How do you know the Bible is true ?
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1374-how-do-you-know-the-bible-is-true
There is more evidence for the God of the Bible than combined by all world religions. For that reason, we should take Jesus words very seriously.
John 14:6, ESV: 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"
The context is Jesus' discourse to his disciples before his crucifixion. He is preparing them for his departure and promising them a place in his Father's house (heaven). When Thomas asks how they can know the way, Jesus gives this statement: Jesus uses the definite article "the" to declare he is not just "a" way among many, but "the" one and only way to the Father. The Greek word for "way" (hodos) means the path, road or journey one must take. Jesus is stating he is the exclusive means to get to the Father and heaven. He reinforces this by adding "No one comes to the Father except through me." This unambiguously excludes any other path or means of salvation. Jesus claims to be not just "the way" but also "the truth and the life" - he is the full revelation of God and the source of eternal life itself. So in this verse, Jesus makes an exclusive claim that he alone is the way to heaven and salvation, rejecting any other religious paths or human efforts to reach God apart from himself. This absolute claim flows from his unique identity as God incarnate and mankind's only redeemer.
John 3:18 (ESV): Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
This verse from the Gospel of John underscores the exclusive nature of salvation through Jesus Christ, similar to John 14:6. Here, the emphasis is on belief in Jesus as the determining factor for one's eternal destiny.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned: This clause offers assurance of salvation to those who place their faith in Jesus. Belief in Jesus is presented as the sole requirement for escaping condemnation.
But whoever does not believe is condemned already: This statement shifts to the fate of those who reject Jesus. The use of "condemned already" suggests that the state of condemnation is a default condition for humanity due to sin, from which only faith in Jesus can deliver.
Because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God: This final phrase clarifies that the basis of condemnation is the refusal to believe in Jesus. The "name" signifies the totality of Jesus' identity and work, including his divinity, his role as Savior, and his sacrificial death and resurrection. Thus, John 3:18 succinctly encapsulates the theological truth that acceptance or rejection of Jesus Christ is the decisive factor in one's eternal judgment, affirming the exclusivity of Jesus as the path to salvation and the dire consequences of unbelief.
1. Theology and philosophy. Both lead to an eternal, self-existent, omnipresent transcendent, conscious, intelligent, personal and moral Creator.
2. The Kalaam Cosmological argument leads to the God of the Bible.
3. The Bible. The Old Testament is a catalog of fulfilled prophecies of Jesus Christ, and his mission, death, and resurrection are foretold with specificity.
4. Archaeology. Demonstrates that all events described in the Bible are historical facts.
5. History. Historical evidence reveals that Jesus Christ really did come to this earth, and really did physically rise from the dead
6. The Bible's witnesses. There are many testimonies of Jesus doing miracles still today, and Jesus appearing to people all over the globe, still today.
7. End times. The signs of the end times that were foretold in the Bible are occurring in front of our eyes. New world order, Israel as a nation, microchip implant, etc.
8. After-life experiences. Credible witnesses have seen the afterlife and have come back and reported to us that the afterlife is real.
1. Syllogistic - Arguments of Gods existence based on positive evidence
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2895-syllogistic-arguments-of-gods-existence-based-on-positive-evidence#8178
2. The Kalaam leads to the God of the Bible
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2877-the-kalaam-leads-to-the-god-of-the-bible
3. Fulfilled prophecies in the bible
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2435-fullfilled-prophecies-in-the-bible
4. Biblical claims confirmed by science
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t3454-biblical-claims-confirmed-by-science
5. Is the Bible Historically Accurate?
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1974-is-the-bible-historically-accurate
6. Noah's Ark has been found with high probability on Mount Ararat
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2940-noah-s-ark-has-been-found-with-high-probability-on-mount-ararat
7. Evidence of Exodus
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1718-evidence-of-exodus
8. Are the Bible & the Gospels Reliable?
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1506-are-the-gospels-reliable
9. Evidence of the historical Jesus
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1676-evidence-of-the-historical-jesus
10. Evidence of the resurrection
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1764-evidence-of-the-ressurrection
11. The Impossible Faith: A Defense of the Resurrection
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2502-the-impossible-faith-a-defense-of-the-resurrection
12. The shroud of turin
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1688-the-shroud-of-turin
13. Near-Death experience, evidence of dualism
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1284-dualism-near-death-experience
1. Only in recent years has science discovered that everything we see is composed of invisible atoms. Here, Scripture tells us that the "things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."
2. At a time when it was believed that the earth sat on a large animal or a giant (1500 B.C.), the Bible spoke of the earth’s free float in space: "He...hangs the earth upon nothing" (Job 26:7).
3. The prophet Isaiah also tells us that the earth is round: "It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth" (Isaiah 40:22). This is not a reference to a flat disk, as some skeptic maintain, but to a sphere. Secular man discovered this 2,400 years later. At a time when science believed that the earth was flat, is was the Scriptures that inspired Christopher Columbus to sail around the world (see Proverbs 3:6 footnote).
4. God told Job in 1500 B.C.: "Can you send lightnings, that they may go, and say to you, Here we are?" (Job 38:35). The Bible here is making what appears to be a scientifically ludicrous statement—that light can be sent, and then manifest itself in speech. But did you know that radio waves travel at the speed of light? This is why you can have instantaneous wireless communication with someone on the other side of the earth. Science didn’t discover this until 1864 when "British scientist James Clerk Maxwell suggested that electricity and light waves were two forms of the same thing" (Modern Century Illustrated Encyclopedia).
5. Job 38:19 asks, "Where is the way where light dwells?" Modern man has only recently discovered that light (electromagnetic radiation) has a "way," traveling at 186,000 miles per second.
6. Science has discovered that stars emit radio waves, which are received on earth as a high pitch. God mentioned this in Job 38:7: "When the morning stars sang together..."
7. "Most cosmologists (scientists who study the structures and evolution of the universe) agree that the Genesis account of creation, in imagining an initial void, may be uncannily close to the truth" (Time, Dec. 1976).
8. Solomon described a "cycle" of air currents two thousand years before scientists "discovered" them. "The wind goes toward the south, and turns about unto the north; it whirls about continually, and the wind returns again according to his circuits" (Ecclesiastes 1:6).
