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Some people believe in things because they were taught. Perhaps they were told at a very young age, and because of this their minds are strongly set on what they perceive as being true and what is false. At a very early age I was taught that Christopher Columbus was the first person to discover America in 1492. However, when I became older I decided to study the subject and found that in reality the Viking, Leif Eriksson, arrived in Canada around 1000 AD. The same things can be taught in Christianity, later to be found false when one seeks answers on their own accord. This can have huge ramifications in that they might throw Christianity out the window because of a few misplaced facts. Instead of taking a presumed teacher’s word, it is highly recommended to study such things on your own. I do not think we were ever meant to have such a blind faith.
I believe the Bible to be true for several reasons, and a few of which I will share in this post. The first reason being that the Bible is a reliable piece of historical evidence written down by eye witnesses of the life and death of Jesus Christ. The second reason is because that in the Old Testament there are passages that describe the life and death of Jesus in great detail. These passages were written hundreds to thousands of years prior to His life.
"We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty." (2 Peter 1:16)
Like in history class, how do we know that the Bible is true? I believe there are three areas that require attention when studying this question. This includes the sources of the primary evidence, the internal consistency, and the corroborating evidence.
The Bible is a reliable historical piece of evidence written down by eye witnesses during the lifetime of these eye witnesses. There are close to 6,000 ancient manuscripts remaining to this day, which were copied as early as AD 100-150. This means that the original accounts were written well within the lives of the eye witnesses of Jesus‘ ministry. A manuscript is a hand-written copy of an ancient document that predates the invention of the printing press. So if someone changed the story they would have had to change over 6,000 of the copies found in distant lands in a time in which travel was difficult. In reality, 99% of what we read in the modern Bible is free from textual discrepancies, with no major church doctrine in question. Other sources of antiquity that we believe to be truth do not nearly have the amount of manuscripts and they were not copied as close to the actual dates like the New Testament of the Bible. Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars only has 10 remaining manuscripts copied 900 years after the event. Aristotle’s Poetics only has 5 remaining ancient manuscripts, copied nearly 1400 years after the event.
The Bible demonstrates internal consistency. Internal consistency refers to how the themes and facts of the bible remain consistent from one book of the Bible to the next. For a book with one author, demonstrating internal consistency should be fairly easy to maintain. The Bible, however, was written by approximately 40 different authors, over a period of 1500 years, and separated by hundreds of miles. With all of these different factors we find the Bible to be a consistent and unified account of how God is seeking to reconcile sinners back to Himself through the person of His Son, Jesus Christ
There are many references to the life of Jesus found outside the Bible, also called corroborating evidence. It has been reported that there are thirty-nine sources that corroborate more than one hundred facts concerning Jesus’ life including his teaching, crucifixion, and resurrection. Edwin Yamauchi of Miami University, a leading expert in the field of ancient history has reported that there is more historical documentation about Jesus than any other founder of an ancient religion.
Hundreds to thousands of years before the death of Jesus Christ, He was written about in the Old Testament. There are specific details about: the Messiah’s ancestry, that He’d be born of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, of the house of David. The city in which He would be born, that He’d come while the temple was still standing, that He would be born of a virgin, that He would perform miracles, that He’d be rejected by His own people, the precise time in history when He would die; 483 years after the declaration to reconstruct the city of Jerusalem in 444 B.C., how He would die, that He would rise from the dead. An example is from Psalm 22 in which the writer gives an account identical to the death of Jesus on the cross. Crucifixion had not yet been invented.
"1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?…16 Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. 18 They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. 19 But you, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me. 20 Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs." (Psalm 22)
Heaven is a free gift. It is not earned or deserved.
All men are sinnners. They cannot save themselves.
God is merciful and does not want to punish us. However God is just and must punish us for our sins,
Jesus is both man and God. He died on the cross and came back from the grave to pay the penatly for our sins and to purchase a place for us in Heaven.
Faith is not just head knowledge, nor is it a temporary faith. True saving faith is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for our eternal life.
Original Post: http://cmnahrwold.wordpress.com/2012...hat-i-believe/
I believe the Bible to be true for several reasons, and a few of which I will share in this post. The first reason being that the Bible is a reliable piece of historical evidence written down by eye witnesses of the life and death of Jesus Christ. The second reason is because that in the Old Testament there are passages that describe the life and death of Jesus in great detail. These passages were written hundreds to thousands of years prior to His life.
"We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty." (2 Peter 1:16)
Like in history class, how do we know that the Bible is true? I believe there are three areas that require attention when studying this question. This includes the sources of the primary evidence, the internal consistency, and the corroborating evidence.
The Bible is a reliable historical piece of evidence written down by eye witnesses during the lifetime of these eye witnesses. There are close to 6,000 ancient manuscripts remaining to this day, which were copied as early as AD 100-150. This means that the original accounts were written well within the lives of the eye witnesses of Jesus‘ ministry. A manuscript is a hand-written copy of an ancient document that predates the invention of the printing press. So if someone changed the story they would have had to change over 6,000 of the copies found in distant lands in a time in which travel was difficult. In reality, 99% of what we read in the modern Bible is free from textual discrepancies, with no major church doctrine in question. Other sources of antiquity that we believe to be truth do not nearly have the amount of manuscripts and they were not copied as close to the actual dates like the New Testament of the Bible. Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars only has 10 remaining manuscripts copied 900 years after the event. Aristotle’s Poetics only has 5 remaining ancient manuscripts, copied nearly 1400 years after the event.
The Bible demonstrates internal consistency. Internal consistency refers to how the themes and facts of the bible remain consistent from one book of the Bible to the next. For a book with one author, demonstrating internal consistency should be fairly easy to maintain. The Bible, however, was written by approximately 40 different authors, over a period of 1500 years, and separated by hundreds of miles. With all of these different factors we find the Bible to be a consistent and unified account of how God is seeking to reconcile sinners back to Himself through the person of His Son, Jesus Christ
There are many references to the life of Jesus found outside the Bible, also called corroborating evidence. It has been reported that there are thirty-nine sources that corroborate more than one hundred facts concerning Jesus’ life including his teaching, crucifixion, and resurrection. Edwin Yamauchi of Miami University, a leading expert in the field of ancient history has reported that there is more historical documentation about Jesus than any other founder of an ancient religion.
Hundreds to thousands of years before the death of Jesus Christ, He was written about in the Old Testament. There are specific details about: the Messiah’s ancestry, that He’d be born of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, of the house of David. The city in which He would be born, that He’d come while the temple was still standing, that He would be born of a virgin, that He would perform miracles, that He’d be rejected by His own people, the precise time in history when He would die; 483 years after the declaration to reconstruct the city of Jerusalem in 444 B.C., how He would die, that He would rise from the dead. An example is from Psalm 22 in which the writer gives an account identical to the death of Jesus on the cross. Crucifixion had not yet been invented.
"1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?…16 Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. 18 They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. 19 But you, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me. 20 Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs." (Psalm 22)
Heaven is a free gift. It is not earned or deserved.
All men are sinnners. They cannot save themselves.
God is merciful and does not want to punish us. However God is just and must punish us for our sins,
Jesus is both man and God. He died on the cross and came back from the grave to pay the penatly for our sins and to purchase a place for us in Heaven.
Faith is not just head knowledge, nor is it a temporary faith. True saving faith is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for our eternal life.
Original Post: http://cmnahrwold.wordpress.com/2012...hat-i-believe/
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