner than the skin on an apple. Below our crust is molten
lava; above our air are deadly rays and the vacuum of space.
We see a constant care of countless details in full
operation. God constantly secures us by His care. We see the magnitude of His
intelligence and wisdom to give us life on this planet.
Man has never created a law of the universe. Yet when we
he discovers one, he acts so smart, yet does not acknowledge He is only coming
to recognize and use what God has established. We still don’t understand much;
take for example one of the four main powers of the universe — gravity, we don’t
have a clue how it works, we can only measure its effects.
All this assures us the lawgiver cares; otherwise, it would
all deteriorate into madness and chaos. What if the sun would not come up, or
gravity would fluctuate?
Nature programs which espouse evolution and what “Nature”
has done, constantly talk about “design and purpose,” yet they deny the Creator
or our need to listen to and obey Him. As the Bible says in Psalm 41:1-3:
The fool says in his heart, there is no God.”
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
There is no one who does good.
The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men
to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.
All have turned aside,
they have together become corrupt;
there is no one who does good, not even one.
Romans 1:18-23 says:
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all
the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their
wickedness, “since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has
made it plan to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible
qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being
understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as
God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish
hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and
exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man
and birds and animals and reptiles.
Thank you Lord! Forgive us when we so shallowly dismiss
you and laughingly say that all this just happened by chance. We need you!
Save us!
STORY OF THE VBS BOY:
Coming home after Vacation Bible School on a summer day the
little boy marveled at the butterfly on his finger and flying around the
colorful flowers. Flopping on the grass, he was absorbed by the sky with its
blue color and changing clouds. As he skipped by his neighbors place, his
middle-aged neighbor asked him “Where have you been Johnny?” To Bible School,”
he replied. “OH?” the man, questioned, “tell you what, I’ll give you a dollar
if you can show me where God is.” “Mister,” the boy responded” I’ll give you a
dollar if you can show me where He isn’t.
The Hunger in the Human Heart
In
the study of anthropology, we see that men have always had a constant belief in
the supernatural and belief in God, a power higher than us that created and
controls things.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says of God:
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also
set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from
beginning to end.
Blaise Pascal, the great 17 Century mathematician referred
to the “God shaped vacuum” which is in every man. Humanity has always sought and
believed in the divine, even though they do not see God or understand
everything.
We do not expect to see the World Book Encyclopedia created
by a print shop exploding. So too, while Christians believe God spoke and bang
it happened, it was obviously not an explosion of chaos. Explosions do not
create! Rather, this “Big Bang” was an explosion of creativity, with intent and
reason.
Creation demands the verdict - there is a Creator!
PART III Reasons From Moral Law
Moral
law makes no sense to evolution. Think about it, if we are all just the product
of accident and survival of the fittest, why would there be any higher moral
law? Self-sacrifice for others would be foolish and contrary to natural law.
Where did this idea come from? From a higher plane!
Chapter Three
Reasons We Believe In The Bible
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of
Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never
had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried
along by the Holy Spirit. II Peter 1:20-21
Many people come with the assumption that the Bible is
merely the product of the imaginations of men and will say these kind of things:
It isn't historically accurate;
it is fanciful stories.
Even if it were true, it has
been passed down so many years we cannot trust the reliability of it.
Here again, so much has written of the scientific and
academic support of the Bible. We can hold complete confidence in the Bible on
academic and scientific reasons.
Peter tells us the first thing we must understand, of
primary importance, is that the Bible is the word of God, which has come about,
not by human intention, but by the will of God. Men wrote the Bible under the
inspiration of the Spirit of God. It is our intention to give you some proofs
for the Bible so you can take it in hand and with full assurance and know it is
the reliable, exact Word of God.
I.
The Prophetic Element
The Bible is like no other book in a variety of ways,
especially when it comes to prophecies fulfilled. Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed,
The Koran have no prophecies, let alone prophecies fulfilled. The closest thing
in the Koran is when Mohammed gives one prophecy that he will return to Mecca
and he does. But in the Bible there are hundreds of prophecies fulfilled.
Dr. James Kennedy tracked, for a few years, the top 10
psychics who gave 61 prophecies in the National Inquirer. Of the 61 not one
prophecy given for the next year happened in that next year.
