The Case for the Bible
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In this message in the iWitness Series, Pastor Palm makes the case for the Bible. This is the last pre-evangelism topic. Once the case for the Bible has been made and accepted, we are free to use the Bible fully in our witnessing. This greatly enhances the power of our message, so it is critical that we demonstrate the uniqueness and truth of the Bible.
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The Case for the Bible
- 1. The new challenges we face in sharing the good news
- 2. 4 Goals for today’s sermon 1. I hope you will fall a little more in love with the Bible. 2. I hope you will feel a little more confident in the Bible. 3. I hope you will be a little more equipped to make the case for the Bible. 4. I hope you will be a little more motivated to share the Bible’s message with someone you know.
- 3. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? Question: •What evidence do we have that the book on our shelves REALLY IS the Bible?
- 4. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? Evidence for the Bible 1.The Uniqueness of the Bible.
- 5. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? Some Important Bible Facts •It was written over a 1600 YEAR span in three languages by 40 authors on three continents. •The Bible is also the most circulated book in history.
- 6. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? Some Important Bible Facts •The full Bible has been translated into 531 languages. •Portions of the Bible have been translated into more than 2,800 languages which equates to about a third of the worlds languages and more than 90% of earth's population.
- 7. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? We would expect a book written in this way to be disjointed and lack a unified message.
- 8. “To be fair, much of the Bible is not systematically evil but just plain weird, as you would expect of a chaotically cobbled- together anthology of disjointed documents, composed, revised, translated, distorted and 'improved' by hundreds of anonymous authors, editors and copyists, unknown to us and mostly unknown to each other, spanning nine centuries” ― Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion
- 9. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? Dr. Michael W. Goheen We have fragmented the Bible into bits—moral bits, systematic-theological bits, devotional bits, historical- critical bits, narrative bits, and homiletical bits.
- 10. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? Dr. Michael W. Goheen When the Bible is broken up in this way, there is no comprehensive grand narrative to withstand the power of the comprehensive humanist narrative that shapes our culture.
- 11. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? Dr. Michael W. Goheen The Bible bits are accommodated to the more all-embracing cultural story, and it becomes that story—i.e. the humanist story—that shapes our lives.
- 12. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? The Unified Message of the Bible •God created a good creation. •We screwed up (SIN) •God reached down (GRACE) •We have hope.
- 13. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? Evidence for the Bible 2. The Manuscript Evidence.
- 14. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? Evidence for the Bible 3. The Prophetic Consistency.
- 15. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? Some Important Bible Facts •The Bible is also the only religious text that contains PREDICTIVE PROPHECY.
- 16. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? There are 26 other religious books that people of faith believe are divinely inspired (the Hindu Vedas, the Quran, the Book of Mormon, etc.). Of these twenty- six books, none of them contain any specific, fulfilled prophecies. None. Charlie Campbell
- 17. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? •Out of 31,124 Bible verses 8352 are predictive. •28.5% of the Old Testament and 21.5% of the New Testament are predictive. •Counting repeats in books, Dr. Payne found 1,817 predictions. Dr. J. Barton Payne
- 18. Deuteronomy 28 15 "But it shall come about, if you do not obey the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments…
- 19. Deuteronomy 28 36 "The LORD will bring you and your king, whom you set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known…
- 20. Deuteronomy 28 37 And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away.
- 21. Deuteronomy 28 64 “And the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the … 65 and among these nations you shall find no respite…
- 22. Jeremiah 32 36 “Now therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel. . . 37a Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, . . .
- 23. Jeremiah 32 37b… I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. 38 And they shall be my people and I will be their God.
- 24. Amos 9:14 (NIV) And I will bring my people Israel back from exile. “They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
- 25. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? Evidence for the Bible 4. The Archaelogical Evidence.
- 26. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? “No archeological discovery has ever controverted [overturned] a Biblical reference. Scores of archeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries.” - Nelson Glueck
- 27. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? In the Tel Dan Inscription Aramean (Syrian) king refers to the Kingdom of Judah as “The House of David”
- 28. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? Part of the Black Obelisk and was produced in 825 BC during Jehu’s reign
- 29. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? …]S TIBERIVM …PON]TIVS PILATVS …PRAEF]ECTVS IVDA[EA] 1961 Inscription unearthed near Caesarea Maritima mentioning Pontius Pilate
- 30. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? 1967 discovery of the ossuary (box containing bones) of Caiaphas, the High Priest who tried Jesus.
