Today there are many people who doubt the reliability of the
Bible. Dr. Mark Strauss stresses the importance of
demonstrating the general reliability of scripture with an
emphasis on the good historians that helped write the Bible
(A.C.E. Video, “General Reliabiloty…”). According to Ed
Hindson and Elmer Towns, recently people, like Belshazzar,
who are mentioned in the Bible have been mentioned in nonbiblical sources (Hindson and Towns, Illustrated Bible
Survey). Two of the most convincing arguments for proving the
reliability of scripture are the fulfilment of prophecy and the unified
message.
The Bible has many prophecies in it that were written before
the prophecy became true. Elmer Towns writes that “man does
not have knowledge of the future.
Only God can have that knowledge (Arguments that the Bible …).” One prophecy talked about in the Bible is the fall of the city Tyre. Ezekiel 26:3-6, 12:14, prophesied that Tyre will collapse and be thrown into the sea. When this prophesy was written, Tyre was a prosperous city in the year 587 B.C (Hindson and Towns, Illustrated Bible Survey). Napoleon came to the city in 330 B.C. and threw pillars from the city into the Mediterranean Sea. Tyre’s fall was foretold by the Bible more than 250 years before it actually fell. Religions like Islam and Buddhism do not predict the future. “Neither can the founders of any cult in this country rightly identify any ancient text specifically foretelling their appearance (“Arguments that the Bible …”).” The scriptures were written by many different people under the influence of God allowing them to write prophecy that passed. These people were spread throughout the ancient world, and each writer had a message that pointed to Jesus. Another convincing argument for the reliability of scriptures is a unified message despite many authors. Between thirty-six and forty different people penned the Bible, yet the message is the same (“Arguments that the Bible…”). These people where not close geographically either. Biblical writings span across two continents, over 2,000 miles. It was written in three different languages and over a period of 55 generations or 16 centuries (“Arguments that the Bible …”). There are very few ancient texts left, about 1%, but the books of the Bible have been copied numerous times. According to Dr. Strauss, the New Testament scriptures are more accurate than any other ancient document. There has been over 5,000 hand written copies of the original autographs. It is estimated that the copies have a 95% accuracy match to the original documents (A.C.E. Video, “Reliability of…”). The arguments of fulfilment of prophecy and the similar message despite many authors, are very convincing when it comes to judging the reliability of scripture. Together, the Bible’s reliability is well defended.
...7. All biblical references come from the Geneva Bible (which is based on the Jerome Bible) but were checked and crossed referenced with the Jerome Bible with help of Professor Behunin as the Jerome Bible is in Latin.
--- Walvoord, J.F. and R.B. Zuck (ed.) The Bible Knowledge Commentary; eds. 2 vols. n.d. e-Sword, Version 9.5.1
An example of the use of scriptural and biblical quotes or the connection of God in their writings is provided in the “Second Inaugural Address” when Abraham Lincoln states,
“For the Bible Tells Me So,” is a documentary about religion and homosexuality. Primarily, the film depicts the struggles of several individuals as they realize they are gay, and how this affects their relationship with faith and family. The film illustrates how devastating the suffering some gays face and the struggles some Christian families encounter when a family member is gay. It is heartbreaking to watch moments of hate-mongering and discrimination against homosexuals, especially when done by family members or in the name of one’s religion.
There is much debate over the historical accuracy of the Hebrew Bible and The Epic of Gilgamesh. Some claim that to understand a work of literature requires extensive knowledge of the background of this work. The contrary position is that a work of literature can be interpreted solely on it’s content. The meaning of the term classical literature is that it can be applied during any period of time, it is eternal. Yet the conditions surrounding the author might still be of interest to the reader, and of importance to the work. As with many cases, the truth is somewhere in between the two extremes. Both sides have valid arguments about the importance of historicity.
William C. Placher in his article, “Is the Bible true?”, attempts to explain to the reader the reasons why we can believe in the Bible. Placher states that to understand how the Bible is true we need to first accept its genres, recognize its attitudes toward historical details, and consider the social context of the language in which it was written. When a person understands the meaning of the Bible they then can trust the Bible as a guide to life, and a way of understanding the world. After reading the article, multiple times, I have come to the conclusion that I do not believe Placher proved his thesis with the points he presented.
