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Is the
Bible is perfect? The messages of the Bible are perfect. The translations of
the Bible are not perfect but that does not make the Bible in error.
The Bible
contains many apparent mistakes and inconsistencies. However, the Bible reveals
just the Savior every human heart needs. How can an uninspired book contain all
the principles so perfectly adapted to the wants and desire of a fallen world?
The
following are seven reasons why we believe the Bible is true and is they only
source of truth:
- Evidence of Internal
Consistency. The
Bible consists of different 66 books written by 37 different authors over
a period of about 1,500 years on three different continents. Probably the
most controversial and volatile subject in all human history is “Is there
a God”? Let’s choose another subject not nearly as controversial, for
example, food. Now select 37 different authors from the US to compile
their thoughts and ideas about food. Do you think if we compiled all their
writings together we would be in harmony? One author may say the best food
is raw meat, the other green leafy vegetables, the other fruits.
If there isn’t harmony between 37 contemporary authors who
all come from the same background to agree on something as simple as food
doesn’t it strike you as incredible that 37 different authors over a period
spanning of 1,500 years on 3 continents from a myriad of cultures from various
different social-economic backgrounds that they could write on the most controversial
subject in history and they could be in harmony.
- Evidence of History. All true and genuine history
confirms and corroborates the Bible record.
- Testimony of Archeology. US News stated that there has
never been a single evidence of archeology in history that has
contradicted what the Bible said.
- Testimony of Science. All true science agrees with
the Bible. In fact many of the great scientists of history have been Bible
believing Christians (Newton,
Einstein, Kepler, Copernicus , Galileo, Sir Francis Bacon, Gregor Mendel,
William Thomson Kelvin, to name a few). There is no contradiction between
true science and the Bible.
- Testimony of Relevancy. The Bible began 1500BC. When
people pick up this book in search of the truth they find what they are
looking for. All their needs are met. The Bible was relevant in the time
of Moses, it was relevant in the time of Jesus and even today it is still
relevant to modern society. It is incredible that a book could speak to
eloquently to a modern generation.
- The testimony of a changed
life. Any
Christian that you meet that has surrendered their life to Jesus will tell
you that their life has changed when they began to read the Bible. The
drunkard man will become sober man, the thief becomes an honest man. The Bible
has the power to change the life and heart of man.
- The testimony of prophecy. Prophecy is the prediction of
future events; a forecast. To forecast the future reliably you would have
to know what will happen before it happens. One-third of the Bible contains
specific prophecies that have been fulfilled. Who ever inspired this book
knew not only the past and the present but knew the future as well.
“The greatest of all authorities on the law or rules of
evidence is Simon Greenleaf, LL.D., late Professor of Law in Harvard University
and the author of “Treatise on the Law of Evidence,” which is recognized
throughout the legal world as almost the last word on the subject. The North American Review declared Simon
Greenleaf to be “a writer of the highest authority on legal subjects, who life
has been spent in weighing testimony and sifting evidence, and who published
opinions on the rules of evidence are received as authoritative in all the
English and American tribunals.” The London Law Magazines said regard this great
American lawyer: “It is no mean honor to America that her schools of
jurisprudence have produced two of the first writers and best esteemed legal
authorities of this century – the great and good man, Judge Story, and his
worthy and eminent associate, Professor Greenleaf. Upon the existing ‘Law of
Evidence’ (by Greenleaf), more light has shone from the New World than from all
the lawyers who adorn the courts of Europe.” These two statements show the legal stand of
the man whose testimony we shall take regarding the credibility of the Gospel
writers as witnesses to the trial and crucifixion of Jesus.
In 1903, Simon Greenleaf published a book entitled “The
Testimony of the Evangelists Examined by the Rules of Evidence Administered in
Courts of Justice.” In this book the noted jurists puts the scriptural record
to the legal tests, and declares it to be admissible and dependable evidence.
He wrote: “Every document, apparently ancient, coming from the proper
repository or custody, and bearing on its face no evident marks of forgery, the
law presumes to be genuine, and devolves on the opposing party the burden of
proving it to be otherwise . . . . The burden of showing them [ancient
documents] to be false and unworthy of credit, is devolved on the party who
makes that objection. The presumption of law is the judgment of charity. It
presumes that every man is innocent until he is proved guilty; that everything
has been done fairly and legally, until it is proved to have been otherwise;
and that every document, found in its proper repository, and not bearing marks
of forger, is genuine.” – Pages 7, 8.
In applying this argument to the credibility of the four
Gospels, Greenleaf says: “If any ancient document concerning our public rights
were lost, copies which has been as universally received and acts upon as the
four Gospels have been, would have been received in evidence in any of our
courts of justice, without the slightest hesitation. The entire text of the
Corpus Juris Civilis is received as authority in all the courts of Continental
Europe, upon much weaker evidence of genuineness; for the integrity of the
Sacred Text has been preserved by the jealousy of opposing sects, beyond any
moral possibility of corruption . . .It is quite erroneous to suppose that the
Christian is bound to offer any further proof of their genuineness or
authenticity. It is for the objector to show them spurious; for on him, by the
plainest rules of law, lies the burden of proof.” –Pages 9, 10.
Greenleaf lays down the following rule as to credible
testimony: “In absence of circumstances which generate suspicion, every witness
is to be presumed credible, until the contrary is shown; the burden of
impeaching his credibility lying on the objector.” The writer then applies this
well-established rule of evidence to the testimony of the Gospel witnesses:
“This rule serves to show the injustice with which the writers of the Gospels
have ever been treated by infidels; any injustice silently acquiesced in even
by Christians; in requiring the Christian affirmatively, and by positive
evidence . . . to establish the credibility of his witnesses above all others,
before their testimony is entitled to be considered, and in permitting the
testimony of a single profane writer, alone and uncorroborated, to outweigh
that of any single Christian. . . . It is time that this injustice should
cease; that the testimony of the evangelists should be admitted to be true,
until it can be disproved by those who would impugn it; that the silence of one
sacred write on any point, should no more detract from his own veracity or that
of the other historians, than the like circumstances is permitted to do among
profane writers; and that the four evangelists should be admitted in
corroboration of each other, as readily as Josephus and Tacitus, or Polybius
and Livy.” – Id., pages 25,26.
. . . There are many questions in every realm of life and
sphere of thought that no person can answer to the satisfaction of the
questioner or even of himself. Asking questions is always easier than answering
them; and the Christian can ask the skeptic more puzzling questions than the
skeptic can ask the Christian. The Christian has the right at least to demand
that he ask every other question. But according to the well-established rules
of evidence recognized in every court in the world, the Christian does not need
to answer any of the sceptics’ questions regarding the credibility of the
Scriptures, because they would be accepted as reliable testimony, and , if
their authority were questioned, the burden of proof would be thrown back upon
the objector. It is the duty of the critic to prove his criticism, rather than
that of the Christian to answer it.
The above
was quoted from “Behold the Man” by Taylor G. Bunch, page 86-89.
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o not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. 
http://www.thedeathandresurection.com/pdf/the death and resurrection.pdf