The Reliability of the Bible

What is a contradiction?

The law of non-contradiction states that two contradictory statements cannot both be true.

The two statements “A is B” and “A is not B” cannot both be true.

Difficulties are not contradictions. Most claims of contradictions we see leveled against the Bible are difficulties, not contradictions.

The Bible is unlike other religious texts from antiquity in that it is historically grounded.

George Eldon Ladd wrote:

Difficult

The God of Israel was the God of history…The Bible is first of all a record of history. But history is recorded because it embodies the acts of God.

Graeme Goldsworthy commented:

The whole Bible presents its message as theology within the framework of history.

It does not follow that just because a person lies about one thing that they are lying about everything. But it does follow that if a person lied about one thing or got something wrong that their reliability is now of chief concern.

I. The Historical Reliability of the OT

Why is the question of historical reliability of the OT important to Christianity?

ANSWER: If the OT is not reliable, then how can we believe the NT when it calls on the OT in order to vindicate its claims about the Messiah? If the OT is not reliable, then Jesus was wrong because he believed it was reliable. The promise of the Messiah is found in the OT.

Higher-Critical scholars claim that the OT was written between 400 - 200 BC.

With that late date they would couple an ultralow view of the reality of that history, dismissing virtually the whole of it as pure fiction, as an attempt by the puny Jewish community in Palestine to write themselves an imaginary past large, as a form of national propaganda. [Kitchen, K.A. The Reliability of the Old Testament, 2.

A. Archeological Evidence

1. The Silver Amulets dated to the 7th century BC containing and other portions of the Pentateuch.

2. The Flood and the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh

This is essentially an account of the flood told from an ancient babylonian tradition.

3. Evidence for Jerusalem

A 2,000 year old stone with the full spelling of Jerusalem was recently discovered.

II. Contradictions in the OT

A. presents a different creation order than .

is not a presentation of the order of creation. It is a summary of chapter 1.

has man created last while has man created before the trees and the animals.

mentions the creation of man as the last of a series, and without any details, whereas in man is the center of interest and more specific details are given about him and his setting. Failure to recognize the complementary nature of the subject-distinction between a skeleton outline of all creation on the one hand, and the concentration in detail on man and his immediate environment on the other, borders on obscurantism. [Kenneth Kitchen, Ancient Orient]

B

III. Moral Objections to the OT

A. Violence - The OT is filled with a bloody and vengeful God.

B. Sexism - The OT portrays women as property.

C. Slavery - The OT condones slavery.

Since the fall, slavery has a long history in the world it was not limited by ethnicity. In fact, it wasn’t until 1781 when the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II outlawed serfdom in Austria that the age of abolition began.

When such objections come up, it is critically important to get to details. Violence, Sexism, and Slavery are too general.

Moral objections to the Bible are grounded in and subject to the moral whims of humanity. For example, the same person who is objecting to the violence in the Bible is transgender, homosexual, and worse.

Apart from God, objective moral values are simply not possible.

My tactic: if evolutionary theory is true, why is murder or violence wrong? Human beings are just accidents of nature, molecules in motion, atoms falling through space. They have no intrinsic value because there is no such thing as intrinsic value.

IV. Scientific Objection to the OT

A. Evolution and the Age of the Universe (13.8b; earth 4.5m)

RESPONSE: The text of Genesis one is straightforward: וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר יֹ֥ום הַשִּׁשִּֽׁי. And there was evening and there was morning, day 6. .

Exodus 20:11 NASB95

“For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר יֹ֥ום הַשִּׁשִּֽׁי

Colossians 1:16–17 NASB95

For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: SESB Version., electronic ed. (Stuttgart: German Bible Society, 2003), .

New DNA studies have proven that human beings could not have evolved from Monkeys. The DNA between humans and monkeys had previously been estimated to be at 98.5%. Anything less than this would prove disastrous for evolutionary theory. The new study has discovered that the DNA match is much lower, at 84.38%.

A difference of no more than

Did you know that based on the decay rates of C-14 a lump as massive as the earth could contain no carbon beyond a millions years. It would have all decayed by then. But the earth is supposed to be 5.4 millions years old. Yet, we find C-14 all the time.

V. The Historical Reliability of the NT

The genre of the Gospels does not perfectly match any known literary form but most closely resembles forms of biography and historiography that were generally trustworthy. Craig Bloomberg, The Historical Reliability of the New Testament, 49.

John 20:20–21 NASB95

And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

John 20:30–31 NASB95

Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

1 John 5:20 NASB95

And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

VI. Contradictions in the NT

Jesus was supposed to come through the lineage of David. Matthew records Jesus’ birth through Joseph who was not his natural father and Luke uses Mary. If Mary did not trace back to David, then Jesus was not the fleshly son of David. Scholars overlook the very real and likely scenario that Mary traces back through David. This explains that difference in Luke’s list in .

The Synoptic Gospels locate the cleansing of the temple toward the end of Jesus’ ministry while John locates it toward the beginning. Which one is right and which account is wrong?

Paul says that a man is justified by faith alone but James says that a man is not justified by faith alone. Who is right? Faith that is alone does not justify and faith that justifies is not alone. They were both saying the same thing. Martin Luther says that the will of man is in bondage. Jonathan Edwards says that the will of man is free. They both held the same position on free will.

VII. Moral Objections to the NT

The NT is guilty of sexism as defined by our society. It forbids women from holding leadership positions in the churches and even preaching in the churches. This is morally repugnant in American society.

The NT is also guilty of bigotry against homosexuals and transgender people. God loves all people and accepts all men just where they are.

VIII. Scientific Objections to the NT

The virgin birth

Turning water into wine

Walking on water

The resurrection

IX. The Bible or the Qur’an

Both the Bible and the Qur’an claim to be the Word of God; which one is actually true?

The inspiration of the Qur’an involved Mohammed in something like iterative ecstatic states.

Science Contradicts

The Qur’an has existed for eternity in the Arabic language.

This means that the Qur’an was uncreated, like Allah.

Gabriel essentially read the Qur’an to Mohammed who copied it down as a fallible man.

The Qur’an was written by ONE man without any historical collaboration by contemporaries.

The Exodus is without Evidence

The Qur’an was written over the course of ~22 years from 610-632.

The Old Testament is Historically Reliable

The Uthmanic Recension. (Mohammad’s second cousin)

Contradictions?

From the earliest days, there were numerous versions of the Qur’an. Uthman ordered that all other versions, other than his own approved version, be destroyed.

The New Testament is Historically Reliable

There is no assurance of Salvation in Islam.

The Morality of the Bible

The idea of the scales on judgment day is heavily works-based.

Faith in Allah and the Qur’an and good works - this is the essence of submission and salvation in the Qur’an.

Only Martyrdom assures salvation.