"THE BIBLE MUST BE SEEN IN A CULTURAL CONTEXT. IT DIDN'T JUST HAPPEN. THESE STORIES ARE RETREADS FROM STORIES BEFORE...BUT, CHRISTIANS DON'T KNOW THE BOOK OR IT'S {DECEPTIVE} ORIGINS."-Isaac Asimov.
IF A MAN FOLLOWED THE TEACHINGS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, HE WOULD BE A CRIMINAL. IF HE FOLLOWED THE TEACHINGS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, HE WOULD BE INSANE- Robert Ingersoll
FINDING THAT NO RELIGION IS BASED ON FACTS, AND CAN THEREFORE NOT BE TRUE, I BEGAN TO REFLECT WHAT MUST BE THE CONDITION OF MANKIND TRAINED FROM INFANCY TO BELIEVE IN ERROR- Robert Owen
THE BIBLE WAS WRITTEN AND PUT TOGETHER BY HUMAN BEINGS DOING THE BEST THEY KNEW HOW-Secular Humanist
god IS NOT GREAT, THE OLD TESTAMENT IS A NIGHTMARE, THE NEW TESTAMENT IS AN EVIL, RELIGION POISONS EVERYTHING-Christopher Hitchens
With such acute and defaming assessments of the Bible, we at BARC find it most important to address the vital topic entitled 'Inerrancy of Scripture.' By inerrancy we mean, 'wholly true', 'without error.' This is a gargantuan claim since there is no evidence of anything else being errorless. Men are full of error, and the things he invented are flawed. So how can we suggest that a book that was transcribed and copied, reproduced by error filled men be,....... errorless?
The only way that it could be accomplished is if there was some divine or supernatural intervention. For we already know men are incapable of producing something without error. Our task is to present facts, that preclude the possibility that man was the author of the Bible. To accomplish this, we must enlist the reader to be objective, unbiased, and rational. For if not, we've disengaged the neutral of learning .
2 Peter 1:21 says; "For this prophecy (inspired book) did not come by the will of man, but Holy men of God spoke as they were breathed upon or inspired by the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit is God, so in essence God directed men to record His word and will and purposes.
There has arisen several detractors of the fact that God used Holy men to reveal his will. So there has evolved a few theories of how God presented the scriptures to us.
1. The Dictation Theory: Say's, God prepared the men's vocabularies and dictated His will like a office executive to his secretary.
2. The Natural Inspiration Theory: States the men were geniuses, possessing great mental insight. They were similar to Shakespeare.
3.Neoorthodox Theory: Say's, the Bible is fallible and is often an unreliable witness.
4. Concept Inspiration Theory: The concepts are from God, but the actual words are not inspired.
5. Inspired Purpose Theory: The Bible contains many factual errors and has insoluble discrepancies, it still has doctrinal integrity, thus it accomplishes God's purpose of salvation.
6. Partial Inspiration Theory: The Bible is inspired only in certain parts, in the areas that would be otherwise unknowable.
The correct view of inspiration involves 'God's superintendence of the human writers of scripture so that, while allowing for their own personalities and writing styles, they recorded without error, in the words of the original manuscripts, God's word to mankind.' How can we prove that? What method is at our disposal ?
Let's put on if you will, certain hats for this exercise. We will be asked to wear the hat of an investigator and the hat of a judge. It is true that the sincere investigator rationally, pursues ALL the evidence. The sincere judge weighs ALL the evidence. We at BARC will first wear the hat of investigator, and present ALL the facts that you can weigh as judge. The case at hand is: Is the Bible, divine rather than human in origin? And in the words of Josh Mc Dowell here is "Evidence that Demands a Verdict !"
First as an investigator, we want to present a question for consideration, can a person communicate their will in a written format ? Sure, we've done it a thousand times a day for centuries. We have notarized wills filed every day. Another question is, can a will be preserved for a long period of time?
Yes, there have been several legal documents recovered from sunken vessels that were 300 years old, archeologist have unearthed the tombs of pharaohs that had transcriptions in hieroglyphics of their love for children, desire of the after life etc. These were dated 3000 years ago. The people, places, events of their writings were historically accurate.
The issue at hand is not if a persons will can be written, or if it can be preserved for a long period of time, we have numerous proofs of that. At issue is, are the 66 books compiled as the Bible accurate documents? Are they mere inventions of men or is there a supernatural or divine author?
How do we determine if a document is authentic? How do we test or authenticate a writing? Whether it's a poem, constitution, house resolution, biography, diary, screen play, charter, regulation, all documents must be authenticated by three test. The Internal Evidence Test, The External Evidence Test, The Bibliographical Test. If a document can pass these three test, only then, can it be relied upon and it's content and message considered immutable.
