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1. Jesus Christ claimed to be God, the Truth and the only Way to eternal life because:
i) Many details of His life were correctly predicted in the Old Testament, hundreds of years before his birth.
ii) He did many supernatural miracles during His three year ministry, showing his power to:
- raise the dead
- still storms
- correctly predict the future
- cast out demons from people
- heal the sick , etc etc
iii) He rose from the dead after three days, never to die again, something which nobody else has ever done. This shows that those people who have Jesus Christ as their Saviour will rise from the dead also. He was seen by hundreds of people daily after His resurrection (I Corinthians 15:5-8)
iv) He solves the sin problem by dying on the cross as our substitute to pay the penalty for our sins. Every other religion says be good, do your best, keep the rules, and you might make it, but you can never be sure, so keep trying hard. Christ says, Receive me as your Saviour, and I give to you eternal life, and you shall never perish (John 10:28), because I have taken the punishment due for your sins. You may know that you have eternal life (1 John 5:13).
v) Jesus Christ claimed to be God and had the credentials to prove it.
vi) Jesus Christ's life when scrutinised shows Him to be sinless as He claimed. No other religious founder claimed to be God or to be sinless. Other religions are at best collections of some nice teachings.
2. The Bible is the Word of God for these reasons:
i) Its Unity.
ii) Scientific accuracy.
iii) Archaeology
iv) Fulfilled prophecies.
v) Jesus Christ called it the Word of God.
vi) It has infinitely superior teachings over any other book.
- The Bible has in it nothing but truth, while all other books have truth mixed with error, like jewels mixed with mud
- The Bible contains all truth. Every proven moral truth is found in the Bible.
- The Bible contains more truth than all other books put together.
vii) Its victory over attack, and survival for over 2000 years.
viii) The character of those who accept and those who reject the Bible.
- The people best acquainted with God, and who live the most unselfish, moral lives, say that the Bible is God's book.
- The people least acquainted with God, and who live more for self, say that the Bible is not God's word. Which will you believe? The stronghold of the Bible is the pure, unselfish happy home. The stronghold of unbelief is the pub, the brothel, and the casino.
ix) The influence of the Bible to save, purify, gladden, beautify and lift men's lives up to God. The Bible has transformed millions of the worst sinners into humble, loving, unselfish, and caring saints.
x) The inexhaustible depth of the Bible. Most man-written books can be thoroughly understood and mastered in one or two readings. You can read the Bible over 100 times and still discover new, fresh, exciting and amazing truths. It comes from the mind of God.
PROOF OF THE BIBLE TO BE THE WORD OF GOD.
Let us examine proof of the Bible from the viewpoints of unity, science, archaeology and prophecy. Our faith and understanding of God's Word can be greatly increased by studying Bible proofs available to us. This helps us to defend the faith and give good reasons to those who ask us why we believe in Christ and the Bible. (I Peter 3:15)
1. UNITY
The Bible was given by God to 40 writers, over a period of 1600 years, in 66 books. It contains history, prophecy, science, law, doctrine, morality, origins and human biographies, yet never do we see even the slightest disagreement between the writers on any subject. If you ask 40 of your friends to discuss their opinions on the past, the future, morality, origins, law, philosophy, etc. you will find a very great disagreement and difference of opinion. The Bible, however, agrees 100% on every subject it discusses, giving strong proof that it comes from the mind of God.
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SCIENTIFIC ACCURACY
Whenever the Bible makes a scientific statement, it is always proven correct after man has discovered all of the relevant facts. In the Library of the Louvre in Paris there are 3.5 miles of obsolete science books on the shelves. In 1861 the French Academy of Science published a list of 51 "scientific facts" which supposedly contradicted the Bible. Today all 51 of these "facts" are unacceptable to modern scientists.
Do other religious books contain scientifically accurate information? Consider the Vedas, the Hindu Scriptures of India, in the following quote. This shows them to be very unscientific, hence disproving Eastern religions and modern New Age thinking which are based on the Vedas.
"The moon is 50,000 leagues higher than the sun (?), and shines by its own light (?); night is caused by the sun's setting behind a huge mountain (?) several thousand feet high, located in the centre of the earth (?), that this world, flat (?) and triangular (?) is composed of 7 states (?) - one of honey, another of sugar, a third of butter, and still another of wine, (?) and the whole mass is borne on the heads of countless elephants (?) which in shaking produce earthquakes."
As you can see, there are at least nine clear scientific errors in this short passage of the Vedas. The Bible on the other hand has no scientific errors in its 66 books.