9. Science expresses the universe in five terms: time, space, matter, power, and motion. Genesis 1:1,2 revealed such truths to the Hebrews in 1450 B.C.: "In the beginning [time] God created [power] the heaven [space] and the earth [matter] . . . And the Spirit of God moved [motion] upon the face of the waters." The first thing God tells man is that He controls of all aspects of the universe.
10. The great biological truth concerning the importance of blood in our body’s mechanism has been fully comprehended only in recent years. Up until 120 years ago, sick people were "bled," and many died because of the practice. If you lose your blood, you lose your life. Yet Leviticus 17:11, written 3,000 years ago, declared that blood is the source of life: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood."
11. All things were made by Him, including dinosaurs. Why then did the dinosaur disappear? The answer may be in Job 40:15–24. In this passage, God speaks about a great creature called "behemoth." Some commentators think this was a hippopotamus. However, the hippo’s tail isn’t like a large tree, but a small twig. Following are the characteristics of this huge animal: It was the largest of all the creatures God made; was plant-eating (herbivorous); had its strength in its hips and a tail like a large tree. It had very strong bones, lived among the trees, drank massive amounts of water, and was not disturbed by a raging river. He appears impervious to attack because his nose could pierce through snares, but Scripture says, "He that made him can make his sword to approach unto him." In other words, God caused this, the largest of all the creatures He had made, to become extinct.
12. Encyclopedia Britannica documents that in 1845, a young doctor in Vienna named Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis was horrified at the terrible death rate of women who gave birth in hospitals. As many as 30 percent died after giving birth. Semmelweis noted that doctors would examine the bodies of patients who died, then, without washing their hands, go straight to the next ward and examine expectant mothers. This was their normal practice, because the presence of microscopic diseases was unknown. Semmelweis insisted that doctors wash their hands before examinations, and the death rate immediately dropped to 2 percent. Look at the specific instructions God gave His people for when they encounter disease: "And when he that has an issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number to himself even days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean" (Leviticus 15:13). Until recent years, doctors washed their hands in a bowl of water, leaving invisible germs on their hands. However, the Bible says specifically to wash hands under "running water."
13. Luke 17:34–36 says the Second Coming of Yahshu Messiah will occur while some are asleep at night and others are working at daytime activities in the field. This is a clear indication of a revolving earth, with day and night at the same time.
14. "During the devastating Black Death of the fourteenth century, patients who were sick or dead were kept in the same rooms as the rest of the family. People often wondered why the disease was affecting so many people at one time. They attributed these epidemics to ‘bad air’ or ‘evil spirits.’ However, careful attention to the medical commands of God as revealed in Leviticus would have saved untold millions of lives. Arturo Castiglione wrote about the overwhelming importance of this biblical medical law: ‘The laws against leprosyin Leviticus 13 may be regarded as the first model of sanitary legislation’ (A History of Medicine)." Grant R. Jeffery, The Signature of God With all these truths revealed in Scripture,how could a thinking person deny that the Bible is supernatural in origin? There is no other book in any of the world’s religions (Vedas, Bhagavad-Gita, Koran, Book of Mormon, etc.) that contains scientific truth. In fact, they contain statements that are clearly unscientific. Somebody once said, "Faith in Messiah even is not some blind leap into a dark chasm, but a faith based on established evidence."
The Gospel in Genesis
A Hidden Message
https://www.khouse.org/articles/1996/44/
Claim: There are many contradictions in the Bible
Response: A careful study of the texts, an honest study, gives us the clarity of many minor differences.
To be inerrant, it must be perfect. Is it perfect, that is the test.
If God wrote it Himself, and handed it to us complete, not subject to scribal errors, translation errors, then it would be perfect. No problem with that.
That is not how we got the Bible.
God chose humans, prophets, scribes, servants, to convey His message to us.
Humans sin, humans make mistakes, God knows this.
That's the logical side.
Does God tell us that the current book we have is perfect, anywhere?
Yes, you can pull a verse from Psalms that says something like that, but we must look at the whole.
Is it the KJV that is perfect, as some allege?
The massotetic text, but which version?
The septuagint, but which version?
The septuagint was used extensively by the new testament church, but we know it was flawed, yet it was never criticised by the new testament writers.
Another argument made is that the originals were perfect.
A good argument, a logical argument, allows you to hold to the inerancy of scripture without ever being able to get your hands on an inerrant scripture.
What is the point of holding to innerant originals when they no longer exist? What's the point?
Or, or, I will offer an alternate possibility.
Perhaps God used the prophets and scribes to convey His word to us, sufficient that it is close enough with the checks and balances He built in.
1/ two or three witnesses. No important teaching of scripture stands out falls on one verse. All important teachings are backed by multiple verses, entire chapters.
Line upon line, precept upon precept.
My study indicates it is at least 99%, if not 99.9% correct.
The redundancy eliminates the human portion.
2/ regardless the version, the accuracy of the translation, it is the Holy Spirit that illuminates it to our soul, without which we would have no hope of understanding it.
The KJV is a great translation, still one of the best. The Mormons still use it. How is that working out? The JWs used it for nearly a century, still a cult.
God translates it to us.
We are to read it seeking the truth. We are to read it all.
Not run it through our confirmation bias filters, our charismatic or Calvinist or Arminian clouded lenses, but read it fresh, always seeking His word and His will.
No other work ever written is anything like it, no other work can change lives, put people right.
Only God is perfect. The Bible is close enough.
There are no errors or contradictions in the ORIGINAL TEXTS - if that's what you mean by "Bible". God does not inspire mistakes.
"Let God be true, but every man a liar."
So the OP should read, "Claiming that the copies we based the Bible on have no mistakes is not factual", or contain an explanation so as not to give people the wrong idea.
The COPIES do contain many errors, yes "trivial" ones, mostly obvious typos and such. Nothing that takes away the original meaning. When taking the many THOUSANDS of ancient copies together, it is not difficult to see what the original had to have said.
The bible is NOT just what is derived from the ancient MSS copies will have, but the original text. Thus, to say the Bible has contradictions is to play right into the game of the skeptics, who will then proceed to challenge everything in it. Then you have already largely lost the debate. They will have you running in circles, pointing you back to your own claim of errors/contradictions all the time.
Stick to the original meanings. That is discernible using standard bibliographical comparison techniques.
