Is The Bible True? Best Takeaways from The Case for Christ and Evidence that Demands a Verdict
In a previous blog, we went over some of the tests for the reliability, accuracy, and authenticity of the scriptures. Whether the version we have today is accurate to the original or if it had been mistranslated. To read more on that topic click here ➡ Was The Bible Mistranslated.
Now that we have confidence that the version in front of us is accurate to the original. This week we are going to cover part 2 of this series which is on whether the originals were accurate and reliable accounts of history. Did these events actually occur, are the scriptures divinely orchestrated or did someone just sit in a room and make these stories up? The famous trilemma used about Jesus could be used of the scripture authors themselves. Were they liars, (knowingly giving false information for their own agenda.) lunatics (giving false information they thought was true), or inspired by the Lord?
There are tests that historians use to test the reliability of any document. These tests can be applied to the scriptures. If I went through all of them this article would be hundreds of pages long but I would like to give you an overview and lead you to where you can find more information.
I believe that if we look at the scriptures with the same tests you would look at other documents we can conclude they are extremely reliable but each person will have to reach their own verdict.
Some of the tests we can look at are:
Divine Fingerprints In Fulfilled Prophecies
Archeological Evidence
Extra-Biblical/Secular Historians that Reference Biblical Events
Eyewitness Accounts (the resurrection)
The Internal Evidence (and does it make sense of reality)
Old Testament Prophecies Fulfilled in Jesus Christ/Divine Fingerprints In Fulfilled Prophecies
Throughout the New Testament, the apostles appealed to two areas of the life of Jesus of Nazareth to establish His messiahship. One was the resurrection and the other was fulfilled messianic prophecies. The Old Testament written over a one-thousand-year period contains nearly three hundred references to the coming Messiah. All of these were fulfilled by Jesus Christ, and they establish a solid confirmation of His credentials as the Messiah. Some of the Messianic Prophecies that Jesus fulfilled include:
He will be born in Bethlehem
He shall be called Immanuel (God with us)
That he will be from the tribe of Judah
He will minister through miracles
He was to enter Jerusalem on a donkey
To see the full list, please click here ➡ Prophesies of the Messiah
The bible is full of fulfilled prophecies not just about the messiah but also about Historical events. Foretelling the future would be a bit difficult to pull off if the authors were really just a bunch of phoneys.
Archaeology and Biblical Criticism
University of Chicago professor Raymond A. Bowman notes that archaeology helps provide a balance between the Bible and critical hypothesis: “The confirmation of the biblical narrative at most points has led to a new respect for biblical tradition and a more conservative conception of biblical history.” (Bowman, OTRGW, as cited in Willoughby, SBTT, 30)
The following are just a few of the biblical accounts that the science of archaeology has made findings on:
Massoretic Text
The capture of Jerusalem by David
The Flood of Noah
Sodom and Gomorrah
Saul, David, and Solomon
The Assyrian Invasion
To read about the associated finding, please click here ➡Archaeological and Biblical Criticism
Extra-Biblical / Secular Historians that Reference Biblical Events
“Do other historical materials confirm or deny the internal testimony provided by the documents themselves?” (Montgomery, HC, 31) In other words, what sources are there—apart from the literature under analysis that substantiates its accuracy, reliability, and authenticity?
Tacitus - The first-century Roman, Tacitus, is considered one of the more accurate historians of the ancient world. He gives the account of the great fire of Rome talked about in the scriptures, for which some blamed Emperor Nero.
Josephus - A Pharisee of the priestly line and a Jewish historian, though working under Roman authority and with some care as to not offend the Romans. He makes many statements that verify, either generally or in specific detail, the historical nature of both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.
Thallus - He explained the solar eclipse, with the darkness at the crucifixion described in Luke 23:44-45.
To read about the associated finding, please click here ➡ The Bible and Extra-Biblical Historians
Eyewitness Accounts
I know what you're thinking, all religious documents claim what they say is true. What is different about the Bible's claims? Believe it or not, most other religious texts are not written by the eyewitnesses themselves, they tend to be someone in the future writing about a past event many times thousands of years removed from the date range of the claims.
Why does this matter? Let me give you an example if I were to say that 5000 years ago there was a big war and all these things happened. You wouldn't really know for sure if I was lying or telling the truth. But what if I said World War 3 happened in the year 2020, you would know I was lying because you also lived in 2020 and would be aware if something of this scale had actually occurred or not.
The claims in the Bible were huge historical events that involved thousands of witnesses, not just a few. It would have been known by the people of the time if they were accurate or not, the fact that the early church adopted the writings of Paul and the apostles and endorsed them as accurate historical events is actually a big deal.