In the Bible there are up to 4,000 prophecies given. They
are not general, but quite specific; 2000 of these have already been fulfilled.
Lets Look At Some Examples of Prophecies About
Various Cities:
What God said would happen did happen:
All these can beshown to have been prophesied and
written before the events, because many took hundreds of years to be totally
fulfilled:
Tyre: The great city of trade and culture on
the Easter coast of the Mediterranean. In Ezekiel 26:10-21 God said it would be
destroyed and never rebuilt. That would be like today prophesying that New York
city would not only be destroyed and never reinhabited, but also have all these
things done to it: Quote, "They shall destroy the walls of Tyrus and break down
her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her and make her like the top of a
rock. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea:
for I have spoken it saith the Lord God. And they shall lay thy stones and thy
timber and thy dust in the midst of the water … and I will make thee like the
top of a rock.. Thou shalt be built no more."
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon later conquered the city but left
the walls and most of this Prophecy still undone. 250 years later, Alexander
the Great came to conquer it again. By that time, Tyre had built part of its
city as a fortified city out on an island ½ mile from the shore. It looked
impossible to conquer, but he commanded them to raze the town and scrap
everything into the sea to build a causeway out to the fortified part of the
city. When he conquered the fortified island, then he had that too scraped and
everything thrown into the ocean. All that was left was just a barren rock.
The city has not been rebuilt and reinhabited.
Now we may think, maybe this is not a good location for a
city, but it is on the Eastern edge of the Mediterranean. Another interesting
fact is that at the site there a great freshwater springs that run into the
sea. A modern engineer measured the output of these springs and found them to
produce 10 million gallons daily, enough fresh water to supply a large modern
city, yet it has never been rebuilt after 2500 years.
Sidon: Here too, God prophesied that it
would be destroyed but that it would be reinhabited and it is still with us
today.
Samaria: The city would be cast down, it
would just become a heap and be turned into a vineyard Micah 1:5-6 Which is
what it is today.
Jerusalem: It too, would be destroyed, walls destroyed, its inhabitants
carried away; but it would be revived and its people would be brought back. It
is with us today.
Edom - A Nation of people and cities: God
said in Ezekiel 35:3-9, “I will make thee a perpetual desolation, thy cities
shall not return. A modern report of the area by a skeptic of the Bible wrote
of this area saying "At present all this country is a desert." Yet he says "the
traces of many towns are met with". A noted Swiss explorer John Burkhardt says
the whole plain presented to the view is an expanse of shifting sands.
Babylon The greatest city of ancient times
existed with walls 15 miles in length. Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian,
said its walls were 250 feet high and its tower 300 feet high; at their base
they were 187 feet thick. He said he refused to write about the tremendously
fertile area because people would think he was crazy. History tells us of its
fabulous hanging gardens and beauty. Babylon was famous for its mathematics,
time measurement and science. It was an impenetrable city and the capital of
the empire.
Yet, in Isaiah 13:19 and Jeremiah 51:58-62
God said it would be destroyed; it would be a haunt of wild animals and desolate
forever. He said the broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken.
An Interesting Note: The final fulfillment of these
prophesies happened in an interesting way. After the time of Christ the walls
still stood. There was a Roman Emperor, called Julian the Apostate, in the 4th
century. He was a non-believing predecessor after the Christian emperor
Constantine. He wanted to return Rome to its pagan ways and greatly persecuted
the church. When he was having a problem with the Persians near Babylon, he
ordered the walls completely devastated so that they would not afford the
Persians any secure fortress. Thus, he helped fulfill the Biblical prophecy of
the God he was against.
The Great walls of China remain; but not the great walls of
Babylon!
Alexander the Great decided he was going to rebuild Babylon
and make it his capital, but immediately after making that declaration he was
killed.
 II.
Historic Validation
The historical records detailing the life, teachings,
miracles, and resurrection of Christ are overwhelming.
Some scholars have concluded that the resurrection of Jesus
Christ is one of history’s best-attested events.
