Chapter 4

——————   5   ——————

 

Rejection of Biblical Reliability

 

 

 

 

“The bible, instead of the hearts of men, must be purified!.…The bible, after a period of hundreds of years, is found to be faulty and indecent…. The whole work is full of errors, and unchaste expressions.”

 

 

 

 

                                                                    – Evening and Morning Star[1]

   

 

“Every word of God is flawless…Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.”

 

 

 

                                                       – Proverbs 30:5-6

 

 

 

Undermining the Bible 

           All cults which claim to be Christian must first undermine the Bible in order to justify their own unscriptural doctrines. They do this by claiming that the Bible has been mistranslated, or intentionally corrupted. Then they either “correct it” by inserting their own doctrines and removing portions of the Bible they find offensive, or by producing other sources of authority, or both. Other sources may be: 1) additional scriptures such as the Book of Mormon; 2) books that help one to interpret the Bible correctly like Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Keys to the Scripture or; 3) written traditions, such as Papal decrees or Vatican councils which assume an importance equal to, or greater than the Bible (Matt. 15:6-9). 

Joseph Smith’s View of the Bible

            The conditional acceptance of the Bible described above was expressed by Joseph Smith when he stated that the Bible was the word of God “so far as it is translated correctly.”[2]  In his history he wrote, “I believe the Bible as it read when it came from the pen of the original writers…. However, ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or designing and corrupt priests have committed many errors.”[3] 

            The following statement recorded in the Evening and Morning Star, an early church newspaper, illustrates the Latter Day Saint belief that God was unable to preserve His word as He had promised,             “As to the errors in the bible, any man possessed of common understanding, knows that both old and new testaments are filled with errors, obscurities, italics and contradictions, which must be the work of men.”[4]

            Two Book of Mormon passages confirm Joseph Smith’s teaching that the Bible was  corrupted.  

   

“For behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; And also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away: All this have they done that they might pervert the right ways of the Lord; that they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men.”[5]

 

 

 

“Thou fool, that shall say, A bible, we have got a bible and we need no more bible…Wherefore, because that ye have a bible, ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written.”[6]

 

            That this flawed view of the Bible which Joseph Smith promoted has continued as a part of the RLDS philosophy is seen in the following statements, “We do not consider…the Bible infallible. We do not consider anything that passes through human hands to be infallible. We do not believe in the plenary [full] inspiration of the Bible”[7] (Joseph Smith III, first prophet of the RLDS Church).

            Bill Russell, professor at Graceland College (RLDS) stated, “In my view the doctrine of Biblical infallibility is one of the great heresies of Christian history…. Those who believe in the infallibility of the Bible place their faith in the writings of men.”[8]

One RLDS church member expressed the belief of many RLDS regarding the Bible in the “letters to the editor” section of the Saints Herald.

 

“Most of us accept the Bible as basically a collection of good history and literature as well as views expressed by humans that at times were inspired. Although we acknowledge that it contains the word of God, we also know it has bias, trivia, and even some distortions that need to be taken lightly if not ignored. Many of us believe that numerous contemporary writers both in and out of the church, have written scripture that not only exceeds much found in the Bible and Book of Mormon, but also speaks more appropriately to our day and time.”[9]  

Two New Books of “Scripture”

            Joseph Smith taught that the canon of Scripture was not closed with the book of Revelation. He interpreted Matthew 16:18 to mean that Christ’s church was built on the ‘rock of revelation’ instead of on Christ the rock, a view which the RLDS church still holds today. This misinterpretation of scripture paved the way for Joseph to bring new revelations on a continuing basis which would be considered scripture by his followers. He stated that the gift of revelation was not for him alone, but that when a Latter Day Saint priesthood member was moved upon by the Holy Ghost, whatever he spoke also became Scripture (Doc. and Cov. 68:1c).

