Is the Bible Reliable and accurate – By Josh McDowell
So you call
yourself a Christian!? Do you believe what the Bible says? Do you believe the
Bible is historically accurate? And if yes WHYYYYY?? Can you answer this simple
question?
I.
The
Bible we have now, is what was written in the original Manuscripts.
If you want
to know how accurate a manuscript (hand written copy) is to its original there
are two questions you ask:
1st
question – What is the time between your manuscript and the original?
2nd
question – how many copies do you have?
A.
The
time gap
1.
Manuscripts
They were
written on papyrus (reeds grown in the Nile) with charcoal. Both the papyrus
and the charcoal perishes after a period of time! So when people say that we
cannot trust copies of the Bible because we do not have the original
manuscripts, of course we cannot have the originals! This also explains why the
dead sea scrolls are so well protected today.
2.
Manuscripts
needed to be copied
Because of
the deterioration of manuscripts, they had to be copied regularly. We made
copies, and the copies of the copies.
3.
Most
valuable manuscripts the oldest?
Generally
speaking the one which is earlier is the better copy. So when we have
manuscripts today, we value, the older copies.
4.
How
does the Bible hold up faced with other literature?
This test
is applied to ancient literature:
|
Author
|
Date
Written |
Earliest Copy
|
Approximate Time Span between original & copy
|
Number of Copies
|
Accuracy of Copies
|
|
Lucretius
|
died 55 or 53 B.C.
|
|
1100 yrs
|
2
|
----
|
|
Pliny
|
A.D. 61-113
|
A.D. 850
|
750 yrs
|
7
|
----
|
|
Plato
|
427-347 B.C.
|
A.D. 900
|
1200 yrs
|
7
|
----
|
|
Demosthenes
|
4th Cent. B.C.
|
A.D. 1100
|
800 yrs
|
8
|
----
|
|
Herodotus
|
480-425 B.C.
|
A.D. 900
|
1300 yrs
|
8
|
----
|
|
Suetonius
|
A.D. 75-160
|
A.D. 950
|
800 yrs
|
8
|
----
|
|
Thucydides
|
460-400 B.C.
|
A.D. 900
|
1300 yrs
|
8
|
----
|
|
Euripides
|
480-406 B.C.
|
A.D. 1100
|
1300 yrs
|
9
|
----
|
|
Aristophanes
|
450-385 B.C.
|
A.D. 900
|
1200
|
10
|
----
|
|
Caesar
|
100-44 B.C.
|
A.D. 900
|
1000
|
10
|
----
|
|
Livy
|
59 BC-AD 17
|
----
|
???
|
20
|
----
|
|
Tacitus
|
circa A.D. 100
|
A.D. 1100
|
1000 yrs
|
20
|
----
|
|
Aristotle
|
384-322 B.C.
|
A.D. 1100
|
1400
|
49
|
----
|
|
Sophocles
|
496-406 B.C.
|
A.D. 1000
|
1400 yrs
|
193
|
----
|
|
Homer (Iliad)
|
900 B.C.
|
400 B.C.
|
500 yrs
|
643
|
95%
|
|
New
Testament |
1st Cent. A.D. (A.D. 50-100)
|
2nd Cent. A.D.
(c. A.D. 130 f.) |
less than 100 years
|
5600
|
99.5%
|
5.
How
do you date a manuscript?
1. The way the papyrus is made
2. the forms of the letters
3. Punctuation or not?
4. First letter of chapter, the art
style could help.
6.
Conclusion
With such a
small time period between the original and the earliest found copies, we can be
very confident that they were accurate.
B.
How
many copies do you have?
The more
copies you have, the easier you can reconstitute the original. Again in our
table above we can see how the Bible does compared to other ancient texts. In
second place Homer with 643, the NT has 6400, again to show us how confident we
can be that the Bible that we have today is the same as the original (or
ALMOST!).
C.
Fun
Facts!
1.
What
if we burned all the bibles and manuscripts in the world?
