FOR SUPREME INFORMATION ON CREATIONISM GO TO WWW.ICR.ORG
INTRO:
The Bible has been called the Greatest Book in the World. It is, at the same time, both the most read and most loved Book of all time, and the most hated and most ridiculed Book of all time.
-Cable Television’s czar, Ted Turner, mocks the Bible and calls Christians losers.
-The 18th century humanist Thomas Paine said that the Bible was more likely "the work of a demon" than the Word of God.
-The millionaire Robert Ingersoll claimed that only the ignorant could believe in the inspiration of this Book.
Which brings me to the question I want to ask tonight: Is the Bible true?
-Do you have to check your brains at the door to believe that the Bible is God’s Word?
-Can you be intellectually honest and believe that this Book, cover to cover, is the truth?
-Are its claims reliable?
-Can the Bible be trusted?
I. THE BIBLE CLAIMS FOR ITSELF DIVINE INSPIRATION
A. It’s writers claim to have written for God
1. The word "scripture" refers to that which has been written down.
a. That which is written is inspired – God breathed.
b. The words on this page began with God.
2. All scripture means that every word is inspired and that every word is equally inspired.
a. There are no errors – no myths, no fallacies, no fact that can be debunked.
b. There are no contradictions - every word agrees with every other word because
they all come from the same source – the mind of God.
That’s an impressive claim, but you would expect no less of a Book that claims to have a supernatural origin.
B. Jesus accepted it as truth
1. He referred to the creation as a literal event.
2. He spoke of the first man Adam as an historical figure.
3. He spoke of the miracles of the Bible as fact.
This is a book that claims to be true – unmixed with error of any kind.
But can we believe that and be intellectually honest?
In the 2nd millennium AD, can we still have complete trust in the Bible?
II. HOW DID WE GET THE BIBLE?
God could have sent down the Bible, bound in black leather, with gilded edges, sewn with silk, with every word printed in indelible India ink.
-He chose instead to give it to us in a way that is so unique that it is one of the outstanding evidences of its supernatural origin.
*40 men were used to record these words
*They wrote over a period of 1500 years
*They inscribed God’s word on sheepskin and goatskin, papyrus and parchment.
*It was written in different settings
-The first five books were written in the desert wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula.
-At least four letters of Paul were written while he was in prison.
-Daniel wrote from the courts of Babylon
-Some of the psalms were written while David kept sheep in the hills of Judea
It was originally written in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek
Yet, when you read the Bible as a whole, recorded over all those years by so many different men, written under so many different conditions, you will find that it tells one story and follows one theme.
-It bears the mark of one author – God.
-And there are literally thousands of manuscripts spanning hundreds of years, preserving the complete text of the Bible intact and unaltered proving that the Bible we hold in our hands accurately preserves all that was written. That cannot be said of the writings of Shakespeare or any other book of antiquity.
III. INTERNAL PROOFS OF THE BIBLE’S INSPIRATION.
A. Is the Bible Scientifically accurate
1. The Bible is not a textbook on science, but it is scientifically accurate…
a. In the 10th century BC, Solomon wrote that God inscribed a circle on the face
of the deep – that the face of the oceans is rounded, not flat. Proverbs 8:27
b. In the 8th century BC, Isaiah wrote that God is seated above the circle of the
earth – that from space you see a rounded, or spherical, earth. Isaiah 40:22
c. Job, the oldest book in the Bible, written about 2000 BC, stated that God hung the earth on nothing. Job 26:7
***Hindus taught that the earth was supported on the back of a giant elephant that stood on the back of a giant turtle and when the elephant wiggled, it caused an earthquake.
***Greek mythology taught that the earth was supported on the shoulders of Atlas.
One of the evidences of the supernatural origin of this book is that there is not one single absurd myth or legend or fable found within its pages.
2. Concerning the origin of life,
-The Bible begins, without preamble, fanfare, or embellishment, that "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth."