The BIBLIOGRAPHICAL TEST examines textual transmission by which documents get to us. Since we don't have the original autographs, how reliable are the copies? The major areas of validity are the number of copies and the time interval between the original and the extant copies. In an investigation, a homicide detective will gather statements and testimonies from witnesses. The most reliable witnesses statements were those who were EYE witnesses and those who provided them closer to the event. If the investigator obtained a statement 500 years after the incident, then it most likely won't be as reliable as a statement from an eye witness provided 30 minutes after the event.
When we consider the writings of other writers of antiquity, there are no other documents that compare with the volume and interval established by the Bible. We at BARC find it interesting that there are few if any critics or skeptics concerning the validity of other writings of antiquity, but they hurl boulders at the Bible and it has an overwhelming amount of evidence compared to other writings. Let's examine other writings of antiquity and see how they compare to the Bible. First, consider a famous contemporary book "Huckleberry Finn" authored by Mark Twain. How would we know if the manuscript was authored by Mark Twain or someone else? How would we test it? Let's use the same common standard.
How many copies of the original Huckleberry Finn are in existence today? Over 500,000. How many years passed between the original and the copies? Less than one year. Is it plausible that the large number of exact copies and the short time interval between them increases the probability of authenticity? There are questions that must be asked. Was there a person named Mark Twain? Did he claim authorship? Was Huckleberry Finn the type and style of Twain? And finally, is it's content consistent with the alleged period, or region? Let's suppose that there was only one copy of Huckleberry Finn and it was copied 500 years after the original. It would not have nearly the credibility.
Now concerning documents of antiquity, they did not have printing presses or ROM/Gigabyte microprocessors to store manuscripts for mass reproduction. They were hand written and hand copied. Below is a comparison of ancient writers and copies of their writings.
AUTHOR TIME WRITTEN FIRST COPY SPAN NO COPIES
Homer 900 B.C. 400 B.C. 500 yrs. 643
Caesar 100-44 B.C. 900 A.D. 1000 yrs. 10
Plato 427-347 B.C. 900 A.D. 1200 yrs. 7
Aristotle 384-322 B.C. 1100 A.D. 1400 yrs 49
New Testament 40-67 A.D. 125 A.D. 30 yrs. 24,000
Again, the bibliographical test demonstrates that the Bible has more copies, and they were copied so much sooner than all other ancient writings of antiquity. Therefore, if the Bible is not true, then certainly all the writings of Caesar, Homer, Plato, Aristotle are also invalid. There is no questioning or objection to the writing of these men, but the authenticity of the New Testament is doubted and scrutinized.
At this juncture we normally find the most severe attacks and skepticism concerning the Bible. The most renown question is, 'If the Greek original was authentic, why should I trust the copies?'
We at BARC have endured so many volley's questioning the quality and validity of copies. Critics have suggested that the Bible is unreliable because the white man altered it to keep black people in bondage. Others have suggested that religious zealots, invented the Bible to enforce their social will , and obtain authority and power over other peoples. Most skeptics feel that manipulation and evil intent was somehow at play. However, the burden of proof yet lies with the skeptic.
We at BARC would like to present further evidence for consideration.
Is it plausible that documents can be preserved intact over time? It is a fact that ancient seamen have copied maps, and coordinates that endured exact over thousands of years. When one examines THE TRADITION of the Talmudist Jews, it is easy to see how Gods word was so well preserved by the scribes.
The Talmudic scribe was reared and trained from his youth to perform this noble and honorary task. As a little boy they would observe and then transition into apprentice for the painstaking and meticulous task of copying the text. Observe the measures incorporated in this craft.
1.The scribe (copyist) had to wash themselves and dress in ceremonial clothing.
2.The scribe had to write on the skin of a clean animal.
3.The skins had to be fastened together from the strings of other clean animals.
4. The skins had to contain a certain amount of columns or width equal throughout the codex.
5.The length must not extend less than 48 and not more than 60 lines, the breath must consist of 30 letters.
6. The entire copy must be be lined, and if it has more than three words without lines, it is worthless.
7. The ink must be black made of a specific recipe.
8. The authentic copy must not be deviated from.
9. No word, yod, letter could be written from memory, the scribe having not looked at the codex before him.
10. Between each consonant, a space of a hair or thread., between each paragraph the space of nine consonants.
11. Between every book three lines, the last book of Moses must end with a line.
12. The scribe must wash his hands and use new ink, and a gold quiver when writing the name of God. If the King entered while he was writing Gods name he was to be ignored.
