Is+the+Bible+Historically+and+Scientifically+Reliable?

=**Is the Bible Historically and Scientically Reliable? **=

To know that the Bible is reliable and accurate historically we must look at the following evidences: **//Bibliographical Evidence//** (number of manuscripts, time span, consistency of manuscripts); **//Internal Evidence//** (eyewitness accounts, accounts were written in time span of the disciples and their contemporaries); **//External Evidence//** (non-Christian sources confirm the accounts of the Bible; Christian sources confirm the accounts of the Bible; Archeology).

Now, before I begin it must be noted that when I discuss the historical accuracy and reliability of the Bible, I am going to concentrate primarily on only half of the Bible: the New Testament. The reason is not because the Old Testament is full of errors or is not the Word of God, it is simply because to include the Old Testament in this discussion would mushroom the topic and getting us way off course; secondly the historical reliability and inerrancy of the New Testament is central to Christianity specifically because the New Testament documents are from whence we gain our knowledge of Jesus Christ’s life, teachings and divinity and fundamental Christian doctrines. Again, no discredit to the Old Testament. Furthermore the historical procedures used in this section apply the same way to confirming the Old Testament as historically reliable and accurate. A full discussion of both Old and New Testaments inerrancy and divine natures will be given at a later date. With that, let us begin.

__**(A) The Bible is Historically Reliable **__
**//1) Bibliographical Evidence//** – The bibliographical evidence has to do with the number, dating and consistency of manuscripts we have of the Bible (specific to our discussion the New Testament ones). Manuscripts are simply copies of the original autographs (the original documents).

Before going any farther it is important to remember that the Bible is not one single book, it is a collection of books, 66 to be exact. For our concerns the New Testament is a collection of 27 individual books or documents, which were written by 9 different authors over a span of 20 to 50 years. Furthermore we must realize that today we do not have the original books of the Bible (of the New Testament specifically), we only have the copies of those books (which are manuscripts). Now you may be asking, “What if those copies are wrong? What if the originals said things or didn’t say things that were or were not written down on the copies? If this is true, doesn’t that mean the inerrant and reliable Bible is not the Word of God?”

These are legitimate questions, however do not be disheartened, evidence shows that the copies we have are exactly what the original books said. How do we know this? We know this because of three things: (a) by the number of manuscripts, (b) by the times span between the manuscripts and the autographs, and (c) by the consistency of the manuscripts.

A little illustration to begin:

//Let’s imagine that, once upon a time a guy named John found a note that was lying on the ground. John reads the note and discovers it contains unique sayings about life – it is full of love and wisdom and truth. Now, the words of the note strike a cord with John thus rather than throw the note away, John decides to keep it and cherish it. Over time John continually reads the note, glens insight from it, even gets emotional about it. However as time goes on this note gets worn, its ink fades and the paper breaks down, so rather than lose the treasured note John decides to write down what the note says. In time, John even memorizes and quotes from the note; even giving copies of the note to his friends, who in turn cherish the note and memorize it and copy it down for themselves. This continual memorizing and copying goes on for hundreds of years even after John and his friends have died. //

//Now imagine that you, in the present day, get a hold of a copy of this cherished note. You want to know if this copy is actually what the original was. How do you find this out, is it possible to do this? It is possible. What you would need to do is get every copy of the note that is in existence; from England, to Africa, to China – all of them! You do this and collect around 1,000 copies of the note. You then would need to order the copies from oldest to youngest – the oldest would be John’s copy of the note. Then you would need to look at similarities among all the copies to see if any of them are different in what they say. You discover that all 1,000 copies of the note you have are similar in what they say, none of them contradicts (accept for a few capital and punctuation changes). Can you thus conclude that you know what the original said? Yes you can because you have every known copy of the note – over 1,000; you have John’s copy of the note, which is within 25 years of the original; and you have discovered that of the 1,000 copies, none of the copies contradict – they all say the same thing! //

The story of the Bible’s uniqueness is similar, but even more compelling than this little illustration.

