HOW ACCURATE IS THE BIBLE?


The World, the Word & You! Broadcast
Commentary by Dennis L. Finnan

ISN'T THE BIBLE FULL OF ERRORS, FAIRYTALES AND CONTRADICTIONS? HAVEN'T YEARS OF COPYING FOREVER OBSCURED THE ORIGINAL WRITINGS? ISN'T THE BIBLE SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN WRONG?

I’m Dennis Finnan, host and speaker on the World the Word & You Broadcast and in a moment we’ll talk about the Bible and give you solid answers to these often proposed questions…

… Greetings to all our listening friends around the world and down under in the land of Australia. This is Dennis Finnan, host and commentator for the World, the Word & You! Broadcast coming to you each week for a half hour of interesting commentary on our world, God's Word and its relationship to busy thinking people like you. We're glad you're tuned our way, and we hope to keep your attention for the next thirty minutes as we share with you a message from God's Word coupled with some bright and enjoyable music for your listening pleasure.

Our program airs on this fine station and across the globe by the kind care and support of our friends and listeners, who each week share of God's blessings with us for the express purpose of proclaiming God's GOOD NEWS found only in the pages of eternal Scripture. And say, on that subject, we'll talk today. But first, let's start our program off right with this delightful musical expression, then I'll return to further interest you in a look at God's wonderful Word…

…How important is the Bible to you? Basically there are three categories of people who can answer that question. First is a leading majority who believe (1) the Christian Bible is a book of nonsense, fairytales, and archaic teachings of an irrelevant mindset of people long passed from history. The second group is also vast in numbers, (2) those who do not brush off the Bible, but hold it at a pleasant distance, claiming they believe some of its teachings and respect them, but because the Bible is filled with errors, contradictions and scientific inaccuracies or blunders, well… it can't be trusted to order ones' life by. Then we come to the third group. The small minority of world citizen's, who down through the ages, (3 have ordered their lives by the Bible, and have believed it in its entirety regardless of popular opinion or political correctness. Now every listener is in one of these three camps of belief, but today I want to address the first two especially, so you may have answers to your unbelief. For, the Bible as the last group so believes, is a book from God that can be trusted in ALL that it says, and all that it promises to those who read and believe its truths. But before I get down to a hearty apologetic for the faith of Christianity, we'll pause one more time for another moment of music…

… Now of course the first two opinions of the Bible were negative. Although the second group does not like to be classified in that one, the words of Jesus ring clearly concerning those who do not believe the whole of Scripture. Jesus Christ said,

Luke 11:23 (NIV) ""He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters."

You see, Jesus Christ gives no room for those who will not accept His words and His word concerning the Bible. We are told in no uncertain terms by Christ,

Mat 5:18 (NLT) "I assure you, until heaven and earth disappear, even the smallest detail of God’s law will remain until its purpose is achieved."

John 17:17 (NLT) "[Father] Make them pure and holy by teaching them your words of truth."

John 10:35 (NLT) "And you know that the Scriptures cannot be altered…"

Throughout the New Testament, Jesus Christ Himself tells all around Him that the Bible of His day was the inerrant and infallible revelation of God's Word to the people! In fact, Jesus went on to say that not only was God's Word true and truth, not only was every word that was written down from cover to cover to be believed as from God, but He went on to say the very words and passages were to be literally believed. Why? Because Christ Himself did so! For instance we note in Scripture that Jesus Christ:

1. He believed that Adam and Eve were real people, divinely created by God, (Matt. 19:3-5; Mark 10:6-8).

2. He believed in the Bible's teachings of a global worldwide flood in Noah's day, of an ark, and the saving of only eight souls and all life kept on the ark. (Matt. 24:38-39; Luke 17:26-27).

3. On two occasions, Christ affirms the literal destruction of Sodom, and the historicity of Lot and his wife (Matt. 10:15; Luke 17:28-29).

4. He accepted as fact and truth, the literal story of Jonah and the great fish (Matt. 12:40).

Christ acknowledged the historicity of Isaiah (12:17), Elijah (17:11-12), Daniel (24:15), Abel (23:35), Zechariah (23:35), Abiathar (Mark 2:26), David (Matt. 22:45), Moses and his writings (8:4; John 5:46), Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Matt. 8:11; John 8:39).

