Answering Our Culture
#3 – “You Can’t Trust the Bible
Isaiah 40:8, Matthew 24:35
August 4, 2002
Introduction
Before we get started, I just want to warn you that we will not get all the way through our outline today.
I printed out the outline, hopeful that I would be able to cover everything today, but to do that we would have to skip lunch, and that’s just not an option, know what I mean?
So we will pick it up in two weeks after I return from Chicago.
I also need to tell you that this particular message will not be the one you should use to impress your friends regarding my dazzling ability to preach.
I will be bringing out a lot of historical fact regarding the historical reliability of the Bible, and while the information will be valuable, this is not one that will keep you awake late at night, okay? Let’s get started.
Charles Templeton was a young journalist on the sports staff of the Toronto Globe when he came to a point in his life when he was tired of the lifestyle he was leading.
One night after attending a strip club, he felt the need for forgiveness, and kneeling by his bed, prayed for God to cleanse his soul, turning his life over to Jesus Christ.
Years later, he teamed up with a young Billy Graham to preach at Youth for Christ rallies around Europe, and later founded a church that regularly saw over 1200 per week.
He was cruising along in ministry.
Until he started to consider some of the doubts that had been gnawing inside him for years.
And one day, he saw a cover of Life magazine showing an African mother holding her baby, dead because of the famine that devastated her country.
That did it. He left the ministry, and became an agnostic, someone who does not necessarily deny that God exists, like the atheist, but rather someone who simply feels that one cannot truly know if God exists.
He is still alive today, and has written books about his agnosticism.
So the question comes? How can we know if there is a God? That’s a good question, and my basic answer is that we can know because the Bible says so.
But how can we know the Bible is true? Can we really trust a book that’s thousands of years old and translated thousands of times?
I hope to be able to answer those questions, and some others as well as we move along this morning.
There is no question that I believe that the Bible is the Word of God, and that it can be trusted completely. I don’t apologize for that view, and you need to know that that’s my perspective as I discuss these things.
But let me make a bit of a disclaimer here. I don’t promise to have all the answers, and I don’t promise that you will be satisfied with all the aspects of the questions I talk about today. After all, satisfaction is in the eye of the beholder, isn’t it?
But I do promise to do my best, and to be available for any questions you might have concerning this very important topic.
With all that, let me ask that you would be open-minded enough to honestly consider the validity of what I will share today.
If I do not answer your questions today, or you would like me to answer them more fully, please contact me through the contact information on the front of the CD, or just go to aberdeenwesleyan.org and click on the e-mail link to me.
Also, if you don’t have a Bible that is in easy-to-read English, please let me know. I would love to give you a Bible free of charge for you to keep.
Before we go any further, I want to read two passages of Scripture that I want you to keep in mind during our time.
The first is from the Old Testament.
ISA 40:8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."
The next is from the New Testament, where Jesus says in Matthew 24:35 –
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Let’s get started, shall we? The first question is really the root of much of the discussion around the trustworthiness of the Bible, and that is…
I. How do we know the Bible we have today is accurate?
In the evangelical Christian world, we use the term “inerrant” to describe the Scriptures as God delivered them. We believe that when the Scriptures were originally penned by all those people, they were totally and completely without error.
That is not to say that small errors have not crept in the various copies over time, but the message has stayed the same over the centuries.
But acknowledging that, let’s look at three questions about how the Bible came to us. The first question is…
A. Can we trust the copying process?
I have already said that it is possible for small errors to have crept in to the Bible we have today, but I want to take some time discussing the process for copying the Scriptures. Because of time, I cannot give you a ton of detail, but I can point you to mountains of evidence of reliable transmission of the Bible.
We obviously don’t have the original documents of the Bible. They were written on materials that deteriorated over time, just like our current materials. So how do we know the copyists got it right?
Let me focus on the Old Testament for just a bit.
The process used by the Jewish scribes is nothing short of fascinating. These men were not just meticulous, they were downright fanatical about getting it just right.
They used a highly specific system that assured that all copies were totally accurate.
Let me just read a few of the rules that had to be observed when copying the Old Testament through the time of Christ.
A synagogue roll must be written on the skins of clean animals.
Every skin must contain a certain number of columns, equal throughout the entire codex.
The length of each column must not extend over less than 48 or more than 60 lines; and the breadth must consist of thirty letters.
No word or letter, not even a yod, must be written from memory, the scribe not having looked at the codex before him.
Between every consonant the space of a hair or thread must intervene.
The fifth book of Moses must terminate exactly with a line; but the rest need not do so.
Not begin to write the name of God with a pen newly dipped in ink,
And should a king address him while writing that name he must take no notice of him.
After a copy was made, the copy was examined and if everything was in order, the copy was kept. If an error was found, it was destroyed.
