Amazing Evidence

The historicity of the Old Testament can be gauged by the accuracy of textual transmission, confirmation of hard evidence by archaeology, and documentary evidence through archaeology.

An amazing evidence of the accuracy of textual transmission is found in the discovery of scripture in the caves of Qumran. Copies of the book of Isaiah, 1,000 years older than the extant Masoretic scrolls from A.D. 916 were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. These Qumran copies proved to be 95% the same as the newer copies. The 5% difference was only in obvious pen slips and spelling variations that did not affect the message whatsoever (McDowell, TNE, 78).

Archaeology has never disproved the Bible; on the contrary, many times it has revealed the Bible to be accurate despite contemporary belief. The fire and brimstone described as the demise of Sodom and Gomorrah is archaeologically evident in the geographical area of those infamous cities. It is believed that bitumen, ignited by bituminous pitch by the burning of an oil basin beneath the Dead Sea, hurled down upon those cities. Layers of sedimentary rock have been permanently molded together as a verifiable archaeological testament to the event (McDowell, TNE, 94, 95).

The Bible is accurate and absolutely contains verifiable evidence of its truth.

McDowell, Josh. The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict. Nashville: Thomas Nelson
Publishers, 1999

Utterly Life Changing. . .

The text of Scripture has been preserved by scribes and scholars in various manners: the physical recording of text on differing mediums, the meticulous copying of the Old Testament by the Masorete Jews, and the preservation of God’s inspired Word by the canonization of Bible books.
The Scripture was recorded on several materials. One material the Bible was recorded on was papyrus, made from beating out the reeds growing in the shallow lakes and rivers of Egypt and Syria. It was shipped to parts of Byblos, hence the word Bible, the modern meaning of which is “book”. Parchment made in Pergamum, manufactured by scraping shaved skins, was utilized; as well as, vellum made from calf skin that was dyed purple and written on in gold or silver ink. Ostraca, or pottery shards and clay and wax tablets were also engraved with a stylus. Inks were composed of charcoal, gum and water and pointed reeds were used to inscribe Scripture on scrolls.
The Masorete Jewish scribes ritualistically copied the text in such a high degree of perfection that they considered the copy more valuable than the original. Thus, many older copies of Scripture are no longer extant.
The choice of books canonized into the Bible was not created by the church; but, they were recognized for inclusion by tests of their spiritual authenticity. Where the books written by a prophet or a spokesman of God? Was the writer confirmed by acts of God? Does the message tell the truth about God? Does the book come with the power of God? Is the book accepted by God’s people? The heresy of Marcion in A.D. 140 prompted the gathering of Scripture for canonization. The Apocrypha has been unilaterally discounted as inspired Scripture by Reformation churches; although, it is included in the Catholic Bible.

The Bible is the God-breathed, inspired Word of God. It is utterly reliable, utterly unchanging and utterly life changing!

Unicus

The word unique is derived from the Latin "unicus", meaning one, via early 17th century French. Something unique is worthy of note due to its singular nature. The Bible is unique in a considerable number of ways. The continuity of the Bible is astounding and unparalleled in any other literary work in history. Astounding, considering it was written over a 1,500 year period, by 40 plus authors in differing places, at differing times and in differing moods. The Bible was written on the three continents of Africa, Asia and Europe, in the three languages of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. The Bible is completely congruent; it is a single unfolding story. Geisler and Nix comment, “Paradise lost of Genesis becomes Paradise regained of Revelation.” The entire Bible is a foreshadowing of Christ and His redemptive work. The book of Genesis speaks of Him crushing the serpent’s head; Exodus speaks of Christ’s sacrifice as the Lamb whose blood is sprinkled for release from captivity. The Tabernacle is a tactile model of Christ and the mode in which we must approach Him. Prophetic books speak of Him, historical books show His character, and poetic books praise Him. Christ’s bloodline is traced in the New Testament directly to Adam. Jesus’ life and ministry is chronicled in the Gospels and the culmination of His mission is prophetically spoken of in Revelation.
The Bible has been translated into upwards of 2,200 languages, which represents one-third of the world’s 6,500 known languages that represents 90% of the world’s population (McDowell, TNE, 9). The Wycliffe Bible translators are performing massive translation efforts, utilizing 6,000 people in 850 languages in 50 countries. With these translation rates, Ted Bergman of the Summer Institute of Linguistics speculates that by 2007-2022 the Bible with be universally translated (McDowell, TNE, 9).
From the time of Diocletian’s edict to destroy Scripture in A.D. 303, until the modern movement of Marxism, the Bible has suffered massive persecution. French infidel, Voltaire predicted that Christianity would be eradicated within 100 years. Ironically Diocletian’s effort was thwarted as Constantine adopted Christianity as the religion of Rome and Voltaire’s own printing press was used to print Bibles by the Geneva Bible Society (McDowell, TNE, 10).

McDowell, Josh. The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999.

Observing Truth

Archaeology and Science are uncovering Truths of God’s creation from the sub-atomic level to the vastness of space. The Anthropic Principle states that the universe is specifically tailored for man’s benefit; on this point, some astronomers and Scripture agree. Genesis 1:26 states, “And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” Two major tenants of Science are observation and hypothesis; albeit, merely dissecting and cataloging an object or animal does not reveal its genesis or life-force, this is where fact meets faith. God’s fingerprints are apparent on every quark-sized bit of His Creation. In the dead social emptiness left by Postmodernist movement, the world is hungry for truth. Our task as Christians is to know our Father through His Word and to communicate this Truth to the world in an intelligent method.

Archaeology has uncovered a body of documents since 1935 known as the Lachish Letters. These documents consist mostly of ostraca, or shards of pottery, inscribed in ink. They are record of the time period before the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Interestingly, an imprint of the seal of Gedaliah, a property owner, was discovered in Lachish. This melds seamlessly with the Scripture, that records the name of Gedaliah in II Kings 25:22, "And as for the people that remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler"(McDowell, TNE, 114).

There is much material evidence that speaks of the truth of The Bible's inerrancy, but the genuine test of its veracity is the undeniable effect of it on men's life.

McDowell, Josh. The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict. Nashville:Thomas
Nelson Publishers,1999.