...from the desk of Rande Wayne Smith D.Min., Th.M., M.Div.

13 January 2008
#310

Faith Questions - 2

Can The Bible Be Trusted?

Luke 1:1-4
Dear Theophilus: Many people have done their best to write a report of the things that have taken place among us. They wrote what we have been told by those who saw these things from the beginning and who proclaimed the message. And so, Your Excellency, because I have carefully studied all these matters from their beginning, I thought it would be good to write an orderly account for you. I do this so that you will know the full truth about everything which you have been taught.

May the Lord grant that we may engage in contemplating the mysteries of His Heavenly wisdom with really increasing devotion to His glory and our edification.  Amen.

Have you heard about the Chicago epidemic of 1885? August 1, 1885 was a sweltering hot day in the city. But relief was on the way. In fact, during the next 24 hours almost 7 inches of torrential rain fell on Chicago. It brought cooling … but it also brought flooding. The rain water swept all the sewage of 750,000 residents into the Chicago River, along with the runoff of the Chicago Stockyards.
So the River carried all this polluted water right out into Lake Michigan. The Chicago Tribune ran an article at the time expressing some concern. What would happen if this toxic brew got sucked into the drinking water system? There would be outbreaks of cholera and dysentery and typhoid and other waterborne diseases. So Chicagoans were all talking about this.

Sometime later, somebody, although no one remembers who, said that one out of 8 people died from these diseases during this epidemic in 1885.

In the succeeding years this story was repeated time and again. Nobody bothered to check the facts, they just kept retelling the same story based upon the previous telling.
In 1950 the Sanitation Department of Chicago wanted to raise money for a water purification system so they came out with a pamphlet retelling the story of the 1885 epidemic … just to put a scare into everyone … this could happen again!

Fast forward up to our time. A couple of years ago a reporter from the Chicago Tribune decided to write a book on the 1885 epidemic, and do you know what he discovered? Nothing. There was nothing to be discovered. There was no evidence of an 1885 epidemic.

In fact, he learned that the death rates in 1885 had actually been lower than in previous years. And he got to thinking about it … if one out of 8 people had died back then, that would have been almost 100,000 people.
There would have been dead bodies everywhere. But there weren’t.

If a 100,000 people had died in a city of 750,000 the city would have come to a grinding halt. But it didn’t. It was a tall tale.

Question: is that what the Bible is? Is the Bible just a collection of tall tales? Is the Bible just a collection of stories that got exaggerated overtime with each retelling? Exaggerated by storytellers who had an agenda that they wanted to put forward? Exaggerated stories that today’s researchers have proven to be fabrications? Is this what the Bible is?

Or, can the Bible be trusted? That’s the 2nd question in our series called Faith Questions.
These are the big questions people have asked through the ages. Last week we asked, “Is God Real?” And we saw that there is some credible evidence for God’s existence.

Today, question #2, can the Bible, which is Christianity’s truth source, be trusted?

Now we’re going to cover a lot of ground this morning so I encourage you to fill out your outline and take notes, because you’ll not only want this information for yourself, but also for your skeptical friends.

The Bible is a pretty amazing book. The Bible is held in high esteem by millions and millions of people, and even skeptics can’t deny this.
The Bible was the 1st book ever translated. Back in the 3rd century B.C. the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew to Greek.

The Bible was the 1st book to be printed on a printing press. Mr. Guttenberg invented the printing press for the express purpose of reproducing Bibles.

The Bible is the best selling book of all time. Portions of the Bible have been translated into 2,500 different languages, representing 90% of the world’s population. And even as I speak to you today, linguists are working on an additional 500 translations.

The Bible is a highly esteemed book … but that doesn’t mean it’s trustworthy.
So today we’re going to take a look at the Bible’s reliability in 4 crucial areas … beginning with its’ historical accuracy.

Dr. Luke was a 1st century physician. He was an educated man. Luke set out to write a historically accurate recounting of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, and he tells us about how he gathered information with a couple of important phrases.

