Is the Bible True

Is the Bible True?

This is a question asked at some time or many times by every Christian. Check out what is said below.

"The bible is a reliable collection of historical documents. These documents were written by eye witnesses during the lifetime of other eye witnesses. They report supernatural events that took place in fulfilment of specific prophesies. They claim that they are divine in nature rather than human in origin." taken from Vodie Baucham

1. A reliable collection of historical documents (and archaeological finds)

• There are presently about 5,700 Greek manuscripts in existence today relating to the New Testament.

• In addition there are over 19,000 documents in the Syriac, Latin Coptic and Aramaic languages.

• The total supporting New Testament manuscript base is over 24,000.

• There have been more than 25,000 archaeological digs relating to the bible and not one of them has contradicted anything in the bible.

• The royal palace in Babylon where King Belshazzar held the feast and Daniel interpreted the handwriting on the wall (Daniel 5) had been discovered and authenticated.

• Jacob's well where Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman has been located.

• The Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, where Jesus healed a crippled man (John 5:1-4) has been found and authenticated.

2. King David

• King David is one of the key figures of the Old Testament. Known as perhaps the greatest king of Israel. A shade of mystery has covered his existence. Outside of the pages of the Bible, no reference had been found to King David or his ruling dynasty.

• This changed in the 1990s, when archaeologists made an interesting discovery in Tel Dan, Israel.

• They uncovered a rock fragment inscribed with an ancient text referring to “the House of David,” a phrase used for the ruling dynasty founded by King David. The rock appears to be a victory monument erected by a Syrian king nearly 3,000 years ago, after a battle described in the book of First Kings.

3. The Dead Sea Scrolls

• “Dead Sea Scrolls” is the name given to a collection of ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek manuscripts (and fragments of manuscripts), found in a number of caves in the barren foothills of the Judean Wilderness, west of the Dead Sea. 

• More than one-third of these are copies of books of the Old Testament, which are older by at least 1,000 years than the hitherto earliest known Old Testament manuscripts. 

• The jars that they found around the Dead Sea, with parts of the book of Isaiah in them, sealed with clay, had been preserved for 2,000 years!

• God saw to it that they were preserved, because they destroyed the higher critics of Isaiah who claimed that the book of Isaiah had been written by two authors at different times, because the prophecies in the book were so accurate and came to pass so perfectly. They said therefore that the prophetic part of Isaiah must have been written a long time after the first Isaiah, by some other Isaiah. But they have discovered the actual scrolls of the writings of Isaiah, which date back before the prophecies were fulfilled. So now it can’t be denied that Isaiah wrote it, and they were genuine prophecies!

4. Eye witnesses to the Crucifixion

• Many of Jesus’ family were around at his crucifixion.

• Their evidence is included in many parts of the bible about what Jesus said when he was on the cross.

• What Jesus said on the cross was also heard by many other eye witnesses.

5. Eye Witnesses to the Resurrection

• Corinthians 15

3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.

• At least 301 eyewitnesses to the resurrection were still alive when Corinthians was written

6. Eye Witness Evidence, Luke a Doctor at the time

• The Gospel of Luke is compiled from his interviews of eye witnesses to the miracles and sermons given by Jesus.

• He spoke to Mary (mother of Jesus), many of the disciples and other people who witnessed the work of Jesus.

• Luke travelled extensively with Paul and wrote much of the books of Acts 

7.  Eye Witness Evidence, Mark an interpreter for Peter in Rome

• Mark was around when Jesus was arrested.

• He went to Rome to be with and interpret for Peter. The result was the Gospel written by Mark.

8. Isaiah 53:5 a prophesy about Jesus about 700 years before Jesus' birth

-But he was pierced for our transgressions,     he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

    and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,  each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him

    the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,  yet he did not open his mouth;  he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, 

9. Psalm 22: 14-18 a reference to the crucifixion written about 1000 years before the birth of Jesus probably written  by David

•  14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. 

15 My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. 

16 Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. 

17 All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. 

18 They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. 

• In biblical times people who were not Jews were called dogs

• Psalm 22 was written in about 1000 BC but 

• Crucifixion was not invented until about 400 BC probably by the Persians

10. Pontius Pilate was a real person. John 18:29 Pilate went out and said, “What accusations do you bring against this man?” 

• In 1961 during an Italian archaeological dig in Caesarea archaeologists uncovered a stone that had a Latin inscription on it which said Pontius Pilate Prefect of Judea. The find confirms the New Testament statement that Pilate was a Prefect of Judea.

11. The existence of a town called Nazareth.

• In 2008 Rene Salm wrote a book in which he said that Jesus could not have existed because there never was a town of Nazareth in the first century. 

• In 2009 there was an archaeological discovery announced saying that they had uncovered a house that had existed in Nazareth at that time. This proved the claim made in the New Testament that Nazareth was a town.

12. Pool of Siloam. John 9:7 And He said to him “Go wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. 

• In 2004 a majestic stepped entrance to the pool of Siloam was uncovered in an area called the City of David.