Answering Our Culture
#4 – “You Can’t Trust the Bible” (Part 2)
Isaiah 40:8, Matthew 24:35
August 18, 2002
Introduction
There’s a story of a guy on an airplane who was an atheist. He was sitting next to a little girl who was traveling alone, and the little girl brought out a Bible to read during the trip.
The man struck up a conversation with the little girl, and after a while, he asked her about her Bible.
“Do you like reading that Bible?” “Yes, I do,” she replied.
“How do you know it’s true?” “Because it’s God’s Word.”
“Yeah, but take Jonah and the Whale. Do you really believe that?” “Yes, I do.”
“How can you explain how God would make a whale swallow a man like that?”
“I don’t know. I guess I’ll ask Jonah when I get to heaven.”
“What if Jonah’s not in heaven?” “Then you can ask him.”
This message is part 2 of a message I began last week, about how we can trust the Bible.
How can we trust such an ancient document? How can it speak today when it was written so many thousands of years ago?
Can it really be the Word of God?
It is my hope that some of these concerns can be answered somewhat during these messages, particularly today.
Let’s take a moment to review what we covered last week, okay?
The main question we looked at last week regarding this topic of trusting the Bible was, “How do we know the Bible we have today is accurate?”
I’ve included the same outline as last week, with the blanks filled in for what we covered last week.
To help us with the main question, we looked at three other questions: Can we trust the copying process? Who put the Bible together? And, Aren’t the stories of Jesus just legends?
And we looked at the incredible exactness of the process of making all the hand-copied texts of the Old Testament, and the huge amount of Greek manuscripts dating within time periods that would keep errors of any significance from cropping up.
We looked at how our New Testament was put together by men who examined the documents written by apostles and their close associates, and looked to see which of these were universally recognized as being used by God in the lives of the Church.
And we discussed how the Gospels were written well within the time that would not allow legends to be presented as truth, since they were written within the lifetimes of the apostles and the enemies of Christ and His church.
Today we look at a couple other areas: contradictions and problems, and why I trust the Bible.
My intention today is to give you some things to think about, and I invite you to honestly consider what I’m about to tell you in our time together today.
You may not get all your questions answered, so if that’s the case, please contact me and I’d be glad to sit down with you over a cup of coffee or something and talk.
I pray that you will be blessed by what you hear today. Let’s get started, shall we?
I. “Contradictions and Problems.”
One of the things I hear when discussing the Bible is that it is full of contradictions.
Usually when I ask them to show me one, they cannot, because they’re just repeating what they’ve been told regarding the Bible.
So I went in search of some of what people call contradictions and problems.
And I did not go to the Christian books to tell me what these issues were. I went to atheist and agnostic web-sites to see what the current culture is saying about the Bible.
There were a number of issues that would take us the better part of a year to cover, but I found what I think are some of the more common objections and want to discuss three of them right now.
The first one is…
A. Miracles cannot happen.
The issue is that since miracles are not provable, they cannot happen. For instance, since it is physically impossible for the Red Sea to be parted, it did not happen. Or since it is impossible for dead people to rise from the dead, than it did not happen, no matter who claims it did.
There is a presupposition underlying these statements. And that is that nothing can happen except what can be observed by the senses.
In other words, since miracles go against what has been observed in the natural world, miracles cannot exist.
Men like David Hume and Antony Flew are the main proponents of this argument. And to be fair to them, neither of them is so bold as to say that miracles cannot happen. They simply argue against the believability of miracles, saying the amount of evidence is weak, if not non-existent. And they feel that a reasonable and wise man cannot believe in miracles.
But here’s what I want to challenge you with. Just because something has not been observed does not mean it cannot happen.
I’m not a scientist, nor a mathematician. In fact, I was the poster child for math anxiety when I was in college.
I cannot discuss the scientific or mathematical improbabilities of miracles.
I can only say that the possibility of miracles must exist, because while they may not be normal (they wouldn’t be miracles if they were), they cannot be dismissed as impossible.
No one knows everything. So I challenge you to think of this question: is it possible that miracles exist outside of your knowledge? Is it possible that miracles could exist outside current human knowledge?
To deny that possibility is to be arrogant beyond even most atheists such as Hume and Flew.
And while I cannot give you a ton of empirical evidence for the existence of miracles, my main goal here is to challenge your thinking, particularly in a couple areas.
First, as I have mentioned, the possibility of miracles cannot be denied.
Second, we have eyewitness testimony of numerous miracles in the Bible. And because of what we discussed last week, and what we will discuss later in the message, I am prepared to accept that eyewitness testimony as fact.
The second problem or contradiction is the account of the…
B. Demon-possessed men (?).
Many people are familiar with the story of Jesus driving out the demons from a man, and sending these demons into a herd of pigs, and those pigs consequently drown themselves. We find the story in Mark and Luke.
However, the story also appears in Matthew, but it describes two demon-possessed men, not just one.
Which one is right? Which one is wrong?
The easy answer is that they are both right, because if there were two men, then there was surely one, right?
