We hope you enjoy this re-post from March 27, 2015. Be blessed! The Today’s Quote From God Team

And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. – Luke 24:27, King James Version (KJV)

In yesterday’s post, we learned that God reveals Himself to mankind in three ways: creation, conscience, and the Bible. Today’s question is this: Can we trust what the Bible teaches us about God?

In examining the Bible’s trustworthiness, we will analyze two things: 1) Has the Bible accurately recorded history, and 2) Has the Bible accurately predicted the future.  If it can be proven that the Bible has errantly recorded the past or falsely predicted the future, then the Bible – and, therefore, Christianity – does not hold the truth.  If, however, the Bible has accurately recorded the past and accurately predicted the future, then the Bible is indeed what it claims to be, and what it reveals about God can be trusted. Since Christianity and Judaism hold the same Old Testament scriptures as sacred, we shall focus our analysis on the New Testament, which Christians alone proclaim to be supernaturally inspired.

Does the New Testament accurately record history?  Well, a combination of secular sources does indeed confirm the following storyline depicted in the New Testament (the following list is from Norman Geisler/ Frank Turek, 12 Reasons Christianity is True, Page 19.  Original source: F.F. Bruce, Jesus & Christian Origins Outside the New Testament):

1. Jesus lived during the time of Tiberius Caesar
2. He lived a virtuous life
3. He was a wonder-worker
4. He had a brother named James
5. He was acclaimed to be the Messiah
6. He was crucified under Pontius Pilate
7. An eclipse and earthquake occurred when he died
8. He was crucified on the eve of the Jewish Passover
9. His disciples believed he rose from the dead
10. His disciples were willing to die for their belief
11. Christianity spread rapidly as far as Rome
12. Jesus’ disciples denied the Roman gods and worshipped him as God

One of the secular sources referred to above is an historian named Thallus.  Thallus wrote around A.D. 52 concerning Christ’s crucifixion, “On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness, and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down.”  (Josh McDowell, The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict, p. 57).  As a side note, Thallus explained the darkness as the result of a solar eclipse, which, in reality, it could not have been.  Solar eclipses cannot take place during a full moon, and Thallus recorded the time of Christ’s crucifixion as “the season of the paschal full moon.” (Ibid., pg. 58)

Another of the secular sources alluded to above is Pliny the Younger, a Roman author and administrator who wrote to Emperor Trajan the following around A.D. 112:

They (early Christians) were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to do any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft, or adultery…) (Ibid., pg. 58)

In addition to secular historians, archaeologists have corroborated the New Testament’s historical accuracy.  Jewish archaeologist Nelson Glueck proclaimed, “no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference.” (Geisler/Turek, 12 Reasons, pg. 20)  For example, archaeologists have confirmed that Luke, the writer of the Gospel of Luke and of the Book of Acts, named thirty-two countries, fifty-four cities, nine islands, and hundreds of details without making a single error. (Geisler/Turek, 12 Reasons pg. 20).  Specific archaeological finds that support other New Testament historical writings include:

1. In 1961, an inscription was found in Caesarea that said, “Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judaea”
2. Evidence of the man named “Erastus,” referred to in Romans 16:23 as a companion of the apostle Paul and the chamberlain (or public treasurer) of the City of Corinth, was found in Corinth in 1929.
3. The “meat market” of I Corinthians 10:25 has been found in Corinth.
4. In 1967, the remains of a crucifixion victim were found, confirming the use and nature of the recorded method of Christ’s death.
5. In 1990, the bones of Joseph Caiaphas, the high priest of the Jews during the time of Christ’s crucifixion, were found.

These, and many other archaeological finds, led U.S. News and World Report to publish the following in 1999: “In extraordinary ways, modern archaeology has affirmed the historical core of the Old and New Testaments – corroborating key portions of the stories of Israel’s patriarchs, the Exodus, the Davidic monarchy, and the life and times of Jesus.”  (Geisler/Turek, pg. 20.  Original source, Jeffery Shelter, “Is the Bible True?” US News & World Report, October 25, 1999, 52).

The evidence argues that the Bible is historically accurate, but the historical accuracy of the Bible does not prove it to be supernatural or divinely inspired.  What would make the Bible supernatural or divinely inspired is its ability to accurately predict the future.

Take, for example, the prophecies concerning Christ.  In the mid-20th century, scientist Peter Stoner authored the book, Science Speaks.  Stoner served as Chairman of the Department of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena City College until 1953.  He also served as Chairman of the science division at Westmont College from 1953-57.  In Science Speaks, Stoner analyzed the statistical probabilities surrounding Jesus Christ’s fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah.  He found that the odds of one man fulfilling just eight of the Old Testament prophecies was one in one hundred million billion, or 10 to the 17th power. (Source, The Case for Christ, 183, original source, Science Speaks).  To better describe what these odds mean, Stoner devised the following metaphor:

Let us try to visualize this chance. If you mark one of ten tickets, and place all of the tickets in a hat, and thoroughly stir them, and then ask a blindfolded man to draw one, his chance of getting the right ticket is one in ten. Suppose that we take 10 to the 17th silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man. (Science Speaks, Chapter 3, The Christ of Prophecy)

As if this number was not high enough, Stoner proceeded to calculate the odds of one man in history fulfilling forty-eight of the Old Testament prophecies pertaining to the Messiah.  This number equates to one chance in a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion.  This number is equal to the number of minuscule atoms in a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, billion universes the size of our universe, a number that is truly impossible for the human mind to comprehend. (Stroebel, The Case for Christ, pg. 183)  The Old Testament records not eight, not forty-eight, but more than three hundred prophecies concerning the first advent of the Messiah.  Jesus Christ completely fulfilled each and every one of them. Based on Stoner’s statistical analysis of this scenario, it is inarguable that the Bible has accurately and miraculously predicted the future.

Earlier we stated that if it can be proven that the Bible has errantly recorded the past or falsely predicted the future, then the Bible – and, therefore, Christianity – does not possess the truth.  If, however, the Bible has accurately recorded the past and accurately predicted the future, then the Bible is indeed what it claims to be, the inspired Word of God. The evidence shows that the Bible indeed has both recorded history and predicted the future accurately and flawlessly, proving that Christianity, which is based upon the Bible, is the source of absolute truth in our world.  Judaism cannot be true because it denies the divine nature of the New Testament.  Islam cannot be true because it denies the divinity of Christ.  Therefore, Christianity alone is true, and it is to Christianity – and to The Holy Bible – that we must turn in order to determine our true meaning and purpose in life.

Can we trust the Bible? Absolutely! Then it’s time we stop acting like we cannot! Dive into it! Meditate upon it! Read what God reveals to us about Himself. If you do, life – with all of its craziness – will make a whole lot more sense!