Appendix 2
The irrefutable authority
for this book
A summary of biblical apologetics
Frank H. Leavell wrote, “Christianity does not need defense; it needs proclamation.” That is a great truth. However, it is good to know the proofs of the faith. And Peter said, “A lways be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15, NKJV).
Biblical apologetics is the field of marshalling and presenting the many facts proving the total inspiration and reliability of the Bible as God's holy Word. The word apologia means “defense.” Apologetics defends the truth of the Bible. Paradoxically, the derived word “apology” means to express regret. There is no expression of regret concerning the truth of the Bible, only praise to God for giving it to us!
It is critical that the Bible's authority be firmly established, without a shred doubt. Or else there would be no basis for faith. Faith must be based on fact, or else it is blind faith, which we do not need.
When you are hanging out there in the realm of faith, where both circumstances and other people tell you that you are crazy, your faith must not be a blind faith, which would be foolish and would soon collapse. It must be hinged to something as solid as a rock, or it will fail you. But if your faith is based on fact , it cannot fail you. The faith proposed in this book is based on undisputed fact.
The information in this book is so revolutionary, it is absolutely necessary that the authoritative basis be constantly clear in the mind of the reader. Otherwise, you could not believe it, and if you cannot believe it, you cannot act upon it and receive what God has for you.
But you are able to believe and act upon it, because it is based on irrefutable fact.
If the contents of this book were just my ideas, you might as well trash it now. The world has millions of books that are just the ideas of mere humans, and few are worth more than the paper upon which they are written.
But these are not just my ideas. The principles herein come with the Ultimate Authority.
Can you think of a more final and credible authority than the Creator of the universe, the one who spoke and more than 100 billion galaxies were created, according to the findings of the Hubble telescope? That's galaxies, not planets, nor even solar systems! And for all we know, better telescopes in future generations may find hundreds of billions, or maybe trillions, more, ad infinitum. If God is infinite, why not?
God's attributes
Consider this comparison: Each of us is less than a speck in the vastness of our city or town; our city or town is but a speck on the earth; the earth is but a speck in the vastness of our solar system; our solar system is but a speck in the vastness of our galaxy; and our galaxy is but a speck in the vastness of the universe of the 100 billion or more galaxies.
This Creator has unimaginable power. And we know that He is holy, without flaw, pure and perfect. He cannot lie. You can always take what He says to the bank. He always tells the truth, without exception. The Bible says, “ God is not a man, that he should lie” (Numbers 23:19).
He has revealed other attributes of Himself, such as omnipotence (all power), omniscience (all knowing), omnipresence (everywhere present), just, loving, merciful, faithful, to name a few.
This Super Person, God, revealed His actual personal name to Moses with the Hebrew consonants equivalent to YHWH. Scholars believe the original pronunciation was Yah'-weh, or Yahweh. A few hundred years ago this was mistakenly translated to Jehovah. In most modern Bibles, YHWH is mistranslated as “the LORD.”
YHWH has given us His holy, written Word, what we call the Bible. The Bible consists of what Christians call the Old Testament, or what Jews call the Tenach, and the New Testament. Both comprise His revealed Word, considered inerrant by thousands of scholars throughout the world and throughout history.
The Bible was physically written by different humans, but it only has one Author, God Himself, who guided the thoughts and writing of those humans, His servants. Of this there can be no doubt, for the reasons stated below.
How do we know the Bible is true and from God, say, compared with other religious books that are claimed to be sacred? How do we know it can be trusted as a message from the Creator and not just a nice book full of nice religious platitudes? The evidence is overwhelming, and conclusive!
There are at least eight main reasons why we know that the Bible is from God.
• Proof from its supernatural uniqueness among all books ever written.
• Proof from archeology.
• Proof from prophecy, or the accurate prediction of future events.
• Proof from its own unique, internal claim of flawless inspiration.
• Proof from Jesus Christ Himself.
• Proof from science. (Yes, I said science!)