You can
burn all every single bible, and all the manuscript, and you can put the Bible
back together except for 11 verses! The church fathers quoted all of them
except 11 verses, sometimes, they would quote chapters at a time in Sermons and
letter correspondence.
2.
What about uncertainties found in the
manuscripts?
None of
the uncertainties are found on words that would affect any important doctrine.
II.
Is
the content of the bible true?
A.
Eye
Witnesses
The writers
wrote as eye witnesses, or they recorded eyewitness accounts like Mark and
Luke.
(1:1) That which was from the beginning, which we have
heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched
with our hands, concerning the word of life-
2 Peter 1:16 (2 Pet 1:16) - [Copy][Go][to
List]
(1:16) For
we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power
and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
(20:31) but these are written so that you may believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in
his name.
John 20:31 many
things Jesus did, in the presence of the disciples. Evidence for Christianity
is sufficient not exhaustive, but sufficient.
1 Corinthians 15:6-8 (1 Cor 15:6-8) - [Copy][Go][to
List]
(15:6-8) 6Then he appeared to more than five
hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have
fallen asleep. 7Then
he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8Last of all, as to one untimely born,
he appeared also to me.
1 Cor
15:6-8 appeared to more than 500, who are still alive.
Acts 10:39-42 (Acts
10:39-42) - [Copy][Go][to
List]
(10:39-42) 39And we are witnesses of all that he did
both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by
hanging him on a tree, 40but
God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 41not to all the people but to us who had
been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from
the dead. 42And
he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one
appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.
Acts
10:39-42 witnesses of all the things he did, put him to death, God brought him
from the dead, and appeared for people to witness for 40 days,
Luke 1:1-2 (Luke 1:1-2) - [Copy][Go][to
List]
(1:1-2) 1Inasmuch as many have undertaken to
compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, 2just as those who from the beginning
were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us,
Theophilus
wanted the exact truth, Luke has examined from the eye witnesses.
B.
Appealed
to the knowledge of their hearers and see what happens!
They
appealed to the knowledge of the hearers who saw these things, in the presence
of those who knew Jesus. They say: “we saw Jesus, but you did too!”
If you are
going to do that, you better be right!
Acts 2:22 (Acts 2:22) - [Copy][Go][to
List]
(2:22) “Men
of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God
with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst,
as you yourselves know-
Acts 2:22
Jesus a man attested to YOU by God. Just as you yourselves know!
If the
audience had not seen the miracles, Peter would have been in trouble. But we
know what happened, many converts!
Acts 26:24-26 (Acts
26:24-26) - [Copy][Go][to
List]
(26:24-26) 24And as he was saying these things in
his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind;
your great learning is driving you out of your mind.” 25But Paul said, “I am not out of my
mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words. 26For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am
persuaded that none of these things has
escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner.
Acts 26:24-26
Paul is brought before the king, I speak to the king with confidence because I am
persuaded that none of these things I said you are not aware of. The answer –
be careful, or I will become a Christian.
1.
The
witness of the early Christian Community
The early Christian
community is the number one determinant that what we have is true. It was
presented in the presence of hostile audience who would not have been afraid to
correct it.
C.
The
lives of the Apostles - 2 Arguments
1.
They
died for what they knew
10 of the
12 died martyr deaths for an empty tome. The lived and walked with him, with
500 people at one time.
You can
say: Well a lot of people have died for a lie!? So what’s the big deal?
Yes that is
true, but they always thought it was the truth. If the resurrection was a lie,
the men must have known it. They died for a lie, and believed that it was a
lie, would 10 people do that!?
That signed
their testimony by their blood!
2.
They
died horrible deaths, because of how certain they were!
A lot of
people died for a great cause! Their great cause died on the cross! In the face
of the most horrible deaths, they did not withdraw their statements!
III.
Conclusion
We can
conclude that what we have in our bible is what is written down, and what they
wrote down is true!
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