But let me give a fuller answer to the question, because there is an answer, and people deserve a real answer.
Here it is: the writers of Mark and Luke focused on the man who did the talking, the man who was plagued with the demons who called themselves, “Legion.”
This is not unusual. If I were to visit with you about my church, I would most likely say something like, “I’ve got this one guy at my church who really likes to sing.”
Well, chances are that I have more than one man who likes to sing, but you sense the emphasis that there is one in particular who enjoys singing.
In this case, Mark and Luke focus on the main character, and Matthew is adding detail. You will notice in all of these accounts that they agree on what happened to the demons and the pigs.
Matthew was not contradicting the other accounts; he was bringing out more detail.
The same is true for the accounts of blind Bartemaeus, where Matthew mentions his companion, and Luke does not.
The third issue we will look at today is…
C. Contradictory resurrection accounts/resurrection could not have occurred.
I’m going to spend a bit of time here, because the resurrection is so crucial and essential to the Christian faith, that we don’t want anyone to miss the reality of it because of some perceived contradictions.
One gospel mentions one angel, another gospel mentions two – which is it? As I mentioned earlier about the demon-possessed men, if there were two, then there was surely one.
But let’s go just a bit farther, because I do not want to be accused of oversimplifying the issue.
Matthew says an angel came down and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. As Mary Magdalene and the other Mary approached, the angel told them to not be afraid, and to look in to see that Jesus was gone.
Mark says that when the women arrived, the stone had already been moved, and an angel was sitting inside the tomb.
And then Luke says that when the women entered the tomb, there were two angels. What’s the scoop here?
(Note – this next section is borrowed from In Defense of the Faith, by Dave Hunt (1996; Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR)
First, Matthew does not say that the women saw the angel outside and he invited them in. This is not stated in any of the four gospels.
Matthew begins the story from the point of view of the Roman soldiers, who, seeing the angel roll away the stone and sit on it became terrified and fled to the city.
After the soldiers left, the angel went inside the tomb to await the women.
Both Matthew and Mark say that the angel invited the women to look where Jesus had laid.
As to the second angel not being mentioned by Matthew and Mark, it is simply again the emphasis being placed on the one doing the speaking, and is a normal variation one would expect from two true accounts of the same event given from two different perspectives.
Other perceived contradictions can be explained with reasoned thinking.
But let me shift the focus for just a minute to the resurrection itself. There are many people who object to the resurrection, and I want to summarize the objections by responding to them, in order to save some time.
Again, I will probably not answer everyone’s objections, and I would never be so arrogant as to say that you should accept my explanations without investigation.
I would be happy to supply anybody the documentation for what I am saying.
Generally, the main objections are that Jesus didn’t really die, and that the resurrection accounts are just legend.
Friend, I can tell you that when Roman centurions executed someone, they knew what they were doing. It was their job to make sure crucifixions took place without incident.
They made sure Jesus was dead by stabbing Him with the spear, and blood and water flowed out. Medical experts say this happens when the sac around the heart is torn or pierced, and death has occurred.
Also keep in mind that fact that the scourging He received before the crucifixion would have killed some men.
He was dead on the cross.
As to the resurrection legends, let me just say that the eyewitness accounts of Jesus being dead and then alive are overwhelming in number, with over 500 people seeing Jesus alive and victorious after being dead and sealed in the tomb.
The circumstances surrounding the Roman guard at the tomb, the size of the stone, the preparation of the body for burial, and all sorts of stuff are incredible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead.
The evidence for the resurrection is phenomenal, and it is available for anyone to examine.
I could spend a lot of time discussing all the issues and objections, but I’m going to move on to the next section. But let me invite you to contact me if you have further questions.
Also, there are a number of books that can be read, including Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell, Who Moved the Stone, by Frank Morrison, and a newer book called The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel.
I would truly love to visit with you personally and discuss the issue of the resurrection. I promise that the information I present to you will be reasonable, and I think you will see that the resurrection was a real historical event.
Boy I wish I had the time today to go into it more, maybe in the future. But we need to move on.
I want to discuss why I trust the Bible.
II. Why I trust the Bible.
A. Its incredible unity in diversity.
The Bible was written by about 40 different people over a period of about 1500 years, and yet they all agree 100% about what they write about.
Many lived in different places and did not know each other, yet they were in complete agreement.
If you think that’s no big deal, let me challenge you to find any ten people in our world to agree about anything perfectly, especially about religious issues and you’ll have a task of almost impossible proportions.
The authors were men of different occupations and lifestyles agreeing. They were doctors, tax collectors, fishermen, shepherds, kings, farmers, judges, religious leaders, and even a prince of Egypt.
And yet there is perfect agreement. That’s amazing to me.
Next, I trust the Bible because of…
B. Its incredible durability.
I mentioned last week that many efforts have been made to destroy the Bible, and to keep it out of the hands of common people.