**Of course, the scientist, the professor, the teacher, and the filmmaker will tell you that the Biblical account of creation has been proven to be a myth. We have evolved through a series of "beneficial accidents" – mutations – that have resulted in all the different species we see today.
***As some poet has written:
"Once I was a tadpole, beginning to begin; then I was a frog, with my tail tucked in. Then I was a monkey in a Banyan tree. Now, I am a professor with a Ph.D.
Well, neither reason nor scientific discovery supports the claim of the evolutionist.
8 Since 1906, evolutionists have hung their hopes on a tiny species called drosophila – the common fruit fly.
8 Drosophila reaches maturity in only 5 days, and its entire life cycle is over in 10 days.
8 It only has 4 chromosomes, which, from the standpoint of the evolutionist, makes it a very simple life form.
8 For nearly 100 years now, the lowly fruit fly has been bombarded with x-rays and poisoned by chemicals in hope of producing an evolutionary change - a new species.
8 In this time, the scientist has been able to observe in a few years millions of generations of drosophila.
8 The experiments produced all kinds of genetic monstrosities – blind flies, wingless flies, flies without eyes, flies without legs.
8 Breeding mutants with mutants, the scientists discovered that in just a few life cycles, the flies begin to repair the genetic damage and return to normal.
8 No matter what is done, drosophila always remains a fruit fly. It cannot produce a new species.
Genesis one teaches what scientists must reluctantly admit – that plants, animals, and all the creatures of the earth can only produce after his kind.
Careful breeding will produce a wonderful diversity.
Horticulturists have produced dozens of varieties of roses. It is still a rose….
Through careful breeding, the rancher has produced a variety of horses, chickens, and cattle. But a cow cannot be bred to have feathers. A horse cannot be bred to have wings. A chicken cannot be bred to have hooves. Breeding does not produce new genes. It does not produce a new species. A horse, by any other shape, or color, or size, will always be a horse!
B. Is the Bible Historically accurate
1. For years, so-called scholars pointed to the first five books of the Bible as one
proof that the Bible was full of errors.
a. Their reason? Moses is identified as the writer and, the scoffers smugly pointed
out, writing hadn’t been invented yet.
b. Now we know that the scholars were wrong and the Bible was accurate.
c. Archaeological finds have proven that man had been writing for over 4 centuries
before Moses.
2. For decades, scoffers have claimed that many of the personalities of the Bible
never existed.
a. In 1961, archaeologists uncovered an inscription of dedication at Caesarea
Maritima in Israel from "Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea to Caesar Tiberius."
b. In 1990, workers constructing a park Just south of the Old City of Jerusalem
discovered an ancient burial vault. Experts were called in to examine the find.
Within, they found 12 ossuaries – small burial boxes. The most ornate of the
boxes contains an inscription identifying the remains as those of the High
Priest Caiaphas.
C. Is the Bible Spiritually accurate
1. Many people will agree the Bible is a good book, but it’s more than that….
2. Its reliability in every other area forces us to make a decision about what it says concerning "spiritual" truths.
a. About our sinfulness
b. About our inability to save ourselves
c. About the one way of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
Dr. W.A. Criswell tells of a small New Testament that was taken from the breast-pocket of a fallen American soldier in Vietnam, a young boy from Georgia. When Mr. Pat Zondervan held up that New Testament before the congregation of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Dr. Criswell could see the light of a bullet hole through its middle. Later, when Dr. Criswell held it in his hands, he saw that the pages were stained with the blood of that fallen soldier. Flipping through it, he found an inscription in the back that had survived intact. It read, "On this date, I Wilton Thomas take Jesus Christ as my personal Savior." Then it was signed and dated by the hand of that young man. That is what the Bible is for. It is not to amaze us with its scientific accuracy or impress us with its historical integrity, but to lead us to a personal knowledge of God through Jesus Christ as
Savior.