One scholar by the name of FF Bruce says, "Some writers may
toy with the fancy of a Christ-myth theory, but they do not do so on the grounds
of historical evidence. The historicity of Christ is a axiomatic for an
unbiased historian as the historicity of Julius Caesar. It is not historians who
propagate the Christ-myth theories."
Basic facts:
1) There is
10 times the amount of evidences for the Bible than there is for any other
comparable historical event. Josh McDowell says, “The Bible compared with other
writings, has more manuscript evidence than any ten pieces of classical
literature combined.”
2) In the
first few centuries, no one questions if the miracles of Jesus happened.
In fact, the Jewish, Pagan and Roman writers validate the fact they
happened by contending with how they could have happened. As an
example, one Celsius writing to a Christian in the second century was debating
why the darkness happened when Christ died on the cross. He said it had to have
been just an eclipse. However, modern astronomy has shown that an eclipse
cannot happen during a full moon, which is when Passover/Easter was. Celsius’
argument against how it happened proves it happened.
3) No one
questions the existence of the apostles who spread out from Palestine
throughout the known world. They turned the world upside down. As one scholar
said, "That a few simple men should in one generation have invented so
powerful a personality, so lofty an ethic and so inspiring a vision of human
brotherhood, would be a miracle far more incredible than any record in the
Gospels". Most all of these died tortuous deaths holding to their belief in
Jesus and what the Bible taught. Would men die in such terrible ways for a
fictitious story they said they believed, that would have been a good time to
change their story; but they didn’t!
4) Even if all
the first manuscripts of the New Testament had been destroyed we could put
98% of the New Testament back together from quotes included in letters we
have from early Christians.
5) The only
reason academic people reject all this is not because of evidences but because
of a refusal to believe in God and the miraculous. A fact they will
often admit.
6) Renowned
Jewish archaeologist Nelson Glueck said, "It may be stated categorically that
no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference."
7) Guess how
many archeological sites have been carried out which validate some facts of the
Bible. 1,000, 3,000? No! Over 25,000 archeological sites have
validated facts of the Bible. Dr. Albright says, "There can be no doubt
that archeology has confirmed the substantial historicity of the Old Testament
Tradition."
8) With the
astounding growth of Archeology it has not been the Bible that has been put to
shame, but constantly it has shamed the skeptics. There are many instances
in which scholars denied the Bible’s validity since many of the events and towns
had never been heard of, thus they attributed the stories to fancy tales; yet
later, modern archeology proved the existence of such events, peoples and
places.
One Such Example. Everyone who
has taken Old Testament in most of the 20th Century in college has
been taught the “Source theory”, which states that the much of the Old Testament
was not written as it purports to have been written, by Moses. The theory they
have taught is that these Old Testament stories were just handed down and
developed by oral tradition until about the time of David. One reason for the
development of this “Source” theory was because they thought that writing wasn’t
even known in the time of Moses.
Yet in 1975, construction workers
broke through the ceiling of a large library and made one of the most important
archeological finds of the 20th Century. It was a library of
thousands of tablets. As scholars read these tablets, they discovered that this
was not just a library but also a whole commerce center. They discovered
references to other such centers in the Mid-East, some of which they therefore
searched for and found. They dated these library / commerce centers to the time
of Abraham and the City of Ur. They discovered they used a credit system so
people traveling and trading throughout the Middle East could do business; Ur
was the largest trade center connected with this system, the New York City of
their time. – the original home area of Abraham – who lived a 1,000 years before
Moses. My Seminary Professor declared this discovery blew this “Source” theory
apart.
III.
How The Bible Came To Us
It seems God does everything with man out of respect for
the partnership which He has made with us; He has given us authority over the
world, authority with Christ so that God will speak and work in the world
through people.
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of
Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never
had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried
along by the Holy Spirit. II Peter 1:20-21
In the same way God brought the scriptures to us, it says,
through men, but only as they were led by the agency of the Holy Spirit.
I have seen some go into seminary, but their faith has
been thrown out as some present the scriptures as just a work of men. But, this
fact inspires me all the more, rather than tearing down my faith, because I see
here too, how God works with people in our history to bring about His Kingdom.
If we just say men wrote the Bible, that doesn’t sound
persuasive, but as we study it and see the totality of the results of it we come
to see it is a book like none other ever written or could have written by human
minds.
