He was wearing Dodger blue--his shirt and even his L.A. baseball cap--you know that deep, rich royal blue? It was an easy conversation starter to talk about my home state, and exchange some light banter. [Hey, are you friendly? Do you strike up pleasant conversations with strangers? 'Really valuable I believe--reach across the divide, Christian!]
Ten minutes later, while perusing the Christian book section at Barnes & Noble, I saw him and his lady friend shopping Bibles...now I knew he was on my home turf, so I helped Jerrell and Secorya pick out Bibles for purchase.
Simply put, there is no other book like the Bible. In the last Morning Briefing, I wrote that God gave us the Bible to make himself known to us - the mark of a relational, loving God who is at the same time eternal, all-powerful, holy, all-knowing and super creative.
If I could have a face-to-face conversation with God right now, asking once again about the Bible - a compilation of 66 unique books - how and why He inspired it and then preserved it down through history, maybe He would answer with questions of his own. 'Who else could describe how everything came to be, including the creation of man and woman in my image?
Who, but I, could explain that I gave the man and woman free will to love and obey me or go their own way?
Who else could record the history that unfurled after them?
And who could know the future but Me--my plan of salvation beginning with promises of a Messiah, my own Son, spoken to prophets hundreds of years before he was born?'
The best-selling book of all time, the Bible stands alone with its verifiability through fulfilled prophecy, sixty specific prophecies about the Messiah alone, then fulfilled in one Jesus Christ of Nazareth. [Click to read: https://conta.cc/2EtaAhl]
Then, there is archaeology - (more than 25,000 discoveries just within the region known as the Bible lands). The archaeology piece is especially fascinating because as more excavation is done, the greater the corroboration of Scripture! Indeed in the past 150 years, archaeologists have been verifying the exact truthfulness of the Bible’s detailed records of various events, customs, persons, cities, nations and geographical locations.2 Visiting Magdala for the first time in February 2018, my eyes feasted on a live dig -- unearthing a first century synagogue, first discovered in 2009! Prior to that, skeptics of the Bible scoffed as there was no proof that the gospel accounts were true that Jesus had taught on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Amazing!
The Bible alone addresses the BIG questions of life, the most controversial questions of life: HOW DID I GET HERE? WHY AM I HERE? WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE? IS THERE EVEN AN AFTERLIFE, A HEAVEN OR A HELL? IF HEAVEN, HOW DO I GET THERE? The Bible handles these questions consistently in the 66 different documents, written by 40 different authors in three different languages, and three different continents.2 The Bible is internally consistent.
Then there are the extra biblical writings - dozens of them - that verify people, places, events and details that are discussed in the Bible. Thirty nine sources outside of the Bible within 150 years of Jesus’ life that reveal to us more than a hundred facts about Jesus’ life, teachings, death and resurrection. First century Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, is one such source, then there is the Jewish Talmud, (Jewish teachings passed down from generation to generation, organized between AD70 and 200).
More evidence for the veracity of Scripture is the manuscript evidence; a manuscript is any surviving hand-written copy of an ancient document that predates the invention of the printing press in 1455. There are 25,000 partial and complete, ancient handwritten manuscripts of the New Testament, as well as thousands of copies of the Old Testament--many of them predating the time of Christ. Many of those recovered Old Testament manuscripts that were written before Jesus were unearthed in the Qumran caves in 1947 … the Dead Sea Scrolls. (miraculously preserved) 3, 4
How about the ‘realness’ factor of Scripture—it includes the bad, evil and the embarrassing along with the good, such as 'good' King David, falling to the temptation of adultery, following it up with murder. How could God’s words then call him a ‘man after his [God’s] own heart’? The Bible keeps it real, even when it seems like it would read better if its characters would have been righteous, holy, paragons of virtue.
Finally, we will conclude our support for the validity of the written Word of God by stating the fact that no other book in the world has transformed the hearts, minds and lives of people as has Scripture. The writer of Hebrews describes it as living and active.5
Why Am I a Christian? Why do I believe Christianity is true?
-It is the best explanation for reality
-The resurrection of Jesus Christ is proof for Christianity
-The Bible is a reliable source for knowing the one, true God
-The evidence for the reliability of Scripture is shown through fulfilled prophecy, archaeology, the manuscript evidence, realness factor and its power to transform.
"I Believe" - listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPf4G0OtAws&list=RDtPf4G0OtAws&start_radio=1
Because it is true,
Christine
1 – www.pastorwoman.net archives hundreds of Bible studies , written and podcast, that can be accessed. Click on Morning Briefings, then Archives, then Bible Teaching.
2 – “Evidence for the Bible” – Charlie Campbell, facts and data may also be found at www.alwaysbeready.com - an excellent resource
3 – "Why the Bible is Reliable"Frank Turek https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f5Flb6LY4I&t=1332s
4 - "Why You Can Believe the Bible is True - Voddie Baucham, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1XJ7DeR5fc&t=1676s
5 - Hebrews 4.15
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