Who is Jesus of Nazareth? While many have asked and offered to answer the question, “Who is Jesus of Nazareth?”, no one can escape the evidence that He was a historical person and that His life radically altered human history. As world-renowned historian Jaroslav Pelikan put it: “It is from His birth that most of… Read more »
Scripture must meet exacting criteria to be included in the Bible. The “lost gospels” don’t make the cut. One argument used by critics to try to discredit God’s Word is by asserting that the Bible was developed via a power struggle. Namely, that what’s included in the Bible — and conversely what was excluded —… Read more »
Scribes are human; humans make mistakes. Does that mean the Bible’s accuracy is in question? The answer, in a word: No. It can’t be denied that both unintended error and intentional modification have occurred in biblical texts over time. But most of these can be identified, categorized, and properly understood in their relation to the overall reliability… Read more »
Modern Christians don’t have to defend the validity of the Bible! Historical manuscripts have already done so! In last week’s blog post we answered the question, “Did ancient scribes faithfully transcribe biblical texts?” Resoundingly, research shouts, “YES!” I hope one truth you’re learning, as we travel this series together, is that the Bible is THE… Read more »
Historical Documentation Resoundingly Says, “Yes!” In a previous blog post in this series, we saw that the New Testament can rightly claim to be more reliable and accurate than another other ancient document in history. Can we also trust the authenticity of the Old Testament? Fortunately, we have really old biblical manuscripts to help us… Read more »
Artifacts Help Scholars Validate Scripture! Archeology, a relative newcomer among the physical sciences, cannot “prove” the Bible is true. But archeology has provided exciting and dramatic confirmation of the Bible’s accuracy. Per Yale archeologist Millar Burrows, an expert on the Dead Sea scrolls who was a professor emeritus at Yale Divinity School, archaeology has “unquestionably… Read more »
Important early Scriptural manuscripts that make the case for the reliability of the Bible. The Bible we use today originates from really early historical documents. Scholars are able to assess the importance of a manuscript by how much of the Bible it includes, and by the date assigned to it. What factors help to determine… Read more »
Do the biographies of Jesus stand up to scrutiny? Eight tough tests say “YES!” As Christians, we’re told that the Bible is God’s Word. But how can we know that this old, historical book — the foundation of our faith — is, indeed, trustworthy? And that it has relevance for us today? Pastor Lee Strobel, an American… Read more »
Vetted for Historical Reliability, the Bible Stands Strong. Welcome to our ninth blog post in this series focusing on the topic of apologetics! If you’d like to catch up from the start, here’s the link to the first blog we posted: Apologetics: Apologizing for Believing in God?. Apologetics — the defense of Christianity — is… Read more »
Historical Reliability Confirms the Gospels. The historical reliability of the Bible can be tested by the same criteria by which all historical documents are tested. The Christian faith, after all, is tied to specific historical events that can be confirmed through multiple sources. It is not, as one critics assert, “just a bunch of made-up… Read more »
