Discussion:
Ø
The
Bible is not accurate and not reliable.
Ø
The
Bible is written by humans and is not from God and is not the Word of God.
Ø
Archaeology
and the Dead Sea Scrolls prove that the Bible is not accurate.
Ø
Science
contradicts the Bible.
Ø
Some
historical facts and events reported in the Bible were fabricated and never
happened.
a. Based on evidences from the Bible, the Scriptures are the Word of God:
(1) The Bible is claimed to be the “Word of God”. The Scriptures are described as inspired by God (2Ti 3:16) and involved the activity of the Holy Spirit on the human author, so that their words are not only human words but also the words of God (2Pe 1:21; Heb 1:1; 1Co 2:13).
(2) “God said” is used over and over again; the Bible also includes God’s stern warning that the Bible must be regarded seriously (Dt 18:20; Rev 22:18-19).
(3) “God said” and “Scripture said” are used interchangeably (Gal 3:8; Gen 12:3).
(4) When David was inspired by the Spirit, what he said (Ps 2) is what God said (Ac 4:25).
b. Based on objective facts, the Bible is an unique book, unsurpassed by any other.
(1) Moral superiority of teachings: The Bible contains a complete teaching on life and morality. It is ethically high and logically consistent.
(2) Unique concept of salvation: The Bible discloses man’s nature of sin and offers a method of salvation. Other books deal only with issues not vital to life, such as suffering in Buddhist writings
(3) Accuracy of prophecy: Many prophecies in the Bible were fulfilled. It is impossible to have all these occurrences by chance.
(4) Unity: In the Bible, there is a unity of subject (about sin and salvation) and a total agreement in doctrine. Despite being written by over 40 authors from 1500 years apart, from different countries and different occupations, there is no contradiction and inconsistency at all.
(5) Universality: The Bible accessible to almost all national groups, and has been translated into over 1000 languages and dialects.
(6) Indestructibility: The Bible withstood numerous attacks (Mk 13:31; 1Pe 1:25) and is never out-of-date.
(7) Influence on mankind: The Bible possesses the power of transformation that causes complete moral conversion of individuals as well as brings beneficial effects to human societies, eg. abolition of slavery.
c. Based on logical deduction, the Bible is the Word of God. There are 3 alternative possibilities. The Bible is written by either:
(1) Good man or angels — This is not possible because since the Bible claims to be God’s words, they would then be telling lies and became bad men or devils.
(2) Bad men or devils — This is not possible because the Bible tells man to forbid sin.
(3) God — This is the only reasonable answer.
A. Importance
of reliability: The reliability of the Bible is extremely important. Belief in the Bible as inspired
revelation from God has been at the heart of historic Christianity (Matthew
5:18; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:16-21; 2 Peter 3:15-16). If the Bible is not reliable,
then Christianity is a hoax.
B. Questions
of Reliability: There are two questions:
(1) External reliability:
(consistency between the Bible and other knowledge) [1] Is what the Bible
recorded being confirmed by archeology? [2] Are the prophecies in the Bible
fulfilled in history? [3] Are there contradictions between the Bible and
science?
(2) Internal reliability:
(consistency within the Bible) [1] Are there contradictions between different
parts of the Bible? [2] Is the Bible we use today the same as the the original autographs? [3] Are the translations we use today
accurately represent the original Hebrew and Greek?
C. Common attacks on the reliability
of the Bible:
(1) Questionable assumptions. Some view Bible as a
myth. They believe that all supernatural knowledge and events are impossible.
This is naturalism, not science.
(2) Undue significance placed on insignificant
details. Some attack rounded numbers as inaccurate.
(3) Unwarranted expectations placed on the text.
Some attack things like “the sun’s rising” as unscientific. But the Bible uses
common idioms of the day to communicate, not scientific language.
(4) Overstatement. Some attack traditional views
of the authorship and dating of the Biblical books. But there are much evidence
supporting the traditional view.
a. Limitations of archeology:
(1) Archaeology only can address a limited kinds
of questions. For example, archaeology can address the question whether
Jericho’s walls collapsed, but it cannot prove whether this was the result of
divine intervention.
(2) Archaeological evidence is only fragmentary,
not comprehensive. The information collected is limited to the discovery of the
extremely small percentage of artifacts that have survived the centuries and
only those that have been discovered. Archeology can only present a partial
picture, yet sometimes archeologists assume the picture is complete when in
fact a vital piece is still missing.
(3) The conclusions based on archaeological data
are mostly subjective as human interpretation plays a key role. Further, the
conclusions of archaeologists cannot be tested.