Luke says that he has based his Gospel on eyewitness accounts … “those who saw these things” … (circle that). In fact, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (the 4 Gospels) were all based on eyewitness accounts. Either they, themselves, walked and talked with Jesus, or they were close friends of people who had known Jesus intimately.
All 4 Gospels were written within a generation or so of Jesus’ earthly life. That means it was much too early for their writings to be based on legends.

These were people who had known Jesus … “who saw these things from the beginning.”

There’s another phrase … “carefully studied all these matters.” (circle that)

Luke has acted as an historian. He carefully studied everything. He wasn’t trying to write a myth or a legend. He was writing history.

If you ever studied ancient mythology you know that those stories never tried to pass themselves off as history. They are obviously fiction.
Myths don’t claim to be history … Luke claims to be history.

So, how good of an historian is he? Let me quote Dr. John McKay. Dr. McKay has a PhD from the University of Chicago. He has written a 432 page textbook entitled “Archeology And The Bible.”

“The general consensus of both liberal and conservative scholars is that Luke is very accurate as an historian. Occasionally contemporary scholars believe that Luke may have been off on something, but then additional archeological discoveries come in, and it turns out that Luke was right and the scholars were wrong.”

The Bible is reliable history.
Then 2ndly, the Bible is reliable according to its’ written transmission.

Our Church has a statement of faith. In fact, every competent Christian organization, from Willow Creek to Billy Graham to the Salvation Army has a Statement of Faith so that people like us know exactly what each group believes.

The 2nd paragraph of our Statement of Faith deals with the Bible. Here’s part of what it says. We believe that “it is completely accurate in the original writings.” Completely accurate in the original writings … what does that mean?

Until 1452, all copies of the Scriptures were handwritten. Now of the New Testament alone, we have 5,000 of these copies in Greek, and 8,000 in Latin.
And because Scribes were not inspired (like the original authors) they occasionally made a mistake in copying.

But before you start panicking, let me explain the translating process. The Bible was a carefully copied written document. Dr. Bernard Ramm, (I’ve read a lot of his writings, he spoke at Princeton when I was there), was an expert in this subject.

He says “the Jews preserved the Old Testament like no other manuscript has ever been preserved. They had special classes of men in their culture whose sole duty was to preserve and transmit these documents with practically perfect fidelity.”

Dr. Ramm describes how synagogue scrolls had to be written on specially prepared skins of animals.
And each scroll had to have a certain number of columns. And the spacing between the words, and even the letters of each word on the scroll had to be measured by threads. And the ink had to be black, and had to be prepared by a certain recipe.

And the transcriber couldn’t deviate from the original in any way. No words could be written from memory. He had to copy off of what he had been given.

In fact, the person doing the copying had to start his day by going through a ceremonial washing. They took this copying business seriously. They would count in every line, not just the number of words, but the number of letters, and then they would match that up with the line they were copying off of.
And then when the scroll was completed they would hand it to an independent source to do a recount. And the recounter would go through, line by line, counting from beginning to end, and then from the end to the beginning, and then starting in the middle and working toward each margin, to make sure the numbers matched up.

This is a carefully copied written document. This is a trustworthy, reliable, transmission.

Can the Bible be trusted? It can with respect to its’ historical accuracy. It can with respect to its’ written transmission.

Then there’s the reliability of its’ supernatural predictions or depictions. Here’s what the Apostle John has to say.
John was one of Jesus’ closest friends. John had traveled with Jesus for 3 years. He knew what Jesus said … he knew what Jesus had done.

“In his disciples’ presence Jesus performed many other miracles which are not written down in this book. But these have been written in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through your faith in him you may have life.” John is telling us, “I saw Jesus do many miraculous things.”

Later John writes, “There are many other things that Jesus did. If they were all written down one by one, I suppose that the whole world could not hold the books that would be written.” I don’t think those 2 passages are included in Thomas Jefferson’s New Testament
Thomas Jefferson had his own copy of the New Testament Thomas Jefferson was a child of the enlightenment which emphasized scientific investigation.

Thomas Jefferson didn’t believe anything unless he could study it in a laboratory. So one day he got out his scissors and cut out everyone of Jesus’ miracles from the Gospel accounts.