44 men over 1600 years, writing in 4 different languages,
wrote this book of books which carry a common theme and character and purpose.
We have already discussed the amazing prophetic power it
carries which has seen hundreds of prophecies fulfilled over hundreds of years.
Yes, the Bible was birthed out of men’s experiences with
God; yes it came out of our history, but that makes it all the more valid.
Think of it! If a book just appeared out of nowhere, how much validity would
there be too it: no testimony of nations, families, people, to confirm the
truth of its events and declarations. No rather, it is better it came out of
our history. God has a “His-story” with us.
IV.
Changed Lives and Cultures
Here is a book that has totally changed the world - what
would the world be like if the Bible had never been?
Take for example the 12 common men with no formal
education or experience other than following Jesus for three years. (Not even
four years like a college education.) They were fishermen, a tax collector,
political zealots, etc.
Think about it! These 12 common men, who were with Jesus,
go out with an amazing story which would not be easy to sell – a man they knew
was crucified and raised from the dead, three days later he ascended bodily to
heaven and He is going to come back and rule the world and heaven for He is the
Son of God! Given their culture, circumstances, standing, all odds were against
them. Yet, they went out throughout the known world and change the world.
What could possibly account for they success? Only the
fact that it was true and they had the power and truth to back it up!
II Peter 1:16 We did not follow cleverly invented stories
when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we
were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
Acts 26: 26 "For the king knows about these matters, and I
speak to him also with confidence, since I am persuaded that none of these
things escape his notice; for this has not been done in a corner.
V.
How The Bible Was “Canonized”
The word canon comes from the root word that means “reed”.
A reed was used in measuring as a standard or rule. As God worked in people’s
lives and society, they recognized God has spoken and they wrote down these
things. The things that were written which were recognized as “God-breathed”
were eventually compiled by the people of Israel to complete the Old Testament,
and by the Christian community to complete the New Testament.
So for instance in regards to the New Testament as time
went on and many writings were present, the churches came together because it
saw the need to recognize which writings had the weight of authority and
genuiness. These early Councils established rules they would go by to separate
out the scriptures from other writings. Other writing were as simple as regular
letters people had written or general writings telling about events or even
fictitious writings (“pseudipigraphical”) some had written. The fact that they
had to separate out the fictitious and the normal writings from those everyone
recognized as “God-breathed”, inspired writings, gives even more credence to the
Scriptures, because they had every chance to exaggerate, falsify or enlarge
their story; but they didn’t.
Even the fact that the Bible shows all the faults and
failings of the Apostles gives it more genuiness, because if they had been
falsifying the whole thing, why not hide their leader’s failings and add more
fabulous tales.
The rules they went by in choosing which were to be
considered scripture were these:
- Did local church communities attest to it’s authority;
for instance, would they say things like yes our church knew the Apostle Paul
and he wrote this letter to us. It is in our history and we have a
relationship with the person and the writing. This goes a long way against
what people might think that maybe somebody just made up an imaginative story
and threw it out into society and history and somebody picked it up, not
knowing where it came from and started believing this incredible story.
- Were these scriptures collected and used by the people
of God as scripture.
- Is it prophetic. Did it come from a proven man of God.
- Did it carry a weight of authority. Did they recognize
it as having come from the hand of God.
- Is it dynamic with life-transforming power from God.
What
about the Apocryphal Books?
The Apocryphal Books were 14 books written between the 3rd
and 1st Centuries BC. The Jewish people and the Christians have
recognized them as interesting and informative books, but not on the level as
scripture.
Jesus never referred to them or quoted them. None of them
claim inspiration, and one in I Maccabees 1:27 claims it is not inspired. These
books were never included into the Bible until the reformation when the Catholic
church added them in the Council of Trent in 1546. This is viewed as suspect
since the reformation people like Luther were calling for Biblical support of
the Catholic teachings. Not finding support for some of the ideas except in the
Apocrypha the Catholic Church declared that now the Apocryphal writings were to
be accepted as Scripture.
VI.