            Prophet Wallace B. Smith, in a l985 interview, was asked what he thought the RLDS Church had to offer the world. He answered that for evangelical Christians, it would be “our open canon of scripture and our belief in the continuing revelation of God…. Because of our additional scriptures and insights, we have more to work with and, perhaps more to do.” [10]

            Speaking of the need for new revelation, the First Presidency of the RLDS Church wrote,

 

 

“[New] revelation prevents us from being doomed to keep repeating our own history…That revelation if it is genuinely new, is disjunctive with the past, not merely a restatement of former revelation. It’s very important for us to understand this, because some would suggest that new revelation always has to be consistent and in full harmony with what has been true in the past. That is not necessarily so. When God brings new revelation to his people, it’s a point of departure, with fresh insight that never before has been experienced.

 

 

 

      “When Joseph Smith, Jr. came as the prophet of God and began to present to the world two new books of scripture [Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants], Christendom was scandalized! Who would dare to presume to add to the ‘Word of God?’ Joseph Smith, Jr. was saying, ‘God has further light and truth to break forth from his word, and here are the books of scripture for the benefit of humankind in these latter days.’ This was a complete break with the entire flow of Christianity up to that point, for two new books of scripture were added to the Christian faith.”[11] 

            Latter Day Saints believe that these new books of scripture were essential “for the salvation of a ruined world” (Doc. and Cov. 113:6b) because they view the Bible as being insufficient and inadequate to meet the needs of mankind. 

Joseph Smith’s Bible

            In addition to the two new books of scripture already mentioned, Joseph found it necessary to produce his own unique version of the Bible, commonly called the Inspired Version, in order to achieve credibility for himself as a prophet and to gain acceptance for his new religion. He claimed his authority to do this came through a revelation in which God spoke to Moses saying, “And now Moses my son, I will speak unto you concerning this earth upon which you stand; and you shall write the things which I shall speak. And in a day when the children of men shall esteem my words as naught and take many of them from the book which you shall write, behold I will raise up another like unto you and they shall be had again among the children of men, among even as many as shall believe” (Doc. and Cov. 22:24-25). Joseph claimed to be this one like Moses that God raised up to restore the words that had been lost from the Bible. Using neither ancient manuscripts nor codex, but relying only on the “gift and power of the spirit,” he wrote changes into the King James Bible as he saw fit, adding hundreds of verses and deleting many portions including the entire book of the Song of Solomon.

            Joseph taught that his Inspired Version of the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants contained the “plain and precious things” that had been taken from the Bible, and that these books fulfilled the prophecy that he (Joseph) would do the mighty work of restoring God’s Word in the last days (Gen. 50:26-33 I.V.). His self-styled prophecies convinced his flock that when he spoke it was God speaking. The Lord supposedly told Joseph’s followers, “Wherefore, meaning the church, thou shalt give heed unto all his [Joseph Smith’s] words, and commandments, which he shall give unto you…. For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth in all patience and faith” (Doc. and Cov.19:2a,b).

            Not surprisingly, preconditioned by Joseph’s teaching about a defective Christian Bible, his followers found it reasonable to accept the proclamations of this living prophet as superior to the Bible. As a result Joseph led his followers progressively deeper into heresy.

            In his book Part Way to Utah: The Forgotten Mormons, Paul Trask explains the consequences that occur when the Word of God is tampered with.

 

 

“Satan was successful with Eve in the garden only by first corrupting her view of the Word of God. He began by bringing God’s Word into question, ‘Did God really say?’ When it was clear that Eve completely understood God’s instructions [if you eat of the fruit you will surely die], Satan then openly contradicted God’s word by introducing his own ‘spin’ –‘You will not surely die.’ If Satan cannot keep us ignorant of God’s Word, his next strategy is to corrupt our understanding of it.

 

 

 

      “This is where Joseph Smith comes in. He so thoroughly corrupted God’s Word that his churches have had no choice but to follow in blindness, ignorant of God’s truth. The spiritual forces which propelled Joseph Smith to corrupt God’s Word are the same forces which are keeping his followers in blindness today. This is not merely a human battle. ‘For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms’ (Eph. 6:l2). In our work with RLDS, then, our battle is first against these spiritual forces of evil—and the misinformation they have proliferated through Joseph Smith.”[12]

 

 

Why Christians Believe the Bible is Reliable

Jesus Trusted the Authority of Scripture

            Jesus believed the Old Testament scriptures to be absolutely authoritative. During His ministry he quoted from at least twenty-four Old Testament books. He prayed, “Father…sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth (John 17:17). He viewed the written word of God and the spoken word as equally authoritative. In Matt. 4:4 Jesus said, “It is written, man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

            When some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and ask him why His disciples broke the tradition of the elders by eating food with unclean hands, Jesus replied, “…. Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men’…You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions…Thus you nullify the Word of God by your tradition” (Mk. 7:6,7,9,13).