Attempts to destroy the Bible have always been a part of this remarkable book’s history. In 303 A.D., for instance, the Roman Emperor Diocletian issued an edict to destroy all Christians and their Bible. The persecution that followed as a result of this edict was one of the most brutal in Roman history. Toward its end, Diocletian ordered a monument to be erected and on it had these triumphant words inscribed, "The name Christian is extinguished." Twenty-five years later, however, Diocletian was dead, and his successor Constantine had legalized Christianity and had ordered Bibles prepared at government expense.
In 1776, Voltaire, the French philosopher, announced that, "One hundred years from my day, there will not be a Bible on earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity-seeker." Yet, one hundred years later, his very own house and press were being used to print and store Bibles by the Geneva Bible Society. Ironically enough, at a public auction held one hundred years to the day of Voltaire’s prediction, the first edition of his work sold for 11¢ but a Bible manuscript was purchased for over half a million dollars!
Modern times are no different. In spite of fierce attacks by secular philosophies and totalitarian governments, more Bibles have been printed in more languages than any other book in each year of the 20th century.
(Rev. Andrew Demotses, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of
America website).
Hitler tried. Others have sought to have it taken away, but here it is, 2000 years after Christ came to earth, and it is still powerful and still changing lives.
Let me read a couple verses real quick that show the durability of the Bible.
ISA 40:8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."
MT24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
God promised that His Word would endure, and He has been faithful in that promise.
The reason for this success is simple; the Bible is true, and truth has the capacity to change lives and to transform people. In spite of its great power, however, the only time a Bible can be defeated is when it remains unopened and unread--then it is powerless.
And so I ask you who would call yourselves Christians: Is this what we have done to the Bible in our homes?
(Rev. Demotses)
Another reason I trust the Bible is because of…
C. It’s incredible truthfulness.
The Bible has shown itself to be truthful in every area, but want to focus a bit on two areas on specific.
1. Historical accuracy.
The Bible is very detailed about historical and geographical information.
When it cites a city or a person, they were real people that archeology has confirmed over time.
In fact, I can say with great confidence that archeology has done nothing but confirm what the Bible says about what is written in its pages.
Ancient cultures such as the Hittites were thought to be legend until archeology found evidence of their society.
Names of government officials in the New Testament have been shown to exist during the time the Bible says, and did what the Bible says.
The historical information contained in the Bible is accurate. This helps me when reading the words of Christ, or other parts of the Bible, because if I can trust the historical events, I can trust the rest.
Second, I can trust the Bible’s truthfulness because of its…
2. Personal impact.
Scripture is meant to transform. It is not meant to be a coffee table decoration or something left in the shelf to gather dust or make you look sort of spiritual.
It’s meant to be read and acted upon with the help of God’s Holy Spirit.
And the lives that have been changed by the Word of God number in the millions and millions and millions.
I am an example of that.
God used His Word to change me from a geeky party-type to a geeky preacher-type.
Just kidding. But He has changed me from a self-centered person to someone who strives to put God and others ahead of my desires.
I’m not perfect yet, but God, through His Word is helping me.
His Word helps me to enjoy the full life that God has for all who call on Christ to forgive their sins and give them eternal life in heaven.
Conclusion
Well, there you go. I believe the Bible can be trusted, and that it is a reasonable belief that can be backed up with evidence from the historical and scientific worlds.
But even with all the evidence and proof in the world, the bottom line is that you must decide whether to believe it or not.
There is faith involved, no question. But you exercise faith every day.
When you are driving, you exercise faith in the driver coming the other way, that he’ll stay on his side of the road.
You exercise faith in the legal system when you are wronged and need to go to court.
You exercise when you sit on a chair, that everything will hold together, even though the chair is made up of molecules that are comprised of atoms that should really be tearing apart rather than coming together in a way that forms wood or steel, or whatever.
But let me tell you something. I understand how hard it can be to put your faith in something, even with evidence that it is solid.
Let me give you a personal example. Last week I was in Chicago, and one evening we went downtown to the Sears Tower, the world’s tallest building.
I am short, and scared of heights. If I was as tall as Lowell over there, I’d be a basket case. We got out of the parking ramp a block away from the building, and I could not even make myself look to the top of the building. After going through the line and getting my ticket, then watching a short movie, we were herded into the elevator to the top. When the door closed, I knew there was no turning back! They showed a movie on the elevator that showed the elevator crashing through the top of the building. That did NOT help. I discovered I was hanging on to the arm of a complete stranger in front of me; a big guy with a tattoo across the back of his neck. I’d like to think he was just as scared as I was!
I practically crawled out of the elevator, and very gingerly walked near one of the windows. Eventually I was able to circle the floor a number of times, each time becoming a little more comfortable.
But here’s the point: even with all the engineering expertise involved, all the solid concrete and steel, and all that, it was still hard for me to put my total faith in the structural integrity of that building.
So I understand how hard it can be. So let me just challenge you to take the Bible, read it for 15-30 minutes a day for a month, and just see if God does not reveal Himself to you and prove His Word as being trustworthy.
Shall we pray.
