CAN CHRISTIANS BE SURE THE BIBLE IS TRUE?
What if someone asks you how you know the Bible is speaking truly? How can you be sure the Scriptures are man’s oldest recorded history?
Most ancient, secular history is not the records of eyewitnesses, primarily because not many wrote except for the kings and those who could afford the writing material and also hire scribes.
Second, most people have no reason to write history. Today, most secular history is biased, whether it is China (who deliberately rewrote their history when Mao was prime minister), or the media who are aligned with specific political parties whose primary intention is to influence votes.
In contrast to secular history, the Scriptures, beginning in 1550 BC with Moses, are all eyewitnesses of what they heard and saw. Most of the time there is more than one witness to the events, and often several witnesses.
For example, Daniel prophesied about 4 kingdoms that would rule the world (Babylon, Media/Persia, Greece and then Rome). The prophet Daniel mentions the first three nations by name in the second and 8th chapters. He describes the Roman nation’s patterns and then promises that God would set up a kingdom that would destroy the first 4 kingdoms and would cover the earth (Daniel 2). We have copies of the book of Daniel (Dead Sea Scrolls) that all scholars admit were copied at least 100 years before Christ. Secular history records the 4 nations becoming weaker and weaker and finally disappearing exactly as God prophesied through Daniel.
Then we have 9 eye witnesses to the last three years of Christ’s life including 4 witnesses that lived with him for 3 years and described his works and words. Peter and Paul testify to seeing Christ and receiving his words.
No other book in the world records eyewitnesses like the Scriptures. The Scriptures begin from 1550 BC, and dovetail with all other witnesses in the secular world. Luke’s account in the book of Acts notes hundreds of places, names and events that have all been corroborated with others who lived during the years 33 AD through 68 AD. Jesus prophesied the total destruction, not only of the temple and city of Jerusalem, but the annihilation of the entire Jewish nation. In prophesying the future, the Scriptures don’t fail to fit the secular witnesses.
There is no book in the world that dares to have God speak for himself with “Thus saith the Lord.” Other leaders will speak for their god(s), but never quote their god as speaking specific words.
Where, other than in the Scriptures, can we find any religion anywhere with so many eyewitnesses who testify to the truth of what they heard and saw? There are none.
–Beth Johnson