How do I know I can I trust the Bible?

I CAN TRUST THE BIBLE BECAUSE…

IT IS HISTORICALLY ACCURATE

Most of the Bible is from eyewitness accounts

Archeology always confirms the Bible eventually

“No archeological discovery has ever controverted [overturned] a Biblical reference. Scores of archeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries.” [Nelson Glueck, Rivers in the Desert, p. 31.]

• Ancient extrabiblical accounts of a catastrophic flood (Genesis 6–8)

• The palace of Sennacherib the king of Assyria (2 Chronicles 32:1f) and a wall relief depicting the Assyrian siege on Lachish (2 Kings 18:13–17; Isaiah 36:1–2)

• The ruins of Jericho (Joshua 6) along with evidence the city wall “fell down flat” (6:20) at the very time the Old Testament dates the crossing of the Hebrew people into Canaan (c. 1400 BC)

• Hezekiah’s tunnel (2 Kings 20:20) built to secretly channel water into the city of Jerusalem c. 700 BC

• The ancient ruins of Babylon (Book of Daniel), including the ruins of king Nebuchadnezzar’s palaces, temples, city walls, houses, inscriptions mentioning “Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon”

• The Babylonian Chronicle. These ancient historical records verify that the Babylonians invaded the land of Judah, besieged the city of Jerusalem, and took the Jews captive back to Babylon...just as the Bible said they did (2 Kings 24; Daniel 1).

• The “Pool of Siloam” (John 9:1–12) where Jesus sent the blind man with mud on his eyes to wash and receive healing

• The well called “Jacob’s Well” (John 4:6) where Jesus met the Samaritan woman
• The pool called “Bethesda” (John 5:2) where Jesus told the man who had been lame for 38 years to take up his bed and walk
• Herod’s palace (Mark 6:14–29) where John the Baptist was imprisoned and killed; the historian Josephus mentions this palace and John the Baptist’s imprisonment and murder there

The Scriptures have been copied with extreme care!

LOTS of original source material

EXTRABIBLICAL WRITINGS

I CAN TRUST THE BIBLE BECAUSE…

IT IS SCIENTIFICALLY ACCURATE!

RELIGION IS NOT THE OPPOSITE OF SCIENCE

J. Kepler (astronomer)

“Science is thinking God’s thoughts after him!"

- Isa.40:22

“God is enthroned above the sphere of the earth”

Job 26:7

“God stretches the sky over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing!”

JER. 33:22

”The number of stars are infinite”

I CAN TRUST THE BIBLE BECAUSE…

IT IS PROPHETICALLY ACCURATE!

• Matthew was slain with an axe in a city of Ethiopia
• Mark died in Alexandria, in Northern Egypt after having been cruelly dragged through the streets of that city.
• Luke was hung to death in Greece
• John was tortured and then banished to the island of Patmos (Rev. 1:9)
• James, the brother of John, was beheaded in Jerusalem (see Acts 12:2)

• James the Less (as he’s called in Mark 15:40) was thrown from a pinnacle of the temple and then stoned
• Philip was hung up against a pillar in Heiropolis and then stoned • Bartholomew was flayed alive • Andrew was bound to a cross and left to die
• Jude was shot to death with arrows

• Matthias (the apostle chosen to replace Judas) was first stoned, and then beheaded
• Barnabas was stoned to death • Paul, after a variety of tortures and imprisonments, was beheaded in Rome • Thomas was run through the body with a spear in southeast India
• Peter was crucified upside down in Rome

I CAN TRUST THE BIBLE BECAUSE…

IT IS THEMATICALLY UNIFIED

Unified

• 66 books

Unified

• 66 books
• over 40 authors

Unified

• 66 books
• over 40 authors
• over a period of 1,600 years

Unified

• 66 books
• over 40 authors
• over a period of 1,600 years
• 3 different languages

Unified

• 66 books
• over 40 authors
• over a period of 1,600 years
• 3 different languages
• people from all walks of life

Unified

• 66 books
• over 40 authors
• over a period of 1,600 years
• 3 different languages
• people from all walks of life
• all different contexts

I CAN TRUST THE BIBLE BECAUSE…

IT HAS SURVIVED ALL ATTACKS

I CAN TRUST THE BIBLE BECAUSE…

IT HAS TRANSFORMING POWER