(4) Archeological conclusions are tentative. Sometimes long-held conclusions must give way in the face of new evidence.
B. Archeology helps to authenticate
the Bible:
► The Bible is a book about God’s plan of salvation for humans. It is
not intended to be a history book. Yet, overall, archaeology has progressively affirmed the historical
and geographical details of the Bible and undermined many of the specific
claims of Bible skeptics.
► Many skeptical scholars have
increasingly regard the Bible as simply a collection of legends divorced from
any historical fact. But as archaeological information has accumulated, it
repeatedly has overturned many of the historical theories and substantiated the
biblical record.
► Until now, archaeology has found
nothing to invalidate the historical facts recorded in the Bible. In
fact, some historical events recorded in the Bible alone (but not recorded on
any other historical documents) have been validated by recent archaeological
discoveries.
► Both Old and New Testament have been
shown repeatedly to contain extremely accurate references to the events, customs
and geography of the times they describe.
C. Archeology validating the OT:
(1) The world of the patriarchs. The Hittites were
confirmed by five temples unearthed in 1876. The existence of many places and
civilizations mentioned in the patriarchal narratives, such as Ur where Abraham lived (Gen 11:31). The implication is that the stories in the OT were
written earlier than some speculated.
(2) The Jericho conquest (Jos 6:20). Archeologists
discovered that the wall of Jericho had in fact fallen outward and that the
city had been destroyed by fire around 1400 B.C. This was exactly Joshua 6
describes. Excavations also confirmed other details: the siege of the city was
short; conquerors burned the city, but grain was not plundered.
(3) Hezekiah’s reform and victory (2Ki 18—20; 2Ch
29—32). Hezekiah determined to rid his country of pagan worship and return to
the one true God. Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, retaliated against Hezekiah
and attacked Judah but he did not conquer Jerusalem.
(4) Jeremiah’s scribe. Baruch was the personal
secretary and confidant of the prophet Jeremiah. An assortment of clay document
seals found in 1975 confirmed the fact.
(5) Darius and Xerxes. The historicity of these
kings is confirmed by names in ancient writing on a huge mural carved into the
cliff 300 feet above the road in Iranian mountain.
D. Archeology validating the NT:
(1) Census taken at the birth of Jesus (Lk 2:1) is
confirmed.
(2) Crucifixion techniques. The remains of a
crucified man were discovered in 1968. They confirm that crucified victims were
secured to the cross with nails instead of ropes.
(3) The reliability of Luke and Acts. The records
of 32 specific countries, 54 cities, and 9 islands were found without any
mistakes. Even the titles for officials were correct.
(4) Erastus, Corinth’s director of public works
(Rom 16:23). Excavations of Corinth in 1929 confirmed the name, indicating the
NT is correct even to the tiniest details.
E. Proof that NT books were written not long
after the events:
► Acts says nothing about the deaths of Paul and Peter who were martyred around AD67, or the death of James, Jesus’ brother around AD62. The fall of Jerusalem in AD70 was also missing. Therefore, the book of Acts must be composed no later than AD66.
► Most scholars believe that the Gospel of Mark was the first gospel written, followed by Matthew and Luke. Acts was clearly written after Luke (Ac 1:1). Therefore, the synoptic gospels were all written before AD66, no more than 35 years after the death of Jesus.
► Most historians accept that First Corinthians was written about AD53-57, 25 years after the death of Jesus.
► The importance of this is that the books record real life history, not myths. If the history is not accurately recorded after so short a time, some people would come forward to object the historicity of the books.
A. A full 27% of the Bible’s text is
prophetic material. All prophecies (except those not yet happened) have been
fulfilled. A study of the 8,352 prophetic verses in the Bible shows that none
was left unfulfilled.
► In comparison, a study performed by The People’s Almanac shows that out of
72 predictions by 25 top psychics, only 6 were fulfilled (66 unfulfilled).
B. Specific fulfilment of Biblical prophecies in history:
(1) Israel’s
Incredible History: Over 2,500 years ago the Bible foretold that the Jewish
people would encounter war, captivity and exile and that they would cease to
exist as a nation and be scattered throughout the world, after the destruction
of Jerusalem (Dan 9:26). But it also claimed that despite all this they would
continue to survive as a distinct people group and that one day they would be
brought back together as a nation in their own homeland (See Jer 30:1-11; Ezek
37:21-22; Zeph 3:19-20).
(2) Fate of cities and nations:
destruction of
● There are other prophecies about many nations, including Ammon, Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, Edom, Greece, Moab, Philistia, Phoenicia, Rome, Syria.