As even skeptic, New Testament Scholar and Agnostic Bart Ehrman writes:
"In fact, most of the changes found in our early Christian manuscripts have nothing to do with theology or ideology. Far and away the most changes are the result of mistakes, pure and simple—slips of the pen, accidental omissions, inadvertent additions, misspelled words, blunders of one sort or another."
Ask, How does he know that?
Easy, because we KNOW what the original texts say! Else it would be impossible to claim there are mistakes in the copies! One cannot point out mistakes without knowledge of the original.
There are still some texts where content is debated, but none of it changes the meaning of the whole.
"The Bible survives careful investigation in ways that are unique in all literature. Its superiority to attack, its capacity to withstand criticism, and its amazing facility to be proved right are all staggering by any standards of scholarship. Seemingly assured results “disproving” the Bible have a habit of backfiring."
- Dr Clifford A. Wilson, former Director of the Australian Institute of Archaeology
Nelson Glueck - "It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference."
Professor Glueck, recognized as one of the top five of the ‘greats’ in biblical archaeology said, "I have excavated for 30 years with a Bible in one hand and a trowel in the other, and in matters of historical perspective, I have never yet found the Bible to be in error".
William F. Albright wrote, "There can be no doubt that archaeology has confirmed the substantial historicity of Old Testament traditions."
Merrill Unger said, "Old Testament archaeology has rediscovered whole nations, resurrected important peoples, and in a most astonishing manner filled in historical gaps, adding immeasurably to the knowledge of biblical backgrounds."
Millar Burrows: "Archaeology has in many cases refuted the views of modern critics. It has shown in a number of instances that these views rest on false assumptions and unreal, artificial schemes of historical development ... The excessive skepticism of many liberal theologians stems not from a careful evaluation of the available data, but from an enormous predisposition against the supernatural."
...
The testimony to biblical accuracy by real scholars is prevalent.
THE UNIQUENESS AND AUTHENTICITY OF THE BIBLE …
IS UNMATCHED … AND … UNEQUALED !!!
Is the Bible just another “classic piece of literature” … like Homer’s “Odyssey”; or Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet”; or Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”?
Some people have a Bible, but have never opened it. Others have opened it very little.
Still others have no idea what it even is. Many today, make degrading comments about it or mock it’s content and author. A few of us, actually spend time reading it. Some, everyday. And some of us, actually study it with the passion it deserves. Why?
Because … it is the most Unique, most read, most logically consistent, most empirically adequate, most existentially relevant, most authenticated, most criticized collection of documents ever written. Why?
Because … the Bible claims to be the inspired Word of Almighty God.
Of all of the descriptions used to try and define the Bible … the one that may best suit it … is UNIQUE. No other collection of writings, No other book, No other document ever written can offer what the Bible offers. Webster must have been thinking about the Bible when he penned the definition of the word … Unique.
Unique – one and only; single; different from all others; having no like, or equal.
Professor M. Montiero-Williams, former Boden professor of Sanskrit, held the following perspective: “After spending 42 years studying Eastern sacred religions and their writings, you can pile all of the Eastern religious teachings on one side of the study table and the Bible on the opposite side, all alone, by itself. For there is such a wide gap that all of the Eastern writings together can never fill or even come close to matching the uniqueness and utter strength of the Bible. There is a veritable gulf which cannot be bridged over by any science of religious thought.”
The Bible is Unique in it’s Continuity:
Written over a 1500 year span of history; by more than 40 inspired men from every walk of life; in different places; at different times; during different moods; on three continents; in three languages; in a multitude of literary styles; addressing hundreds of controversial subjects which have never been answered fully by man’s explanations.
And, in spite of it’s diversity of times, places and events of history, there is a single redemptive story for all people, for all time, all places, and all events of ongoing history.
And … there is only one main character, which the world admires over any other man to have ever existed … the Man, Jesus Christ.
The Bible is unique in it’s circulation.
The Top 10 Most Printed Books Of All Time:
The Bible , ~5 to 6 billion.
Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong, 900 million.
The Qur'an , 800 million.
Xinhua Zidian , 400 million.
Book of Common Prayer , Thomas Cranmer, unknown.
Pilgrim's Progress , John Bunyan, unknown.
Foxe's Book of Martyrs , John Foxe, unknown.
Book of Mormon , Joseph Smith, Jr., 120 million.
Harry Potter Book 1, J.K. Rowling, 107 million.
And Then There Were None , Agatha Christie, 100 million.
The Bible is unique in it’s survival; it’s teachings; it’s influence on literature; and most important … it’s influence on civilization has been dramatically positive compared to every other writing.
Now, while the skeptic will undoubtedly state that all of this evidence does not prove the Bible is the Word of God … it does prove one thing. The Bible is uniquely superior to every other writing ever made.
Another noted professor once said: “if you claim to be an intelligent person, you will read the one book that has produced more influence on the world than any other.
And … if it’s truth you are searching for … The Bible Qualifies as “THE BOOK OF TRUTH”.
Theodore Roosevelt once observed: “A thorough knowledge of the Bible, is worth more than a college education.
And then there is the issue that no critic of the Bible can HONESTLY deal with.
Prophesy:
Unique among all books ever written, the Bible accurately foretells specific events-in detail-many years, sometimes centuries, before they occur. Approximately 2,500 prophecies appear in the pages of the Bible, about 2,000 of which already have been fulfilled to the letter—no errors. No other religious set of documents has prophesies like the Bible. NONE
So … I always get a kick out of the atheist/evolutionist who make assertions that the Bible was just some old book written by a bunch of 'bronze age goat herders’, or that there is no evidence for God, or that Jesus never existed, or that Jesus was not crucified, or the Bible is full of errors, or the Bible is just like all the rest of religious writings or that Christianity is just another religion.
Those kinds of assertions do prove one thing … the people who say things like this … certainly do not appear to be intelligent enough to comprehend the most influential book and fact of all time … the only book, which explains the Truth of human existence, from start to finish … revealed to mankind by the God who created them.
