Friday, June 25, 2010

Is the Bible true? by Dr Roy B. Zuck


Have you ever wondered why there is never a new edition of the bible? Many scholars will know that every textbook has a new edition every now and then where materials are being added or updated in that area of study. So how come the bible never needed to be updated? The reason is simple. Textbooks are written by men and the bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit.

For those of us who need some scientific evidence or proof, there are several evidences from the bible where we can find proof.

Evidence from Prophecy

There are no other book in the world, other than the bible that has ever given precise predictions of future events, which are also called prophecies, hundreds of years in advance. Moreover, these predictions were far from vague generalities or general guesses like those given by fortune tellers. The prophecies in the Scripture were fulfilled exactly down to the details, so explicitly that no human could possibly devise on his own. Imagine having to come up with the name, ancestry, birthplace, and kind of death for a person who would be born in AD 2800. It is not difficult to see that this is surely humanly impossible. Only God could make such precise and accurate predictions!

This person is no other than Jesus. His ancestry, birthplace, name, suffering, death and burial were all prophecised in the Old Testament seven hundred years before He was born. Jesus himself fulfilled more than 300 prophecies!

Evidence from Archaeology

Critics have questioned many of the Bible's historical statements. Yet, archaeological discoveries in the recent decades have evidences that proves them wrong.

The Bible refers to the Hittite people 36 times. Since no record outside the Bible had affirmed their existence, objectors said the Bible couldn't be trusted. However, excavations in Turkey have now shown that the Hittite Empire was extensive.

The Ebla tablets, discovered in Syria in the 1960s, include the names of Ur, Sodom, and Gomorrah, cities that Bible opponents said did not exist. These tablets also dispel the notion that since writing was not practiced in the 1400s B.C., Moses could not have written the first 5 books of the Bible. Yet, these tablets were written about a thousand years before Moses! The Bible references to the many Assyrian kings are accurate. Archaeologists have uncovered Assyrian artifacts that record the names of all these kings. Certain customs recorded in Genesis are also noted in the Nuzi tablets found in the present-day Iraq.

So again and again, archaeology gives strong court evidence that disproves the claims of the plaintiffs of the Bible.

Evidence from Science

The bible is accurate when it addresses various aspects of science. Just take water as an example. Water evaporates from the ocean, collects in clouds, and falls on the earth as rain or snow.


"He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight." Job 26:8

"He draws up the drops of water, which distill as rain to the streams; the clouds pour down their moisture and abundant showers fall on mankind." Job 36:27-28

"All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again." Ecclesiastes 1:7

For centuries, scientists did not understand this phenomenon until much later. But it is all recorded in the bible.

Up until only a few centuries ago, people believed that the earth was flat, but several hundred years before Christ, Isaiah wrote of the circular shape of the earth!

"He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers, He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in." Isaiah 40:22

And centuries before that, Job had said that the earth is suspended on nothing.

"He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing." Job 26:7

In 1628, William Harvey discovered the circulation of blood in the body. Yet long before that, the Bible recorded the fact that the life of living beings is sustained by their blood.

"For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life." Leviticus 17:11

Prophecy, archaeology and science - this huge body of evidence gives testimony that the Bible is God's reliable truth. If the Bible has mistakes in history, science or geography, we might wonder if it is reliable when it discusses spiritual subjects. But because it is trustworthy in physical matters, it is also dependable in spiritual issues.

The Bible's central message focuses on the problem of sin - and God's answer, Jesus died on the cross to deal with sin. In fact, He carried our sins on the cross so that we might salvation by trusting in Him as our Saviour. Because the Bible is trustworthy, Jesus Christ can be trusted. He said "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life" (John 14:6) That is, He is the way to God. He is trustworthy and true, and He offers us spiritual life. By trusting in Him, you can find salvation and peace.

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