Many people base their opinion on the Bible on hearsay.
14 "You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is [a]inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for [b]training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:14-17
#1 Continue in what you have learned. Don't stop. Don't get stagnate in your study.
A lot is first-person witness.
All in Bible is God-inspired.
14" Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this in [a]a book as a memorial and [b]recite it to Joshua, [c]that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” Exodus 17:14
9 Then he *said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he *said to me, “These are true words of God.” Revelation 19:9
God told them to write it down.
New Testament quotes Old Testament (Matthew 15:4, 1 Corinthians 2:13, 2 Corinthians 13:3)
Biblical Accuracy - - three tests:
Bibliographic tests, Internal tests, External tests.
Bible stood up to all these tests.
Masoretic texts -- 7th century
Supporting texts -- Septuagent -- 3rd century Greek translation of Old Testament.
Samaritan Pentatuch
Targums -- ancient paraphrases of O.T.
Talmud -- Hebrew teachings and comentaries
Quality of Manuscripts:
Reverence -- every line, word and letter counted in copying the O.T.
Dead Sea Scrolls -- predate masoretic texts by 1000 years and they are virtually the same!
New Testament:
5000 Greek Copies of NT
8000 Latin Copies of NT
(These are all handwritten)
Tens of thousands of references to the NT by early church fathers.
Comparison: Plato, Aristotle, Caesar and Tacticus -- only 1 to 20 copies of each.
Quality of NT Manuscripts:
Small variations on translations, interpretations, reconstruction -- none of which are abnormal.
Scholarly review= 99.5% pure copies!
Papyrus copies to 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. Most copies written between 100 and 200 years after Christ.
Better than any other ancient document!
Internal Tests:
Many of the books are woven together.
Timelines, genealogies, places and dates accurate.
Most books are primary sourced -- eyewitness authors.
Original NT texts written between 47 -- 70 A.D.
Nobody shines in the O.T. but God.
External Tests:
Archeology -- there is something found almost daily even now that proves the Bible!
Josephus and Roman Historian Tacticus and other writers validate Jesus Christ and the facts of His life.
There has NEVER been an archeological find that disproves the Bible.
No Ancient text is more validated by fact than the Bible.
6 Billion Bibles have been sold.
Translated in more languages than any other writing (including Klingon -- yes from Star Trek).
It was written over 1600 years, 40 different authors, on 3 continents, in 3 languages. Consistent message, God's love, God's grace.
Am I choosing willful ignorance?