How Can We Know the Bible Is True?
Chart Objective:
To examine the various professions and sciences attesting that the biblical record is reliable, accurate, and precise in every detail.
Chart Outline:
A. Science
B. Medicine
C. History
D. Archeology
E. Dead Sea Scrolls
A. Science
Many proofs within the Bible indicate that it is indeed a divine Book. But can its truth be verified to those who do not believe in the Bible itself?
Proofs must be found outside the Bible, evidence that can be substantiated and accepted. And there are many!
Exciting discoveries from various fields of science, medicine, history, archeology, and prophecy ascribe biblical authenticity. Let’s examine what they tell us.
The Bible is the only Book that is accurate in all scientific details. Science textbooks are almost immediately obsolete because of continuing scientific discoveries. However, the Bible has never been proven incorrect in one scientific aspect.
In the days of Columbus, navigators believed the world to be flat. It was considered unsafe for a ship to venture far beyond the coast. Men believed that ships would fall over the side of the world to be destroyed by huge sea monsters and dragons.
Not until brave explorers began seeking new trade routes to the Far East was man really sure that the world was round. Yet this profound truth was written in the Bible all the while!
“It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22).
The Hebrew word for “circle” refers not to a flat circle on a surface, but to a spherical shape such as our globe!
Ancient men believed that the world was flat and that underneath were giant supporting pillars. Only since Copernicus has science confirmed that no such literal pillars exist. The earth moves through space unsupported by solid objects. Nonmaterial forces hold both the earth’s axis and other heavenly bodies in their appointed places.
How clever of man to discover this amazing scientific fact! Yet the Bible precisely concluded the same analysis thousands of years earlier:
“He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing” (Job 26:7).
How many stars are in our universe? Science has always claimed an answer. Hipparchus, the father of Greek astronomy, counted 1,080 stars. This account was still believed accurate three hundred years later. Not until Galileo’s invention of the telescope in the 1600s did anyone know how minimal this figure was. Countless millions were scattered throughout space!
Current textbooks cautiously state the number of stars. How many are there? Astronomers estimate that there are over 100 billion in our galaxy alone!
Man could never accurately determine such incomprehensible numbers. Sir James Jeans acclaims there to be about as many stars as grains of sand on all the beaches of the entire world!
Only in this century has man reached this conclusion. But the Bible revealed it centuries ago. Jeremiah was unaware of future scientific calculations. However, under holy inspiration, he proclaimed, “The host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured” (Jeremiah 33:22).
Not until the early decades of the twentieth century did scientists unlock the mystery to the nature of matter and energy. Today we know that all matter, whether solid, liquid or gas, is composed of atoms—submicroscopic particles so tiny they cannot be seen by the naked eye. Atoms combine to form molecules which combine to form the everyday matter with which we are familiar.
Yet the writer to the Hebrews was aware of this scientific data centuries ago. By inspiration of the Holy Spirit he explained: “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear” (Hebrews 11:3).
B. Medicine
Medical science has recently made tremendous advances. But greater progress may have been made sooner had physicians sought their treatments from the Bible.
For many centuries, physicians practiced the treatment of “bleeding” a suffering patient. Puncturing a vein and allowing blood to drain began among primitive people.
As recently as the eighteenth century, physicians believed that bleeding “relieved” the patient of “bad blood” or impurities responsible for the disease. George Washington died from a “bleeding” administered by physicians as treatment for a cold.
Further studies in anatomy and medicine proved this practice erroneous. In fact, just the opposite was affirmed. Rather than extracting blood, patients’ lives are saved by giving them blood transfusions. How many lives could have been spared had ancient physicians carefully read Moses’ words: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11).
C. History
History recorded before the time of Christ also proves biblical truths. Scores of cities mentioned in the Bible have been located and positively identified by geographers, historians, and archeologists.
The Bible is the most reliable history of all ages. Every detail and account is historically accurate.
Until recent years, one of the most notable arguments used by critics stated that the accounts of Creation and the Flood are only myths or legends. However, they must now consider evidence found elsewhere of these events. The Flood account in Genesis is not the only written record of this catastrophe.
Historians have found similar Flood traditions in the history of every known civilization of the world! Each tradition describes a universal destruction of the human race by water, a boat provided as a means of escape, and in almost every account, man’s evil is given as the cause of the Flood punishment.
All accounts must stem from a common source—the actual Genesis Flood itself!
D. Archeology
The more experts search and dig, the more they affirm the truth of the Bible. Archeology, a science developed in the last two hundred years, deals with the excavation and evaluation of items found from the ancient past.
This is a most fascinating science. Tangible evidence proves that the Bible is indeed accurate and reliable. Bulletins from every part of the globe verify the Scriptures.
Archeology is largely responsible for confirming the historicity of the Old Testament. By discovering and establishing innumerable details, the Bible ranks as a highly valued source of history.
Archeology has refuted many modern critics. Entire Old Testament nations have been rediscovered. Important peoples have astonishingly been resurrected to fill in historical gaps.
How do we know a major Old Testament figure named Abraham actually lived? How can we prove he was not just a fictional character from a book of fables and myths? His identity has been uncovered through archeology. The name “Abraham” even appears in Babylonian excavations from the very age in which he lived.
Abraham’s hometown, Ur of the Chaldees, has also been located. The city was discovered in southern Mesopotamia, about 140 miles southeast of the site of ancient Babylon.
Civilization was highly developed in Ur. Commerce, business and industry thrived. Ships from the Persian Gulf brought alabaster to make statues and idols often mentioned in the biblical account.