            Speaking to the twelve Jesus said, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled” (Luke 18:31). Jesus began His own ministry by identifying Himself as the fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1, 2.

 

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…. Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:18-21). 

            When Jesus was questioned by the religious leaders of His day, He always appealed to the scriptures, declaring, “it is written.” When He was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, He refuted each temptation with the words, “It is written” referring to the Old Testament scriptures.

            Jesus said to the Jews, who were continually harassing him, “You diligently study the Scriptures, because you think by them you possess eternal life; These are the scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39-40). When confronting the Sadducees with their false teachings Jesus said, “Are you not in error because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God?” (Mark l2:24). While walking with His disciples on the road to Emmaus after His resurrection, Jesus again quoted scripture to explain all that had happened.

 

“‘How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!’…And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” Later He commented, “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:25,27,44). 

     In this statement Jesus is referring the entire Old Testament. He clearly trusted in the absolute authority of the written Word of God. 

The Apostles Believed in the Authority of the Scriptures

            The following statements show that the apostles considered the Bible to be the very words of God.

 

• “And we also thank God continually because when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the Word of God” (I Thess. 2:l3).

• “What advantage then is there in being a Jew…. Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God ” (Romans 3:2).

• “I believe everything that agrees with the Law and that is written in the Prophets…” (Acts 24:14).

• “He reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead” (Acts l7:2).

• “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Rom. l5:4).

• Paul instructed Christians to put on the full armor of God, and to fight with the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God (Eph. 6:l7).

• The Apostle Peter said, “And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:19-2l)

The Greek word translated “carried along” is used by Luke in Acts 27:15-17 to show that the ship was at the mercy of the storm, “It did not cease to be a ship, but it did cease to have control over its course and destination. In the same way, Peter teaches that the writers of the Bible were borne along in their writing to produce the words that God intended to be recorded. They wrote as men, but as men moved by the Holy Spirit”[13]

     These scripture passages make clear that the early apostles believed the Word of God was the final authority in all matters of doctrine. Many people argue that the Bible is not the Word of God, that it only contains the Words of God. But if that is the case, who is to decide which parts are inspired and which parts are not? Jesus said the Scriptures “cannot be broken.” We cannot accept some portions of scripture as inspired and reject others. In direct contrast to this statement of Jesus, is the stated opinion of Richard Brown, editor of the RLDS Saints Herald.

 

“None of us really possesses the ability and authority to decide that this is inspired and that is not. Yet because continual revelation is at the heart of the Restoration movement, that is exactly what we believe God expects us to do!…. Our faith must be a thinking and doing and being faith if it is to matter. That separates us from some other Christians.”[14] (emphasis added) Note: Much of the confusion found in RLDS theology stems from their belief that they are commissioned by God to determine what is, and what is not, scripture. 

The Early Christian Church Upheld Scriptural Authority

            The early Christian Church believed that the writings of Christ’s apostles possessed unique and final authority. They were considered inspired, first-hand accounts of the Lord’s earthly ministry and authoritative expositions of Christian doctrine. In recent years there has been an all-out attack on the inspiration and reliability of the Bible by liberal theologians. But the stand of the Christian church has always been for infallibility (incapable of error in setting forth doctrine on faith and morals.) This is attested to by the comments of the following defenders of the Christian faith. 