I know people who reject the Bible for the same reason. They say, “How can any thinking person believe the miracles described in the Bible.” (I responded to a letter to the editor in the Daily Herald about this very thing a year or 2 ago.)

Dr. Stephen Evans has a PhD in philosophy and has written a book entitled “Why Believe?”
Dr. Evans says that there are 3 basic reasons why people deny miracles, and none of them is very good.

1st, some people deny miracles because they don’t believe in the existence of God. And once you start with the basic presupposition that there is no supernatural being, you automatically rule out the possibility of supernatural occurrences. You’ve already made up your mind ahead of time.

However, if you believe the evidence I presented last week, if you believe in the existence of God, then miracles are hardly surprising. They’re exactly what we would expect. It’s just God doing His God thing.

The 2nd reason people deny miracles is that they have never experienced one.
“I’ve never seen a miracle.”

There are a couple of responses to this objection. 1st of all, miracles are highly unusual occurrences. If they were commonplace … they wouldn’t be miracles. We’d call them ordinaries. And everybody would say, “Yea, I’ve had one of those.”

And, just because someone hasn’t experienced a miracle doesn’t mean that others haven’t witnessed one.

In fact, let’s take the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, Paul writes, “then (Jesus) appeared to more than 500 of his followers at once, most of whom are still alive.”

Paul was writing at a time when his words could have been contested.
So he challenges people … “if you don’t believe me, there are a lot of other people you can talk to.”

This is how you test the truthfulness of an historical event. You don’t test it in a scientific laboratory. You test it by the presence of reliable witnesses.

How do we know that George Washington crossed the Delaware River in December of 1776? Not because of science. But because of reliable witnesses who say that’s how it happened. How do we know that Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address in November of 1863? Because of reliable witnesses.

How do we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Cubs won the pennant in 1908?
White Sox fans say … “blind faith.” But you’re wrong. It’s reliable witnesses.

How do we know that God raised Jesus from the dead? Because of reliable witnesses. So Dr. Evans says that you can’t deny miracles just because you haven’t experienced one … others have.

Then 3rdly, some people deny miracles because they violate the laws of nature. But the laws of nature are only descriptions of how God usually operates. They simply describe God’s normal actions as He maintains the universe in an orderly way.

But the fact that God normally works in a certain way hardly means that it’s impossible for Him to act differently on a special occasion for some special purpose.
Is the Bible reliable when it comes to supernatural depictions? There is no reason to suspect that it’s not … unless you start with biased presuppositions.

And then, how about the reliability of the Bible’s moral prescriptions? Now, some people today argue that the Bible is out of date in this area. Listen to what the Apostle Paul had to say about the Bible. This is one of the most critical Scriptures when it comes to defining the trustworthiness of the Bible.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed.”
Paul says that Scripture presents moral prescriptions to live by. Now occasionally we deviate from those principles … and then we need to get rebuked by God’s Word. It corrects us and puts us back on the right path so that we’re instructed in right living. God’s Word is useful.

What happens when we come across something that doesn’t sound useful? Something that sounds out of date or offensive? Let me make 3 suggestions.

1st, you may be confusing prescription with description.

Dr. Richard Dawkins is a British scientist, and a popular atheist. A couple of years ago he wrote a book called “The God Delusion.” He doesn’t like God.
One of the reasons he doesn’t like God is because of this Book. He says that it has some outrageous material in it.

He cites, for an example, an Old Testament story from the book of Judges. It’s the story about a Levitical priest who has a concubine who gets gang raped by a group of guys, and she dies. Now the priest is outraged, so he cuts up her body into pieces and sends those pieces throughout the land of Israel, calling for people to avenge her rape and murder.

Dr. Dawkins wonders how we can accept that kind of reprehensible material in a book we honor as God’s Word. “This is the behavior that God condones?” Dr. Dawkins asks. How do we respond to that? … The bottom line is that God doesn’t condone behavior like that.
This is descriptive of what happened. This is not prescriptive. God is not saying “go and do likewise.” Not by any means.

We have to make sure we understand what the Bible is merely describing and what the Bible is prescribing.