Because again in the same way you and I would know if World War 3 occurred in 2020 or not because we are contemporaries of that date the early church were contemporaries of the events being claimed in the Bible. Not only were these people knowledgeable of the events, they were willing to be tortured and killed for them.
Someone might be willing to die for their faith today based on something they believed happened thousands of years ago, but these people don’t have eyewitness evidence if it’s true or a lie.
But these people being willing to die for their faith was different in that if the events were not true they would have known they were dying for a lie.
The Adverse Witness Test
This test asks the question, were others present who would have contradicted or corrected the gospels if they had been distorted or false? In other words, do we see examples of contemporaries of Jesus complaining that the gospel accounts were just plain wrong?
"Many people had reasons for wanting to discredit this movement and would have done so if they could have simply told history better, Yet look at what his opponents did say. In later Jewish writings Jesus is called a sorcerer who led Israel astray-which acknowledges that he really did work marvelous wonders, although the writers dispute the source of his power. This would have been a perfect opportunity to say something like, 'The Christians will tell you he worked miracles, but we're here to tell you he didn't.' Yet that's the one thing we never see his opponents saying. Instead, they implicitly acknowledge that what the gospels wrote-that Jesus performed miracles-is true." -Blomberg.
The Moral Character of the Authors
When people testify about events they saw, they will often try to protect themselves or others by conveniently forgetting to mention details that are personally embarrassing or hard to explain. As a result, this raises uncertainty about the veracity of their entire testimony.
The Gospels however openly tell of the embarrassing flaws, sins, and missteps of the disciples and authors.
"Now, we already know that the gospel writers were selective; John's gospel ends by saying, somewhat hyperbolically, that the whole world couldn't contain all the information that could have been written about Jesus. So had they left stuff out that made them look bad, that in and of itself wouldn't necessarily have been seen as falsifying the story. "But here's the point: if they didn't feel free to leave out stuff when it would have been convenient and helpful to do so, is it really plausible to believe that they outright added and fabricated material with no historical basis?"
The Corroboration Test
"When the gospels mention people, places, and events, do they check out to be correct in cases in which they can be independently verified?" Often such corroboration is invaluable in assessing whether a
the writer has a commitment to accuracy.
"Now, yes, there are still some unresolved issues, and there have been times when archaeology has created new problems, but those are a tiny minority compared with the number of examples of corroboration.
We have already mentioned archeology and other historians in the sections above but it is worth re-noting here that if the eyewitnesses had been lying those tests would not have been passed.
The Resurrection
It is noteworthy to point out that one of the events that were claimed to be seen by over 500 people was the resurrection. It caused such a compelling case that we still base our very calendar on the event. This event would have been extremely difficult to fake and extremely easy to prove wrong if it were a lie.
Many people like to give simplistic rationalizations like he faked his death but they fail to remember the second part of the story. He didn't just raise himself. The claim made was that many holy men were raised from the grave with him.
“And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus' resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.” - Mathew 27:50 -53
We will dive deeper into the resurrection evidence in a future blog.
I believe there is a strong case for the reliability of the eye-witness accounts in the gospels.
There are numerous stories of scholars in the New Testament field who have not been Christians, yet through their studying of these very issues have come to faith in Christ. And there have been countless more scholars, already believers, whose faith has been made stronger, more solid, more grounded, because of the evidence.
Internal Evidence (and does it make sense of reality)
When we look at events like the watergate scandal we realize how difficult it is for a group of people to keep their story straight when they are lying. Nixon wasn’t even able to get a very small handful of very smart people to do it for a couple of weeks. Somehow however the biblical authors and eyewitnesses were able to keep their story straight over the course of numerous writers and thousands of years.
From the first stories about the creation of the universe to the prophets and kings of Isreal to the cross all have maintained the same truths about God.
It is not just that these truths remained consistent amongst themselves but they also ring true when we look around us at reality and when we look inside our own heart to our conscience.
All of God’s invisible attributes are clearly seen by what he has made. His morality has been written on our hearts. The laws of right and wrong, love vs selfishness that is found in the pages were already known to us before needing to read a word.
The part that is less intuitive is that after we rebelled against him this amazing God would give up everything to woo us back with his mercy grace and love.
If you are a seeker of the truth but all of this on paper talk of evidence isn’t enough for you I would challenge you to put the scriptures to the real test and see if he doesn't change your life as he has done for you and countless others.
God says “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart” “knock and the door will be opened to you, seek and you will find.”
Be willing to give your allegiance to him and follow him. In prayer ask in humility for God to reveal himself to you and I firmly believe he will.
I have seen him interact in my life so clearly thousands of times.
I will warn you that you are unlikely to see anything if you come to him in pride without a willingness to follow if he shows you.
But if you seek him in spirit and truth he says “I will be found by you” declares the Lord.