Dr. Walter Martin

 

“The Bible is called the Word of God because the whole transcript is an inspired, faithful, and infallible record of what God intended us to know about Himself, the cosmos in which we live, our spiritual allies and adversaries, and our fellow man. The Bible, then, was produced by men whose recording of events was divinely supervised and preserved from all the frailties of human error and judgment which are so common in all other religious literature…. Historic Christianity affirms the plenary or “full” inspiration of the Bible, and it further holds that inspired concepts can be communicated only by inspired words. Thus, the church’s belief in the verbal inspiration of the Bible is logically inseparable from the doctrine of plenary inspiration.”[15] 

Gleason L. Archer

 

“Christ and His apostles…regarded the Old Testament in its entirety as the inerrant record of God’s revelation to man. In other words, the basic ground for the complete trustworthiness of Scripture is the trustworthiness of God Himself. When the Scripture speaks, it is God who speaks; unlike any other book ever written, the Word of God is living and operative…and penetrates to the innermost being of man, sitting in judgment upon all human philosophies and reasoning with absolute and sovereign authority.”[16] 

Donald Grey Barnhouse

 

“Even as the Holy Spirit came upon the womb of the Virgin Mary and, despite her sinful nature, imperfections, and limitations, produced the sinless, the perfect character who is called the Son of God, so He moved upon the minds and spirits of the recorders of Scripture, that despite limitations in language, culture, and even scientific knowledge, He produced His perfect message to mankind. Both phenomena were miraculous; both were perfect births – one of the Son of Man and the other of a Book, the Word of God.”[17]

 

The Westminster Confession

 

 

 

“The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God, the author thereof; and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God. The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life is…expressly set down in Scripture…unto which nothing at any time is to be added whether by new revelations or traditions of men…. The Old Testament in Hebrew…and the New Testament in Greek…being immediately inspired by God, and by his singular care and providence kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical; so as in all controversies of religion the Church is finally to appeal unto them.”   

The Bible Itself Claims to be Inspired by God

            The Bible states, “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16). The phrases, “The Lord spoke” or “The Lord said” appear approximately 560 times in the first five books of the Bible and at least 3800 times in the Old Testament. Isaiah claims at least 40 times that his message came directly from the Lord; Ezekiel, 60 times; and Jeremiah, l00 times. The New Testament contains some 295 Old Testament quotations and God calls the scriptures “My Word” more than 3,000 times.  

            The Bible makes the unique claim that its words are living words, “The Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Heb. 4:12-13). No other book can make this claim!

            James Boice notes that, “Whether a person can accept the Bible as the Word of God boils down to whether his mind has been renewed by the Holy Spirit. The unbeliever thinks of the Bible as flawed because his mind is incapable of receiving what the Word says. The mind of the Christian, however, has been remade by the Holy Spirit and therefore he is capable as a believer of accepting the truth about inspiration that the Bible claims for itself.”[18] 

Archaeology Confirms Biblical Accuracy

            Dr. D. James Kennedy, pastor of Coral Ridge Ministries, states,

 

“During the 19th century, a movement known as “Higher Criticism” or the German Higher Critical School, made up of theologians from various universities in Germany, began attacking the Scriptures mercilessly. They were trying to show that the Bible was not historically accurate…. At the same time God was at work in the development of the little known science of archaeology. As these two movements grew and solidified throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries the question was, would the German Higher Critical School prove once and for all that the Bible was a collection of myths and fables, or would archaeology refute its claims and prove that the Bible was, in fact, the very Word of God?

      “One of the sad aspects of this contest was that many believers were holding their peace waiting to see what the final result would be. But as God had said, the very stones began to cry out supporting the inerrancy of the Word of God. While critics have attacked the Bible and denied the historicity of its civilizations and people, the shovel of the archaeologist has consistently overturned their claims…. Over 25,000 sites have been discovered by archaeology pertaining to the Bible, as well as the records of tens of thousands of individuals and events.” [19] 

The Dead Sea Scrolls Validate Biblical Translations

            One of the most incredible finds of the 20th century was the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran in the late l940’s. Texts were found that were approximately l,000 years older than any previously-known Old Testament manuscript. The discovery of these scrolls has greatly enhanced the claim for Biblical reliability.