Accuracy of Transmission
One of the common ignorant arguments against the Bible is
that it must not be accurate since it has be handed down over so many years;
even if it was correct in the first place how do we have any assurance that it
has been accurately transmitted to us. This is a valid question, but we have
good answers.
One good answer is that we now have confirmation of the
accuracy of transmission of Scriptures because of the discovery of old
manuscripts such as the Qumran or “Dead Sea Scrolls”. Here in 1947 was a
discovery of many scrolls hidden away in the dry desert caves in the Dead Sea
area. These scrolls had been hidden there by a religious community that thrived
before and during the time of Christ.
Here we found ancient scriptures from the Old Testament
with fragments from every Old Testament book except Esther and a complete
manuscript of the book of Isaiah. When compared with what we have today and we
find that these scripture texts which have been handed down to us over 2000
years show virtually no changes, certainly none that change any thoughts or
doctrines. This is an amazing confirmation that the texts copied and recopied
over 2000 years were transmitted faithfully.
Again to put some perspective to the manuscript evidence:
Homer’s Iliad has only 643 old manuscript copies left from the centuries of
copying. But, the New Testament has 5,366 copies of old manuscripts.
Now there are variants, which have crept into the
transmissions, such as a variant spelling of a word. Some magnify these to
discount the scriptures. But, that is like ignoring an elephant to focus on a
gnat. So as some copies followed with the same variant, some people will say,
(because there are three thousand manuscripts which followed with this variant),
they will say there are a 3000 variants in the transcribed text, thus distorting
the issue. But, what scholars tell us is we have 100 percent of the New
Testament and we are sure of 99.5% of it. These small changes make no doctrinal
changes.
Now in a way these small variants actually help to prove
the reliability of the scriptures in this way: They earmark or help track the
“families” of copies that have been disseminated out into the world.
The fact is that the scriptures were not disseminated in a
single line of copies down through history. Rather than having copies in a
straight line in history as a straight pole, the copies of the Bible are more
like a tree with copies, early on, being sent out to different areas of the
world, to Africa, Asia, Europe etc. Now as we go back to these early copies we
can compare, say, the African “family” of copies with the European “family” of
copies. If people had been messing with the copies, the changes would be
glaringly obvious, but the scriptures have stayed the same, proving the accuracy
of transmission. This is an amazing confirmation of consistency of transmission
to the Bible Text. In the early centuries, there was no way continents could
compare text. They could only transmit accurately the copies they had in hand
originally.
Along that same line of thought, we see another great
example of comparison of parallel scriptural sources. In the 200’s BC, 70
Jewish Scholars assembled to translate their scriptures into Greek. This
version is known as the Septuagint (meaning 70). Thus, there is another
translation but in a different language, providing another transmission bible
which has continued, also since then, which still remains in agreement with the
Hebrew Old Testament. Comparison of the Old Testaments of the different
languages agree, which they wouldn’t if the Old Testament Scriptures started
being “messed with”.
How could they be transmitted so exactly? Because the
scribes went through extreme lengths to assure the accuracy of each text. For
instance they would know a text would have a certain number of letters per page
and per line. Not only would they proof-read them but they would add up all the
letters to assure that there was not one too many or too few. If they found a
mistake, they would destroy it, although it may have been one whole day’s work.
This would insure there would be no alternative copies floating around to
confuse from the original.
The attitude the scribes had was, this was literally the
word of God, and every smallest stroke was important. Jesus told us in Matthew
5:8 “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the
smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”
When the translators of the King James Bible did their
work, they were working off of transcripts that were only 600 years old, going
back to around 1000 A.D. Today with the years of modern archeology and
discoveries we understand the early languages much better and have hundreds more
manuscripts dating much older. One piece of the Gospel of John discovered goes
back to 125 A.D. One silver scroll we have of the book of Numbers goes back to
500 B.C.
VII. The King James Version and Translations
Some people get very narrow in regards to which translation
is best. I will address this briefly. In regards to the King James Version,
everybody agrees that the scholars who worked under the directive of King James
in the 1600’s did a remarkable job with translating from the Greek and Hebrew.
But, the scholarly fact is, with all of the discoveries of Archeology and
greater understanding of the original languages, along with a greater wealth of
earlier manuscripts, the new translations are better equipped to render a more
accurate translation of the original languages.