- 31. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? Aramaic inscription: "Ya'akov bar Yosef akhui di Yeshua" ("James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus") James Ossuary
- 32. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? Evidence for the Bible 5.The Ethical Evidence.
- 33. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? The Bible may, indeed does, contain a warrant for trafficking in humans, for ethnic cleansing, for slavery, for bride-price, and for indiscriminate massacre, but we are not bound by any of it because it was put together by crude, uncultured human mammals. -Christopher Hitchens
- 34. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? The Ethics of the Bible •Proportional Justice – “An Eye for an Eye” – Ex. 21:24 •Protection from False Accusations – Testimony of Two Witnesses required. – Deut. 17:6
- 35. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? The Ethics of the Bible •Turn the Other Cheek – Mt. 5:39 •Love Your Enemies – Mt. 5:43-48 •Golden Rule – “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” – Mt. 7:12
- 36. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? The Ethics of the Bible •Just Weights and Measures. (11 Bible verses address this!) •Sanctity of Life – You knitted me together… Psalm 139:13)
- 37. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? The Ethics of the Bible •Generosity towards the poor. (“Do not reap to the edge of your fields” – Lev. 19:9) •Care for the Foreigner and Alien (“Love the foreigner as yourself” – Lev. 19:34) •Care for Widows and Orphans – (“Pure and Faultless Religion” – James 1:27)
- 38. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? “Let me say this again. If there is no standard to judge by, then it can never be known if anything is good or bad, and it cannot be argued that we can be good without God.”Matt Slick
- 39. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? Other Evidences we could consider: •The Global and transformative impact of the Bible. •The radical transformation in the lives of those who have read the Bible and followed its teaching.
- 40. The Case for the Bible: Is the Bible just literature? Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, anddiscerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
- 41. The new challenges we face in sharing the good news
Editor's Notes
- I would like to start today by sharing part of my story with regards to the Bible. For the first 13 years of my life I was largely ignorant of the Bible. I grew up in a Roman Catholic church where there were readings from the gospels and other sections of the Bible. But there were no Bibles in the pews. When I was small my Dad read me some Bible stories from this series of books we got in the grocery store. I still have one of those books. But we did not have a Bible at home, just some stories. I once went into the Rectory book store and pointed towards a Bible. I asked the nun behind the counter what the book in the glass case was. She looked at me like I was stupid. She said, “It’s the Bible.” A 12 year old who had made his First Communion and been confirmed should have known better… but I didn’t because I’d never held a Bible before. Then, at 13 years of age, my mom and I were invited to a Bible Study. The first Thursday night meeting in the third week of December I was given my first Bible. I remember feeling lost. Everyone knew how to flip through it’s pages and find stuff in a moment. I didn’t recognize these weird names… Ecclesiastes, Habakkuk, Colossians, Philemon. I didn’t know whether to find the Psalms… I was just lucky there were so many chapters. By the time I was 16 I had read the Bible cover to cover. I could find stuff and understand it. Jesus was now in my heart. The Holy Spirit was my teacher, and the books of the Bible were becoming familiar friends. I had fallen in love with this book. However, as my public school education progressed I was exposed to other ideas. I took a course in the tenth grade entitled “The Bible as literature.” The Bible was not taught from a vantage point of faith, but as a book like other books. And then came college. As a religion major at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, I was taught that the Bible was the product of men and lots and lots of editors. I was taught that it was a book filled with primitive thoughts, written by flawed men and edited by lots and lots of people. It wasn’t entirely true, but filled with helpful metaphors and mythical truisms. And as the professors would tear into the Bible’s authority, I could see rows and rows of students leaning forward attentively and nodding in agreement. I was not one of them. I still believed in the Bible. I still believed in its authority. But I also knew that there were many intelligent people who didn’t believe in the Bible’s truth… they did not agree that it was the inspired and inerrant word of God. And I knew that I couldn’t just quote the Bible to convince them. Somehow I needed to make a case for the Bible. I have been getting some feedback that tells me that some are loving this series and some are struggling. It is weird to listen to sermons filled with quotes from atheists, critics and skeptics. I feel the need to share with you my heart behind this series. I love God. I believe in Jesus. I seek the leading of the Holy Spirit. And I am desperately trying to figure out a way of how I can help you to dialogue meaningfully with skeptics, critics and people who are like I was, totally unschooled in the Bible and not all that interested in reading one. I hope that by the end of today’s time you will experience 4 things.
