A lot has been communicated about the elasticity of truth. Today, truth appears to be a moving target. So, when someone claims to have absolute truth, the natural reaction is ‘Prove it.’ After all, what’s true for you may not be true for me.
Recently, the United States Supreme Court made some significant rulings concerning homosexuality and same-sex marriages. Arguments from both sides claim truth. When you are faced with competing sources of truth, how do you determine which is really true? You must decide or be left with the confusing dilemma of determining truth every time an issue confronts it. Without an absolute, unchanging standard, we are left with a moving foundation. If you have an absolute truth, you simply refer back to the your source of truth.
I believe the Bible is the standard of absolute truth. There isn’t enough space in this post to go into any great depth on this subject. But here are five key reasons why you can have confidence that the Bible stands alone among all other books as the unique, verifiable, specific Word of God – the absoute standard of truth for mankind.
Fulfilled Prophecy.
Norman Geisler and William Nix: “No conditional prophecy of the Bible about events to the present day has gone unfulfilled. Hundreds of predictions, some of them given hundreds of years in advance, have been literally fulfilled. [For instance,] the time (Daniel 9:20-27), city (Micah 5:2), and nature (Isaiah 7:14) of Christ’s birth were foretold in the Old Testament, as were dozens of other things about His life, death, and resurrection (see Isaiah 53)…Other books claim divine inspiration, such as the Koran, the Book of Mormon, and parts of the [Hindu] Veda. But none of those books contains predictive prophecy. As a result, fulfilled prophecy is a strong indications of the unique, divine authority of the Bible.” Check out this list of Fulfilled Prophecies.
Textual Reliability.
Philosopher and theologian Ravi Zacharias: “In real terms, the New Testament is easily the best attested ancient writing in terms of the sheer number of documents, the time span between the events and the existing documents, and the variety of documents available to sustain or contradict it. There is nothing in ancient manuscript evidence to match such textual availability and integrity.” The following article will give you further statistics about the reliability of the Bible text: Are the Biblical Documents Reliable?
Archaeological Reliability.
Nelson Glueck, former President of the Jewish Technological Seminary in Cincinnati and one of the greatest archaeologists of all time: “It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a single Biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or exact detail historical statements in the Bible.” You can 50 archeological artifacts that attest to the Bible story at: Bible and Archeology – Online Museum.
Historical Reliability.
Historian John Warwick Montgomery: “To be skeptical of the resultant text of the New Testament books is to allow all of classical antiquity to slip into obscurity, for no documents of the ancient period are as well attested bibliographically as the New Testament.” Here’s an article that elaborate on this: The Historical Reliability of the Gospels
Scientific Reliability.
Nobel Laureate and internationally renowned neuro-biologist Sir John Eccles: “The appearance of conflict between science and religion is a result of ignorance. We come to exist through a divine act… Each of us is a unique, conscious being, a divine creation. It is the religious view. It is the only view consistent with all the evidence.” I found a nice video that gives several modern day discoveries of truth the Bible had given long ago…
For further insight: Evidence That Demands A Verdict, a book by noted researcher, author and speaker, Josh McDowell, offers hundreds of pages of objective proof regarding the validity of the Bible and the Christian faith in general. Highly recommended reading. Most of the above quotes are taken from collections in that volume.
Are you not convinced of the absolute trustworthiness of the Bible? What bothers you? Let’s talk…
Is there other ‘proofs’ that have convinced you of the Bible’s trustworthiness? Or do you have any comments on those I have given? Keep the conversation going…
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