| Revelation | Inspiration | Infallibility | Internal "Proofs" | Prophesy "Proofs" |
Because someone stands on the top of the Empire State building and states, "There is no such thing as gravity," and jumps off, the truth of gravity is not altered. Likewise, because someone says the Bible isn't the true word of God doesn't change the fact that it is. To not believe that it is God's true word is bound to cause serious spiritual harm, and even spiritual death as in the case of denying the truth of salvation through faith in Jesus.
Christians need not back down to the misguided, uneducated, or openly hostile attacks on the Bible as the infallible word of God. To provide all of the references or "proofs" of this is beyond the scope of this website, but we can address a few of them and some great references are listed throughout this page.
Below you'll find a number of "proofs" for the reliability of Scripture (
The format is one of They Argue / Our Response / References designed to address specific attacks critics might make.
They Argue: Men wrote the Bible, therefore it's fallible
Our Response: God authored the Bible and is responsible for the content. He used the talents and personalities of those whom He chose to pen the Bible. Surely a God who created the heavens and earth and everything in it, on it, and around it could make sure His words were written down properly!
References:
"When Moses went and told the people all the LORD's words and laws, they responded with one voice, Everything the LORD has said we will do.' Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said." Exodus 24:3-4 (NIV)
Isaiah had no problem giving God the glory. Over thirty five times Isaiah starts off, "God says...", "The Lord says...", "The Holy One says...."
In the New Testament, Paul acknowledges the Old Testament Scripture as God speaking: "They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet:...'"Acts 28:25 (NIV)
Paul also confirms that Scripture is God's word in Galatians 3:8. Genesis 12 starts off "The LORD says, ..." and Paul quotes it starting off, "The Scripture foresaw...." Paul makes no distinction between the written Word of God and God speaking.
They Argue: The Bible contradicts itself.
Our Response: Really, where? Have you read it? Most of the time people haven't read it and have just heard that the Bible contradicts itself. Most often it's just an excuse not to follow it or to shut a Christian up, which will often work if the Christian doesn't have have a working knowlege of the Bible.
References:
As an example, people say, "God says, 'Thou shalt not kill', but then He says, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.'" When going back to the original text (Hebrew), God says, "Thou shalt not MURDER." and is speaking to the individual. In the latter, God institutes justice and the death penalty FOR THE GOVERNMENT to carry out. The Bible never contradicts itself, although some advanced study may be required to understand specific issues.
They Argue: The New Testament isn't Scripture. / Isn't the New Testament just a bunch of guys writing about what they think happened?
Our Response: The New Testament writers (Matthew through Revelation), were all hand picked by Jesus Christ to do the work that was assigned them. They penned the NT books with the authority of God and put their writing on the same level as Old Testament, as in fact, there is no difference of authority between OT & NT Scripture.They were all inspired by God to pen holy Scripture, therefore it is infallible.
References:
"I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ." Galatians 1:11-12 (NIV)
"This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words." 1 Corinthians 2:13 (NIV)
Paul, already quoting the New Testament Gospels, says:
"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve." 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 (NIV)
The Spirit (through Paul) instructs Timothy:
"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 Timothy 3:16-17(NIV)
They Argue: Who says Paul's writing is Scripture?
Our Response: Peter.
References:
"Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction." 2 Peter 3:15-16 (NIV)
They Argue: God just gave the writers general inspiration and some of what's written is the writers thoughts / The Bible isn't the word of God but contains the word of God.
*Note-You will most often hear this from someone who is caught up in sin and is disobeying the Bible. Not surprisingly, the part they feel isn't the Word of God is the part they are in disobedience with.
Our Response: The Spirit through Paul couldn't be clearer than in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 "All Scripture is God-breathed..." (also see Colossians 1:25, Jeremiah 23:28, 1 Corinthians 2:13)
References: Jesus, who was the Word made flesh, addressed how important specific words are (emphasis added):
Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" Matthew 4:4 (NIV)
"I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished." Matthew 5:18 (NIV)
"I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken." Matthew 12:36 (NIV)
"Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down." Mark 7:13 (NIV)
Remarkable enough, Isaiah ( 44:24-28) states BY NAME that Cyrus would release the Jews from captivity and rebuild the temple of Jerusalem. He stated this over 150 years before Cyrus the Great, ruler of the Medo-Persian Empire, was born. And did it come true? Yes (of course!). In 539 B.C. Cyrus captured Babylon and pursued an open policy on religion, and ALLOWED THE JEWS TO RETURN TO JERUSALEM and even helped finance the rebuilding of the temple!
