Why I believe the Bible

The Bible is a compilation of sixty-six (66) books written by at least forty (40) authors over a period of about fifteen hundred (1500) years. It was written in three (3) languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) on three (3) different continents. Yet it is unique in its unity/continuity.

The Bible is filled with hundreds of extremely detailed prophecies (a large number of which have been historically fulfilled) concerning:

• the future of specific nations
• the future of specific cities
• the future of specific families and individuals
• the future of mankind

There are over three hundred (300) prophecies concerning the coming of Messiah/Savior including:

• the town of His birth
• His family of origin
• His virgin birth
• how He would die and the details surrounding His crucifixion
• His entry into Jerusalem on a donkey
• betrayal by His friend
• His silence when accused
• being beaten and spit upon
• the rejection of Him as Messiah
• His resurrection after three days
• His ascension into heaven

There are more than one thousand (1,000) copies and fragments of the NT in Syria, Armenian, Coptic, Europic, Gothic. There are more than four thousand (4,000) Greek manuscripts containing all or portions of the NT. There are about eight thousand (8,000) copies of the Latin Vulgate. NO other documents of antiquity are as well attested as the New Testament. (Not Socrates, nor Shakespeare, even.)

If all the existing manuscripts did not exist, the entire NT could be reconstructed via thousands of quotations throughout the writings of the early Christians...with the exception of ten to twenty verses. These writings circulated during the time that there were thousands of people living who had seen Christ, witnessed or heard about the miracles He did, and witnessed His crucifixion, none of them refuted the writings as fairy tales or myths.

There is secular historical evidence. (Josephus, Tacitus, Thallus, Mara Bar-Seraphon, Plegon, Lucian, Pliny the Younger) The Encyclopedia Britannica says, "These independent accounts prove that in ancient times even the opponents of Christianity never doubted the historicity of Jesus, which was disputed for the first time and on inadequate grounds by several authors at the end of the 18th, during the 19th, and at the beginning of the 20th centuries."

There is archaeological evidence for its accuracy with more evidence being discovered regularly. No archaeological evidence has contradicted a Biblical reference.

Scientific discoveries have proven many things mentioned in the Bible. Dinosaurs, the inability to number the stars, the uniqueness of each star, that the earth hangs on nothing, how the wind moves and that it has weight, that life is in the blood, reproductive integrity, the hydrologic cycle, that the earth is round in shape, for instance.

The early Christians, including the Apostles, died rather than recant their testimony that Jesus died, was buried and was resurrected, then ascended into heaven.

115 AD, P. Cornelius Tacitus, in book 15, chapter 44 of The Annals:

“Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.”

The power the Bible has had in my own life.