• Proof from mathematics. (This will blow your mind.)
• Proof from its impact on people and the world.
Finally, there is the amazing “ Factor X ,” I will tell you about.
Scholars who have studied the writings of the various religions report that the Bible is unique and distinctive for many reasons. Here are a few:
It was written over a period of at least 1,500 years, or about 40 generations.
It was written in different places on three different continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe .
It was written in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
Its 40 authors were from different walks of life, including kings, fishermen, scholars, statesmen, and peasants.
It includes hundreds of subjects.
Yet with the above incredible diversity, the Bible has an amazing unity. This consistency and continuity (along with other characteristics described below) make the Bible logically beyond human ability to accomplish. The presence and influence of an external Guiding Hand are necessary!
Here is more uniqueness:
The Bible's survivability. It has withstood attacks not given to any other book, attacks from despots, doubters, and skeptics throughout the ages. From the days of the Roman emperors to modern-day fascists, communists, and tyrants of false religions, the Bible has been outlawed and attempts have been made to stamp it out. Over 200 years ago, Voltaire predicted the Bible's soon demise. Ironically, after his death, the Geneva Bible Society used Voltaire's printing press to publish more Bibles! The Bible is also attacked by both moral and intellectual pride. Many people have opposed the Bible because they do not want to believe that their moral condition makes them need mercy from the Supreme Being. They see their self-perceived moral goodness as qualifying them for favor from God, in a sense making them His moral equal, or debtor. Intellectual pride is also a factor. For example, it is beneath the “dignity” of many academics to think that they need a Savior. They have a surprise coming!
Number of manuscripts available. In spite of these unparalleled attempts to destroy it, the Bible has survived as the most authentic and accurate ancient document, based on both age and number of manuscripts available. Homer's Iliad ranks closest to the New Testament in number of manuscripts available, 643, with the earliest copy written about 500 years after the original. There are only about 10 good manuscripts of Caesar's Gallic Wars available and the earliest was written over 900 years after the original. By contrast, there are over 5,000 complete or partial Greek manuscripts available of the New Testament (plus over 10,000 Latin Vulgate and over 9,000 other versions), with the earliest written only 25 years after the original!
Shakespeare's 37 plays are only about 200 years old but there are said to be about 100 significant textual variants that are the subject of scholarly dispute. The New Testament is about 2,000 years old and it is estimated that there are only 20 or less such passages. Does anyone ever doubt the reliability of Shakespeare's work?
It can be concluded that if the same tests were applied to all available ancient literature, the Bible would be clearly hailed by all as by far the most reliable ancient document. Or else all other ancient literature, including the classics, would have to be rejected as unreliable!
For example, the Old Testament refers to a city that was built from solid rock. Skeptics would scoff about the reality of this unknown city, but Petra has been discovered and it is now a major tourist stop in Jordan .
In the New Testament, in Acts 13:7, the author, Luke, speaks of a “proconsul” who was the governor of Cyprus . For years many scholars thought that Luke had made a mistake in terminology because the Roman government was thought to have used the term "propraetor” instead. Recently, however, archaeology has determined that Rome did, in fact, use the title mentioned by Luke. It was the scoffing critics, not the Bible, who were found to be in error, as they have been time after time.
The late scholar Dr. W.A. Criswell pointed out that about 200 years ago a group of French scholars listed 82 alleged “errors” in the Bible that would eventually destroy Christianity. Since then, however, archeology and the increased understanding of the ancient languages and cultural contexts have resolved each item. The Bible is now more validated than ever, and those scholars are, needless to say, dead, keeping their appointment with their Maker, the Bible's Author.
Prophecy, or the prediction of future events, gives the Bible an internal authenticity. This is one of the great marvels of the Bible, one that distinguishes it from all other writings.
God's prophets spoke and wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit about future events, about nations, especially concerning God's covenant people, Israel, and most importantly, about the coming of the Messiah. The events have occurred without fail, in detail, just as prophesied. Unlike modern-day psychics whose track record is at best no better than chance would provide, these prophets were 100 percent accurate. They could not make a mistake, the only such group in the history of the world. This confirmed the divine origin of their information.