One of the most remarkable (and convincing) facts about the Bible is the absolute accuracy of the prophesies contained in it. The test for any proclaimed prophets of God was if ALL of the prophesies came true [ Isaiah 41:22-23, Deut 18:22]. And in fact, if even one prophesy didn't come true the prophet was to be killed! Christianity, with the Old & New Testaments, is the only religion that has dared to make outrageous prophesies with very specific detail about the future, and has made them in great numbers.
This has long since been a thorn in the side of Bible critics because history has recorded many, many fulfilled prophesies like Isaiah 44:24-28. However, instead of embracing the Bible and worshiping the God that wrote it they just attack it from another angle, claiming dual or multiple authors over long periods of time for a single book. Even the fervor that the critics use attempting to disprove the dating and authorship of the prophesies says a great deal about the authorship of the prophesies and the Bible itself. They know that if the prophesies are indeed prophetic (told before they happen) then they have to be divine because it is not humanly possible to be that accurate with so many specific details. On the other hand, God has no problem being deadly specific, He knows everything before it happens and has the power to make it happen! (God's omniscience & omnipotence)
God, speaking through Isaiah the prophet, says it all:
"I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please." Isaiah 46:9b-10
The greatest prophesies are the ones regarding the Messiah. The prophesies are so specific they could only point to one person: Jesus the Christ. To read more about this click on this link to the Core Beliefs:Jesus page.
Many of the Old Testament prophesies speak of events concerning specific cities/regions and rulers/empires. Many of these events have already occurred and are verifiable by historians. In addition, archaeologist are constantly digging up proofs of fulfilled prophesy.
One such incredible prophesy is that regarding the city of Tyre. Tyre had many things going for it. It was as sea port strategically located at the end of the Mediterranean Sea (Great Sea) and had access to many natural resources. It had massive walls, 150 feet high and 15 feet thick and a tremendous fleet of ships to protect itself. It became the capital of Phoenician trade and remained that way for a number of years. It only had one problem: God said it would be destroyed totally and permanently.
Three prophets spoke the judgement against Tyre; Amos, Zechariah, and the most specific- Ezekiel. Ezekiel spelled out the who, what, how, and the extent of Tyre's destruction in Chapter 26:
Who- Many nations (v.3) King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (v.7)
What-The destruction of the walls and towers, the wealth plundered, and the remains of the city thrown into the sea (vs.4,5,12,14)
How- It will be sieged (v.8) and the many nations will will come against it like waves of the sea (v.3).
The Extent- The destruction will be absolute and permanent (vs.4,14,19-21)
So what happened?
Three years after Ezekiel made this prophesy Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to the city of Tyre. It took his army 13 years to penetrate the defenses of magnificent city of Tyre. The city laid in ruins, it's walls and towers destroyed, but Nebuchadnezzar went away empty handed. During the 13 years of siege, the fleet of Tyre took the wealth of the city to an island a half mile in to the sea and set up another thriving fortress. At this point the prophesy looked as if it was false. And I'm sure the critics at that time were slamming the reliability of God's word.
So Nebuchadnezzar did siege the mainland city and destroyed the towers and walls. But the wealth was not plundered and the rubble of Tyre still laid were it fell. Who could take the island fortress and who in their right mind would scrape the city like the top of a rock and throw all of the rubble into the sea?! Two hundred and fifty years later Alexander the Great ran into Tyre on his conquest and Tyre refused to surrender, killing Alexander's messenger. Alexander was outraged, and guess what he did. He didn't have a fleet to speak of to attack the island city so he began making a land bridge from the mainland to the island- throwing the ruins of the old city into the sea. The people of Tyre were confident in their strength and bombarded the operation with their fleet. The farther Alexander got, the deeper the water got, the slower the work got, and the harder the fleet attacked. Alexander would not be stopped, however, and called on the "many nations"(v.3) he had already conquered to provide him with ships to attack "like waves of the sea."(v.3) After seven months the mainland city of Tyre was scraped flat as a rock (vs.4,14) with the ruins forming a causeway to the island (v.12), the island city was destroyed, the wealth was plundered (v.12), 15,000 people were killed and 30,000 more were sold into slavery (vs.15,21). Tyre was silenced. To this day the mainland city of Tyre has never been rebuilt, and never will be rebuilt. Why? Because 2500 years ago a prophet named Zechariah said it would never be rebuilt.
Remember what Zechariah [9:1-6] said regarding the judgement of God against Damascus, Hamath, Tyre, Sidon, Askelon, Gaza, Ekron, and Ashdod? In one pass in and out of the region, Alexander the Great fulfilled this prophesy without even knowing it.