__//a) Number of Manuscripts//__. Now the way historians verify if a document has been accurately copied down is to have multiple copies – the more copies you have of a document the more you can determine what the original said (remember the illustration). What is interesting is that the Bible is the only ancient book that has an overwhelming amount of manuscripts (copies) of the original text. There are not just 1,000 like the note illustration, there are over 5,686 manuscripts (copies) just of the New Testament! If we include the fragments, creeds, and other partial manuscripts we have of the New Testament that adds an additional 9,000 – bringing the total to roughly 15,000 manuscripts. The only other ancient book that even comes close to this number of manuscripts is Homer’s Iliad with 643 manuscripts.[1]

b) Time Span. Not only do we have overwhelming amounts of manuscripts (copies) but the earliest of the copies we have of the New Testament are within 15 to 25 years of the original text. (This does not mean there were no other manuscripts between the original and the first copy; there most certainly were. It simply means that those manuscripts have decayed, have been destroyed, or are still undiscovered (*read under External Evidences on Christian sources*).

The earliest undisputed manuscript of a New Testament book is the John Rylands Papyri which was written down around 95 A.D. (note the disciples who wrote the original writings lived from the 30s to 90s A.D.). Furthermore the earliest complete book of the New Testament (the Bodmer Papyri) is dated from 200 A.D., and most of the entire New Testament books (all the Gospels, most of the Epistles) are available in the Chester Beatty Papyri from 250 A.D. The manuscript of the entire New Testament (all 27 books), called the Codex Vaticanus is dated at about 325 A.D. – however we know the entire New Testament existed way before this (more in a minute under Christian sources).[2]

Manuscript evidence chart:[3]

930 years || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">1 <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">19 || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">19 || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">200 A.D <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">(books)  <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">350 A.D.  <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">(complete NT)  || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">50 years <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">100 years <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">250 years || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">5,686  || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">I digress to say that when we look at the New Testament section which says that the length of time between the original and the manuscripts is roughly 50 years – this is a very liberal portion of time that has been given. Most conservative scholars have been able to date the time frame to roughly 25 years between the original and the copies.
 * **<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Author ** || **<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Book ** || **<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Date Written (Approx) ** || **<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Earliest Manuscript Copy ** || **<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Time Between Original and Copy ** || **<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Total Number of Manuscript Copies ** ||
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Homer || //<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Iliad // || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">800 B.C. || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">400 B.C.  || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">400 years  || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">643  ||
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Herodotus || //<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">History // || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">450 B.C. || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">900 A.D.  || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">1,350 years  || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">8  ||
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Plato || //<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Tetralogies // || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">400 B.C. || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">900 A.D.  || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">1,300 years  || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">7  ||
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Aristotle || //<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Ode to Poetics // || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">350 B.C. || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">1100 A.D.  || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">1,450 years  || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">49  ||
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Demosthenes || //<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Works of Demosthenes // || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">300 B.C. || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">1100 A.D.  || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">1,400 years  || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">200  ||
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Caesar || //<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Gallic Wars // || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">50 B.C. || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">900 A.D.  || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">950 years  || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">10  ||
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Livy || //<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Roman History // || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">30 B.C. || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">300 A.D.  <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">(frag.)  <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">900 A.D.  || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">330 years
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Pliny the Elder || //<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Natural History // || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">80 A.D. || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">850 A.D.  || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">770 years  || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">7  ||
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Josephus || //<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The Jewish War // || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">90 A.D. || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">900 A.D.  || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">810 years  || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">9  ||
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Tacitus || //<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Annals // || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">100 A.D. || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">850 A.D.  <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">1000 A.D.  || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">750 years  <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">900 years  || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">1
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">NT Authors || //<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">New Testament // || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">50-100 A.D. || <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">125 A.D.  <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">(frag.)

