- Introduction
- Truth
- Evidence
- Science
- The Laws of Science
- The Doctrine of Uniformitarianism
- The 1st Law of Thermodynamics
- The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics
- The Four Fundamental Forces
- The Big Bang
- The Age of the Universe
- The Age of the Earth
- Star and Planet Formation
- The Origin of Life
- Evolution
- Macro and micro evolution
- Darwinism
- Darwins Evidence
- Neo-Darwinsim
- Punctuated Equilibrium
- Isn't Evolution "Just a Theory?"
- Is It Really That Important to Teach Evolution?
- Intelligent Design
- Conclusions from Science
- Environmental Change and Species Extinction
- Racism
- Religion
- The Bible
- Objections to Christianity
- Suggested Reading
- Citations
- Conclusion
The Bible
Facts of the Bible
The Bible is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. To most Christians the Bible is the very word of God. There are many versions of the Bible available today. There are also many different interpretations of the text. Some Christians take the entire Bible literally as the inerrant word of God. Others will pick and choose what parts they are willing to accept. But in spite of these variances it can still be stated unequivocally that the Bible is foundational to the Christian faith.The Bible itself claims to be the very word of God. It claims to be Gods written word to man. The Bible itself asserts that it is a supernatural book and not just words written on a page. The Bible claims to be "living and active". It also professes to be able to predict future events including the end of times. The key to the Christian faith is the Bible. But what evidence is there that the Bible is what it claims to be?
My Observations on the Bible
There is no scientific evidence that I know of that will back up the claims of the Bible. The evidence for the Bible is circumstantial and prophetical in nature. In the following outline I will briefly summarize that evidence.1. The Bible was written over a four thousand year period of time, on three different continents, by some 20 different authors and in three different languages. And yet the Bible tells a unified story from beginning to end. What is spoken of in the book of Genesis comes back again in the book of Revelation. I myself cannot even remember what I wrote in this essay a week ago let alone a thousand years later. Yet the Bible tells a unified story over a 4,000 year period. That is nothing short of miraculous.
2. The Bible speaks of things that are going to happen before they actually do. The Bible is so accurate in predicting future events it is assumed by some that the predictions were written after the events occurred. There is no evidence for this assumption whatsoever. And, unlike some other so-called seers, the people that prophesied in the Bible were either correct or they were killed.
3. The Bible contains what appears to be contradictions. For example, in one Gospel there are two demon possessed men but in a different Gospel there is only one. For some this proves that the Bible is not God's word. They claim that if God had written it then He would surely know whether there were one or two men. But I find the evidence to be exactly the opposite. For if the Bible were written to please men the authors could have easily changed the two accounts to agree with each other. The scribes who copied the manuscripts down through the years could also have easily changed the stories so that they agreed with each other. These scribes were highly educated and they read the same words that we do today. Why did they not just make a few adjustments as they found necessary? Because they knew that these were the words of God and they copied them exactly word for word.
4. The Bible has more original manuscripts to support it than any other written book in history. People assume that Homer wrote the Illiad. This assumption is based on just a few original documents. The Bible has thousands of manuscripts dating back thousands of years. In fact the Bible has more original manuscripts to back it up than any other book ever written.
5. These same manuscripts have been accurately copied, word-for-word, for thousands of years. The scribes that copied the manuscripts were highly educated men. They worked diligently to ensure that the copies that they made were accurate - word-for-word. If a mistake was made the entire manuscript was destroyed and the process was begun again. One can hardly read a newspaper today without finding a multitude of errors. I myself do not know where I would be without spell-check in writing these words. Yet these copies were made by humans, using home-made paper, animal skins and ink, for thousands of years. And the oldest manuscripts are almost identical to the ones that we have today.
6. The Bible is accurate in history, genealogy, anthropology and geography. Throughout history the Bible has been ridiculed as being a book riddled with errors. And yet over time these "so-called" errors have been found to be true after all. The Bible tells a more accurate history of Egypt than do the Egyptians themselves. The Bible was criticized for speaking of a people called the Hittites. Scientists assumed that the Hittites never existed because the only place that they were mentioned was in the Bible. Then one day evidence was discovered showing that the Hittites did indeed exist. Now we know that they were one of the most powerful societies to have ever existed. The Bible proclaimed the history of this people all along.
7. The events recorded in the Bible changed peoples lives. The Bible claims that Jesus Christ was killed and then rose again. The disciples who lived with Jesus were completely changed by this event. If they knew that Jesus did not really rise from the dead then why would they have allowed themselves to be killed? There are many people who will die for what they believe in without any evidence whatsoever. These people either knew Jesus had risen or that he was in fact still dead. And if they actually knew that he was dead they would not have gone to their death claiming otherwise.
Objections to Christianity