A LETTER FROM PONTIUS PILATE
https://sci-hub.wf/10.2307/1560249
http://publicchristianity.org/library/can-we-trust-the-bible#.UqRxE-I_Avk
http://www.clarifyingchristianity.com/b_proof.shtml
https://biblicaltheologyofscience.wordpress.com/2016/02/23/debunking-the-myth-that-science-disproves-the-bible/
http://inplainsite.org/html/scientific_facts_in_the_bible.html#SFB02
Science confirms the Bible
Biblical Scriptures should be regarded as the supreme authority for a Christian since they are the revealed Word of God, the primary source of absolute truth. As Christians, we should view the Bible as the unshakable foundation upon which we must build our understanding of the world and the Lord's ways. Science, when genuinely based on evidence and not ideological assumptions, can never contradict the Scriptures because both stem from the same Source of Truth - God. What is often presented as a science-faith conflict actually arises from misinterpretations or misunderstandings on both sides. example, for a long time, science maintained that the universe was static and eternal, contradicting the biblical narrative of a created universe. However, Hubble's discovery of cosmic expansion confirmed the biblical account of a universe that had a definite beginning. Another example is the discoveries of modern hydrodynamics.
Psalms 8:8, part of a Psalm that praises the majesty of God and His creation, says, "the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas." This verse poetically references the natural world, including an intriguing mention of "paths" in the seas, which has historically been interpreted by some as an allusion to the systematic and predictable movements within the oceans, such as currents and migratory routes of sea life. Matthew Fontaine Maury, in the 19th century, took this verse to heart. He was already a distinguished American naval officer and oceanographer, but the verse from Psalms reportedly inspired him to look more deeply into the movements of the oceans. Maury's faith and his scientific curiosity intersected in this pursuit, illustrating how personal beliefs can sometimes spur scientific exploration. Through extensive research, which involved compiling and analyzing thousands of ships' logs and other maritime records, Maury was able to chart ocean currents, winds, and other navigational data with unprecedented precision. His work led to significant improvements in naval navigation by identifying the most efficient routes across the oceans, which benefitted international trade, naval travel, and reduced journey times.
Maury's discoveries of "paths in the seas" can be seen as a practical uncovering of what was poetically described in Psalms 8:8. His charts and writings, especially "The Physical Geography of the Sea" (1855), the first comprehensive book on oceanography, laid foundational principles for oceanography and are still respected for their impact on the safety and efficiency of sea travel. While the scientific process and discoveries are based on empirical evidence and methodology, Maury's story is a fascinating example of how inspiration, from any source, can lead to scientific inquiry and significant discoveries. This blend of faith and science in Maury's life illustrates how the two can coexist and complement each other in the pursuit of understanding the natural world.
The universe had a beginning:
Initial Scientific View: Prior to the 20th century, the prevailing scientific view was that the universe was static, infinite, and eternal, with no beginning or end.
Shift: The discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation and the redshift of galaxies, which supported the Big Bang theory, led to the current scientific consensus that the universe had a beginning—a "singularity" from which it expanded. This idea is more in line with the biblical concept of the universe having a beginning (Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.").
Another example where science initially contradicted but later converged with the Bible is the idea of the earth being suspended in space. Before the scientific revolution, the prevailing belief was that the earth sat on pillars or was supported by some structure. However, the Bible stated in Job 26:7 "He hangs the earth on nothing." This accurately depicted the earth's unsupported suspension in orbit around the sun before this was scientifically understood.
Similarly, the Bible described the earth as a sphere ("circle of the earth" in Isaiah 40:22) centuries before this was confirmed through exploration and scientific study.
Regarding the origin of life,
Initial Scientific View: The theory of spontaneous generation, which held that life could arise from non-living matter, was widely accepted until the 19th century.
Shift: Louis Pasteur's experiments disproved spontaneous generation, supporting the idea that life comes from life. This finding aligns more closely with the biblical account of life being created by God, as some interpret it, rather than arising spontaneously from inanimate matter.
Many pseudoscientific theories have emerged and disappeared over the years, such as atheistic Darwinism, which seeks to explain complex biodiversity without an intelligent Creator. These theories have crumbled and the truth revealed in the Scriptures confirmed. Each creature was created upon its kind.
Population Genetics:
Initial Scientific View: Early interpretations of Darwin's theory of evolution suggested an ancient divergence of human populations and no single point of origin for modern humans.
Shift: Advances in genetics and the study of mitochondrial DNA have led to the "Out of Africa" theory and the concept of a "mitochondrial Eve," suggesting that all humans can trace their ancestry back to a single female ancestor at a specific time in history. While not a direct confirmation of the biblical Eve, this concept of a common ancestor for all humans echoes the biblical narrative of humanity descending from a single pair.
Water on Earth:
While evolutionary theory initially seemed at odds with the Bible's account of creation, modern insights into biochemical complexity, irreducible complexity in molecular machines, and the etymology of genetic information are evidence that an intelligent cause better explains the evidence.
THE reliability of the New Testament gospels, in particular the writings of Luke have been confirmed as very specific detailed first century history, by archeologist Sir William Ramsey, who spent many years digging in Asia Minor, in the 19th century, with the intention as an avowed atheist, of proving the writer of Luke's gospel and also The Acts of the Apostles, was a fraud written many years after the facts recorded! Sir Ramsey declared Luke to be a historian of the first rank, due to his meticulous details on first century boundaries and titles of dignitaries! ( many of which were lost througj obsurity) and resurfaced as fact through Sir Ramseys digging for 40 years! He died as a converted Christian despite his earnest attempts to prove the writer was fake, whom is also verified by Paul's letters as a travel companion! An unbroken chain of evidence leading back to the 5th decade of the first century through Paul's missionary travels and letters! Evidence of the secondary players such as Pontius Pilate, the Nazareth Decree, issued by Emperor Claudius, among many others, also testify to the reliability of the New Testament credibility!
There is more evidence for the God of the Bible than combined by all world religions:
The Bible and external reasons provide powerful, undeniable evidence that demonstrates beyond a reasonable doubt that it is the true word of God:
Positive arguments for Christian theism
The kalam cosmological argument and the Big Bang theory
The fine-tuning argument from cosmological constants and quantities
The origin of life, part 1 of 2: the building blocks of life
The origin of life, part 2 of 2: biological information
The sudden origin of phyla in the Cambrian explosion
Galactic habitable zones and circumstellar habitable zones
Irreducible complexity in molecular machines
The creative limits of natural selection and random mutation
Angus Menuge’s ontological argument from reason
Alvin Plantinga’s epistemological argument from reason
William Lane Craig’s moral argument
The unexpected applicability of mathematics to nature
Arguments and scientific evidence for non-physical minds
William Lane Craig’s case for the resurrection of Jesus
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1374-how-do-you-know-the-bible-is-true
There is more evidence for the God of the Bible than combined by all world religions. For that reason, we should take Jesus words very seriously.