For example, about 600 years before Christ, the prophet Ezekiel wrote about the destruction of the city of Tyre . Its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar came just a few years later. History has shown the prophecy's amazing details to have happened; Tyre became a “bare rock” where fishermen spread their nets, and the city was never rebuilt.
There are many other such prophecies and fulfillments concerning various locations and people, such as Sidon , Edom , and Nineveh .
Many prophecies foretold the historic plight of the Hebrew people, such as their first dispersion in 586 B.C. and return under Ezra, and the later second dispersion and worldwide persecution, which was also foretold by Christ (Luke 21:24). The Bible also prophesies that they would someday return to the land from all over the earth, which many thought was impossible. Now, almost 2,000 years later, the nation of Israel was “born in a day,” May 14 1948, by an unprecedented United Nations decree. This was a fulfillment of Isaiah, who some 2,500 years earlier had written:
Who has ever heard of such a thing?… Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? (Isaiah 66:8).
The greatest and most important prophecies concern the coming of Messiah. There are some 300 detailed prophecies of both His first coming and His second coming. These include the timing of His first coming (Daniel 9:25), His deity (Isaiah 9:6), His place of birth (Micah 5:2), His suffering and crucifixion for our sins (Isaiah 53), His resurrection (Psalm 16:10), His second coming (Zechariah 14:4), plus many other details. He first came on schedule some 2,000 years ago, and His return will be on schedule, and there are many reasons from the prophecies and signs given to believe that this event will be soon. One major sign is the miraculous reestablishment of Israel in just our generation, rendering futile all such speculation about the timing of Christ's return before May 14, 1948.
Proof from the Bible's claims about itself
Unlike any other book, the Bible consistently claims itself to be divinely inspired and to be the Word of God. For example:
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).
Your word is truth (Psalm 119:160; John 17:17).
Every word of God proves true (Proverbs 30:5, RSV).
Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35).
Forever, O Lord , Thy word is settled in heaven (Psalm 119:89, KJV).
Especially relevant to the purpose of this book, the Bible says of itself:
For 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 (Hebrews 4:12).
Not only does the Bible claim to be divinely inspired, in its pages the Creator even speaks in the first person! Expressions such as, “And God said…,” followed by a quote appear about 3,800 times in the Old Testament alone, someone has counted.
These claims and characteristics are in a book that espouses truth, morality, and all that is good. It is illogical that such a book would be a hoax, and a conspiracy is impossible because of the vast differences in time and place of the writers and events. Also, of the large number of people involved, someone would have surely spoken up.
Previous reasons given are compelling, but this one is the most persuasive of all: The Son of God Himself believed and taught the Bible's complete inspiration and reliability. The One who is considered by even non-Christians as the wisest and most saintly person who ever lived taught the infallibility of the Bible, saying such things as, “It is written… Search the Scriptures… Have you read… Scripture cannot be broken.”
He spoke of the total accuracy of even the “jot” and “tittle,” the smallest characters of the Hebrew alphabet.
He spoke confidently about past events and people, such as Noah and the ark, Jonah and the whale, Abraham and Moses. The holy Son of God could not deceive, nor was He ignorant, having all knowledge.
Even after His resurrection, in His glorified body, Christ taught the infallibility of the Scriptures. On one occasion, He rebuked His disciples for being “slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.” (He said all , not some!)
Of course, in Jesus' day, there was no New Testament, which was written later under His direction. But He placed His stamp of authority on it by anticipation when He told the disciples,
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you (John 14:26).
Proof from science
The Bible does not claim to be a science book, yet it contains scientific truth, revealed supernaturally to its writers centuries before humans discovered those truths.
For example, only in relative recent years has science understood the cycles of water, how it evaporates, then collects in the clouds, then comes back to earth as rain or snow. However, God revealed this in Job 36:27-28:
He draws up the drops of water, which distill as rain to the streams.