- 4 Goals for today’s sermon I hope you will fall a little more in love with the Bible. I hope you will feel a little more confident in the Bible. I hope you will be a little more equipped to make the case for the Bible. I hope you will be a little more motivated to share the Bible’s message with someone you know. I would like to launch into our topic today with an unfriendly voice we have heard before during this series.
- I think that the first challenge that we are faced with is the suggestion that we don’t have the Bible. The historic Jesus of Nazareth has been replaced by the Christ of Faith – the church’s construct of him. What we are left with is a book heavily redacted by the church. Some books have been omitted. Others have been changed. What evidence is there that the book on our shelves REALLY IS the Bible?
- I think that the first line of evidence is the Uniqueness of the Bible. The Bible is unlike any 1. The Uniqueness of the Bible.
- Some Important Bible Facts It was written over a 1600 YEAR span in three languages by 40 authors on three continents. The Bible is also the most circulated book in history.
- Some Important Bible Facts The full Bible has been translated into 531 languages. Portions of the Bible have been translated into more than 2,800 languages which equates to about a third of the worlds languages and more than 90% of earth's population.
- We would expect a book written in this way to be disjointed and lack a unified message. How could so many authors writing in so many places, in three different languages across one and a half millennia write a consistent coherent story. Humanly speaking, it’s impossible. And there are no lack of people who make this accusation. Listen to these words by antitheist Richard Dawkins:
- “To be fair, much of the Bible is not systematically evil but just plain weird, as you would expect of a chaotically cobbled-together anthology of disjointed documents, composed, revised, translated, distorted and 'improved' by hundreds of anonymous authors, editors and copyists, unknown to us and mostly unknown to each other, spanning nine centuries” ― Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion
- And unfortunately, we may be guilty of obscuring one of the most compelling proofs of the Bible and unwittingly playing into the hands of these Bible critics. Listen to these words by Dr. Michael W. Goheen: We have fragmented the Bible into bits—moral bits, systematic-theological bits, devotional bits, historical-critical bits, narrative bits, and homiletical bits.
- When the Bible is broken up in this way, there is no comprehensive grand narrative to withstand the power of the comprehensive humanist narrative that shapes our culture.
- The Bible bits are accommodated to the more all-embracing cultural story, and it becomes that story—i.e. the humanist story—that shapes our lives. Do you catch what Dr. Goheen is saying? We are so busy carving the Bible up, that we miss the fact that it truly does something miraculous, given the way it was written. It tells a single unified story. What is that story? Let me put it simply.
- The Unified Message of the Bible God created a good creation. We screwed up (SIN) God reached down (GRACE) We have hope. As we share the gospel, we need to make this story come alive for people. It is a compelling story. People may be reticent to admit to sin. But there is one thing that is universal. People desire grace and hope. This is a message that will bring people to faith. I know its true, because it was the message of God’s grace that hooked me. I just couldn’t believe that God loved me despite all my faults. Grace and hope are powerful.
- 2. The Manuscript Evidence. As I mentioned, one of the greatest criticisms of the Bible’s authority is this question as to whether we really have the Bible. Can any book truly survive when passed down via oral traditions and through successive waves of scribal copyists? Is it like the game of telephone where 16 people in a circle pass a story from person to person and what you wind up with at the end is totally different than what you started with? Several years ago I came across this video. The animation is a bit primitive. However, it does an amazing job of helping us to understand the way that our Bible was transmitted. Show Video THE WORD The video mentioned the names of some of the Jewish scribes who preserved the Bible, such as the Sopherim and the Masoretes. Let me add one detail.
- 3. The Prophetic Consistency. In religious texts, the riskiest genre or type of literature is the prophetic. Prophecy is the ultimate risk. It’s great if it proves to be true, but nothing is more discrediting to a text than prophetic blunders. That is why the oracles of the ancients were typically very general, as we see in the writings of modern mentalists. The Bible stands alone and takes the greatest of risks.
- The Bible is also the only book that contains PREDICTIVE PROPHECY. Many books including Koran, the Book of Mormon, and parts of the [Hindu] Veda claim divine inspiration but the Bible is the only book that delivers any prophecy. It's the only volume ever produced by mankind that contains prophecies of nations, empires, cities, people, and the Messiah.