As for the New Testament, there is more evidence for the documentary reliability of the New Testament than for all other ancient documents, not just in numbers but in amount of manuscripts dating from the earliest centuries.
I am going to get a bit technical here, but hang tight, okay? And if you miss something, be sure to listen to the tape or CD to get the info.
There are approx. 5,000 copies, either in whole or in part of the Greek New Testament. Compare that to the closest competitor, Homer’s Iliad. There are about 640 copies of his writings.
But here’s the kicker: the earliest copies we have of the Iliad are dated about 500 years after it originally appeared.
With the New Testament, we have the earliest copies dated within the 2nd century, about 25 years after it was completed.
The importance of this is that we have portions of the New Testament that existed within the generation of those who wrote it, and within the lifetimes of those who could have disputed the information of the New Testament.
If you really care to see the overwhelming evidence about the reliability of the New Testament, there are a number of sources you could consult, especially the book, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, by Josh McDowell.
When you honestly consider the facts, you cannot deny that from a historical standpoint, the reliability and integrity of the New Testament is beyond question.
You can be sure that the Bible we have today is an accurate reproduction of what was received from the Biblical authors.
The next question I want to address regarding the Bible is…
B. Who put the Bible together?
One of the charges leveled against the Bible, and especially the New Testament is that it was put together by a bunch of old white-haired oppressive Christians who decided what would be included so they could control the Christian church.
So, just how did we get it?
First, let me mention that the Old Testament of the Christian Bible is the same collection that was and is recognized by the Jewish community today.
Our Old Testament contains all the books and writings of the Hebrew Scriptures, and these had been held as the authoritative Scripture for centuries before the time of Christ.
As for the New Testament, there was indeed a time when the Church leaders came together to discuss the need to formally decide which writings would be included in the official collection of New Testament Scripture.
The reason for this was that false teachings were beginning to appear that were contrary to what the apostles had been teaching.
So the church leaders came together to seek God’s will in determining what was Scripture and what was not.
The main qualification of inclusion was that the books or letters had to be written by an apostle, or a follower of an apostle.
As these were examined for accuracy, they were also examined as to how they had been used in the church, and if God had already been using them in the lives of the people in a way that was consistent with the message of Christ recorded by the eyewitnesses.
The council did not actually decide what would be called the Word of God; they merely formally recognized what God was already using in the lives of His church.
Again, there is just a ton of information about this, and I would be glad to point you to it if you desire.
Now we’ll move on to the last question we will deal with today:
C. Aren’t the stories of Jesus just legends?
Let me start off by saying that there is no question that Jesus of Nazareth existed, and lived during the time claimed by the New Testament. He is mentioned in sources other than the Bible, and the actual fact that a historical Jesus of Nazareth has been well established.
But the main questions are centered around his miracles, and especially His death and resurrection.
I am going to deal with these in particular in later messages, but let me just get to the bedrock issue: can we trust what the New Testament writers said about Jesus?
Let me give you just a couple reasons for believing what the Bible says about Jesus.
First, they were generally eyewitness accounts. Matthew and John were written by the apostles of the same name. Luke was written by an associate of the apostle Paul, and in the opening verses of Luke, he describes how he took great care to separate fact from fiction in writing that gospel. Mark was written by an associate of the apostle Peter.
These gospels came out during the lifetimes of not just the apostles, but during the lifetimes of those who could bring information that would discredit the apostles’ accounts of Christ.
In other words, plenty of people could have come forward to refute the written reports of Jesus, and this is especially important when we look at the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Second, and I think just as importantly, the writers of the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament were willing to die for what they wrote.
That does not prove they are true, but I can tell you that no one will willingly die for what they know is not true.
The apostles would not have gone to their deaths at the hands of hateful people if they had merely written legend.
Aside from this, there is much archeological evidence that the New Testament was right on the money in describing geography and political leaders.
Conclusion
Well, we need to wrap it up for today. I’m sorry we didn’t get all the way through the outline, but I think you’ll understand why I didn’t want to just gloss over the material presented today.
I think you will see why I think we can trust the Bible, even without the rest of the material. But you’ll want to get the next message so you can have a more thorough understanding of why a thinking person can place their trust in the Scriptures, without having to throw away your reasoning skills.
Christianity is a reasonable faith, not a blind faith. By placing your trust in the Bible, you are merely recognizing that it can stand up to the scrutiny of reasonable people, including yourself.
So won’t you do that today? Read it for yourself, check out the evidence, and ask God to show you whether or not it’s true.
Go to the primary source. The eyewitness accounts of those who lived with and loved Jesus so much that it cost them their very lives.
And if I can answer any questions you may have, I again invite you to contact me and I would love to sit down and have a cup of coffee or something with you and discuss it.
God bless you and have a great day!
Shall we pray.