With this extreme discipline incorporated into the sacred task of copying the text, the chance of error was minimal.
The bibliographical test proves that the text is reliable extantly. Further proof of this occurred in 1947 when a Bedouin boy named Muhammad discovered manuscripts in a cave west of the dead sea, 8 miles from Jericho. The leather manuscripts were incased in clay jars wrapped in linen. They were remarkably preserved since A. D. 68. The archeological community along with manuscript experts identified 166 words in The Book of Isaiah, and found after 1,900 years there was only one word that was questionable from the current book we have today. The word in question was 'life' and was found to be the correct rendering in the original Hebrew text. This is solid evidence to the effective results of the scribes. I would admonish any skeptic to compare the oldest Greek manuscripts in existence with the New Testament we have today. Those manuscripts are the Codex Alexandrinus and the Codex Sinaiticus.
The second test of the authenticity of a document is the Internal Evidence Test. What do the documents say about themselves? Aristotle stated the dictum " the benefit of the doubt must be given to the document itself, not arrogated by the critic to himself. Therefore one must listen to the claims of the document under analysis and not assume fraud or error unless the author disqualifies himself by contradictions or factual inaccuracies. Let's consider the persons who were used to pen the N T. They were eye witnesses. (Luke 1:1-3 , 2 Peter 1:16). The investigator of the homicide puts great confidence in the testimony of the eye witness versus the testimony of someone who heard about the murder or had an opinion about it.
Another aspect of determining the validity of a document is, can it be confirmed by archeology? The places and people of the Bible were real and confirmed. There was a city named Bethlehem, there was a Pharaoh named Ramses, who reigned during the exodus of Moses. There was a place called Babylon, there was a king named Nebuchadnezzar, there was a man named Pilot, and Caesar. The people and places internally described in scripture are true.
Dr. William Ramsey when excavating and traveling through Asia Minor stated. "I began with a mind unfavorable to it [Acts/Bible], for the ingenuity and apparent completeness of the Tubingen theory had at one time quite convinced me. It did not lie then on my line of life to investigate the subject minutely; but more recently I found myself often brought into contact with the Book of Acts as an authority for the topography, antiquities of the society of Asia Minor. It was gradually borne in upon me that in various details "the narrative showed marvelous truth." When he ascribed to the book of Acts he found all of the cities of Corinth Galatia, Thessalonica, and said "Luke is an historian of the first rank."
The geography of Bible lands were unearthed and discovered until today, we have over 25,000 sites of antiquity. Ancient Literature specialist Nelson Glueck, performed an exhaustive study of archeological excavations and concluded: "It can be stated categorically that no archeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference."
The internal evidence test is buttressed or disassembled by the claims it makes in the sphere of prophecy. The Bible makes predictions about the future that must be analyzed. I recall when I was in the military, I became proficient in firing various types of weapons. I would fire pistols at 50 meter targets and fire a 50 cal. at 100 meter targets, an M16a1 at 300 meters targets. I would like to present the scenario or proposition of a person using a bow and arrow and hitting a bulls eye of a target at 50 meters. Could a human being accomplish it? Of course he could. What if the target was moved back 500 meters? Could a human being hit it? Probably, but not likely. What if we moved the target back 5 miles? Could a human being hit it? A human nor the string on the bow has the strength to propel the arrow far enough. A man can't even see the target 5 miles away. What if the target was 50 miles away? One could not even hit it with an Howitzer.
This is the same difficulty confronting a man who tried to see or know detailed events far in the future in his own ability. The target is too hard to hit intellectually or by chance. It's somewhat possible for a man to predict something like," in the next year there will be more than 40 terrorist bombings in Palestine and Iraq". But impossible for a man to know in his own ability 'that in 483 years there will be a man who will travel on a flying craft to the middle of Washington D. C. He will be hailed and praised, even the President will bow down and worship him. He will cause peace to prevail in the whole world for 136 years.
If a man predicted the same event to happen in two years, the possibility of collusion exist. But to predict it 483 years in advance and have it occur exactly as predicted is beyond human ability. Since that is so, how did the prophets of the Bible predict events 700 years in advance? We at BARC contend they were correct when they said THUS SAYETH THE LORD!!!