Job lived over 3,500 years ago. Another example is the biblical revelation that the earth is round, and not flat, as believed until recent history:
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth (Isaiah 40:22).
And that the actual life of our flesh is in our blood:
For the life of a creature is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11).
When the Bible does address a scientific matter that may seem contrary to today's understanding, it would be wise to believe it. A contemporary example is the theory of evolution -- that man evolved from some prehistoric, random collision of molecules, then apes -- which even contradicts known scientific principles and the fossil record, but yet is foolishly taught as truth in our educational systems by those who do not want to acknowledge a moral God to whom they will be accountable.
Proof from mathematics
Could God have actually left his signature on the book He authored? The evidence suggests so.
More work needs to be done on this subject, and at the current time it is controversial. Nevertheless, many brilliant and credible Bible scholars, mathematicians, and computer scientists believe it is true.
Beginning at least as early as the 1800s and through today, gifted people have made exhaustive studies in the original Hebrew and Greek languages of the ancient Bible manuscripts. These researchers claim their results prove that the writings had to have come from an infinite and omniscient Mind.
One person who studied this phenomenon was a Russian immigrant and Harvard graduate, Dr. Ivan Panin, who spent 50 years and accumulated 43,000 pages of notes on the subject before he died in 1942. A more recently published work is Theomatics , by Jerry Lucas and Del Washburn.
Unlike English, in both Hebrew and Greek, the main languages in which God chose to give us the Bible, numbers are not separate characters but are represented by letters of the alphabet. For example, in Greek, the first letter “alpha” (for the English A) is also the number 1. Panin and others have gone to the manuscripts and have assigned the appropriate numerical value for each letter, then they looked for patterns.
The results are mind-boggling -- patterns of numbers that could not have been placed there by humans and probability theory analysis shows that such an elaborate “accident” is impossible. For example, in the first verse of the Bible, Panin found 30 different patterns of the number seven, a number the Bible gives special significance. In English, the verse has ten words, but in Hebrew, only seven. The seven words have exactly 28 (4 X 7) letters. The nouns in the sentence give a combined 777 (111 X 7). The two objects of the verb have seven letters, and so on. The chance of 30 combinations of seven in a seven-word sentence happening accidentally is described as 1 in 33,000,000,000,000.
According to an Associated Press report a few years ago, after subjecting the first five books of the Bible to exhaustive computer analysis, researchers in Israel came to an amazing conclusion. The Torah, or the five books of Moses, had long been assumed by skeptics to be the work of mere men and multiple authors. But Scripture scholar Moshe Katz and computer expert Menachem Wiener of the Israel Institute of Technology analyzed the book's material through sophisticated computer analysis. They discovered an intricate pattern of meaningful words hidden in those books, spelled by letters separated at fixed intervals, the phenomenon called “equidistant letter spacing (ELS).” For example, in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Jewish Torah, the word “Torah” is found repeated at 50-character intervals and “Elohim” (God) at 26-character intervals. It would have been impossible for a mere mortal to have done this, and statistically it could not have happened by chance. Mr. Wiener said, "We need a non-rational explanation. And ours is that the (Torah) was written by God through the hand of Moses."
In all of this, it appears that the omniscient Creator left a persuasive signature on his Word, making the apostle Paul's statement even more graphic and understandable: “All Scripture is God-breathed.”
Proof from impact
No other book has had the impact for good as has the Bible.
No other book has caused more construction of hospitals, schools, and orphanages as has the Bible.
No other book champions freedom as does the Bible. Western civilization and concepts of political freedom came from the Bible. For that reason, political and religious despots hate it and try to stamp it out.
No other book has brought comfort, peace, purpose, and joy to billions, and radically changed lives, as has the Bible.