● The city of Tyre was the Phoenician capital and a powerful trading city on the east coast of the Mediterranean. The prophet foretells that there will come a time when the city of Tyre is no more (Ezek 26:14,21).
(3) Sequence of empires:
succession of Babylonian empire, Medo-Persian empire, Greek empire,
● Daniel’s accuracy in naming Belshazzar as the last king of Babylon was also ridiculed by Bible critics in previous years, until a new archaeological finding revealed that it was modern historians, not Daniel, who were incorrect.
(4) Messiah: over 90 OT prophecies fulfilled: virgin birth (Isa 7:14), birthplace (Mic 5:2), crucifixion (Zec 12:10; Ps 22:1–2,14,18; Ps 69:21; Ps 34:20), resurrection (Ps 16:10; Hos 6:2; Ps 30:3,9; Is 53:10; Ps 40:1-2), ascension (Ps 110:1; Ps 68:18; Pr 30:4; Ps 16:11; Ps 24:3-10)
(5) Last days: regathering of Israel (Isa 11:11), sign of second coming (Mt 24:3-8), corruption of morals (Lk 17:26; 2Ti 3:5; Ro 1:28-31), religious apostasy (2Pe 3:3; 2:1; 2Ti 3:7; 4:4), rapid rise of demonism (1Ti 4:1; Mt 24:24; Rev 13:4,8; 9:20). Many of these phenomena have appeared in the world today.
a. The Bible is not a science document. The language of the Bible in relation to natural phenomena is intended to be understandable for common people at that time, so it is not written in scientific language.
b. Yet, there is no definitive proof that science contradicts the Bible. Criticisms of the Bible are usually in 3 forms:
(1) Many critics pronounce a general, sweeping statement like “science contradicts the Bible.” This is very vague and unscientific. We must ask: “Which science? Which idea? Is that idea a proven fact? What proves it? Which statement in the Bible does it contradict? Is the statement properly interpreted?” Once these specific questions are asked, many general challenges dissipate.
(2) Some critics raise the supposed contradiction between Biblical miracles and scientific laws, and between creation and evolution. However, these are originated from disbelief in the existence of God.
(3) Some critics object the unscientific language of the Bible:
● such as the “flat earth” with 4 corners (Rev 7:1), but in Greek, it means 4 quarters (Rev 20:8)
● motions of sun, moon, and stars (Jos 10:12; Ps 19:6), but so is our ordinary language, like “sunrise”; but ordinary language used in the Bible should not be interpreted as a claim to scientific accuracy.
● mustard seed is said to be the smallest seed (Mt 13:32) but orchid seeds are smaller; but the language used was relative to the experience and environment of the audience.
c. Furthermore, some verses in the Bible demonstrate anticipatory scientific insights:
(1) innumerable number of stars (Gen 15:5; 22:17; 26:4; Ex 32:13): For most of human history, scientists insisted there were only about 6,000 stars. Only in the 20th-c that astronomers estimate a total of 7x1022 stars.
(2) round shape of earth (Isa 40:22), free floating of earth in space (Job 26:7)
(3) gravitation (Job 26:7)
(4) circulation of atmosphere (Ecc 1:6)
(5) hydrologic cycle of the earth (Ecc 1:7; Isa 55:10)
(6) rock erosion (Job 14:18-19)
SUPPLEMENT
Supplement to Q.19: Principles used in deciding books of the Bible (Geisler & Nix)
(1) authoritative (Mk 1:22): “God spoke”
(2) prophetic, written by man of God (such as
apostles) (2Pe 1:20, Gal 1:1)
(3) authentic: historical accuracies and moral
congruities
(4) dynamic: transforming force for edification
(2Ti 3:16) and evangelization (1Pe 1:23)
(5) received by the people of God, confirmed by
church councils: subjective testimony of the Holy Spirit
Supplement to Q.20: Authentication of NT (Boyd & Paul)
The Bible met or exceed the standards used in the authentication of ancient texts:
(1) Early evidence: the short span of time between the events and the written record assures that mistakes or exaggerations will be corrected by living witnesses.
(2) Eyewitness accounts: NT books were all written by eyewitnesses.
(3) Independent attestation
(4) Principle of embarrassment, negative report
(5) Antagonistic source
(6) Dissimilarity or discontinuity: such as a saying that cannot be attributed to other contemporary sources.
(7) Presence of Aramaic words: higher possibility that the saying was from Jesus
(8) Coherence: fitting well
(9) Diverse historians: accepted by the majority of scholars
Supplement to Q.21: Alleged contradictions of the Bible with archeology (Kreeft & Tacelli)
► Archaeology has found nothing to
invalidate the claims of the Bible.