One thing that happens is, when people first fall in love
with God and the scriptures, is that first version they hear and learn from is
so precious to them because it rings so true; so when another version is
presented that sounds and reads differently, though still accurately, they
compare (not scholarly to the original texts and better understanding of
original Greek and Hebrew,) all the changes in the new and believe since it is
different it is not as good of a translation.
There is another issue with translating any language. Some
people get dogmatic and sound correct when they say, there should only be a
literal translation. But, here is the issue, do we translate the meaning or the
words? Here is an example, do this: translate from English to English this
sentence (but you can not use the same words) (as if then, it would be a
different language). Translate this: He didn’t lose his cool, but kept his
head on straight. How would you translate that? Literally, you could say:
“The man kept from getting hot, the vertebrae in the neck remained aligned.”
Does that correctly translate what is being said? The meaning, without using
the same literal words would be translated: “He didn’t get mad, but kept
thinking clearly.” What translators do, when they translate, is to put words in
italics when the word isn’t in the original language. Many people take
offense at that and say they are taking liberties; no, they are trying to be
faithful to show what they are doing while trying to retain the real meaning.
The reality is there are better and worse translations, but
they all work off the basic original Greek and Hebrew Bible. So, there are many
issues. For instance, the NIV is a good accurate translation, yet it is written
to be understood at the Seventh Grade level. The idea is to make the Bible more
understandable to more readers. But it, in effect, the words become more
generalized and the meaning of “bigger words” which have greater shades of
meaning and understanding and not put into place.
Paraphrases are different than translations! Paraphrases
are attempts to totally make it sound like today’s common slang and the
translators admittedly take a lot of liberties that way, in order to try to
communicate the meaning. They make very poor study bibles and admittedly will
have the translators biases seep into the paraphrase.
No one translation is perfect; they all have advantages and
disadvantages, even failings. But, don’t be too discouraged, because the
reality is, the Author of the scriptures is also your Interpreter of the
meaning. If you listen to the Holy Spirit, the scriptures are still the Word of
God and will come alive to you and the Holy Spirit will speak the true meaning
of what is being said into your heart, regardless what version you are reading.
The Bible has changed and impacted more people than any
other book, even though people can’t read it in Greek or Hebrew and have to read
it in Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Russian, Swahili, etc. It is living and active;
it is God’s Hammer, it is God’s Sword! (Jeremiah 23:29, Ephesians 6:17).
Another issue regarding the King James Version is,
regardless of the good translation, it is translated into 1600 English. A
person from that time speaking English would not be understood on today’s
streets, so there is a constant effort to keep the scripture in the common
language of our present time.
VIII.
The Bible Code
There has been a discovery that the Bible seems to contain
a code. Now this is not a basis for our faith, but it is very interesting and
seems to be verified as an amazing thing.
For some reason, we do not know why, Isaac Newton believed
the Bible contained a code and recently when they collected and studied all his
papers of his life they discovered he spent more time on trying to find the code
than he did on all his other well-know scientific work. 50 years ago a Jewish
Rabbi noticed if you skipped every 50 letters in the Torah (first 5 books of the
law) it would keep spelling out the word "Torah".
Then a few years ago, another Jewish rabbi thought the
computer could be put to work on this and he started finding other words. In
fact, thousands of revelations have been found that relate to history. The code
appears not just as single words, but words in approximate locations of text
with related names, dates, topics closely grouped.
Now some disparage this, and say this could happen in large
works such as War and Peace and indeed they have found some words in this
manner; however this does not seem to compare with the scope and complexity of
the Bible code. Remarkable confluence of words and names surpass any
conceivable way any human mind could create such a code. Continued scrutiny
will probably show more.
A Jewish reporter from the New York Times reporting on a
treaty in Israel heard about this and investigated the story as a sideline. At
first he presumed it to be fraudulent. When he went to interview the rabbi he
thought he would be shown a bunch of parchments but instead was taken to the
computer and had it shown to him. He then took it back and took it to the
Pentagon’s Master code official who developed his own computer program to check
it out and came back to report that there really is a code system in the Bible.