John 14:6, ESV: 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"
The context is Jesus' discourse to his disciples before his crucifixion. He is preparing them for his departure and promising them a place in his Father's house (heaven). When Thomas asks how they can know the way, Jesus gives this statement: Jesus uses the definite article "the" to declare he is not just "a" way among many, but "the" one and only way to the Father. The Greek word for "way" (hodos) means the path, road or journey one must take. Jesus is stating he is the exclusive means to get to the Father and heaven. He reinforces this by adding "No one comes to the Father except through me." This unambiguously excludes any other path or means of salvation. Jesus claims to be not just "the way" but also "the truth and the life" - he is the full revelation of God and the source of eternal life itself. So in this verse, Jesus makes an exclusive claim that he alone is the way to heaven and salvation, rejecting any other religious paths or human efforts to reach God apart from himself. This absolute claim flows from his unique identity as God incarnate and mankind's only redeemer.
John 3:18 (ESV): Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
This verse from the Gospel of John underscores the exclusive nature of salvation through Jesus Christ, similar to John 14:6. Here, the emphasis is on belief in Jesus as the determining factor for one's eternal destiny.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned: This clause offers assurance of salvation to those who place their faith in Jesus. Belief in Jesus is presented as the sole requirement for escaping condemnation.
But whoever does not believe is condemned already: This statement shifts to the fate of those who reject Jesus. The use of "condemned already" suggests that the state of condemnation is a default condition for humanity due to sin, from which only faith in Jesus can deliver.
Because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God: This final phrase clarifies that the basis of condemnation is the refusal to believe in Jesus. The "name" signifies the totality of Jesus' identity and work, including his divinity, his role as Savior, and his sacrificial death and resurrection. Thus, John 3:18 succinctly encapsulates the theological truth that acceptance or rejection of Jesus Christ is the decisive factor in one's eternal judgment, affirming the exclusivity of Jesus as the path to salvation and the dire consequences of unbelief.
1. Theology and philosophy. Both lead to an eternal, self-existent, omnipresent transcendent, conscious, intelligent, personal and moral Creator.
2. The Kalaam Cosmological argument leads to the God of the Bible.
3. The Bible. The Old Testament is a catalog of fulfilled prophecies of Jesus Christ, and his mission, death, and resurrection are foretold with specificity.
4. Archaeology. Demonstrates that all events described in the Bible are historical facts.
5. History. Historical evidence reveals that Jesus Christ really did come to this earth, and really did physically rise from the dead
6. The Bible's witnesses. There are many testimonies of Jesus doing miracles still today, and Jesus appearing to people all over the globe, still today.
7. End times. The signs of the end times that were foretold in the Bible are occurring in front of our eyes. New world order, Israel as a nation, microchip implant, etc.
8. After-life experiences. Credible witnesses have seen the afterlife and have come back and reported to us that the afterlife is real.
1. Syllogistic - Arguments of Gods existence based on positive evidence
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2895-syllogistic-arguments-of-gods-existence-based-on-positive-evidence#8178
2. The Kalaam leads to the God of the Bible
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2877-the-kalaam-leads-to-the-god-of-the-bible
3. Fulfilled prophecies in the bible
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2435-fullfilled-prophecies-in-the-bible
4. Biblical claims confirmed by science
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t3454-biblical-claims-confirmed-by-science
5. Is the Bible Historically Accurate?
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1974-is-the-bible-historically-accurate
6. Noah's Ark has been found with high probability on Mount Ararat
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2940-noah-s-ark-has-been-found-with-high-probability-on-mount-ararat
7. Evidence of Exodus
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1718-evidence-of-exodus
8. Are the Bible & the Gospels Reliable?
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1506-are-the-gospels-reliable
9. Evidence of the historical Jesus
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1676-evidence-of-the-historical-jesus
10. Evidence of the resurrection
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1764-evidence-of-the-ressurrection
11. The Impossible Faith: A Defense of the Resurrection
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2502-the-impossible-faith-a-defense-of-the-resurrection
12. The shroud of turin
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1688-the-shroud-of-turin
13. Near-Death experience, evidence of dualism
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1284-dualism-near-death-experience
1. Only in recent years has science discovered that everything we see is composed of invisible atoms. Here, Scripture tells us that the "things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."
2. At a time when it was believed that the earth sat on a large animal or a giant (1500 B.C.), the Bible spoke of the earth’s free float in space: "He...hangs the earth upon nothing" (Job 26:7).
3. The prophet Isaiah also tells us that the earth is round: "It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth" (Isaiah 40:22). This is not a reference to a flat disk, as some skeptic maintain, but to a sphere. Secular man discovered this 2,400 years later. At a time when science believed that the earth was flat, is was the Scriptures that inspired Christopher Columbus to sail around the world (see Proverbs 3:6 footnote).
4. God told Job in 1500 B.C.: "Can you send lightnings, that they may go, and say to you, Here we are?" (Job 38:35). The Bible here is making what appears to be a scientifically ludicrous statement—that light can be sent, and then manifest itself in speech. But did you know that radio waves travel at the speed of light? This is why you can have instantaneous wireless communication with someone on the other side of the earth. Science didn’t discover this until 1864 when "British scientist James Clerk Maxwell suggested that electricity and light waves were two forms of the same thing" (Modern Century Illustrated Encyclopedia).
5. Job 38:19 asks, "Where is the way where light dwells?" Modern man has only recently discovered that light (electromagnetic radiation) has a "way," traveling at 186,000 miles per second.
6. Science has discovered that stars emit radio waves, which are received on earth as a high pitch. God mentioned this in Job 38:7: "When the morning stars sang together..."
7. "Most cosmologists (scientists who study the structures and evolution of the universe) agree that the Genesis account of creation, in imagining an initial void, may be uncannily close to the truth" (Time, Dec. 1976).
8. Solomon described a "cycle" of air currents two thousand years before scientists "discovered" them. "The wind goes toward the south, and turns about unto the north; it whirls about continually, and the wind returns again according to his circuits" (Ecclesiastes 1:6).
9. Science expresses the universe in five terms: time, space, matter, power, and motion. Genesis 1:1,2 revealed such truths to the Hebrews in 1450 B.C.: "In the beginning [time] God created [power] the heaven [space] and the earth [matter] . . . And the Spirit of God moved [motion] upon the face of the waters." The first thing God tells man is that He controls of all aspects of the universe.