The bible comes in a variety of truths. These truths are scientific truth, historical truth, symbolic truth, proverbial truth, moral truth, and religious truth. In the bible these truths are expressed through different types of literary forms such as myths, law, and apocalyptic writings. These different truths are understood and recognized by some but not to others. While a story in the bible may not be true, they have a symbolic meaning behind it, some people may not see the symbolic meaning and see the story as set in stone. These types of people are called literalists.
Inspiration can be defined as God’s ongoing and dynamic revelation of truths to humans in order for us to know how to live and deal with spiritual and ethical encounters, by instilling wisdom and understanding of his word. Since humans wrote the Bible there is room for idiosyncrasies, intelligence, historic context, social context, and geographical context to influence scripture. However, God’s revelation of himself and his character prevails through the Bible. There is a dimension of God that can only be reached through personal encounters of His truths, through prayerful reflection of the Bible.
It has been stated that barring immigration, we would lack multiculturalism. Without the “inner struggle” of how to become an American would have changed on how the United States has evolved. A book titled A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America by Ronald Takaki exemplifies how the American country was built via search at human beings based on their race, gender, and power. Takaki’s makes use of many themes and key phrases, however race stands out in his book due to the fact it forms how America was shaped that is nonetheless being affected today. The appreciation is that race in America is no longer described by using color, however by means of white superiority possessing something or all people that threatened them to overpower them. Examples in the book of Takaki exhibit how this took place as many immigrants got here in the New World. Otherwise even when indigenous people
Green, Joseph A. The OXFORD GUIDE to PEOPLE & PLACES of the BIBLE. Ed. Bruce M. Metzger and
Each chapter in the book contains a few quotes from the bible. Although, those quotes does not really make sense from a non-Christian point of view, since most of the quotes used does not flow with the writing. Rather than using the quotes from the bible as a sign of faith being the
For centuries now Christians have claimed to possess the special revelation of an omnipotent, loving Deity who is sovereign over all of His creation. This special revelation is in written form and is what has come to be known as The Bible which consists of two books. The first book is the Hebrew Scriptures, written by prophets in a time that was before Christ, and the second book is the New Testament, which was written by Apostles and disciples of the risen Lord after His ascension. It is well documented that Christians in the context of the early first century were used to viewing a set of writings as being not only authoritative, but divinely inspired. The fact that there were certain books out in the public that were written by followers of Jesus and recognized as being just as authoritative as the Hebrew Scriptures was never under debate. The disagreement between some groups of Christians and Gnostics centered on which exact group of books were divinely inspired and which were not. The debate also took place over the way we can know for sure what God would have us include in a book of divinely inspired writings. This ultimately led to the formation of the Biblical canon in the next centuries. Some may ask, “Isn’t Jesus really the only thing that we can and should call God’s Word?” and “Isn’t the Bible just a man made collection of writings all centered on the same thing, Jesus Christ?” This paper summarizes some of the evidences for the Old and New Testament canon’s accuracy in choosing God breathed, authoritative writings and then reflects on the wide ranging
As the methods of New Testament textual criticism develop, and as more manuscripts are discovered and catalogued, handbooks and textual commentaries of the New Testament require updating and revision. Philip Comfort’s A Commentary on the Manuscripts and Text of the New Testament endeavors to provide such an updated resource. This work is a concise handbook on the manuscripts of the New Testament, a brief introduction to the theory and practice of textual criticism, a commentary on textual variations within the manuscript tradition of the New Testament, and an introduction to the curious scribal features known as nomina sacra.
To forsake a God-given gift is not a good idea. God gave his word to the world. From Scripture, his word, comes revelation and understanding of not only who he is, but also who we are in him. Living without the knowledge and wisdom of Scripture would only lead to an unscrupulous and impure life. God gave his word to the world for a reason, and that gift should not be taken lightly. Through it he reveals the desire he has for the lives of his people. Because it is God’s word, Scripture is a guide that his people need to live by.
In Catholicism, one of the many temptations that can be wrought in the mind that is not prayerful is the temptation to doubt the faith and its tenets. The Catholic Church differentiates between doubt and legitimate questioning. Doubt, it says, is that emotional state in which we call into question that which has already been sufficiently proven or shown. This emotional state is contrary to reason and since God’s nature is reasonable, consenting to such a state of irrational doubt is an act against the very nature of God. Additionally, freely consenting to the sin of doubt can have disastrous consequences such as abandoning the Catholic faith without sufficient cause or disobeying the commands of God’s law. Legitimate questioning, on the other