Is the Bible trustworthy?
 UCCF Doctrinal Basis
 c) The Bible, as originally
given, is the inspired and
infallible Word of God. It is
the supreme authority in all
matters of belief and
behaviour.
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Is the Bible trustworthy?
 Knowledge and belief
 Christ lived (History / knowledge)
 Christ died (History / knowledge)
 Christ rose (History / knowledge)
 He was delivered over to death for our sins
and was raised to life for our justification.
(Romans 4:25).
 Belief / faith / trust (pistis)
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Is the Bible trustworthy?
 Bertrand Russell
 The Existence of Christ
 www.obt.org.uk free download
 Humanist / atheist websites
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Is the Bible trustworthy?
 The Bible! Myth or Message?
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Is the Bible trustworthy?
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 The Bible! A peculiar book? Is it worth reading?
 The Bible! A reliable book? Is it worth studying?
 The Bible! An inspired book? Is it worth believing?
 The Bible is the authority.
 You can ‘prove’ the Bible is peculiar / unique.
 You can ‘prove’ the Bible is reliable.
 You cannot ‘prove’ it is inspired, but you can
‘demonstrate’ that to ‘believe’ it is inspired and to put
your ‘trust’ in it ... is ‘rational’.
Is the Bible trustworthy?
A
B
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C
Written
AD 75-160
AD 62-113
AD 100
Earliest copy
AD 950
AD 850
AD 1100
Years elapsed
790-875
738-789
1,000
Number of copies
8
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A – The Roman historian Suetonius (De Vita Caesarum)
B – The Roman lawyer, magistrate and writer Pliny the
Younger (History)
C – The Roman senator and historian Tacitus (Annals)
Is the Bible trustworthy?
D
E
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F
Written
AD 50-100
59 BC- AD 17
58-50 BC
Earliest copy
AD 350
AD 350
AD 850
Years elapsed
250-300
333-409
900-908
Number of copies
5,000
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D – The New Testament Writers
E – The Roman historian Livy (Roman History)
F – Julius Caesar (Gallic War)
Is the Bible trustworthy?
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 F F Bruce: “No classical scholar would listen to an
argument that the authority of Herodotus or
Thucydides is in doubt because the earliest
manuscripts of their works which are of any use to us
are over 1,300 years later than the originals.”
 J. W. Montgomery writes, in History and Christianity
(italics are ours): “To be sceptical of the resultant text
of the New Testament is to allow all of classical
antiquity to slip into obscurity for no documents of the
ancient period are as well attested bibliographically as
the New Testament.”
Is the Bible trustworthy?
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 While in Benjamin Warfield’s Introduction to Textual
Criticism of the New Testament, we read: “If we
compare the present state of the New Testament text
with that of any other ancient writing, we must ...
declare it to be marvellously correct. Such has been
the care with which the New Testament has been
copied.”
Is the Bible trustworthy?
 The Old Testament
 The Massorites
 The Dead Sea Scrolls
 Isaiah; previous 900 AD
Massoritic Text
 Dead Sea Scrolls 125 BC
 1000 year differences
 What were the textual
differences?
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Is the Bible trustworthy?
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 The nineteenth-century German critic, Wellhausen,
said of Abraham: We may not regard him as an
historical person, he might with more likelihood be
regarded as a free creation of unconscious art.
 Which is but a polite way of saying that Abraham
never existed! But was he a fictional character?
Is the Bible trustworthy?
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 Was he a fictional character? Max Burrows thinks not
(What Mean these Stones?): Everything indicates that here
we have an historical individual ... he is not mentioned in
any known archaeological source, but his name appears in
Babylonia as a personal name in the very period to which
he belongs.
 Charles H. Welch agrees with Burrows: Moreover, in the
Assyrian Eponym canon, written in Abraham’s day in
Abraham’s land, is found the very name Aburamu. Every
investigation brings further and fuller conviction that the
record of the life of Abraham is a record of fact.
Is the Bible trustworthy?
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 TV Programme: No historical evidence for the existence of
King David.
 Until 1993 there was no proof of the existence of King
David or even of Israel as a nation prior to Solomon. Then
in 1993 archeologists found proof of King David's existence
outside the Bible. At an ancient mound called Tel Dan, in
the north of Israel, words carved into a chunk of basalt
were translated as "House of David" and "King of Israel"
proving that he was more than just a legend.
 Then in 2005 Israeli archaeologist Eilat Mazar found
remains King David's palace in Jerusalem.
Is the Bible trustworthy?
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 Herod did not massacre the infants at Bethlehem.
(The Times). But Bethlehem a small town; probably
no more than a dozen children, if that, involved.
 In Acts 13.7 we read of Sergius Paulus who was
‘proconsul’ (NIV) of Cyprus. In 1912 Sir William
Ramsay brought to light a block of stone bearing a
Latin inscription which stated: To L[ucius] Sergius
Paullus the younger, Son of Lucius, one of four
commissioners in charge of the Roman streets, tribune
of the soldiers of the sixth legion.
Is the Bible trustworthy?
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 Here there is no mention of his being pro-consul, and
here the name is spelt with double ‘l’. Has Luke got his
facts wrong? Couldn’t he even spell the name right?
 Certain critics maintained that Sergius Paullus was not
a proconsul but a pro-praetor.
 A coin found in Cyprus bears the inscription: ‘In the
proconsulship of Paulus’. Luke is right. Paulus was
pro-consul and ... note the spelling; one ‘l’.
 Pilate’s report????
Is the Bible trustworthy?
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 Pilate’s report?
 In his Defence of Christianity to the Emperor
Antoninus Pius, (about 150 AD) Justin referred the
emperor to Pilate’s report (Apology 1.35).
 ”That He [Christ] performed these miracles you may
easily be satisfied from the ‘Acts’ of Pontius Pilate.”
(Apology 1.48)
 www.obt.org.uk - free downloads – The Existence of
Christ. Evidence that corroborates the New Testament
Is the Bible trustworthy?
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 Pilate’s report?
 Justin Martyr; Defence of Christianity
 “But the words ‘They pierced my hands and my feet’
are a description of the nails that were fixed in His
hands and His feet on the cross; and He was crucified,
those who crucified Him cast lots for His garments,
and divided them among themselves; and that these
things were so, you may learn from the ‘Acts’ which are
recorded under Pontius Pilate.”
Is the Bible trustworthy?
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Point 1
Point 2
Point 3
Point 4
Point 5
Point 6
Point 7
Point 8
Point 9
Point 10
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– Facts recorded before they were known
– The Testimony of Prophecy
– The Testimony of Probability
– The Testimony of Numerics
– The Testimony of Structure
– The Testimony of the Lord Jesus
– The Testimony of the Writers
– Ring of Truth
– The Agnostic Argument
– Contradictions
Is the Bible trustworthy?
 “If you want to reinforce your
trust in the uniqueness of the
Bible – or need ammunition to
use with friends who claim the
Bible is merely a book – try
Michael Penny’s The Bible! Myth
or Message?”
 (Reviewed by David Hall in
Family, UK)
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