10. The great biological truth concerning the importance of blood in our body’s mechanism has been fully comprehended only in recent years. Up until 120 years ago, sick people were "bled," and many died because of the practice. If you lose your blood, you lose your life. Yet Leviticus 17:11, written 3,000 years ago, declared that blood is the source of life: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood."
11. All things were made by Him, including dinosaurs. Why then did the dinosaur disappear? The answer may be in Job 40:15–24. In this passage, God speaks about a great creature called "behemoth." Some commentators think this was a hippopotamus. However, the hippo’s tail isn’t like a large tree, but a small twig. Following are the characteristics of this huge animal: It was the largest of all the creatures God made; was plant-eating (herbivorous); had its strength in its hips and a tail like a large tree. It had very strong bones, lived among the trees, drank massive amounts of water, and was not disturbed by a raging river. He appears impervious to attack because his nose could pierce through snares, but Scripture says, "He that made him can make his sword to approach unto him." In other words, God caused this, the largest of all the creatures He had made, to become extinct.
12. Encyclopedia Britannica documents that in 1845, a young doctor in Vienna named Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis was horrified at the terrible death rate of women who gave birth in hospitals. As many as 30 percent died after giving birth. Semmelweis noted that doctors would examine the bodies of patients who died, then, without washing their hands, go straight to the next ward and examine expectant mothers. This was their normal practice, because the presence of microscopic diseases was unknown. Semmelweis insisted that doctors wash their hands before examinations, and the death rate immediately dropped to 2 percent. Look at the specific instructions God gave His people for when they encounter disease: "And when he that has an issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number to himself even days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean" (Leviticus 15:13). Until recent years, doctors washed their hands in a bowl of water, leaving invisible germs on their hands. However, the Bible says specifically to wash hands under "running water."
13. Luke 17:34–36 says the Second Coming of Yahshu Messiah will occur while some are asleep at night and others are working at daytime activities in the field. This is a clear indication of a revolving earth, with day and night at the same time.
14. "During the devastating Black Death of the fourteenth century, patients who were sick or dead were kept in the same rooms as the rest of the family. People often wondered why the disease was affecting so many people at one time. They attributed these epidemics to ‘bad air’ or ‘evil spirits.’ However, careful attention to the medical commands of God as revealed in Leviticus would have saved untold millions of lives. Arturo Castiglione wrote about the overwhelming importance of this biblical medical law: ‘The laws against leprosyin Leviticus 13 may be regarded as the first model of sanitary legislation’ (A History of Medicine)." Grant R. Jeffery, The Signature of God With all these truths revealed in Scripture,how could a thinking person deny that the Bible is supernatural in origin? There is no other book in any of the world’s religions (Vedas, Bhagavad-Gita, Koran, Book of Mormon, etc.) that contains scientific truth. In fact, they contain statements that are clearly unscientific. Somebody once said, "Faith in Messiah even is not some blind leap into a dark chasm, but a faith based on established evidence."
The Gospel in Genesis
A Hidden Message
https://www.khouse.org/articles/1996/44/
Claim: There are many contradictions in the Bible
Response: A careful study of the texts, an honest study, gives us the clarity of many minor differences.
To be inerrant, it must be perfect. Is it perfect, that is the test.
If God wrote it Himself, and handed it to us complete, not subject to scribal errors, translation errors, then it would be perfect. No problem with that.
That is not how we got the Bible.
God chose humans, prophets, scribes, servants, to convey His message to us.
Humans sin, humans make mistakes, God knows this.
That's the logical side.
Does God tell us that the current book we have is perfect, anywhere?
Yes, you can pull a verse from Psalms that says something like that, but we must look at the whole.
Is it the KJV that is perfect, as some allege?
The massotetic text, but which version?
The septuagint, but which version?
The septuagint was used extensively by the new testament church, but we know it was flawed, yet it was never criticised by the new testament writers.
Another argument made is that the originals were perfect.
A good argument, a logical argument, allows you to hold to the inerancy of scripture without ever being able to get your hands on an inerrant scripture.
What is the point of holding to innerant originals when they no longer exist? What's the point?
Or, or, I will offer an alternate possibility.
Perhaps God used the prophets and scribes to convey His word to us, sufficient that it is close enough with the checks and balances He built in.
1/ two or three witnesses. No important teaching of scripture stands out falls on one verse. All important teachings are backed by multiple verses, entire chapters.
Line upon line, precept upon precept.
My study indicates it is at least 99%, if not 99.9% correct.
The redundancy eliminates the human portion.
2/ regardless the version, the accuracy of the translation, it is the Holy Spirit that illuminates it to our soul, without which we would have no hope of understanding it.
The KJV is a great translation, still one of the best. The Mormons still use it. How is that working out? The JWs used it for nearly a century, still a cult.
God translates it to us.
We are to read it seeking the truth. We are to read it all.
Not run it through our confirmation bias filters, our charismatic or Calvinist or Arminian clouded lenses, but read it fresh, always seeking His word and His will.
No other work ever written is anything like it, no other work can change lives, put people right.
Only God is perfect. The Bible is close enough.
There are no errors or contradictions in the ORIGINAL TEXTS - if that's what you mean by "Bible". God does not inspire mistakes.
"Let God be true, but every man a liar."
So the OP should read, "Claiming that the copies we based the Bible on have no mistakes is not factual", or contain an explanation so as not to give people the wrong idea.
The COPIES do contain many errors, yes "trivial" ones, mostly obvious typos and such. Nothing that takes away the original meaning. When taking the many THOUSANDS of ancient copies together, it is not difficult to see what the original had to have said.
The bible is NOT just what is derived from the ancient MSS copies will have, but the original text. Thus, to say the Bible has contradictions is to play right into the game of the skeptics, who will then proceed to challenge everything in it. Then you have already largely lost the debate. They will have you running in circles, pointing you back to your own claim of errors/contradictions all the time.
Stick to the original meanings. That is discernible using standard bibliographical comparison techniques.
As even skeptic, New Testament Scholar and Agnostic Bart Ehrman writes:
"In fact, most of the changes found in our early Christian manuscripts have nothing to do with theology or ideology. Far and away the most changes are the result of mistakes, pure and simple—slips of the pen, accidental omissions, inadvertent additions, misspelled words, blunders of one sort or another."
