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About the reliability of the bibleSix arguments for the reliability of the Bible
About the history of the bible
There are many old manuscripts of the Bible. About Plato there are only seven copies. The youngest one was dated 1200 years after his death. Still, it is not questioned if it is Plato’s. Of the New Testament there are 5.700 manuscripts, of which the oldest one was dated 40 years after Jesus’ death. Research has shown that through the years the text has hardly (<1%) seen any changes, and the changes that are there, are not relevant (spelling, word order). If the New Testament is not to be trusted, not a single historical text is.
Archaeologists have discovered the Dead Sea scrolls, containing scrolls of which some have been dated to 200 years before Christ (BC). The book of Isaiah was found almost complete and is identical to what we knew, indicating that the texts have not been corrupted by copying. Like other books, the Isaiah scroll has been thoroughly investigated by the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in the Netherlands, among many other international institutions.
Fulfilment of prophecies
The list of prophecies in the Bible that have already been fulfilled is enormous. I will now focus on the prophecies whose fulfilment you can verify for yourself.
In Ezekiel 36 and 37, the restoration of the nation of Israel is foretold. For 1800 years the name of Israel had vanished from the face of the earth. Never in history has an exiled people been restored to their land after so many years, as has happened to Israel in 1948. A prophecy that has not yet been fulfilled, is that of Joel 3:2, stating that the land will be divided. The news often reports about a two-state solution. If this two-state solution is pursued, also this prophecy will be fulfilled.
Prophets of God have foretold the demise of many nations like Ammon, Edom, Moab, Philistia as well as cities like Babylon (this city might be rebuilt in the end time, however), Nineveh, Tyrus and Sidon. None of these cities exists today.
The Bible foretells that there will come a time that you will not be able to buy or sell unless you have a mark on your right hand or forehead. This has been foretold some 2000 years ago, a time in which no one could imagine how such a thing could be realised. Nowadays we already see people paying with their hand and it is easily imagined that your bank account is frozen if you don’t accept certain conditions, so you won’t be able to buy or sell any longer.
Very clear evidence for Jesus’ existence is our calendar being based on his birth. If He were not who He claims to be, He would be a liar. Would our calendar have been based on Him still? We all know the Christian holidays Christmas, Good Friday, Passover, Ascension Day, Pentecost. All days that represent important occasions in the life of Jesus. All these moments are foretold in detail in the Old Testament.
Discovery of scientific principles that were already in the bible long before
Did you know that around 1840 Semmelweis was reviled because he prescribed new hygienic protocols such as washing hand before a baby was delivered? Afterwards it would turn out this would save many lives and nowadays this practice goes without saying. Thousands of years before, the Bible prescribed certain chastity laws to the people of Israel, resulting in a life expectancy almost double that of the people around them.
The Bible taught that there are valleys in the sea, long before man was able to dive that deep and make scans of the sea bed (Psalm 18:15 “..the valleys of the sea became visible”). Also described is the entire water cycle, which was only scientifically proven much much later (Ecclesiastes 1:6, 7). The book ‘Modern Science in the Bible’ is full of science that was ahead of its time, showing the intelligence and wisdom of the Creator.
The bible doesn’t sugar coat
The Bible describes the not so positive behaviour of the disciples, but also the humiliations of Jesus. I couldn’t think of any motive to portray them so negatively, apart from it just being the truth. If people want to ‘sell’ something, it’s in their nature to omit things and emphasize the positive. Examples are:
- The disciples run off when Jesus is captured
- Jesus’ family basically think he’s crazy (Mark 3:21)
- At a certain point in time a large crowd turns back and no longer follows him (John 6:66)
- The crucifixion: what a humiliation for the leader of a religious movement
- The disciples die for the gospel
Resistance
Did you know that currently 359 million Christians are heavily persecuted, because they believe in the God of the Bible? If you know the Bible, then you’ll know that God’s great adversary is the devil, who goes to great length to eradicate Christianity and put God in an unfavourable light. This was already foretold by Jesus Himself, saying: “The servant is not greater than his lord, if they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).
Lives change
Even if you don’t care about extrabiblical proof, the inner and live changing proof can be witnessed – people change when they accept Jesus as their Saviour! It proves that God does as He promises in His Word and that those who believe in Him truly become a new creation through faith. To see examples how lives sometimes radically change through Jesus, a simple search for “changed by Jesus” on Youtube will suffice.
“So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away—look, what is new has come!”, 2 Corinthians 5:17.