Clay tablets indicate that schools taught writing and dictation lessons in vocabulary. In arithmetic, they had multiplication and division tables. Many findings at Ur substantiate that Abraham came from a highly civilized city.
Archeologists have also found data to prove New Testament writings. Luke’s detailed accounts are ridiculed by critics. They claim that he was totally mistaken about the familiar Christmas story found in Luke, chapter 2. Critics argued that there was no census, that Quirinius was not governor of Syria at that time, and that everyone was not forced to return to his ancestral home.
However, archeologists have discovered records in ancient Rome about a regular enrollment of taxpayers and a census that was conducted every fourteen years. This procedure began—the exact time mentioned by Luke! Excavations in Antioch also ascribe the governorship to Quirinius (John Elder, Prophets, Idols and Diggers, pages 159-160)!
Further archeological evidence from a manuscript found in Egypt reads: “Because of the approaching census, it is necessary that all those residing for any cause away from their homes should at once prepare to return to their own governments in order that they may complete the family registration of the enrollment” (Joseph Free, Archaeology and Bible History, page 285).
Archeologists have discovered most ancient cities mentioned in the Book of Acts. Paul’s journeys can now be accurately traced.
Even Christ’s passion becomes more vivid under the spade of the archeologist. For centuries there was no evidence or record of the “Pavement,” the court where Christ was tried by Pilate (John 19:13). Critics accused that such details must be erroneous.
However, archeologist Albright identified this court in the Tower of Antonia, the Roman military headquarters in Jerusalem. Left buried when the city was rebuilt in the time of Hadrian, it was discovered in recent times (William Albright, The Archaeology of Palestine, page 141).
To charge that the Bible is unreliable demands that one discard almost all literature of antiquity. Reviewing the thousands of archeological finds that support the biblical account, we can clutch the Bible firmly and stand upon its truth and reliability.
An intelligent person will aspire to read the one Book that has drawn the most attention and has been the most documented through archeological finds.
E. Dead Sea Scrolls
Because no original manuscript still exists today, critics have accused the Bible is untrue and undependable. Writing materials in those days were very crude and perishable. Consequently, there are no known original Scriptures.
In centuries just prior to Christ, the books of the Bible were inscribed on parchment and leather scrolls. Just like an old pair of shoes in the attic, this leather crumbled with age.
But many old copies of the Bible do exist! Scholars today confirm as genuine and authentic any writing of the same period if ten or more copies can be found. Thousands of copies from ancient times have indeed been found. These writings are in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Syriac, Egyptian, Gothic, Persian and other languages.
Just which are the oldest Bible manuscripts today? Until the twentieth century, the oldest Hebrew Old Testament copy was dated from A.D. 1008.
Understandably, people have eagerly sought more ancient biblical texts. In 1947 two shepherds discovered one of the greatest treasures in archeological history.
Two bedouin shepherd boys were crossing a barren pass south of Jericho near the Dead Sea. While driving goats to market in Bethlehem, they lost one among the rocky cliffs in an area pocked with numerous openings and caves.
During his search for the goat, one of the boys casually tossed a stone into a cave opening. He heard the crash of breaking pottery. Curious, he ventured inside. In a pile of shattered clay was a large scroll wrapped in linen. Eight more jars containing scrolls stood in the dark, sandy cave.
When biblical scholars deciphered these scrolls, they were stunned! The scrolls dated more than 1,900 years old! Most notable among them was a complete copy of the Book of Isaiah. This twenty-four-feet-long leather scroll had been transcribed in the century before Christ!
Eventually, similar scrolls in jars were found in eleven other caves. The total find has been named “Dead Sea Scrolls.”
Who copied and cared for these scrolls? Most historians credit the Essenes—a Jewish sect living in this area before and during the time of Christ. Around A.D. 70, facing Roman invaders, these monks and scribes escaped with their lives, but left hidden in the caves their precious manuscripts. The scrolls remained there for nearly 1,900 years (Ralph Earle, How We Got Our Bible, pages 48-49)!
Because of this incredible treasure we now have fragments and some complete texts of every Old Testament book except Esther, all dating from the time of Christ. Along with the scrolls were various other writings. Altogether, these manuscripts provide remarkable proof that late copies and translations were identical to the Scriptures Christ read while on earth.
Upon comparing these facts, we observe an abundance of reasons for believing that the Scriptures are trustworthy. We can say without hesitation that the Bible contains the true Word of God—without loss from generation to generation throughout the centuries.
The two copies of Isaiah discovered among the scrolls were a thousand years older than any manuscript previously known. Yet they paralleled word-for-word with our standard Hebrew Bible in more than 95 percent of the text. The other 5 percent consisted of variations in spelling (Archer Gleason, A Survey of the Old Testament, page 25).
Before this startling discovery, critics questioned, “How accurate are the copies today compared to the text of the first century? Since it has been copied numerous times, can we trust it?”
The oldest complete Hebrew manuscript was from about A.D. 1000. What assurance can there be of an accurate transmission since the time of Christ in A.D. 32? Now we have the answer!
And so, scholarship goes on. New discoveries are made from time to time, giving us more evidence, verifying the details of God’s story. Evidence comes bit by bit . . . a fragment of parchment here, an ancient tablet there . . . scrolls left untouched for nearly two thousand years.
But what do all these clues from history mean? Overwhelmingly, they confirm that God’s Word has been passed untouched through the ages!
Ink fades. Leather crumbles. Paper perishes. But the Bible, indestructible, radiant and divine, is imperishable. It will never die!