The theory was then published in a scientific magazine only
after several independent studies to prove it. It was then reported to the
Jewish government. They have found over 1,000 historical incidents to this date
in the Bible code. Much more work is being done on the Bible code and it seems
to be valid. It is like God is further revealing His creativity and power and
witness to the scriptures. Some think the Bible may be “the Book” referred to
in scripture that contains all names and events.
IX.
The Bible And Science
Many of these following ideas in this section are taken
from Grant Jeffries book Creation.
The Bible was not written to be a scientific book, yet some
interesting references refer to scientific truths. One such truth we already
discussed is the very fact that the Bible says the world was created out of
nothing. To the Greeks and modern men up until the last century this was
ludicrous for men believed that matter always was.
Another Biblical idea is that the world was created and is
running toward an end. This fits the Second Law of Thermodynamics that
describes the fact that all systems and elements in our Universe tend to
disintegrate. This of course flies not in the face of the Bible, but of
evolution, which proposes things are constantly evolving to a higher better
development.
In the Book of Job is says in 26:7, “He stretcheth out the
North over the empty place and hangeth the Earth upon nothing. What an amazing
statement, men in the past could not possibly envision such a possibility.
Scientists talk about a “hole” in the North towards the
polar star where there seems to be an unusual gap in the distribution of
galaxies.
Job 38:16 says, “Hast thou entered into the springs of the
sea?”… Yes underwater exploration has discovered numerous huge springs of fresh
waster pouring out of the floor of the ocean.
I will just quote for Grant Jefferies Book Here:
Genesis describes the supernatural creation of man in
these words, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul”
(Genesis 2:7). Scientists used to ridicule the apparent simplicity of the
scriptural account that God used “the dust of the ground” to construct the
incredibly complex proteins, molecules, and sixty trillion cells that make up a
human being. However, scientists were recently startled to discover that the
clay and earth found in the ”dust of the ground” do contain every single element
found in the human body….every single element found in the human body exists
within the soil.
X.
To Duplicate the Bible
Let's say: If you were going to duplicate this feat of
creating another type of book as amazing as the Bible and start another new
religion; here is what you would have to do:
Compose a book that contains a unified theme,
which would be written by 44 men of different walks of life in
different times and situations and occupations over a period of 1600
years in four different languages. Include in it 2000 prophecies
which would be specifically fulfilled over the years to come. Give details
accounts of towns, individuals and stories that none of your
contemporary civilization has any record or proof of their existence, yet will
become proven to have existed by over 25,000 archeological future
digs spread all over the middle eastern world about 4000 to 2000 years later.
Foster a made up amazing story of how one of your
contemporaries, which was well known, was, contrary to everything they
saw and heard, the son of God, who healed the sick, performed miracles, raised
the dead, was himself raised from the dead, they all saw him and saw him ascend
into heaven and now rules from heaven. Convince hundreds and thousands of these
contemporaries to believe this so strongly they would be willing to suffer
tremendous persecution and death for the cause of your lie.
Have in it such an amazing quality of inspiration
that it will change countless lives, set the
foundations of governments and laws and survive
the concerted effort of empires to remove it from the world.
Write it in such a way that every time people read
it, it would be fresh and revealing and would constantly be the best
selling book in the world every week of every year.
X. References to the Bible
"If you are an intelligent
person, you will read the one book that has drawn more attention than any other,
if you are searching for the truth."
It is impossible to govern the world
without God and the Bible. -- George Washington
The whole inspiration of our
civilization springs from the teachings of Christ and the lessons of the
prophets. To read the Bible for these fundamentals is a necessity of American
life. -- Herbert Hoover
In regard to this great book, I have
but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good Savior gave
to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know
right from wrong. All things most desirable for man's welfare, here and
hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it. -
-- -- Abraham Lincoln
John 10:35 Jesus said "the Scripture cannot be broken"
John 19:24 "This happened that the scripture might be
fulfilled which said, "They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my
clothing." So this is what the soldiers did."
Acts 1:16 and said, "Brothers, the Scripture had to be
fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David
concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus--"
II Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is
useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so
that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Matt. 24:35 Heaven and
earth will pass away,but my words will never pass away.
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