Let me give you another example … polygamy. Some people look at the Old Testament, and even some of our heroes: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon … they had multiple wives. Talk about patriarchalism at its’ worst. Talk about men dominating women. Talk about a system where fathers sold their daughters for a price, and men bought girls to be their wives.

I agree … this is nasty stuff. But do you know what? The Bible never condones polygamy.
In fact, everywhere that we find polygamy in the Old Testament we find disaster … economically, relationally, socially, spiritually, you name it.

The Bible doesn’t prescribe it … it describes it.

Here’s a 3rd example. What do we do with all those weird Old Testament laws? Have you ever read through the books of Exodus or Leviticus and come across that law about not wearing clothing that’s made with more than one kind of material. Where does this come from? Does that mean that when I go to Kohl’s or Carson Pirie Scott, I ought to be checking the labels?

This was a ceremonial law having to do with Israel’s religion that no long applies to our lives.
It’s not a moral law that is to continue through the ages. The ceremonial laws were only for Israel. Actually, they were kind of visual aids; they were illustrations of spiritual principles … like this one about wearing clothing of one type.

The Hebrews lived among people, who worshiped other gods, and the Lord was forever saying to them, “you worship the one true living God; you don’t mix it up spiritually with other people. And as a reminder, here’s the kind of clothes I want you to wear.”

That law is no longer for us. Don’t confuse description with prescription.

2ndly, we may come across moral standards that seem to be primitive or offensive.
Every now and then someone will tell me, “Well, the Bible condones slavery, so it must be wrong on other issues as well.”

Does the Bible condone slavery? That’s a good question. Didn’t the Apostle Paul encourage slaves to obey their masters? Yes, he did. But have you read everything else Paul said about slavery?

Do you know that an entire New Testament letter called Philemon was written to a slave owner, a man named Philemon? And Paul tells him that his runaway slave, Onesimus, ought to be welcomed home, not as a slave, but as a brother in Christ. I don’t think Paul condones slavery at all.

In fact, let me point out something with respect to the culture in Biblical times.
Slavery, as understood in the Bible was completely different than what took place here in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

For one thing, a slave in Bible times was like an indentured servant. Slavery was not a race based thing. Certain groups were not slaves because of the color of their skin.

Slaves were often educated well beyond their masters and ended up being household managers. Slaves made the same wages as day laborers … often earning enough money to buy their own freedom.

Very few slaves in Biblical times were slaves for life. Freedom often came within the 1st 10 years.
Slavery in our country bore little resemblance to Biblical slavery. Slavery, the kind we practiced up to the Civil War, is clearly condemned in Scripture. Scripture condemns the trading of slaves and the kidnapping of slaves which was the foundation for our slavery system. (i.e. Deuteronomy 24:7; 1 Timothy 1:10)

Finally, for those who find the moral standards of the Bible to be out of date … maybe it’s their standards that are wrong.

It is interesting how people like to cherry pick out of the Bible what they are going to obey, and what they are going to reject.

For example, we come across “forgive your enemies” … we say, that makes good sense … that ought to be put into practice. But then we read further and come across the Biblical prohibitions regarding sexual behavior … that sex is to be enjoyed within the confines, the protection of a marriage commitment … and we say well, that’s just ridiculous, that’s so out of touch with today.

When we come across stuff we don’t like … maybe God knows best.

Maybe God’s standards about honesty or homosexuality or excessive drinking or financial debt or the importance of taking care of one’s physical body … we can go on and on. I think God knows better about these issues than we do.

Speaking for myself, I think I’ll trust God’s moral prescriptions over my own personal opinions.
Can the Bible be trusted? Yes! It’s reliable in terms of its’ historical accuracy; it’s reliable in respect to its’ written transmission; it’s reliable with respect to its’ supernatural depictions; and its’ reliable with respect to its’ moral prescriptions.

But all of that doesn’t do any good if you don’t crack the binding and read it for yourself. And if you haven’t yet become a Bible reader, use the program that I put in the LINK each month.

Pick up the Bible and read it for yourself because it will point you to the one who can become your Savior, your best friend, the Lord of your life; it will point you to Jesus Christ.
 

        MARANA THA.