Yes, Christ did not merely allude to these stories, but He authenticated the events in them as factual literally recorded history in the Bible, to be completely trusted. Obviously, our Lord felt He had a reliable Bible, historically true, with every word trustworthy.

So, the issue comes down to this. How accurate is the Bible? For starters, if one is going to claim it is not and can't be trusted, and more can't be trusted in its entirety, then you cannot have Jesus! To deny God's Word, to not believe in the full inspiration, inerrancy and infallibility of the Christian bible is to call God's Son Jesus Christ a liar, or worse a lunatic who was so grossly deceived to believe the Bible as the very factual, truthful and reliable revelation of God's Word to the world of his day. But now apart from that there are questions raised, at times, concerning the Bible that need answers: Let me cast a few forth and answer them for you.

#1 ISN' T THE BIBLE FULL OF ERRORS AND CONTRADICTIONS?

This "red herring" is often raised by those who have never studied or researched the bible. You see, if one does so, they will find there are NO errors in the bible, and no contradictions either in its historical or scientific record. The only area some continue to contest is the Bible's claim that evolution doesn't exist. For that, one cannot ever say evolution is true. It cannot and has not been proven true. Even though millions simply claim it to be and use all kinds of sophisticated writings and entrapments to do so ¾ evolution therefore, remains a "faith," and a faith that is paltry in comparison to faith to believe God's Word. Why, a number of brilliant scholars who began as unbelievers, after researching the accuracy of the bible, turned to faith in it because of its historical and scientific accuracy. For instance take, William F. Albright. One of the greatest and most respected oriental scholars who ever lived, wrote the following concerning the Bible and his historical findings:

"The reader may rest assured: nothing has been found to disturb a reasonable faith, and nothing has been discovered which can disprove a single theological doctrine.…We no longer trouble ourselves with attempts to ‘harmonize’ religion and science, or to ‘prove’ the Bible. The Bible can stand for itself." (Robert Young, Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible, p. 51).

#2 THE BIBLE HAS BEEN COPIED SO MANY TIMES DOWN THROUGH THE AGES, HOW CAN ANYONE BELIEVE IT'S STILL AN ACCURATE REPRESENTATION OF THE ORIGINAL?

Usually anyone who speaks this question, is simply repeating what someone else has said. For if they were to study the accuracy of transmission they would find the answer. You see, the Bible is in fact, the most accurate and reliable ancient document in human history! That's right if you believe any writings of the past, you must first believe the Bible, for it has more proof of accurate transmission than any other! Now there are two lines of evidence that shows the accuracy of transmission.

  1. the QUANTITY OF MANUSCRIPTS - To date, and unparalleled in ancient literature there are more than 5,000 Greek New Testament manuscripts, about 8,000 Latin manuscripts and another 1,000 manuscripts in various other languages. Coupled with this there are tens of thousands of citations of New Testament passages by the early church fathers. Now contrasting that the works of Plato, Aristotle, and Caesar range from 1 to 20! With this vast number of remaining copies from earlier centuries, we can check them against each other to see if any grave errors of transmission have occurred. The answer of course is none! Secondly there is,

(2) THE QUALITY OF MANUSCRIPTS - You see, the scribes of both the Old and New Testaments were meticulously careful in copying, to avoid the slightest error. When there work was done, the number of letters, words, and lines were counted. If a single mistake was found, the entire transmission document was destroyed and the scribe started over. This reliability, friend, gives us confidence that our Bible today is an accurate representation of the original writings of the Bible. As a result of this matchless care, when the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947, scholars found an original copy of the Old Testament dated about 150 years before Christ. Now they could compare today's bible with a copy older than anything ever found. What was the result? Well, for every 10,000 words, 9,999 of today's reliable translations were an accurate representation of the original! To sum it up, even the New Testament can now be regarded as 99.5% pure and the remaining question is only in areas of non-doctrinal, and inconsequential matters.

Friend, don't believe the illogical, and simply personally biased mindset that says the Bible is full of errors and transmission has destroyed any credibility. It just isn't so! Next question.

#3 AREN'T THERE MANY SCIENTIFIC INACCURACIES & BLUNDERS IN THE BIBLE?

