|
|
The Bible is......Historically Reliable
For a long time, the oldest known copies of the Old Testament were from 980 AD - 1500 years after the events it contained. However, between 1947 and 1956, the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. These said the same things as the copies of the Old Testament, but dated from around 250 BC - only about 250 years after the events they contained. The age of these documents, and the fact that they fit in with the Old Testament, testify to the accuracy of the writings.
The New Testament was written around 30 - 100 AD, which is during and immediately after the events the books contain, making it incredibly reliable.
There are 8 original copies of Heroditus, from where we get our facts about Roman History.
There are 10 original copies of Gallic Wars - Julius Caesar.
There are 49 original copies of Aristotle.
There are 693 original copies of Homer.
And there are a staggering 5,600 original copies of the New Testament.
This makes it more reliable than a lot of classic literature, on which we base our historical facts.
Carbon Dating.
Carbon Dating of the ruins of Jericho have proved that the city collapsed around 1400 BC, which fits in perfectly with the story as tolf in the book of Joshua in the Old Testament.
The fall of Jericho:
The people of Jericho were afraid...they closed the city gates...no-one went into the city and no-one came out. The Lord said to Joshua, 'Look, I have given you Jericho...march around the city with your army once a day for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets... and... march in front. On the seventh day march around the city seven times and have the priests blow...one long blast on the trumpets. When you hear that sound, have all the people give a loud shout. Then the walls of the city will fall so the people can go straight into the city.'...When the priests blew the trumpets, the people shouted. At the sound of the trumpets and the people's shout, the walls fell, and everyone ran straight into the city. So the Israelites defeated that city.'
(Joshua 6 v 1-20)
From the website
http://www.wellesley.u-net.com/biblesidenotes-c05-Joshua.htm,
on the discovery of the ruins of Jericho:
'It is a crowded collection of small, sun-dried mud dwellings with a strong mud wall round it and a moat faced with rough stones outside. The wall and the houses are now gone, but you may walk round on the foundations of the city wall in about twenty minutes. It is said that the Austrian professor who excavated it found the top of the old wall at the bottom of the moat, showing it had fallen over or downwards (see Joshua vi. 20, "the wall fell down under it" (Heb). There is no sign anywhere of an earthquake. At the northern side of the little town there is a house built actually on the wall, or rather forming the wall at that spot, and this is clearly Rahab’s house, as there is none other in the whole circumference. When the walls fell, it is evident this house could not fall, as it was not a mud rampart; or wall but a house.
As I stood in Rahab’s front room (she appears to have had two rooms on a floor) I could see where she bound the scarlet cord as evidence of her faith in Jehovah and where she let the spies down into the moat from her window. Her house is supposed to have been a place of entertainment or small inn in Jericho, which she kept, for the word describing her calling has a wide significance. All about lay broken Canaanitish water-jugs, grindstones, balls of flint (thrown at Joshua’s army), and other genuine relics of Rahab’s time; but by now all these will have disappeared.'
This is proof that the tale told of Rahab hiding the two Israelite spies and being saved from the detruction of Jericho because of it is true.
'Then Joshua gave the command: "Now, shout! The Lord has given you this city! The city and everything in it are to be destroyed as an offering to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and everyone in her house should remain alive. They must not be killed because Rahab hid the two spies we sent out."'
(Joshua 6 v 16-17) |
 |
|
The Bible is...Infallable
2 Timothy 3:16 :
All Scripture is given by God and is useful for teaching, for showing people what is wrong in their lives, for correcting faults and for teaching how to live right.
One proof that a set of documents is reliable is if parts by different people agree with each other. Matthew 22 and Luke 14 both tell of Jesus' parable of the wedding banquet. A king invites some people to his son's wedding feast. When the feast is ready, these people are called for, but they all go off and do other things instead. So the king invites people from street corners, and they come and get to enjoy the feast. 'Yes, many people are invited, but only a few are chosen.' (Matthew 22 v 14) 'I tell you, none of those whom I invited first will eat with me.' (Luke 14 v 24) Although the two books tell the story in slightly different ways, it is basically the same story told from two different points of view but with the same meaning.
This happens with various other parables throughout the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.)
See '101 Contradictions in the Bible Cleared Up' or 'The Encyclopaedia of Bible Difficulties'.
The Bible is...Relevant
Let's momentarily compare the Bible to the Koran. The Koran is very religious and high brow, bearing no relevance to the every day lives of its readers. However, the Bible has stories of real people in real situations, and is highly relevant to our everyday lives. The Bible talks about, amongst other things:
# Life
# Death
# Business
# Politics
# Marriage
# Love
# Sex
Titus 1:12-13 reads,
'Even one of their own prophets said, "Cretan people are always liars, evil animals and lazy people who do nothing but eat." The words that prophet said are true.'
High brow? Erm...no.
In Judges 3 v 12-30, God sends Ehud the left-handed to kill fat and evil King Eglon.
'Ehud said, "I have a message from God for you." As the king stood up from his chair, Ehud reached with his left hand and took out the sword that waqs tied to his right hip. Then he stabbed the sword deep into the king's belly! Even the handle sank in, and the blade came out of his back. The king's fat covered the whole sword, so Ehud left the sword in Eglon. Then he went out of the room and closed and locked the doors behind him.
When the servants returned just after Ehud left, they found the doors to the room locked. So they thought the king was relieving himself. Finally they became worried because he still had not opened the doors. So they got the key and unlocked them and saw their king lying dead on the floor!'
(Judges 3 v 20-25)
Now, you may think this is written in such a...descriptive...way, because this is a modern translation. Wrong. Here's the same passage from the King James bible:
'And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat.
And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly:
And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out.
Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them.
When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber.
And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.'
This is the way the Bible works. If there is gore, its written about. If therew are guts, they're written about. Nothing is softened to sound more 'religious'. The Song of Solomon/Song of Songs, is all about a husband and wife and their sex life. Now you won't find that in any other history book.
The Bible has overthrown governments, caused reform and revolution. Would a book of made-up stories do that?
Email Me!
Links to Other Sites
My Links |
|
|