Ask, How does he know that?
Easy, because we KNOW what the original texts say! Else it would be impossible to claim there are mistakes in the copies! One cannot point out mistakes without knowledge of the original.
There are still some texts where content is debated, but none of it changes the meaning of the whole.
"The Bible survives careful investigation in ways that are unique in all literature. Its superiority to attack, its capacity to withstand criticism, and its amazing facility to be proved right are all staggering by any standards of scholarship. Seemingly assured results “disproving” the Bible have a habit of backfiring."
- Dr Clifford A. Wilson, former Director of the Australian Institute of Archaeology
Nelson Glueck - "It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference."
Professor Glueck, recognized as one of the top five of the ‘greats’ in biblical archaeology said, "I have excavated for 30 years with a Bible in one hand and a trowel in the other, and in matters of historical perspective, I have never yet found the Bible to be in error".
William F. Albright wrote, "There can be no doubt that archaeology has confirmed the substantial historicity of Old Testament traditions."
Merrill Unger said, "Old Testament archaeology has rediscovered whole nations, resurrected important peoples, and in a most astonishing manner filled in historical gaps, adding immeasurably to the knowledge of biblical backgrounds."
Millar Burrows: "Archaeology has in many cases refuted the views of modern critics. It has shown in a number of instances that these views rest on false assumptions and unreal, artificial schemes of historical development ... The excessive skepticism of many liberal theologians stems not from a careful evaluation of the available data, but from an enormous predisposition against the supernatural."
...
The testimony to biblical accuracy by real scholars is prevalent.
THE UNIQUENESS AND AUTHENTICITY OF THE BIBLE …
IS UNMATCHED … AND … UNEQUALED !!!
Is the Bible just another “classic piece of literature” … like Homer’s “Odyssey”; or Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet”; or Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”?
Some people have a Bible, but have never opened it. Others have opened it very little.
Still others have no idea what it even is. Many today, make degrading comments about it or mock it’s content and author. A few of us, actually spend time reading it. Some, everyday. And some of us, actually study it with the passion it deserves. Why?
Because … it is the most Unique, most read, most logically consistent, most empirically adequate, most existentially relevant, most authenticated, most criticized collection of documents ever written. Why?
Because … the Bible claims to be the inspired Word of Almighty God.
Of all of the descriptions used to try and define the Bible … the one that may best suit it … is UNIQUE. No other collection of writings, No other book, No other document ever written can offer what the Bible offers. Webster must have been thinking about the Bible when he penned the definition of the word … Unique.
Unique – one and only; single; different from all others; having no like, or equal.
Professor M. Montiero-Williams, former Boden professor of Sanskrit, held the following perspective: “After spending 42 years studying Eastern sacred religions and their writings, you can pile all of the Eastern religious teachings on one side of the study table and the Bible on the opposite side, all alone, by itself. For there is such a wide gap that all of the Eastern writings together can never fill or even come close to matching the uniqueness and utter strength of the Bible. There is a veritable gulf which cannot be bridged over by any science of religious thought.”
The Bible is Unique in it’s Continuity:
Written over a 1500 year span of history; by more than 40 inspired men from every walk of life; in different places; at different times; during different moods; on three continents; in three languages; in a multitude of literary styles; addressing hundreds of controversial subjects which have never been answered fully by man’s explanations.
And, in spite of it’s diversity of times, places and events of history, there is a single redemptive story for all people, for all time, all places, and all events of ongoing history.
And … there is only one main character, which the world admires over any other man to have ever existed … the Man, Jesus Christ.
The Bible is unique in it’s circulation.
The Top 10 Most Printed Books Of All Time:
The Bible , ~5 to 6 billion.
Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong, 900 million.
The Qur'an , 800 million.
Xinhua Zidian , 400 million.
Book of Common Prayer , Thomas Cranmer, unknown.
Pilgrim's Progress , John Bunyan, unknown.
Foxe's Book of Martyrs , John Foxe, unknown.
Book of Mormon , Joseph Smith, Jr., 120 million.
Harry Potter Book 1, J.K. Rowling, 107 million.
And Then There Were None , Agatha Christie, 100 million.
The Bible is unique in it’s survival; it’s teachings; it’s influence on literature; and most important … it’s influence on civilization has been dramatically positive compared to every other writing.
Now, while the skeptic will undoubtedly state that all of this evidence does not prove the Bible is the Word of God … it does prove one thing. The Bible is uniquely superior to every other writing ever made.
Another noted professor once said: “if you claim to be an intelligent person, you will read the one book that has produced more influence on the world than any other.
And … if it’s truth you are searching for … The Bible Qualifies as “THE BOOK OF TRUTH”.
Theodore Roosevelt once observed: “A thorough knowledge of the Bible, is worth more than a college education.
And then there is the issue that no critic of the Bible can HONESTLY deal with.
Prophesy:
Unique among all books ever written, the Bible accurately foretells specific events-in detail-many years, sometimes centuries, before they occur. Approximately 2,500 prophecies appear in the pages of the Bible, about 2,000 of which already have been fulfilled to the letter—no errors. No other religious set of documents has prophesies like the Bible. NONE
So … I always get a kick out of the atheist/evolutionist who make assertions that the Bible was just some old book written by a bunch of 'bronze age goat herders’, or that there is no evidence for God, or that Jesus never existed, or that Jesus was not crucified, or the Bible is full of errors, or the Bible is just like all the rest of religious writings or that Christianity is just another religion.
Those kinds of assertions do prove one thing … the people who say things like this … certainly do not appear to be intelligent enough to comprehend the most influential book and fact of all time … the only book, which explains the Truth of human existence, from start to finish … revealed to mankind by the God who created them.