 

“Every Old Testament book except Esther is represented among the several hundred Dead Sea Scrolls, which date from about 200 B.C. These ancient documents carry us back fully two centuries before the time of Christ. To the joy of believers and the chagrin of liberal critics, they give evidence of a Hebrew text virtually identical with the ninth and tenth century A. D. manuscripts.”[20]

 

 

            Josh McDowell, well-known author and public speaker and widely acclaimed defender of the Bible comments, “The Dead Sea Scrolls demonstrated unequivocally the fact that the Jews were faithful in their transcription of Biblical manuscripts.”[21] McDowell further notes that in Isaiah 53, out of 166 words, there is only one word (three letters) in question after a thousand years of transmission, and that word does not significantly change the meaning of the passage. We now have nearly all of the biblical manuscripts from Qumran and they confirm the reliability of the Masoretic Text adding almost a thousand years to the antiquity of the Hebrew text.             

Discovery of the Hittite Culture, Walls of Jericho and more

            The Bible teaches that the Hittites were a numerous and powerful people in the days of Abraham and continued into the time of David. Uriah, one of David’s army captains, was a Hittite. King David arranged for Uriah’s murder in order to cover his sin with Bathsheba.

            At one time, the skeptics claimed the Hittites never existed because there was no archaeological evidence of their culture. However, today we have abundant archaeological evidence that the Biblical references to the Hittites are absolutely true. One entire museum in Ankara, Turkey, is now devoted to Hittite relics. Dave Hunt cites a recent discovery by archaeologists.

 

“A more recent development comes through the finding in l993 at Tel Dan of the ‘now-famous’ Aramaic (stone) inscription fragment referring to the House of David. Some scholars…(had) denied that David was a historical figure or that a united kingdom preceded Judah and Israel.’ Once again the Bible was vindicated. In l994 two more fragments of the same stone inscription were discovered, again mentioning the House of David…Today no one doubts the existence of King David and the history of his reign as recorded in the Bible…As a result of its continual verification by archaeological findings, the Bible is used by many of today’s archaeologists as a guide in locating ancient cities.

 

 

 

      “In fact, Israeli public schools teach students the history of their land and ancestors from the Old Testament, knowing that it is unfailingly accurate. The truth is, that rather than archaeological evidence pointing against the Bible, the archaeological evidence is all in its favor…. The Bible…has been attacked by determined skeptics and professional critics for centuries as no other book in history. In every instance, however, when the facts have been established through archaeological findings, the Bible has been proven correct and its critics wrong. This has been the case l00 percent of the time—as it would have to be if the Bible is indeed God’s Word.”[22] 

            Other examples of archaeological discoveries proving the authenticity of the Bible, are the Walls of Jericho, dating back to the l3th century B.C., (Joshua 6),  Solomon’s use of a naval fleet, as well as specific towns and cities that comprised much of his empire (I Kings 9-10), Jehu, king of Israel, whose name is inscribed on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser (I Kings l9:l6-l9), Hezekiah’s Tunnel - cut through solid rock, discovered in l880 (2 Kings 20:20; 2 Chronicles 32:30), Heshbon – a city mentioned 38 times in the Bible (Numbers 2l:25), Claudius, Roman emperor (Acts ll:28 and l8:2), daric, drachma, denarius, Persian and Roman coins mentioned in the Bible, Asherah and Baal, prominent Canaanite gods (Judges 3:7, I Kings l8).[23]  

            Archaeology continues to verify that events and people recorded in the Bible are historically accurate. This gives more and more credibility to the truthfulness of the Bible. 

Accuracy of the Old Testament Assured by Hebrew Scribes Translation Method

            We do not have the abundance of manuscripts for the Old Testament that we do for the New.  Josh McDowell explains the reason for this.