No other book proclaims moral law as does the Bible, promises eternal justice for those who disregard it, yet offers a merciful method, if accepted, of acquittal – the provision being the substitutionary sacrifice of God's only Son. Former Cambridge University professor of philosophy Derek Prince calls the Bible “the most logical book in the world.”
If a major attribute of God is love, as the Bible declares, the positive fruits of love that have come forth from the Bible are major evidences that God is the author. People who have committed violence falsely in the name of Christianity were not followers of Jesus Christ, who said, “ By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).
Collectively, the above empirical reasons are overwhelming proof that the Bible was written by God through the hands of men. But there is one factor, or reason -- what I call Factor X -- that transcends the empirical. It is “revelational.” It is evidence directly given to an individual's spirit and mind by the Holy Spirit. God speaks directly to that person and confirms to them that His Word is true and reliable.
In fact, the previous eight reasons will not work by themselves. They help, but one cannot believe unless the Holy Spirit confirms and places His truth within us.
For example, the Bible says:
No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3).
No one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him (Luke 10:22).
Blessed art thou… for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven (Matthew 16:17, KJV).
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:44).
Christianity is unique among religions in that it is the only one where faith comes only by “revelation” from the Creator. Other religions are based on false legends and the traditions of men, often culturally driven.
In an article titled, “How do you know the Bible is true?” David Kupelian, vice-president and managing editor of WorldNetDaily wrote:
In every truly sincere person ("sincere" as in humble-before-your-Creator, not as in so-deluded-you-can't-see-your-delusions) there is an inner witness, a wordless knowing, a quiet confirmation of all truth, including the Bible. Indeed, when all is said and done, you know the Bible is true because you just know deep down that it is true. It's a matter of quiet inner revelation, direct to your heart and mind from the source of all true revelation.
If you do not believe the Bible, it is not because you do not have enough supporting facts. There are more than you need. It is because you have chosen to block out that revelation from God.
What will cause a person to block out this revelation from God? There are several, such as: wrong motives, looking for an argument, not really seeking Him, holding on to some sin, seeking justification for a sin, pride, and many others.
The late A.W. Tozer says it very bluntly:
I do not believe anyone has ever rejected Jesus Christ on philosophical grounds. Israel did not reject the Lord because of philosophical reasons. Israel 's rejection was for moral reasons. The man who continues in his rejection of Christ has a pet sin somewhere ¾ he's in love with iniquity. He rejects Jesus on moral grounds, and then hides behind false philosophy ¾ philosophical grounds…. When we fall in love with our sin, we can imagine and manufacture 10,000 syllogisms to keep us away from the cross. A blind man can argue that there is no sunshine, but when he gets his sight, the sunshine floods in! How wonderful it is that when a person gives up his sin and puts his pride under his feet and looks at the light, the whole body and mind are flooded with light. I have talked with people who have come out of rationalism and atheism and all the rest -- and they smile at you with clear eyes and say, "Oh, it is wonderful now; the light has flooded in."
If you want to believe and know the truth about God, His Son Jesus Christ, and God's plan for history, simply go to God with a humble and repentant heart and ask. Jesus said:
So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened (Luke 11:9-10).
God also said:
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13).
Each of the various philosophical arguments for God's existence, such as the argument from design (the complex design proves an intelligent Designer), and the argument for first cause (that all effects must be ultimately traced to an intelligence that was the first cause of all effects), is conclusive enough, but collectively, all the arguments are absolutely overwhelming.
The same logic applies to the Bible. Each of the above individual arguments is enough, but collectively they overwhelmingly reveal that the Bible is clearly the authoritative Word of God, totally reliable and true.
The information presented in this book is so revolutionary and radical, it is absolutely necessary that its authoritative basis, the Bible, be constantly clear in the mind of the reader. Otherwise, you could not believe it and receive God's promises.
Believe it.
Suggested reading:
Evidence That Demands a Verdict , Josh McDowell (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999) (also, New Evidence That Demands a Verdict , 1999 ).
Why I Preach the Bible is Literally True , W.A. Criswell (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1969).