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">__//c) Consistency of Manuscripts//__. Here is where it is mind blowing. As we can see, the Bible has more manuscripts and a shorter timeframe than any of the top 10 ancient pieces of literature. Now the interesting thing is that none of the 5,686 manuscripts conflict with each other – they all tell the same story (the only difference is minor grammatical and text structure differences!) In fact, secular and Bible scholars have stated that the Bible (as a whole, not just the New Testament but also the Old) is accurately copied down at 99.5% accuracy from the originals – the remaining .5% pertains to grammatical problems (capital letters, structure of paragraphs, punctuation…ect) which do not affect any specific segment of Christian doctrine. Such accuracy does not exist so highly in any other religious or otherwise ancient text. For example, the Mahabharata of Hinduism is copied down with 90% accuracy, Homer’s Iliad within 95% accuracy (but remember there are only 643 copies of this).[4]

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Now, remember back to our illustration, with all this evidence do you think we can accurately know beyond all reasonable doubt what the original books of the Bible said? Yes we can – the evidence is overwhelmingly against the contrary! However there is much more.

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**//2) Internal Evidence//** – The internal evidence has to do with the accuracy of the original autographs of the New Testament. Let us remember that the Gospel accounts are, in a historical sense[5], eyewitness accounts of what Jesus did, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul and all the rest wrote down their experiences as eyewitnesses (2 Peter 1:16). So, the question is, “Can we trust these eyewitness accounts? Answer: We can! We can show that the disciples were credible eyewitnesses to the events they discuss in the New Testament.

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Peter stated:

//<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">“For we were not following cleverly devised stories when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty (grandeur, authority of sovereign power).” 2 Peter 1:16 (AMPL) //

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">John said:

//<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">“[WE ARE writing] about the Word of Life [in] Him Who existed from the beginning, Whom we have heard, Whom we have seen with our [own] eyes, Whom we have gazed upon [for ourselves] and have touched with our [own] hands. And the Life [an aspect of His being] was revealed (made manifest, demonstrated), and we saw [as eyewitnesses] and are testifying to and declare to you the Life, the eternal Life [in Him] Who already existed with the Father and Who [actually] was made visible (was revealed) to us [His followers].” 1 John 1:1-2 (AMPL) //

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Luke said that his account of Jesus was handed down by personal eyewitnesses of Jesus’ resurrection:

//<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">“SINCE [as is well known] many have undertaken to put in order and draw up a [thorough] narrative of the surely established deeds which have been accomplished and fulfilled in and among us, exactly as they were handed down to us by those who from the [official] beginning [of Jesus' ministry] were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word [that is, of the doctrine concerning the attainment through Christ of salvation in the kingdom of God],” Luke 1:1-2 (AMPL) //

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul gives a list of those who witnessed the miraculous event of Jesus’ Resurrection – from Peter, to the 12 disciples, to Paul himself, to over 500 at one time:

//<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">“For I passed on to you first of all what I also had received, that Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for our sins in accordance with [what] the Scriptures [foretold], that He was buried, that He arose on the third day as the Scriptures foretold, and [also] that He appeared to Cephas (Peter), then to the Twelve. Then later He showed Himself to more than five hundred brethren at one time, the majority of whom are still alive, but some have fallen asleep [in death]. Afterward He was seen by James, then by all the apostles (the special messengers), and last of all He appeared to me also, as to one prematurely and born dead [no better than an unperfected fetus among living men].” 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 (AMPL) //

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Jesus’ resurrected body was also seeing by many others throughout Judea<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">. What is remarkable is that not a single person ever refuted Paul’s, Peters or James’ eyewitness accounts – that we know of; not even the enemies of Jesus (Roman or Jewish)! Paul even says “Then later He showed Himself to more than five hundred brethren at one time, the majority of whom are still alive, but some have fallen asleep [in death].” In effect Paul is saying “If you don’t believe me, go ask the other hundreds of people who saw Him!” However, Paul is not alone, even Peter said:[6]

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Now we can clearly see that Peter, John, and Paul say they were personal eyewitnesses to miraculous events such as the Resurrection of Jesus; Luke says he personally interviewed eyewitnesses. Therefore, if someone is going to dispute these eyewitness accounts of all these men, they must prove one of the following: (a) the eyewitnesses were liars, (b) the eyewitnesses were sincerely wrong, or (c) the New Testament is just a collection of myths, not eyewitness accounts. Let’s look at each of these.