This claim of error in the Bible, is perhaps the most used by the atheistic school teacher or college professor. But again, the Bible reveals its uncanny and supernatural accuracy. For instance when the Bible speaks towards a scientific element or principle, it is always right! We find in the Bible a number of scientific concepts taught. The Bible teaches…

(1) The fact that the earth is spherical. Some seven centuries b.c. the Hebrew prophet Isaiah wrote:

Isa 40:22a (NIV) "He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth…",

Why common man held the earth to be basically flat, until the introduction of the compass and the fifteenth-century voyages of Columbus and Magellan.

(2) The fact that the earth is suspended in space. The book of Job is thought to be one of the oldest in the Bible, written perhaps earlier than 1500 b.c. At this time one of the most advanced "scientific" theories concerning the earth was that our planet was flat and rested securely upon the back of a gigantic turtle who was slowly plodding through a cosmic sea of some sort. But note the refreshing (and accurate) words of Job:

Job 26:7 (NIV) "He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing."

All this was not known by the scientists of the world until the writings of Sir Isaac Newton in a.d. 1687. How did Job know this? Only one way by supernatural revelation from God.

(3) The fact that the stars are innumerable. Nearly twenty centuries b.c., God spoke to Abraham one night and said: "Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if you are able to number them: and he said to him, So shall be your children" (Gen. 15:5). Abraham must have at first wondered about this. God was promising him to be the founder of a nation whose descendants would be as uncountable as the stars. But Abraham could have counted the stars. To the visible naked eye there are a little under 1,200! But, what about the scientific opinion of that day? As late as a.d. 150 the famous astronomer Ptolemy dogmatically declared the number of the stars to be exactly 1056. How wrong they were, how right God's Word was!

(4) The fact that all living things are reproduced after their own kind. -Gen 1:25 (NIV) "God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good." For hundreds of years scientists followed the spontaneous generation theory of Aristotle (350 b.c.). They believed eggs of all lower animals (insects, etc.) were formed out of rotting substance. Frogs and other small sea life, they thought, had their origin in slime pools. In fact, it was not until 1862, that Louis Pasteur proved once for all, that there was no such thing as spontaneous generation. Then, in 1865, a monk named Johann Mendel demonstrated even more forcibly the rigid laws of heredity. But one could have learned all this, in reading the first few chapters of the Bible. How could Moses know these things? Simple, God told him!

(5) The facts concerning the human bloodstream. The Bible is also an accurate commentator on human blood. In Leviticus 17:11, God lays down one of his key statements concerning this subject. Here he declares: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood." One searches in vain to read in this ancient Book any reference whatsoever to that false medical practice known as "bloodletting" which plagued mankind for 1,500 years, from the fourth century b.c. until the nineteenth century a.d. Only eternity will reveal how many sick individuals were actually killed through this "cure." Yet, no other non-biblical writer understood the nature of the blood. In fact, many scientists (Herophilos, for example, a physician in the medical museum at Alexandria, Egypt) believed blood to be a carrier of disease instead of life. The death of our own George Washington is thought to have been due in part to excessive "bloodletting," by his barber. Oh that George would have considered the Bible scientific knowledge against the learning of his day. Lastly, the Bible also teaches,

(6) The facts involved in the two laws of thermodynamics. Apart from gravity itself, two of the most solid and immutable laws in all physics are the first and second laws of thermodynamics. Albert Einstein himself testified that in all the known universe there is no time or place where the two do not apply. The First Law of Thermodynamics— is that of energy conservation. This law states that although energy can change forms, it cannot be either created or destroyed and therefore the sum total remains constant. Thus, no energy is now being created or destroyed anywhere in the known universe. Now, the Second Law of Thermodynamics—is that of energy deterioration. This law states that when energy is being transformed from one state to another, some of it is turned into heat energy which cannot be converted back into useful forms. In other words, this universe may be looked upon as a wound-up clock that is slowly running down and out..

Yes, these two absolute laws were not fully realized or established by scientists until around a.d. 1850. Yet, there are literally dozens of specific references to these laws in the Word of God.

Friend, the Bible has proven its accuracy, its uncanny and supernatural ability to know truth before man discovered it. How was this possible? Only one way ¾ God revealed it to man in His written Word. But think then ¾ if we can trust the Bible historically, and scientifically, then its greatest message we can trust too. You see the Bible says,

John 1:1 (NIV) "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

John 1:14 (NIV) "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

John 3:16-17 (NIV) ""For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

Rom 6:23 (NIV) "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Eph 2:8-9 (NIV) "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast."