- Now let’s look at the Bible’s track record. Dr. J. Barton Payne did the painstaking work of counting up the biblical prophecies. He found that: Out of 31,124 Bible verses 8352 are predictive. 28.5% of the Old Testament and 21.5% of the New Testament are predictive. Counting repeats in books, Dr. Payne found 1,817 predictions.
- Deuteronomy 28 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments . . .
- the Lord shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known…
- And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all the nations whither the Lord shall lead thee. . .
- The Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even to the other . . . And among these nations shalt thou find no ease . . .
- Jeremiah 32 Now therefore thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel . . . Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries, whither I have driven them, in mine anger . . .
- and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: and they shall be my people and I will be their God . . .
- Amos 9:14 I will bring back the captives of My people Israel, they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. 20th Century Shocker: Nov. 2, 1917 The Balfour Declaration established “Palestine” as a National Homeland for the Jews. Many Jews begin immigrating to British controlled Palestine. 1948 Israel repels an Arab attack and achieves statehood. Following the 1967 “Six Day War” Israel’s territory increases. Israel regains Jerusalem as its capital for the first time in 2500 years. Israel has succeeded in resurrecting the Hebrew language which was only used in a ritual setting for over 2000 years. There is no other example in history of a people dispersed for thousands of years retaining their identity, regaining their ancestral homeland and reviving their culture. Although a troubled land, and a secular country, the State of Israel is a miracle.
- 4. The Archaelogical Evidence.
- “No archeological discovery has ever controverted [overturned] a Biblical reference. Scores of archeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries.” - Nelson Glueck
- In the Tel Dan Inscription Aramean (Syrian) king refers to the Kingdom of Judah as “The House of David”
- Part of the Black Obelisk and was produced in 825 BC during Jehu’s reign
- 1961 Inscription unearthed near Caesarea Maritima mentioning Pontius Pilate …]S TIBERIVM …PON]TIVS PILATVS …PRAEF]ECTVS IVDA[EA]
- 1967 discovery of the ossuary (box containing bones) of Caiaphas, the High Priest who tried Jesus.
- Despite the overwhelming prophetic evidence of scripture, Bible critics state that the Bible is a primitive book with defective ethics. Consider this rant from anti-theist Christopher Hitchens: The Bible may, indeed does, contain a warrant for trafficking in humans, for ethnic cleansing, for slavery, for bride-price, and for indiscriminate massacre, but we are not bound by any of it because it was put together by crude, uncultured human mammals. -Christopher Hitchens
- The Ethics of the Bible Proportional Justice – “An Eye for an Eye” – Ex. 21:24 Protection from False Accusations – Testimony of Two Witnesses required. – Deut. 17:6
- Turn the Other Cheek – Mt. 5:39 Love Your Enemies – Mt. 5:43-48 Golden Rule – “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” – Mt. 7:12
- Just Weights and Measures. (11 Bible verses address this!) Sanctity of Life – You knitted me together… Psalm 139:13)
- Generosity towards the poor. (“Do not reap to the edge of your fields” – Lev. 19:9) Care for the Foreigner and Alien (“Love the foreigner as yourself” – Lev. 19:34) Care for Widows and Orphans – (“Pure and Faultless Religion” – James 1:27)
- “Let me say this again. If there is no standard to judge by, then it can never be known if anything is good or bad, and it cannot be argued that we can be good without God.”
- Other Evidences we could consider: The Global and transformative impact of the Bible. The radical transformation in the lives of those who have read the Bible and followed its teaching. The last topic is my greatest application point today. If you are a follower of Jesus then clearly you have a story of life change. And the Bible, God’s Word, is clearly a part of that life change, since God speaks to us through His Word. Spend some time this week and think about how your life has been influenced by God’s Word. What has the Bible meant to you? That is an important part of making the case for the Bible. Testimony is not enough of an argument in and of itself. We need to be able to make a rational argument for the Bible… what I’ve been calling making the Case for the Bible. But your story is part of that rational defense. And it does something that all the manuscript evidence and archaeological evidence can’t easily do. Your story can touch the heart. So share a copy of God’s Word with someone you know and share your story with them. They are more likely to take that Bible and more likely to read it if you show them that this book can truly be used by God to change lives.
- Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, anddiscerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.