 

“In the case of the Old Testament, the fact that there are very few surviving manuscripts, at very late dates, attests to its reliability and accuracy…. The reason for this is the extreme carefulness with which the Old Testament Scriptures were copied. All ancient writings have been preserved by means of handwritten copies. The Old Testament is no exception. In its case, however, there developed a special class of men in the Jewish culture whose sole duty was to preserve and transmit the Scripture with exactitude and precision. These men were the Talmudic and Masoretic scribes. These scribes followed strict disciplines in regard to the Scriptures. With meticulous care and fidelity these men were pledged to fulfill the following conditions in copying the Scriptures:

 

·        Scroll must be written on skin of clean animal  

·        Prepared for use in synagogue by only a Jew

·        Fastened together with strings from clean animal

·        Each skin must contain specified number of columns, equal throughout the entire book

·        Length of each column must not extend over less than 48 lines or more than 60 lines

·        Column breadth must consist of exactly 30 letters

·        Must use a specially prepared recipe of black ink

·        Authentic copy must be the example

·        Copy nothing from memory

·        Between every consonant the space of a thread

·        Between every section the breadth of nine consonants

·        Between every book three lines

·        The Pentateuch must terminate exactly with a line

·        Copyist must sit in full Jewish dress

·        Reverence the Scripture and the name of God so that a fresh quill would be used to pen that sacred name, and to refuse to acknowledge the presence of a king when writing that name

·        Must produce a master copy  

·        Copy only letter by letter; t-t;h-h;e-e;etc.

·        Count the number of times each letter of the alphabet occurs in each book

·        Calculate the middle word

·        If more than three mistakes exist – destroy the manuscript

 

      “The very absence of ancient manuscripts, when the rules of copyists are considered, confirms the reliability of the copies. The scribes were so convinced that when they finished transcribing a manuscript they had an exact duplicate, they would give the new copy equal authority. The old ones were buried or destroyed so that none could misunderstand the text through blurred or indistinct lettering.” [24] 

            This reverence for the Bible was summed up long ago by the first century Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, “We have given practical proof of our reverence for our own Scriptures. For, although such long ages have now passed, no one has ventured wither to add, or to remove, or to alter a syllable; and it is an instinct with every Jew from the day of his birth to regard them as the decrees of God, to abide by them and, if need be, cheerfully to die for them.”[25] 

Manuscript Evidence Confirms the New Testament

            There is enough manuscript evidence today, to know with certainty that our present Bible is accurate. The fact that there are approx. 5,000 extant manuscripts of the New Testament in Greek and more than l5,000 in other languages gives overwhelming support for the Bible’s reliability. Sir Frederic Kenyon, director of the British Museum, after a lifetime of studying ancient documents came to the following conclusions.

 

“The text of the Bible is certain; especially is this the case with the New Testament. The number of manuscripts of the New Testament, of early translations from it, and of quotations from it in the oldest writers of the church, is so large that it is practically certain that the true reading of every doubtful passage is preserved in some one or other of these ancient authorities. This can be said of no other ancient book.”[26]  

     Since God himself is free from error and has chosen man as the instrument through which He reveals His truths, it is only reasonable that He should preserve His word and not allow it to become corrupted.             

Fulfilled Prophecies Attest to the Accuracy of the Bible

            The Bible is the only book that accurately predicts the future. One amazing prophesy in the Bible concerns the scattering of the Jewish people among all nations, the intense persecution they would suffer, and their re-gathering back to their homeland (Deut. 30:1-6). The scattering

 and persecution of the Jews is a fact of history and after nearly 2000 years, Jews are gathering back to their homeland from all around the world. On May 4, l948, the Jewish nation was “born in a day” (Isaiah 66:8), literally fulfilling Bible prophecy.

            In the brief life of Jesus alone there are over 300 fulfilled prophecies. Josh McDowell lists some examples of Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled in the life of Jesus.

 

“He would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:l4; Matt.l:22-23), born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; Matt. 2:5-6), be filled with the Spirit to begin his ministry (Isaiah 11:2; 6l:l-2; Luke 4:l8-l9), be rejected by his own people (Isaiah 53:3; Psalm 69:8; John l:11), would ride into Jerusalem seated on a colt (Zech. 9:9), be betrayed by his companion for thirty pieces of silver (Psalms 4l:9; 55:12-14; Matt. 26:14-16, 21-25), be forsaken by his disciples (Zech. 13:7; Matt. 26:3l,56), be crucified with malefactors (Isaiah 53:12; Matt. 27:38), be pierced (Psalms 22:16; Zech. l2:l0; Mark l5:25; John 19:34, 37; 20:25-27), be buried with the rich (Isaiah 53:9; Matt. 27:57-60), and be raised from the dead (Psalm l6:l0; Matt. 28:2-8) This abundance of predictive detail was beyond the control of any human being and shows the inspiration of the Scriptures and the Messiahship of Jesus of Nazareth.”[27] 