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">//a) The eyewitnesses were liars//. Someone may say, “Well then the apostles lied about their eyewitness accounts!” The question you can then ask is, “Why would the disciples lie, what motive would they have?” Liars lie for one or two reasons, to get themselves out of a sticky situation or for selfish purposes. Lying and saying that Jesus was the Messiah and God incarnate was not conducive to the disciples getting our of a sticky situation – on the contrary they put themselves into a sticky situation with the Jewish religious leadership by saying such “blasphemous” things – being put on trial, thrown into jail, being scourged, and even martyred (Acts 5 and 6). Likewise they came into conflict with Roman authority, refusing to take part in Rome’s materially indulgent, religiously pluralistic, morally depraved culture (sounds like America today for the most part).

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">As for lying for selfish reasons – what did it profit the disciples to declare Jesus had risen from the dead? Did they receive grandiose positions of political and religious power as a result? No. Did they receive a bounty of money and economic prowess? No. What did they receive? They received rejection, persecution, brutal torture, and eventually death! That is a great list of reasons to lie for! (sarcasm) Furthermore, if they were liars, I am sure that as they were about to get their heads chopped off, their bodies run through with spears, or dipped into vats of oil, that one of them, just one, would have cracked under the strain. Don’t you think? However, none did, nor did any of the other thousands who verifiably saw Jesus’ resurrected body! Now, we can say that martyrdom doesn’t prove truth, which is true (as Al-Qaida showed on 9/11) but it does show sincerity of heart and consciousness.[7]

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">//b) The eyewitnesses were sincerely wrong//. I sincerely do not buy this argument. Some may say that the disciples may have been sincerely wrong rather than being malicious liars. Somehow they were all sincerely hallucinating or sincerely delusional about a human/divine Jesus. However this argument holds not an ounce of water either. Yes it is true that individual people can have hallucinations but whole groups of people? Remember, it was not just twelve but hundreds that saw Jesus throughout His ministry and during His resurrection. Furthermore hallucinations are just temporary mental situations that do not have long lasting moral or religious transformations within people, let alone thousands of people.[8]

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">//c) The eyewitnesses were simply mythmakers//. There is one last haven the skeptic can run to, and that is to say that the Gospel accounts are just myths or symbolic in meaning. The New Testament documents are like a fairytale that simply teaches a moral lesson but with not solid factual basis. Jesus is simply a symbol of goodness rather than an actual God man who existed as a verifiable historical person. This belief however is also false for several reasons:[9]
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The New Testament texts do not have the literary quality of myths.
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The texts themselves are written like eyewitness accounts, not myths. (John 19:35) (2 Peter 1:16; 1 John 1:1)
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Myths do not usually include detailed descriptions of historical locations or important political or religious people or events from history.
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">“It is incredibly arrogant to claim that Christians and non-Christians, Jews and Gentiles alike fundamentally misunderstood the most read, studied and published book in the history of the world, mistaking myth for history, until a few clever scholars centuries later finally understood it for the first time.” Tell me, who is arrogant, the Christian or the “well educated” non-Christian scholar?

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**//3) External Evidence//** – external evidence has to do with the fact that extra-biblical sources confirm the accuracy, early nature, and reliability of the eyewitness accounts stated in the New Testament. We will look at (a) non-Christian sources, (b) Christian sources and (c) Archeology to confirm the Biblical eyewitness accounts.

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">__//a) Non-Christian Sources//__. Ancient non-Christian historians such as Tacitus (lived from 55 A.D. to 120 A.D.), Suetonius (lived from 69 A.D. to 140 A.D.), and Thallus wrote of Jesus (whom they called Christus, Chrestus, or some similar variation). Orthodox Jewish sources from Josephus (lived from 37 A.D. to 97 A.D.) and the Jewish Talmud also confirm Jesus. Governmental officials such as Pliny the Younger and Roman Emperor’s Trajan and Hadrian describe the early Christian Church and its customs and beliefs about Jesus. Greek historian Lucian and Syrian Mara Bar-Serapion provide more details about Jesus. Also several non-orthodox, Gnostic writings speak about Jesus in a more theological manner. In all there at least seventeen (17) non-Christian writings that record more than fifty (50) details concerning the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth who was the Christ. Even more compelling is the fact that these sources are dated between 20 to 150 years after Jesus’ death in 30 to 33 A.D. Note that many of the disciples lived between 30 and 90 A.D.![10]

