Here are links to purchase the resources mentioned in this Sunday’s sermon:
Evidence for Christianity (Josh McDowell)
ChristianBook.com ($9.99+s/h)
Amazon.com ($11.55+s/h)
When Skeptics Ask (Norman Geisler)
Amazon.com ($12.23+s/h)
ChristianBook.com ($13.99+s/h)
General Introduction to the Bible (Norman Geisler, William Nix)
Amazon.com ($26.39+s/h)
ChristianBook.com ($29.99+s/h)
The Case for Christ (Lee Strobel)
ChristianBook.com (comes bundled with “The Case for Faith” for $11.99+s/h)
Amazon.com ($10.99+s/h)
Is the Bible Reliable?
The historical reliability of the Bible is a huge issue in our culture. There are three aspects I want to briefly address that I didn’t have a chance to discuss yesterday.
First, what about the historical reliability and accuracy of the Old Testament? Prior to 1947, the earliest manuscript we had was from 900 A.D. However, in 1947, there was the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Critics were certain that when they compared the manuscripts from 900 A.D. with those from 200 B.C. they would find numerous and significant errors that would discredit the accuracy of the Old Testament we use today.
But what they found was the exact opposite. They found that the Dead Sea Scrolls are remarkably consistent with the copy of the Old Testament that we have in our hands today. It shows that God has watched over the Bible as it was passed down from generation to generation, and we can trust its accuracy.
Second, during the past decade there have been a number of books published coming out of the “Jesus Seminar” which have raised doubts about the reliability of the sayings of Jesus. Bart D. Ehrman is the author of Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why and has received a wide hearing. For those who would like to read credible rebuttals to his book, I would suggest reading either Timothy Jones’ Misquoting Truth: A Guide to the Fallacies of Bart Ehrman’s “Misquoting Jesus” or Michael Wilkins’ Jesus Under Fire.
Third, how did we get the books that are in our Bible? Who got to decide what was included and what wasn’t? This is a very complex question. In the foyer at Elim I have a printed summary detailing how the Bible that we hold in our hands today came together.
September 23, 2008 at 5:17 am
I have a fourth question. What about apparent internal inconsistencies within the Bible? For instance, the differences in the recording of the death of Judas, between Acts 1:18 and Matthew 27:3-10?
September 23, 2008 at 10:36 am
MY first guess would be that we talking about different perspecxtives regarding the same event.
September 23, 2008 at 4:35 pm
I guess that makes sense. If he had hung himself, then rotted and fell and his innards were out there. One writer may have seen him swinging, maybe the other came along later.
There are a number of factual things like that throughout the Bible which seem not to be in complete agreement, but which could probably be explained by being told from different perspectives. Emphasizes the fact that the Holy Spirit used human authors through whom he spoke to give us the various books of the Bible.
September 23, 2008 at 4:57 pm
For an interesting overview of “internal consistency of the Bible” issues (from the world’s perspective), see this entry on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_consistency_of_the_Bible
September 26, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Good question…. Matthew 27 says Judas hanged himself. Acts 1.18 says he fell headlong and “spilled his guts…” — my translation
. That being said, which was it? The simple answer is both. Acts adds additional information of what happened to the body after he hung himself. It seems highly probable that Judas hung there for a while until either the rope broke or the branch gave way dumping the body onto the ground or a pile of rocks or off of a cliff. The rest is history. This makes sense when we take into consideration decomposition and the bloating of the body.
October 17, 2008 at 10:01 am
Where are the threads for “If God is Good, then why Evil and Suffering?” and “Prayer? Why Bother?” I’ve enjoyed following the discussions, but haven’t found threads for the last two sermons. I am technologically inept, so if you could direct me to those threads… that would be great!
Thank you – Becky