            John H. Gerstner in his book Reason for Faith states, “Someone has taken the trouble to calculate that the possibility of…prophecies concerning Jesus being fulfilled in one person by sheer coincidence is one over 84,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,

000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000th of 1 percent.”[28]

            By far the greatest of all fulfilled prophecies was Jesus’ prediction about himself. Speaking of his own death and resurrection, Jesus said: “Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days” (John 2:19). No man has ever made such a prediction and had it fulfilled, but Jesus did and it was fulfilled exactly as He prophesied. The angel at the empty tomb declared, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ Then they remembered his words” (Luke 24:5-8). Jesus then showed himself to over 500 witnesses proving that He was who he claimed to be, the Messiah. Josh McDowell comments on the resurrection.

 

“A final unique teaching from the Bible is the resurrection of the founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ. This teaching is a wonder, since in no other religious literature do we have a resurrection that was bodily and that can be tested by the most rigorous historical methods. While many other religious traditions have ideas of spiritual or spirit resurrections (untestable hypotheses), only the Bible proclaims a bodily resurrection that passes all tests of historical reliability.”[29] 

Wilbur Smith, who amassed a personal library of 25,000 volumes, concludes,

 

“[The Bible] is the only volume ever produced by man, or a group of men, in which is to be found a large body of prophecies relating to individual nations, to Israel, to all the peoples of the earth, to certain cities, and to the coming of One who was to be the Messiah. The ancient world had many different devices for determining the future, known as divination, but not in the entire gamut of Greek and Latin literature, even though they use the words prophet and prophecy, can we find any real specific prophecy of a great historic event to come in the distant future, nor any prophecy of a Savior to arise in the human race…. Mohammedanism cannot point to any prophecies of the coming of Mohammed uttered hundreds of years before his birth. Neither can the founders of any cult in this country rightly identify any ancient text specifically foretelling their appearance.”[30] 

Further Evidences for the Reliability of the Bible

            In his book Research in Christian Evidence, pages, Josh McDowell gives the following reasons for trusting in the reliability of the Bible.

 

Its Continuity.  McDowell states, “Here is a book:

 

• written over a 1,500 year span

• written over 40 generations

• written by over 40 authors from every walk of life including kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, poets, statesmen, etc.

• written in a variety of places: including a wilderness, dungeon, palace, while traveling and in the rigors of a military campaign

• written during times of war and peace

• written during moods of joy and despair

• written on three continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe

• written in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek

And yet, when analyzed, the Bible speaks with amazing unity and conformity on hundreds of controversial subjects about which there are hundreds of opposing opinions.” 

Its Uniqueness in Translation.

            “The Bible was the first major book in history to be translated into another language. The Septuagint (Greek word for 70), a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament was initiated around 250 B.C. Tradition alleges that it was done by 70 Jewish scholars working independently in 70 separate cubicles. The Bible to date, has been translated in part or in whole into more than 1,500 languages. The Bible is now available in 95% of the world’s languages and dialects.” 

Its Uniqueness in Survival Throughout  History

      “When the number of surviving manuscripts of Scripture are compared with the number of surviving manuscripts from other books of antiquity, the results are truly astounding. The Bible stands unrivaled in its manuscript attestation. No other document of antiquity even begins to approach such numbers.”  Josh McDowell lists the following statistics:

 

Author	When Written	Earliest Copy	Time Span	No. of Copies
Pliny the Younger	61-113 A.D.	850 A.D.	750 yrs.	7
Caesar	100-44 B.C.	900 A.D.	1,000 yrs.	10
Plato	427-347 B.C.	900 A.D.	1,200 yrs.	7
Aristotle	384-322 B.C.	1,100 A.D.	1,400 yrs.	49
Sophocles	496-406 B.C.	1,000 A.D.	1,400 yrs.	193
Euripedes	480-406 B.C.	1,100 A.D.	1,500 yrs.	9
Catallus	54 B.C.	1,550 A.D.	1,600 yrs.	3
New Testament (Mark)	48 A.D.	130 A.D.	80 yrs.	24,633
Homers Iliad	900 B.C.	l3th century	500 yrs.	643