► In every single case where the two
overlap, the results have been that some biblical claims have been proved, some
rendered probable, and none simply disproved by archaeology.
► All claims of contradictions have
suffered the fate of the walls of Jericho and come tumbling down.
► There are unanswered questions, not
disproofs. [eg. Why didn’t the Jews leave any physical remains as evidence of
the exodus?]
► No prophecy has ever been disproved
and many have been proved by history. Jesus fulfilled at least thirty specific
and distinct OT messianic prophecies. Was this by chance?
► One problem: Mt 24, in Jesus’
apocalyptic prophecies, he assures his disciples that “all these things” will
come to pass in “this generation” (24:34). But the end of the world has not yet
occurred.
●
One
explanation supposes the “this generation” is not meant biologically but
spiritually and world-historically; that is, this era, this age. A second
explanation is that the prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem and the
prophecies of the end of the world are mixed together in this chapter. Perhaps
one is meant as a symbol and forewarning of the other; or perhaps Matthew or a
later editor just juxtaposed two discourses. The destruction of Jerusalem in AD
70 did happen in the lifetime of Jesus’ hearers.
Supplement to Q.22: Fulfilment of Biblical prophecy (Morris)
Fulfilment of prophecy:
●
Claim
of prophecy (Isa 46:9-10, 2Pe 1:19)
Histories of nations:
●
backwardness
and weakness of Egypt (Eze 29:15), continuous existence until end of age (Isa
29:15);
●
disappearance
of Edom (Oba 18);
●
destruction
of Babylon (Jer 51:58);
●
destruction
of Assyrian empire (Zeph 2:13);
●
decline
of Tyre (Eze 26:4-5) and Sidon (Eze 28:23)
Sequence of empires:
●
succession
of Babylonian empire, Medo-Persian empire, Greek empire, Roman empire & two
legs (Rome and Constantinople) (Da 2:37-45)
Messianic prophecy:
●
There
are over 90 OT prophecies which are specifically quoted by NT writers in a
Messianic sense.
●
lineage
of Messiah (Gen 3:15), Shem (9:26), Abraham (22:18), Isaac (26:4), Jacob
(28:14), Judah (49:10), David (2Sa 7:12-16)
●
virgin
birth (Isa 7:14), birthplace (Mic 5:2), forerunner (Isa 40:3, Mal 3:1)
●
teaching
and healing ministries (Isa 61:1-2, 42:1-2, 9:1-2, Ps 40:7-10)
●
triumphant
entry riding upon an ass (Zec 9:9-10)
●
rejection
of His coming (Ps 118:22-24)
●
date
of His coming (Da 9:24-26): 70 weeks
●
crucifixion:
piercing of His side (Zec 12:10), the darkness (Ps 22:2), vinegar
(Ps 69:21), mocking (Ps 22:6-8), nakedness (Ps 22:17), gambling for His
vesture (Ps 22:18), unbroken bones (Ps 34:20), great cry from the cross
(Ps 22:1), broken heart (Ps 22:14)
●
substitutionary
and sacrificial nature of His death (Isa 53:4-6,10,12), rich man’s grave (Isa
53:9)
●
resurrection
(Ps 16:10, Hos 6:2, Ps 30;3,9, Is 53:10, Ps 40:1-2)
●
ascension
(Ps 110:1, Ps 68:18, Pr 30:4, Ps 16:11, Ps 24:3-10)
Prophecies of the last days:
●
destruction
of Jerusalem (Lk 21:24)
●
return
of the Jews (Zec 12-14)
●
alignment
of gentile nations (Eze 38:1-16, Rev 16:12, Da 7:19-24)
●
sign
of second coming (Mt 24:3-8)
●
economic
and social realms (Jas 5:1-6), uprising of labourers (Da 2:41-43,
Rev 18:1-19)
●
moral
conditions (Lk 17:26, 2Ti 3:5, Ro 1:28-31)
●
religious
apostasy (2Pe 3:3, 2:1, 2Ti 3:7, 4:4)
●
rapid
rise of demonism (1Ti 4:1, Mt 24:24, Rev 13:4,8, 9:20)
Supplement to Q.23: Alleged scientific inaccuracies in the Bible (Kreeft & Tacelli, Morris)
Problem with some critics:
1. Many theologians have misused the Bible to
try to establish or disestablish a scientific theory in a most unscientific
way.
2. Many scientists have misused a theory in
science to try to discredit the Bible in a most unphilosophical way.