How Do We Know the Bible is True?

[cmnahrwold]

It is often easy to answer fellow Christians by quoting the Bible, but it becomes a challenge to speak to non-Christians, when they do not believe the Bible to be true. Have you ever wondered why Christians believe the Bible to be true in the first place? What makes Christians believe in such peculiar concepts involving a man dying on a cross? Have over 2 billion Christians been brainwashed into believing such things? I have wrestled with such questions during my time as a Christian, so it is my hope that I can help others to understand as to why I think the Bible is 100% truth.


I would like to start by explaining that I did not become a Christian by asking such questions and then deciding therefore to become a Christian. The questions came later on in my short journey. I became a Christian when God led me to become a follower of Christ. He placed many different people in my life to help to open my eyes to the truth that I should have known all of my life, since I grew up in the Church, but did not allow to transform my life. So the point of me writing this paragraph is because I doubt if anyone will come to know the truth of Jesus Christ from reading about why I “believe the Bible to be true”, but perhaps the reason why you were drawn to read such a blog was because God desires to have a real relationship with you.


The first reason why I believe the Bible is true is because of the unbelievable historical accuracy that it contains. There are thousands of historical details in the Bible, that have been researched to determine if these details are accurate. For example in the Gospel of John, it is recorded that Jesus healed a disabled man at the Pool of Bethesda. An interesting detail that John also records was that the Pool of Bethesda had five porticoes or walkways leading up to the pool. Historical scholars did not believe that the Pool of Bethesda existed until it was found by archeologists complete with five porticoes. Why would a group of liars go to such painstaking trouble to be brilliantly accurate, but then tell the largest lie ever told in human history?


The historical details found in the Bible are supported by pieces of evidence found outside of the Bible. The Jewish Talmud contains the opinions of thousands of rabbis on a variety of subjects, includinglaw ,ethics, philosophy, customs,history,theology, lore and many other topics. From this Jewish Talmud, “we learn that Jesus was conceived out of wedlock, gathered disciples, made blasphemous claims about himself, and worked miracles, but these miracles are attributed to sorcery and not to God.” It is also interesting to note that in the same Talmud found in the Tractate Sanhedrin , it describes that Jesus was hanged on Passover Eve. The same people who ensured that Jesus was crucified documented the event in their own historical book.


The second reason as to why I believe the Bible to be true is because of the prophetic accuracy. Unique among all books ever written, the Bible accurately foretells specific events before they occur. This prophecy often occurs years and sometimes hundreds of years before the actual event. Approximately 2500 prophecies appear in the Bible, about 2000 of which already have been fulfilled. For example, who can deny the conflict of the Middle East with nations devoted to destroying the nation of Israel? Why is Israel often the center of attention on the news as a boiling point causing Muslim nations to erupt with hate? Over 2500 years ago these verses were in reference to the ancient nation of Israel that was destroyed and the words continue to be accurate to this day.


"Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it… For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle (Zech 12:2-3, Zech 14:2-3).”

[SERay]

Amen... great outline with specifics, Chris!

Archaeological finds constantly prove the Scripture when previously segments have been scoffed by liberal nay sayers. For example, Luke's detailed descriptions of historical events, some of his writings and thus the credibility of the entire New Testament had been disputed by scholars who didn't believe the details supplied by Luke were accurate. For example, in Acts 14:6, Luke relates that Paul and Barnabas fled from Iconium to the cities of Lyconium. scripture scholars had believed that Iconium was located in the province of Lyconium thus the statement made no sense. It would be like saying someone fled from Indianapolis to Indiana. An inscription was later found that proved that when Paul and Barnabas fled from Iconium, the city was part of the province of Phrygia, proving Luke's writing was correct.

Scripture critics also believed that the circumstances of Jesus' birth were concocted to fulfill the prophecy in Micah that states the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. They doubted that there had been a census (Luke 2:1-3) which caused Joseph and Mary to travel to Bethlehem. A Roman edict was later discovered in Egypt the proved Luke. Luke had stated that Quirinius was the Governor of Syria at the time of Jesus' birth, however secular records showed that Saturninus was the governor at that time. An inscription was later found in Antioch which showed that Quirinius indeed was governor of Syria at the time, again justifying Scripture.

The most recent one I enjoyed was the account in the Synoptic gospels of the demoniacs of Gadara is a pivotal event in the Galilean ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Does the text read the region of the Gadarenes Luke 8:26 or Gerasenes Mark 5:1? Jesus crossed the lake by boat to rest over on the eastern side when He encountered this man after a wild storm at sea the night before. The man lived in caves and tombs, probably in the cliffs that front the lake, and originally came from one of the nearby towns. The herd of pigs stampeded over the edge of the cliffs nearby. The healed man, who said his name was “Legion”, went and “proclaimed in the Decapolis". While for centuries it was blindly held that the location was surely in the Sea of Galilee because of Mark, where no pig farmers existed nor any Decapolis. But the wild storm current when traced would have actually landed them in Gadara, six miles from the Sea of Galilee, where pig farmers were common and a Decapolis faces the sea.

Archaeological evidence for Scripture is profound and lengthy, supporting its authority and accuracy.