Reasons (Part 2) Is the Bible Authentic and Accurate?

BANGALORE, India - Oct. 24, 2014 - PRLog -- The Bible is one of the most revered and yet the most hated book ever written.

For centuries, men have treated this book with reverence, awe and respect while at the same time other men have gone to great lengths to discredit it and if possible, even destroy it.

In AD 303, The Roman Emperor, Diocletian (AD 245-312), sought to wipe out any trace of Christianity from the face of the earth. He ordered churches to be burned, Christians to be executed, and the Scriptures to be confiscated and burned.

Voltaire (1694-1778), a French writer, essayist and philosopher, boasted in the 1700s that within 100 years, Christianity and the Bible would disappear - implying that his works would remain much longer. Ironically, shortly after Voltaire's death, the Geneva Bible Society bought his house and used it for printing Bibles.

"For eighteen centuries every engine of destruction that human science, philosophy, wit, reasoning or brutality could bring to bear against a book has been brought to bear against that book to stamp it out of the world, but it has a mightier hold on the world today than ever before. If that were man's book it would have been annihilated and forgotten hundreds of years ago..."(R.A. Torrey, 1856-1928)

What The Bible Claims for Itself

2 Timothy 3:16,17
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Peter 1:20,21
20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,
21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

The Bible claims divine inspiration. It is the Word of God.
Men of God spoke/wrote as they were moved (borne along) by the Holy Spirit.
The Bible therefore is not just another piece of literature, not just another religious book - but it is the Word of God.

Learn in detail about the following in our message available at www.apcwo.org/sermons


General Information

How has the Bible been transmitted down to us over thousands of years?

Ancient Manuscript Credentials

The Bible : Number of Manuscripts And Time Gap

The Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Thus, there is a total of about 25,000 manuscript copies of all or part of the New Testament available to us today.

The earliest known manuscript fragment of the New Testament (from the Gospel of John) dates from about 120 A.D., no more than 25 years after the death of the Apostle John. About 50 other fragments are dated less than 200 years from the date of their original writing.

The oldest nearly complete version of the Bible in Latin is the Latin Vulgate (400 A.D.)-The scholar Jerome translated the Bible into Latin about 400 A.D. and it became the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church for more than 1000 years.

In comparison to other works of antiquity, our first manuscript copy of the Old Testament (dates from 250 B.C.) comes about 150 years after the original book was written (i.e. Malachi about 400 B.C.). Also, we actually have over 10,000 Old Testament manuscripts!

There are over 6,000 early manuscript copies or portions of the Greek New Testament in existence today. When we include the Latin Vulgate and other early versions, we have over 24,000 early copies or portions of the New Testament (twice that many when including quotes by early church fathers). Some of these date only twenty to thirty years from the original autographs.

Record - Number of Manuscripts -Time Gap

Old Testament - Over 10,000 - 150 years

New Testament - Over 24,000 - 50 years


By comparison, of works by Plato and Aristotle very few copies exist at all, and those were written 1,200 to 1,400 years after the autographs. If these ancient works are considered "unquestionably authentic" how much more should the Bible!

Scholars have pinpointed the copyist errors in the New Testament and have found them to be insignificant, not affecting a single important fact, doctrine, or rule of faith. Eminent Greek scholar F. J. A. Hort wrote, "Apart from insignificant variations of grammar or spelling, not more than one thousandth part of the whole New Testament is affected by differences of reading."

Jesus on the Authority of the Old Testament

Accuracy (Inerrancy) of the Bible

The Canon of Scripture

The Bible - Not Just Another Book

Here are some amazing "wonders" of the Bible.

#1, Its Unity
#2, Its Historical and Archeological Accuracy
#3, Its fulfilled Prophecy
#4, Its Indestructibility
#5, It's Christ-centeredness
#6, It's Teachings
#7, It's Life Transforming Power

Conclusion
https://vimeo.com/109458063