You see, the Bible is really God's "love letter" to a lost and dying world. People seek everywhere and in everything a way to find peace, fulfillment, and satisfaction for life, but they search aimlessly in the halls of learning for the god of evolution cannot satisfy. Others search in the realms of religious and mystical experience, but alas no comfort or hope can come from false teachers, spirit guides and demonic influence. No, only the Christian Bible offers hope, help truth and a bright future, for it presents us with Jesus Christ. God's Word tells us,

John 14:6 (NIV) "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

The way back to God our Creator is through Christ alone. Peter the great apostle of the Lord cried out to the people of his day,

Acts 4:12 (NIV) "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.""

Saved! What a word! It's a word the Bible offers to everyone who comes to Christ, confessing their sins, calling upon His name to save them on the basis of His Personhood, for He is God, and His work of redemption, for He is the Savior of the world! Yes, Christ died for our sins on the cross and the Father in heaven willingly offers His Son's death as the full substitute payment for our sin penalty.

Friend are you saved? I'm not asking if you are religious. The devil is religious and lost. I'm asking if you have surrendered your heart, mind, will and life to follow Christ and His Word! It matters not if you are good moral person, or a faithful religious follower. For the Bible tells us from the lips of Jesus,

John 8:24 (NIV) "I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.""

Therefore the Bible is important, and it is vitally important you believe God's Word is reliable and faithful and true. For in it alone, abides the salvation of the human race. So, thanks be to God we can trust it. I close with this fascinating poem written in the forward to the first bible printed in Scotland in 1576:

"Here is the spring where waters flow, To quench our heat of sin:

Here is the tree where truth doth grow, To lead our lives therein:

Here is the judge that stints the strife, When men’s devices fail:

Here is the bread that feeds the life. That death cannot assail.

The tidings of salvation dear, Comes to our ears from hence:

The fortress of our faith is here, And shield of our defense.

Then be not like the swine that hath. A pearl at his desire,

And takes more pleasure from the trough. And wallowing in the mire.

Read not this book in any case, But with a single eye:

Read not but first desire God’s grace, To understand thereby.

Pray still in faith with this respect, To bear good fruit therein,

That knowledge may bring this effect, To mortify thy sin.

Then happy you shall be in all your life, What so to you befalls:

Yes, double happy you shall be, When God by death you calls.

May God add His blessing to all these words today, for Jesus sake, Amen.

Oh friend, I realize there are many voices crying the Bible is irrelevant for us today, that it is full of errors, that it can't be trusted and it is the word of unworthy people ¾ but that is simply not true! Jesus Christ trusted it, the prophets of old and the apostles of the New Testament did, and the entire church down through the ages has believed God's Word. The question you face now is what will you do with it and the message it brings? Will you walk away from it and reject it as having no meaning for your life? If so, you will surely be the loser. Not only in this life but for all eternity! Today, take time to explore and read God's Word. It will lead all who do to life eternal.

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References used and encouraged for further study:

[1] The MacArthur Study Bible, by Dr. John MacArthur, published by Word Publishing, Nashville TN. USA.

[2] BASIC THEOLOGY - Dr. Charles C. Ryrie, published by Victor books, a division of Scripture Press Publications, USA.

[3] I'M GLAD YOU ASKED, by Ken Boa & Larry Moody, published by Victor Books, a division of Scripture Press Publications, USA.

[4] THE ORIGIN OF THE BIBLE, by Philip Wesley Comfort, published by Tyndale House Publishers, USA.

[5] WILMINGTON'S GUIDE TO THE BIBLE, by H.L. Wilmington, published by Tyndale House Publishers, USA.

The World, the Word & You! Broadcast is a non-denominational ministry based on the historic fundamental evangelical interpretation of the Scriptures. A copy of our doctrinal statement is available upon request. These weekly radio commentaries are not exhaustive studies of any particular subject due to the time limit of broadcasting. Actual broadcasts can be heard in selected areas around the nation, as funding provides. Dennis Finnan has been the speaker for over 18 years, and serves as General Director.

These transcripts are available free of charge to all who desire them. Also available are actual radio cassette tapes and printed booklets of each message. A free listing of recent messages is available upon request also.

For further information, reprints, or a listing of all topics, please write to our speaker, Dennis L. Finnan(dennis@wwy.org),or visit our webpage at http://www.wwy.org/