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">__//b) Christian Sources//__. Now, what is even more compelling is the fact that if we take the extra-biblical Christian sources (those sources from the early church) there are nearly an additional 26 extra-biblical sources confirming the New Testament accounts.[11]

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The Early Church fathers quoted the New Testament over 19,368 times, from the late first century onward. Justin Martyr quotes it 268, Irenaeus 1,038; Clement of Alexandria, 1,017; Origen 9,231; Tertullian 3,822; Hippolytus 734; Eusebius 3,258. However, even before these men there were citations: Psuedo-Barnabas (70-130 A.D.) cited Matthew, Mark, and Luke; Clement of Rome (95-97 A.D.) cited Matthew, John and 1 Corinthians; Ignatius (A.D. 110) referred to six of Pauls’ epistles; Polycarp (110-150 A.D.) quoted all four Gospels, the Acts, and most of Paul’s epistles; the Shepherd of Hermas (A.D. 115-140) cited Matthew, Mark, Acts, 1 Corinthians and several other books; the Didache (120-150 A.D.) referred to Matthew, Luke, 1 Corinthians, and other books; and Papias, companion to Polycarp, quoted John.[12]

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The fact is that if every manuscript of the Bible was destroyed today, and every Bible burned, we would still be able to fully reconstruct the Bible using the quotations of the Early Church Fathers save for 11 verses, which most of those come from 3 John. Now here is the catch, if these men quoted from the entire New Testament, then the New Testament had to have been around before them, and further more it would have had to have been circulating for quite some time to spread across the entire ancient world, and even still it would have had to have circulated long enough to be considered Gospel by the entire early church spread across the ancient world! This means that the entire New Testament was already collected and considered the Word of God, within 50 years from the disciples – far too early for the supposed “corruption” and myths of the Bible to become ingrained![13]

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The point is that you will have people say that the Bible was written hundreds of years later by men after Jesus and the disciples – the fact is that this is not the case, evidence proves this!

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">__//c) Archeology//__. Not only do we have accurate, early documents of the New Testament that are confirmed by non-Christian and Christian sources, but we also have the weight of archeology that confirms the reliability of the Bible. In all, over 25,000 sites mentioned in the Bible (both Old and New) have been confirmed as real historical locations. More specific examples are the uncovering of the pool of Bethesda which was uncovered, the synagogue of Capernuam, Herod’s temple, Pontius Pilates pratorium, Golgotha, Roman and Jewish decrees (Nazareth Decree) denouncing burial stealing – right after Jesus’ miraculous disappearance from His burial tomb. On top of this, over 31 people mentioned in the have been confirmed through archeology as actual historical people.[14]

**__<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">(B) The Bible is Scientifically Accurate __**
<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Without going into extreme detail it is important to note that not only is the Bible beyond all reasonable doubt inerrant and reliable historically speaking, the Bible is also inerrant and reliable scientifically. It is important to note that the Bible does not contain scientific absurdities like other “religious” texts. For example, the in the Hindu Scriptures it is taught that the earth is set atop the backs of four elephants, who in turn stood on a giant sea-turtle that were swimming through a milky sea. Furthermore, it must be noted that when the Book of Genesis was written, other ancient civilizations outside of Israel<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> were deifying the sun, mountains and weather events, rather than looking at the scientific reasoning for such developments. For example, the Greeks believed at that time that Apollos' flight across the sky in a flaming chariot is the cause of night and day. Elsewhere the Egyptians were worshipping the sun as Ra, deifying it. And the Mesopotamians referred to the sun as "Shamosh" and called it the god of justice. The Book of Genesis, and the other Old Testament books, in contrast, gives specific scientific understandings unlike any other. Here are some examples:[15]