The internal testimony of the document entitled the 'Book of Ezekiel' speaks of a man named Ezekiel. This man stated in the document that GOD gave him personal information about a future event. In the 26th chapter he wrote "The WORD OF THE LORD came unto me". In 576 B.C. God told him to speak to the world about the judgments that would come upon the great city Tyre. He said:
1.Nebuchadnezzar will destroy the mainland city
2. Many Nations against Tyre.
3. Make her bare like a rock, flat like the top of a rock
4. Fisher men will spread nets over the site.
5. Throw cities debris into water
6. Never be rebuilt
7. Never be found again
Around 573 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar laid siege upon mainland Tyre three years after the prophecy. He destroyed the main city gates, and found the city nearly empty. The Tyranians moved to the island city of Tyre and there they remained a powerful city for hundreds of years.
Around the year 333 B.C., 240 years after Ezekiel spoke, history records the incident when Alexander the Great while at war with the Persians, after defeating Darius III marched towards Egypt. When he reached the mainland city of Tyre, he desired to have them open their gates to him denying their use by the Persian fleet. The citizens refused to do so, Alexander demolished the city, and used the debris to build a mole bridge 200 ft wide across the strait separating the new and old Tyres. He erected towers and war engines at the end.
Moslems conquered the city in 690 A.D. The bridge still remains today. Nina Jidejian , recently visited the area formerly known as the great city and describes what she saw. She says "the port is still in use. Small vessels still lay at anchor there. The port has become a haven for fishing boats and a place for spreading nets".
Lets review what the document claimed and what actually occurred. All seven aspects of the prophecy were fulfilled in every aspect. The enormity of this would be parallel in Charles Spurgeon stating in writing in the year 1850 that God said London will be sieged by many nations, and its walls and gates will be thrown in ocean. The entire city will be destroyed and become a place where shepherds grazed their sheep. London would never be rebuilt and will remain desolate as a sign that God spoke it. What if it occurred in the year 2095? What conclusion would the rational, unbiased enquirer embrace? Was the written document true? Yes!
Could Spurgeon have known those things in his own human ability? No! The probability of it occurring by random chance is against enormous odds . The Prophecy of Tyre being fulfilled by random chance or Ezekiel just getting lucky is 1 in 7.5x107. that's 1 and 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 zillion. Peter Stoner in his book Science Speaks, took only eleven prophesies of the Old Testament and presented a mathematical probability of them being fulfilled by chance or human wisdom. He surmised it at 1 in 5.79x 1059, that's 1 and 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. Stoner equates it to taking silver dollars and stacking them 4 ft high and having the stacks covering every inch of the state of Texas. Only one of the dollars has a red x marked on it. Then blind fold a man and ask him to pick the correct coin in one attempt. The chances of him accomplishing it is impossible. He goes on to equate it to taking a billion men with buckets containing 1,000 dice. These men dumped the dice out of the buckets every minute. What's the chances of them all having all of their dice hit 6 at the same time? How long would it take? Stoner says, it would never happen, the odds are too great.
The scriptures internal testimony states in 2 Peter 1:21; For no prophecy ever originated because some man willed it (it never came by human impulse) but men spoke from God who were moved compelled by the Holy Spirit.
(2 Timothy 3:16) says that all scripture is given by inspiration of God.......
The third aspect of determining if a document is authentic is the external evidence test. By this we mean, what testimonies do we gather outside of the internal testimony that confirms the document?
Do other historical materials confirm or deny the internal testimony provided by the documents themselves?
Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons A.D. 180, who was a student of Polycarp a Christian for 86 years was a disciple of John the Apostle, wrote: "So firm is the ground upon which theses gospels rest, that the very heretics themselves bear witness to them, and as a result of them, they endeavor to establish their own doctrine [from the scriptures.]
Other historical figures attest to the truth claimed by internal testimony.
Lucian Of Samosata a satirist of the second century spoke scornfully of Christ and Christians. He alluded to Christ as ....the man who was crucified in Palestine because he introduced the new cult into the world....this law giver persuaded them that they were brothers one of another after they have transgressed once for all by denying the Greek gods, and by worshipping that crucified sophist himself and living under his laws
Pliny The Younger A.D.112, said that that the Governor of Bithynia was killing both men and women, boys, and girls. There were so many put to death he wondered if he should continue killing anyone claiming to be a Christian, or if he should kill certain ones. He said he made Christians bow down before the statue Trajan. He said he made Christians curse Christ, which a genuine Christian won't do .
Thallus A.D. 52, the Samaritan historian wrote in the third book of history, writes about the sun going dark about the same time that the Nazarene was crucified. He said that it was a full moon eclipse that occurred during the time of the Paschal when Christ died.
Justin Martyr A.D. 150, addressing Emperor Antoninus Pius, referred to Pilot report which was to be preserved in in the imperial archives. Pilot explains how they pierced Jesus feet, and cast lots for His garment.
