Have you heard this before... "the Bible was written by men and it is full of contradictions." And... "why are there so many versions of the Bible?" Some say, "I've tried to read the Bible, but I can't understand it". But the most important question is..."Is the Bible true?"
In this post-modern world, truth is pretty much what you make it. There is no absolute truth, a post-modernist would say. Oprah has helped that idea along in 'religion' by basically saying all roads lead to heaven in the end. You may call it "Jesus", somebody else may call it "the light" or maybe a "higher power"... but don't satisfy yourself with believing that! There is truth and the Truth will set you free. John 8:32. Acts 17:30,31 says that "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” If you have asked questions like "Who am I and why I am here?" and have desired to know truth... there is good news! Acts 17:27 says you should seek God, in the hope that you might feel your way toward him and find him. John 14:6. (Run your cursor over the reference for the verse.)
Only God can convince you that the Bible is His sufficient, infallible, inerrant Word if you don't already believe. But let me tell you that the Bible is true. Our faith is not a blind faith, but is based on facts. In the Bible are prophesies that were written down hundreds of years before they happened. And they did happen. For instance, Isaiah 53 tells how the LORD would be mocked, beaten and die for sinners, then about 700 years later, it happened exactly as foretold. Bruce has a favorite quote from Dr. Voddie Baucham that he paraphrased... "I believe the Bible because it is a reliable collection of 66 historical documents which were divinely inspired, written by more than 40 eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses, in 3 different languages on 3 different continents, over a period of 1500 years, in which they reported supernatural events which took place in fulfillment of specific prophecy. (based on 2 Peter 1:16-21) There is no piece of literature in all of history that has that kind of track record. Also, the longevity of it. This Book has been the number one bestselling book of all time selling over 6 Billion copies in over 2000 languages!! And there is the fact that more people have died defending the message of this Book than any other book in history. These facts alone are amazing!!
In your own intellect, even if you are not a believer in the good news of this Book, these statistics have got to stun you. Even historical writers from Jesus' time recorded the events that happened. They didn't believe Jesus was God, like He said He was, but they didn't deny what they saw. I just saw a news clip from Reuters about how they have the oldest, complete Bible, over 1600 years old that is going to be made available online!
I know these astonishing facts alone will not convince you because just like the supernatural events which took place in the pages of the Bible...a supernatural work must be done in you. Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again if he were to see the Kingdom of God. (John 3:3) Eph. 2:8,9 says salvation is a free gift of grace through faith in Christ alone. You don't earn it or obligate God by your good works, you are not physically born into it nor do you get it from someone else (John 1:13). Jesus said in Mark 2:17 that well people don't need a physician, but the sick. He didn't come to save the righteous, but for sinners to repent. If there is a burden of sin on you then repent (turn away from the sin that you love and leave your dead works behind) and be believing. Trust; put your faith in Jesus' death, burial and resurrection for the forgiveness of your sin. Jesus said in Matt 11:28-30 if you have worked hard on your own merit and are heavy laden, He will give you rest. Take His yoke, which is easy and light. Come into the Sabbath's rest! Flee from the wrath to come! There is either eternal life in heaven or eternal death in hell. Come to Him because He is Worthy! He showed unbelievable kindness to sinners!! There is no other Book in this world that will show you your sin and give you a Savior! Only this Book has this truly good news!
In this post-modern world, truth is pretty much what you make it. There is no absolute truth, a post-modernist would say. Oprah has helped that idea along in 'religion' by basically saying all roads lead to heaven in the end. You may call it "Jesus", somebody else may call it "the light" or maybe a "higher power"... but don't satisfy yourself with believing that! There is truth and the Truth will set you free. John 8:32. Acts 17:30,31 says that "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” If you have asked questions like "Who am I and why I am here?" and have desired to know truth... there is good news! Acts 17:27 says you should seek God, in the hope that you might feel your way toward him and find him. John 14:6. (Run your cursor over the reference for the verse.)
Only God can convince you that the Bible is His sufficient, infallible, inerrant Word if you don't already believe. But let me tell you that the Bible is true. Our faith is not a blind faith, but is based on facts. In the Bible are prophesies that were written down hundreds of years before they happened. And they did happen. For instance, Isaiah 53 tells how the LORD would be mocked, beaten and die for sinners, then about 700 years later, it happened exactly as foretold. Bruce has a favorite quote from Dr. Voddie Baucham that he paraphrased... "I believe the Bible because it is a reliable collection of 66 historical documents which were divinely inspired, written by more than 40 eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses, in 3 different languages on 3 different continents, over a period of 1500 years, in which they reported supernatural events which took place in fulfillment of specific prophecy. (based on 2 Peter 1:16-21) There is no piece of literature in all of history that has that kind of track record. Also, the longevity of it. This Book has been the number one bestselling book of all time selling over 6 Billion copies in over 2000 languages!! And there is the fact that more people have died defending the message of this Book than any other book in history. These facts alone are amazing!!
In your own intellect, even if you are not a believer in the good news of this Book, these statistics have got to stun you. Even historical writers from Jesus' time recorded the events that happened. They didn't believe Jesus was God, like He said He was, but they didn't deny what they saw. I just saw a news clip from Reuters about how they have the oldest, complete Bible, over 1600 years old that is going to be made available online!
I know these astonishing facts alone will not convince you because just like the supernatural events which took place in the pages of the Bible...a supernatural work must be done in you. Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again if he were to see the Kingdom of God. (John 3:3) Eph. 2:8,9 says salvation is a free gift of grace through faith in Christ alone. You don't earn it or obligate God by your good works, you are not physically born into it nor do you get it from someone else (John 1:13). Jesus said in Mark 2:17 that well people don't need a physician, but the sick. He didn't come to save the righteous, but for sinners to repent. If there is a burden of sin on you then repent (turn away from the sin that you love and leave your dead works behind) and be believing. Trust; put your faith in Jesus' death, burial and resurrection for the forgiveness of your sin. Jesus said in Matt 11:28-30 if you have worked hard on your own merit and are heavy laden, He will give you rest. Take His yoke, which is easy and light. Come into the Sabbath's rest! Flee from the wrath to come! There is either eternal life in heaven or eternal death in hell. Come to Him because He is Worthy! He showed unbelievable kindness to sinners!! There is no other Book in this world that will show you your sin and give you a Savior! Only this Book has this truly good news!
1 comments:
good article. I usually respond to the atheist this way..."oh your post is written by a man, I guess I should not rely on what you say as having any legitimacy. Everything that Darwin, Dawkins, Hawkins, Russell writes is written by a man, so why are you echoing their ideas." Obviously the Bible is verified in its original generation, you cannot write J.F.K. played professional tennis because our generation would know a lie from the truth, and John cannot write of miracles 10 years later if everyone knew he was lying."
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