 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Roundness of the earth (Isaiah 40:22)
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Almost infinite extent of the sidereal universe (Isaiah 55:9)
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Law of conservation of mass and energy (II Peter 3:7)
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Hydrologic cycle exists on earth (Ecclesiastes 1:7, Job 26:8, 36:27, 28, 37:16, 38:25-27; Psalms 135:7)
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Vast number of stars (Jeremiah 33:22)
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Law of increasing entropy (the universe is breaking down) (Psalm 102:25-27)
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Paramount importance of blood in life processes (Leviticus 17:11)
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Atmospheric circulation (Ecclesiastes 1:6)
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Gravitational field of the Earth (Job 26:7)
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Trenches and mountains exist in the sea (2 Samuel 22:16; Jonah 2:6)
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Springs and fountains exist in the sea (Genesis 7:11, 8:2; Proverbs 8:28)
 * <span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Health and sanitation (Book of Leviticus; Deuteronomy 23:12)

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">And many, many others – but I believe the point has been made! The fact is, the Bible does not follow the naiveté of other ancient religions, or explain everything away by saying “the gods did it!” We take for granted that someone touching an infectious person or a corpse should practice good hygiene and wash thoroughly in running water before proceeding to anything else, but this "discovery" has only been a medical reality for 150 years. The book of Leviticus, though, requires this same procedure. One cannot find ideas as arcane as blood-letting or consuming ram's horn for fertility, or all the other mythical cures for ills that were thought to be science in those days. The Bible is not a science book. It does not focus on scientific facts about the creation, but where it mentions those things, it is accurate in its representation. This is exactly what we'd expect if the Bible had its origin in the One who created the universe and its scientific laws.[16]

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">(Note: If you wish to dispute the scientific reliability of the Bible, we need to discuss the Existence of God as confirmed by science – this is a huge issue and will be dealt with at a later time)

<span style="color: #454978; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Closing up Inerrancy and Reliability. Now, we have looked at the historical accuracy and reliability of the Bible, down to the scientific accuracy and reliability of the Bible, we now are faced with how we can know that the Bible is in fact not just a historically and scientifically reliable and accurate book but that it is in fact the Word of God. To the point, once you accept the data above, that the Bible is historically accurate and scientifically reliable, you must now look at the text of the Bible – what does the Bible say? The Bible says that it is the Word of God. So now we must ask, “How do we know that the Bible is telling the truth that it is the Word of God?” We know this by its authenticity.

[1] Information and reconstructed graph comes from: Geisler, Norman and Frank Turek. __I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist__. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2004) pgs 224-228 [2] Geisler, Norman. //__Systematic Theology__//, vol. 1, pg 462 [3] This chart comes from: Hardy, Dean. //__Stand Your Ground: And Introductory Text for Apologetics Students__//. (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2007) pg 127 [4] Geisler and Turek. //__I Don’t Have Enough Faith__//. pg 229 [5] (I am not even asserting that the New Testament documents are divinely inspired at this point, I am just showing that, historically, their eyewitness accounts are reliable and accurate against all reasonable doubt) [6] Information in this paragraph comes from: Kreeft, Peter. //“Why I Believe Jesus Is the Son of God,”// __Why I am a Christian__, ed. Norman Geisler and Paul Hoffman. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2006) pgs 249-250 and Craig, William Lane. //__On Guard__//. Pgs 231-236 [7] Information in this paragraph comes from: Kreeft, Peter. //__Why I am A Christian__//. pg 250 [8] Information in this paragraph comes from: Kreeft, Peter. ibid pg 250 [9] The following reasons come from: Kreeft, Peter. ibid pg 250 [10] Habermas, Gary. //“Why I Believe the New Testament Is Historically Reliable,”// __Why I am a Christian__, ed. Norman Geisler and Paul Hoffman. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2006) pgs 164-165 [11] Geisler and Turek. __I Don Have Enough Faith__. pg 222 [12] Geisler. //__Systematic Theology__//, vol. 1. pgs 463-464 [13] Geisler. //__Systematic Theology__//, vol. 1, pgs 463-464 [14] Information in this paragraph comes from: Geisler and Turek. //__I Don’t Have Enough Faith__//, pgs 271-273 and Geisler. //__Systematic Theology__//, vol. 1, pgs 476-477 [15] Information in this paragraph and the list of examples comes from: Willmington, H.L., //__Willmingtons Guide to the Bible__//. (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1981) pgs 815-819 and ( [] ) [16] Information comes from: ( [] )