A LETTER FROM PONTIUS PILATE
https://sci-hub.wf/10.2307/1560249
http://publicchristianity.org/library/can-we-trust-the-bible#.UqRxE-I_Avk
http://www.clarifyingchristianity.com/b_proof.shtml
https://biblicaltheologyofscience.wordpress.com/2016/02/23/debunking-the-myth-that-science-disproves-the-bible/
http://inplainsite.org/html/scientific_facts_in_the_bible.html#SFB02
The Historical Evidence For the Bible
http://www.grantjeffrey.com/article/rockcry.htmScience confirms the Bible
Biblical Scriptures should be regarded as the supreme authority for a Christian since they are the revealed Word of God, the primary source of absolute truth. As Christians, we should view the Bible as the unshakable foundation upon which we must build our understanding of the world and the Lord's ways. Science, when genuinely based on evidence and not ideological assumptions, can never contradict the Scriptures because both stem from the same Source of Truth - God. What is often presented as a science-faith conflict actually arises from misinterpretations or misunderstandings on both sides. example, for a long time, science maintained that the universe was static and eternal, contradicting the biblical narrative of a created universe. However, Hubble's discovery of cosmic expansion confirmed the biblical account of a universe that had a definite beginning. Another example is the discoveries of modern hydrodynamics.
Psalms 8:8, part of a Psalm that praises the majesty of God and His creation, says, "the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas." This verse poetically references the natural world, including an intriguing mention of "paths" in the seas, which has historically been interpreted by some as an allusion to the systematic and predictable movements within the oceans, such as currents and migratory routes of sea life. Matthew Fontaine Maury, in the 19th century, took this verse to heart. He was already a distinguished American naval officer and oceanographer, but the verse from Psalms reportedly inspired him to look more deeply into the movements of the oceans. Maury's faith and his scientific curiosity intersected in this pursuit, illustrating how personal beliefs can sometimes spur scientific exploration. Through extensive research, which involved compiling and analyzing thousands of ships' logs and other maritime records, Maury was able to chart ocean currents, winds, and other navigational data with unprecedented precision. His work led to significant improvements in naval navigation by identifying the most efficient routes across the oceans, which benefitted international trade, naval travel, and reduced journey times.
Maury's discoveries of "paths in the seas" can be seen as a practical uncovering of what was poetically described in Psalms 8:8. His charts and writings, especially "The Physical Geography of the Sea" (1855), the first comprehensive book on oceanography, laid foundational principles for oceanography and are still respected for their impact on the safety and efficiency of sea travel. While the scientific process and discoveries are based on empirical evidence and methodology, Maury's story is a fascinating example of how inspiration, from any source, can lead to scientific inquiry and significant discoveries. This blend of faith and science in Maury's life illustrates how the two can coexist and complement each other in the pursuit of understanding the natural world.
The universe had a beginning:
Initial Scientific View: Prior to the 20th century, the prevailing scientific view was that the universe was static, infinite, and eternal, with no beginning or end.
Shift: The discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation and the redshift of galaxies, which supported the Big Bang theory, led to the current scientific consensus that the universe had a beginning—a "singularity" from which it expanded. This idea is more in line with the biblical concept of the universe having a beginning (Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.").
Another example where science initially contradicted but later converged with the Bible is the idea of the earth being suspended in space. Before the scientific revolution, the prevailing belief was that the earth sat on pillars or was supported by some structure. However, the Bible stated in Job 26:7 "He hangs the earth on nothing." This accurately depicted the earth's unsupported suspension in orbit around the sun before this was scientifically understood.
Similarly, the Bible described the earth as a sphere ("circle of the earth" in Isaiah 40:22) centuries before this was confirmed through exploration and scientific study.
Regarding the origin of life,
Initial Scientific View: The theory of spontaneous generation, which held that life could arise from non-living matter, was widely accepted until the 19th century.
Shift: Louis Pasteur's experiments disproved spontaneous generation, supporting the idea that life comes from life. This finding aligns more closely with the biblical account of life being created by God, as some interpret it, rather than arising spontaneously from inanimate matter.
Many pseudoscientific theories have emerged and disappeared over the years, such as atheistic Darwinism, which seeks to explain complex biodiversity without an intelligent Creator. These theories have crumbled and the truth revealed in the Scriptures confirmed. Each creature was created upon its kind.
Population Genetics:
Initial Scientific View: Early interpretations of Darwin's theory of evolution suggested an ancient divergence of human populations and no single point of origin for modern humans.
Shift: Advances in genetics and the study of mitochondrial DNA have led to the "Out of Africa" theory and the concept of a "mitochondrial Eve," suggesting that all humans can trace their ancestry back to a single female ancestor at a specific time in history. While not a direct confirmation of the biblical Eve, this concept of a common ancestor for all humans echoes the biblical narrative of humanity descending from a single pair.
Water on Earth:
While evolutionary theory initially seemed at odds with the Bible's account of creation, modern insights into biochemical complexity, irreducible complexity in molecular machines, and the etymology of genetic information are evidence that an intelligent cause better explains the evidence.
THE reliability of the New Testament gospels, in particular the writings of Luke have been confirmed as very specific detailed first century history, by archeologist Sir William Ramsey, who spent many years digging in Asia Minor, in the 19th century, with the intention as an avowed atheist, of proving the writer of Luke's gospel and also The Acts of the Apostles, was a fraud written many years after the facts recorded! Sir Ramsey declared Luke to be a historian of the first rank, due to his meticulous details on first century boundaries and titles of dignitaries! ( many of which were lost througj obsurity) and resurfaced as fact through Sir Ramseys digging for 40 years! He died as a converted Christian despite his earnest attempts to prove the writer was fake, whom is also verified by Paul's letters as a travel companion! An unbroken chain of evidence leading back to the 5th decade of the first century through Paul's missionary travels and letters! Evidence of the secondary players such as Pontius Pilate, the Nazareth Decree, issued by Emperor Claudius, among many others, also testify to the reliability of the New Testament credibility!
There is more evidence for the God of the Bible than combined by all world religions:
The Bible and external reasons provide powerful, undeniable evidence that demonstrates beyond a reasonable doubt that it is the true word of God:
Positive arguments for Christian theism
The kalam cosmological argument and the Big Bang theory
The fine-tuning argument from cosmological constants and quantities
The origin of life, part 1 of 2: the building blocks of life
The origin of life, part 2 of 2: biological information
The sudden origin of phyla in the Cambrian explosion
Galactic habitable zones and circumstellar habitable zones
Irreducible complexity in molecular machines
The creative limits of natural selection and random mutation
Angus Menuge’s ontological argument from reason
Alvin Plantinga’s epistemological argument from reason
William Lane Craig’s moral argument
The unexpected applicability of mathematics to nature
Arguments and scientific evidence for non-physical minds
William Lane Craig’s case for the resurrection of Jesus
Last edited by Otangelo on Sun Sep 29, 2024 5:41 am; edited 24 times in total
