Can We Trust The Bible Series

CAN WE TRUST THE BIBLE?

by

Randy A. Croft

Tonight’s question is a popular one among Christians and non-Christians alike?

The Bible. Is it reliable? Is it all myth? Just good literature? Or God’s word? Can we trust it?

I want to present four reasons why I believe in the reliable and trustworthiness of the Bible.

4 Reasons Why Reliable

(1) Archeology

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Many people have become more convinced through the recent discover of an old ossuary. Listen to the report as described by an archeology magazine (Biblical Archeology Review). "An inscription has been found on an ancient bone box, called an ossuary, that reads “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus...The Aramaic words etched on the box’s side show a cursive form of writing used only from about 10 to 70 A.D., according to noted paleographer André Lemaire of the École Pratique des Hautes Études (popularly known as the Sorbonne University) in Paris, who verified the inscription’s authenticity. The ossuary has been dated to approximately 63 A.D.In the first century A.D., Jews followed the custom of transferring the bones of their deceased from burial caves to ossuaries. The practice was largely abandoned after the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 A.D. No one knows for certain why the practice started or stopped, but it provides a rare period of self-documentation in which commoners as well as leaders left their names carved in stone.

Also very interestings is the finding that...Laboratory tests performed by the Geological Survey of Israel confirm that the box’s limestone comes from the Jerusalem area. The patina--a thin sheen or covering that forms on stone and other materials over time--has the cauliflower-type shape known to develop in a cave environment; more importantly, it shows no trace of modern elements."

In other words... this ancient ossuary is authentic, from the first century, and is written about the time of Jesus. Even the stone particles verify it’s authenticity.

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Critics used to laugh about the Hittites, a people mentioned in the Bible about 40 times. No evidence, until this century, archeological writings discovered in Turkey list them as a powerful nation that once attacked Egypt.

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Speaking of Egypt...the bible says the Egyptians forced their slaves to make bricks mixed with straw. For years critics would deride the biblical account until this century when archeology uncovered "wola" straw mixed in bricks. Fee (p 82).

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Joseph was the a Hebrew slave in the Bible who became the second most powerful ruler in Egypt. For years people laughed at the idea of a Hebrew Vice President. While in Egypt, according to the bible, God showed Joseph what was going to happen in Egypt. Gen 41:28-30 7 years of abundance/famine. People use to laugh at this story until this century. Archeologists--inscription chiseled on a rock which radiocarbon dating dates back to time of Egyptian kings. It says "I collected corn, I was watchful in time of sowing, and when a familiar famine arose lasting many years, I distributed corn...The Nile has not overflowed for a period of 7 years. Herbage fails. The storehouses were built. And all that was in them has been consumed." Just like biblical account. Also true, archeologists found an Egyptian tomb with grave paintings of 7 fat cows next to 7 skinny cows, 7 fat ears of corn next to 7 skinny ones. Somebody recorded it who lived through it.

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Also fascinating in last verses of Genesis, the Bible says Josephs bones were carried back to Palestine and in Joshua 24 says buried at Shechem. For centuries there was a tomb at Shechem that many believed was the tomb of Joseph. Superstition said the critics. No Egyptian leader would be buried outside of Egypt. In the 1950’s they opened the tomb. Guess what they found. A body mummified like only in Egypt, and in the tomb, among other things, was a sword of the kind worn only by Egyptian officials.

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The Sumerian King List (pictured here), for example, lists kings who lived and ruled for long periods of time. Then a great flood came. Following the flood, Sumerian kings ruled for much shorter periods of time. This is the same pattern found in the Bible. Men had long life spans before the flood and shorter life spans after the flood. The flood story in the bible is recorded in a similar way on the 11th tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic. Though it differs in some areas, it speaks of an ark, animals taken on the ark, birds sent out during the course of the flood, the ark landing on a mountain, and a sacrifice offered after the ark landed.

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I’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg concerning the amazing discoveries people have found while digging around in the bible lands. And the findings are confirming the truthfulness of the bible over and over and over again.