Mara Bar-Serpion A.D.73, wrote a letter to his son while in prison: ....What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise King? It was just after that their kingdom was abolished...nor did the wise King die for good; He lived on in the teaching He had given.
The Encyclopedia Britannica uses 20,000 words in describing the person of Jesus. His description took more space than was given to Aristotle, Cicero, Alexander, Julius Caesar, Buddha, Confucius, Mohammad, or Napoleon Bonaparte. Even with these facts, it is sad to see such an erosion of love for the Bible. Recently a study was conducted and discovered that since 1998 only 47 million Bibles were sold compared to 103 million copies of the occultic series 'Harry Potter.'
Our world is in trouble, men are looking for reality in fantasy and virtual constituents.
Look at the picture: Israel is a real place, so is Galilee, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jerusalem, Mt Olive. The people were verified in history. Pilate, Herod, Annas, Peter, Paul, John, Mary, and Caesar were living historical persons. No one questions their reality, but they scratch out the the person (JESUS) who gives them all prominence.
They don't question the historical person of Mary, but they don't believe in her son. Peter and John are not doubted, but they were disciples of Jesus. The real issue is, if Jesus is real, then what he said is true.
The archaeological proof of the reliability of scripture is overwhelming.
The proof of scripture has been confirmed in the Ebia Kingdom tablets. In 1964, 17,000 tablets have been uncovered there. They confirm the places and events revealed in Genesis. The walls of Jericho were shown to have fallen in Jericho's excavation, just as God said. The pool of Bethesda has been discovered. Many skeptics denied King Solomon's reported wealth, but archaeologist Henry Breasted between 1924-34 unearthed the remains of one of Solomon's "chariot cities" at Megiddo in northern Palestine. Breasted found stables capable of holding more than 400 horses and the remains of barracks for Solomon's chariot battalions which were stationed to guard a strategic trail through Megiddo (1Kings 9:15-19).
Nelson Glueck, another archaeologist, found the remains of a huge refining factory for copper and iron, two metals Solomon used when bartering for gold, silver and ivory see (1 Kings 9:28-10:22). Critics of scripture often pointed to there being no evidence of the Hittite peoples, the Bible referred to them over 40 times. Archaeologist Hugh Winckler excavated the Hittite capital of Boghaz-Koi and recovered thousands of Hittite texts, as well as the famous Hittite code. The places of Israel, Palestine, Galilee, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and all of the persons of biblical note are confirmed.
So as an investigator, we present only a portion of the mountain of evidence that demonstrates the inerrancy of scripture. I ask those who wear the hat of the judge to deliberate and examine all the evidence. It would require bias and pride to judge the evidence less than compelling.
There was a garden full of beautiful flowers. A butterfly flew by and quickly landed on one flower and quickly moved to the next like he was bouncing on a pogo stick. Then there came a botanist who gazed at the flowers through a magnifying glass. He stared for hours and then wrote meticulous notes about every aspect of the flowers. Then later there came a bee, the bee dove deep down into the heart of the flower and drank and carried away the nourishing nectar from the plant.
The incident illustrates the type of people who come upon God's word. There is the person who is as the butterfly, they come to church looking swell on the outside, they hop from church to church, from stirring sermon to stirring sermon, fluttering here and there getting nice feelings, dancing, shouting, but are spiritually famished. There are those as the botanist who take copious notes look at everything closely from each vowel, they study outlines, history, languages, but don't draw much out of the word. It's all an exercise in academics! Then there are those who are like spiritual bees. They sink down deep into every flower of God's word, every book, every page of scripture they come upon and draw out the wisdom, truth, and life that is a blessing not only to them but to those around them.
The real issue at hand is, if the Bible is God's word, what are you going to decide concerning the central person of scripture Jesus Christ? Since it's true, He came to the world to sacrifice his life for our sins, and that through His shed blood our sins can be cleansed. What are you going to do? Will you resist the truth revealed in scripture? Or will you humble yourself and join the millions who bowed their hearts and asked the resurrected Christ to forgive them for their rebellion, fleshly transgressions, evil secret deeds, and receive His peace and gift of eternal life.
The facts are in your face, you have eyes, what are you going to do? Continue fighting yourself, living in rebellion? Or are you willing to experience the greatest love relationship any person can experience, the joy of salvation and eternal life through Christ. Ask Him to forgive you, and receive Him as Lord of your life. If you are not born again and are not sure where you will spend eternity, read 'Salvation Principles' on this site.
Bibliography:
Evidence that Demands An Answer, Josh Mc Dowell
The Complete Book Of Answers, Ron Rhodes
Manners Customs of Bible Lands, Fred Wright
Christian Apologetics, Norman Geisler