 

            Note: “Voltaire, the noted French skeptic and infidel, who died in l778, predicted that in one hundred years from his time Christianity would be swept from existence and pass into history. But what has happened? Fifty years after his death, the Geneva Bible Society moved into his house and used his printing press to produce thousands of Bibles to be distributed worldwide! Voltaire has passed into history, not the Bible.”[31] 

Central Theme in all 66 Books of the Bible is Christ

Norman Geisler and William Nix wrote,

 

“Let us not forget the reason the Bible was written and preserved: ‘that you may       know that you have eternal life’ (I John 5:13). Christ is the key to the inspiration of the Bible. This is why the books of the Old and New Testament fit together so well into one cohesive whole. Taken together, they present the progressive unfolding of Christ.

 

      The Law gives the foundation for Christ.

      History shows the preparation for Christ.

      Poetry expresses aspiration for Christ.

      Prophecy proclaims an expectation of Christ.

      The Gospels record the historical manifestation of Christ.

      Acts relates the propagation of Christ.

      The Epistles give the interpretation of Christ.

      Revelation describes the consummation of all things in Christ.

 

      “Christ is indeed the key to the Bible, and it is His salvation message that we are commanded to proclaim to the world. No other means than the global distribution of the Bible has been more effective at spreading the good news.”[32]

The Bible: The Book That Transforms Lives    

            The Bible is the only book that came from the mind and mouth of God. All other books came in some other way. In the final analysis the proof that the Bible is the Word of God is the fact that it transforms lives. That makes it a one-of-a-kind book. The following article demonstrates this unique characteristic of the Bible.

 

“Does the Bible make a difference? The story is told of a college professor who visited the Fiji Islands. Being agnostic, he critically remarked to an elderly chief, ‘You’re a great leader, but it’s a pity you’ve been taken in by those foreign       missonaries. They only want to get rich through you. No one believes the Bible anymore. People are tired of the threadbare story of Christ dying on a cross for the sins of mankind. They know better now. I’m sorry you’ve been so foolish as to accept their story.’ The old chief’s eyes flashed as he answered, ‘See that great rock over there? On it we smashed the heads of our victims. Notice the furnace next to it? In that oven we formerly roasted the bodies of our enemies. If it hadn’t been for those good missionaries and the love of Jesus that changed us from cannibals into Christians, you’d never leave this place alive…. If it weren’t for the Bible, you’d be our supper!’ ”[33] 

Conclusion 

            Bible scholar, James Boice, notes that the church becomes holy only as God works upon it through the power of the Holy Spirit speaking in the written Word of God, the Bible. He writes, “What happens when the church is not really certain that God has spoken in the Bible? It neglects that portion of the Bible that it most needs to hear. That is a danger under any circumstance, for we all naturally dislike and avoid anything that condemns us or requires us to change in ways we do not want to change.”[34]

     Walter Martin, in his book Essential Christianity states, “God has a long record of blessing those who believe Him and who believe in the integrity of what He has said. He has yet to raise up a great evangelist, Bible teacher, or pastor from the ranks of those evangelicals who maintain that human error exists in the original documents of Scripture.”[35]

            The identity crisis in the RLDS church that many of its writers allude to, stems directly from rejecting the Bible as the totally inspired and authoritative Word of God. None of the RLDS prophets has publicly promoted the Bible’s trustworthiness, nor encouraged their people to believe in and abide by it alone. Instead, each prophet has promoted the church’s extra-Biblical scriptures—products of their alleged revelations from God. As a result the church has no standard of truth, and is “tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14 KJV).

            The information presented in this chapter has established that the Bible can be proven to be the inspired, trustworthy, eternal Word of God, sufficient for faith and practice for all generations.