The Authentic Bible: Truth

1+1= 12.863(BUT ONLY ON A SUNNY DAY)

Friedrich Schleiermacher

Father of LiberalismPantheistHe loathed orthodox, historic

Christianity.1799 wrote On Religion : denied that

the Bible was God’s Word.

Charles Darwin

The Origin of the Species

God is not the Creator.

There is No Need for God.

Joseph Fletcher

Situation Ethics: The New MoralityHumans are more important than rules.Agape love motivates every decision.

3 Types of Old Testament Law

Ceremonial: Linked to Jewish Temple

Hygienic: protection from disease(pork)

Moral: God’s standards for behavior

Moral Inconsistency

If some laws are not valid, then No law is valid &

therefore All God’s laws are invalid.

Absolute laws exist while time, manner, & place exceptions exist.

Bible outnumbers ancient manuscripts

Plato: only 7 known manuscripts!Historians Thucydides/Herodotus: only 8!Roman Historian Livey : just 10 Copies

(same number as Caesar's Gallic Wars)Homer’s Iliad preserved in 643 pieces.

Masoretic Texts & Dead Sea Scrolls

Masoretic Text preserved by Jewish Scribes 1,300 year gap Dead Sea Scrolls (1947 discovery) dated 150 B.C. to A.D. 70

Not a single word/punctuation mark changed.

NT preserved/corroborated by 24,000 discovered manuscripts.

Josh McDowell

The mere fact the Bible claims to be the Word of God does not prove that…. other books make similar claims. The difference is- the Scrip-tures contain INDISPUTABLE EVIDENCE as being the Word of God.

Winfried Corduan: Philosophy & Religion Professor

“ No other ancient documentation equals the NT when it comes to the preservation of manuscripts, both in terms of numbers & closeness in time to the original autographs.”

Alex McFarland

OT strength is its QUALITY.NT strength is unmatched by sheer

QUANTITY.

Questioning the Bible’s credibility as an ancient manuscript would require tossing out the validity of every other manuscript found. P. 84

Criticisms

Scientology & Islam facts about Jesus have been distorted. The Da Vinci Code: NT written centuries after Christ w/

revisions. Myth was perpetuated that power hungry men fought over

content with ”winners” earning the right to do final edits.

More than 24,000 copies of NT manuscripts have been found…..and ALL of these have matched one another word for word, as was the case with the OT.

Louis Cassels UPI Religion Writer

“The amazing thing about these ‘debunk Jesus’ books is that they accept as much of the recorded Gospels as they find con-venient—words like ‘God is love’—then ignore/repudiate parts of the same doc-ument which contradicts their notions.”

Archaeological Findings

Simeon’s Epitaph Absalom’s Tomb Emmaus

Jericho NinevehGennesaret

Ur with Ziggurats Babylon Jericho

Meggido Tomb of joseph Jerusalem

King Jehoiachin Bethany Nain

Sanballat & Tobiah Capernaum Nazareth

Bethlehem Bethesda Sychar

Caesarea Cana

7 Indisputable Facts about the Bible

Fulfilled PropheciesHistorical AccuracyScientific AccuracyIndestructabilityUnique structure

Universal influenceLife-changing Effect

Prophecy: Peter Stoner- Professor of Math & Astronomy

More than 300 prophecies were fulfilled by Christ’s Coming

8 of 48 examined (Messiah’s birth in Bethlehem, his persecution, the attempts on his life, etc.)

Chance that any one man could fulfill all 8 prophecies is 1 in 10 (to the 17th). Probability that any one man could fulfill all 48 is an astounding 1 in 10 (to the 157th).

Dr. Nelson Glueck: Isaeli archeologicalist

“ No archeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference. Scores of archeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible.”

Scientific Accuracy Roundness of the Earth Isaiah 40:22 Almost infinite extent of the sidereal Universe Isaiah 55:9 Law of conservation of mass & energy II Peter 3:7 Hydrologic Cycle Ecclesiastes 1:7 Vast number of Stars Jeremiah 33:22 Law of increasing entropy Psalm 102:25-27 Paramount importance of blood in life processes Leviticus

17:11 Atmospheric Circulation Ecclesiastes 1:6 Gravitational Field Job 26:7

Indestructability

303 A.D. Emperor Diocletian ordered Bible DESTROYED.

323 A.D. Constantine offered a REWARD for the Bible.

More than 50 Bibles were found.

1199 Pope Innocent III ordered Bibles burned.

1920’s Stalin ordered the destruction of all the Bibles in the USSR despite one of the most valuable OT manuscripts being in the Leningrad Library. (It was not destroyed)

New Yorker Magazine December 18, 2006

The Bible best selling book of all time. It is also the best selling book every year. 91 percent of American homes have at least one Bible. Average American home has 4 Bibles. Publishers sell 25 million to people that already have the

book. That is twice as many as the most recent Harry Potter Book. Every year Americans spend half a billion dollars on Bibles.

Unique Structure

66 books40+ Authors2,000 years

Perfect Unity & Consistency

Universal Influence

The foundational document of Western Civilization.

World’s greatest legal documents are inspired by & quote it. Declaration of Independence

117 world’s most famous paintings depict Bible figures.

Bach, Brahms, Mozart, Haydn, Mendelssohn, & Handel reflect musical creativity stirred by Biblical truth.

Life-Changing Effect

The Mirror

Summary

Internally ConsistentExternally ValidatedMiraculously PreservedComprehensively AccurateChristologically Confirmed