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Key: The Bible contains scientific information that was not known by man at the time of writing. In many cases it was only discovered recently.
Question:How did the Bible possess knowledge not yet discovered by man?
Answer: God authored the Bible, and revealed information not yet known, to man, so that the world would know that the Bible is God's Word, coming from a mind much greater than man's.
Question:Why did no other religious book reveal new scientific information?
Answer: Because other religious books are man made, are limited by man's then current state of knowledge, and have not come from the all-knowing Creator, but are counterfeits claiming authority over us. Hence we reject them.
What are some examples of scientific facts revealed in the Bible, that were unknown to man at the time of writing?
1. The Earth Hangs in Space.
"He hangs the earth upon nothing." Job 26:7 stated 1500BC
Until modern times "experts" believed ideas such as the earth sat on four elephants, who stood on a giant turtle, who swam in the ocean. Man could not imagine how the earth could hang in space on nothing. Yet this is what happens due to gravitational attraction between the earth and the sun, giving the appearance that the earth hangs on nothing.
2. Earth at any time is part day-time and part night.
When the moment of Christ's second coming to earth is discussed in Luke 17:31-36, Christ's return interrupts people sleeping at night on one part of the earth, and interrupts others in the daytime grinding at the mill or working in the field. How did Jesus Christ know that the earth at any point of time is half dark and half light? Because He is the all-knowing God. "..... in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. v.30. In that day .... he that is in the field ... v.31. In that night there shall be two in one bed, one shall be taken, the other left v.34. Two women shall be grinding together; one shall be taken, and the other left v.35 . Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left " v.36.
3. Cloud Balancing.
"Dost thou know the balancing of the clouds?" Job 37:16.
Clouds are floating in the air, balanced by two forces: gravity pulling them downwards, and warm air pushing them upwards. How did Job know about this in 1500 BC? God told him.
4. Telephone Communication.
"Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, here we are?" Job 38:35 When we dial a telephone number, an electric current (lightnings or electricity as we know it) moves through a wire to our friend's telephone, which rings a bell, he answers it and says "Hello, it's ...... here." We then both have a conversation over long distance. The telephone works exactly as Job 38:35 says, yet man did not invent it until 1876. God revealed the telephone to Job in 1520BC, 3400 years before AG Bell invented it.
5. Very Great Number of Stars.
"As the host of heaven cannot be numbered." Jeremiah 33:22 in 590 BC. "He (God) telleth the number of stars; he calleth them all by their names." Psalm 147:4 Ptolemy in 150AD dogmatically said that 1056 stars existed. Scientists now estimate that there are around 1011 x 1011 = 1022 stars, and this is only a guess.
6. The Height of Stars.
"Behold the height of the stars, how high they are." Job 22:12
Man did not realise how high and far the stars are until Bessel in 1838 measured the distances of stars using the parallax method. Alpha Centauri, earth's nearest star is 4 x 1013 kms (40,000 billion kms) away. It would take you 10 million years to get there if you could travel there in your motor car at 100 km per hour.
7. Pleiades Constellation is a Bound cluster, not breaking up.
"Canst thou bind the sweet influences (cluster) of Pleiades?" Job 38:31. In 1520 BC, God said that the Pleiades star cluster is bound together in a highly stable group. Today using high powered telescopes, this has been shown to be true. It is a bound cluster of about 500 stars, 50 light years across and 410 light years away from earth.
The individual stars cannot overcome the "chains" of gravity and allow them to break away from the cluster. The cluster is not expanding, not breaking up, but is bound together. This situation is very uncommon as the reverse is usually true of all open or galactic clusters. Also, photographs reveal that some of it's stars are veiled in a faint transparent blue haze of gas and dust, which beautifully reflect the glory of the stars in the cluster with their various colours. The cluster is indeed "sweet" in colour as God said in Job 38:31.
Question:How did the Bible know these two details not observable by the naked eye?
Answer: The all-knowing God authored the Bible.
8. Orion's Bands are loosed.
"Canst thou loose the bands of Orion?" Job 38:31
The constellation of Orion is a star system that is steadily expanding outwards. The gravitational "bands" holding the constellation together have indeed been loosed, just as God told Job. Orion is 350 light years across and 1600 light years from earth. This expansion is not observable to the naked eye.
Question:How could the Bible tell the difference between two star systems in 1600 BC, Pleiades being bound and Orion being loosed?
Answer: God authored the Bible.
"Canst thou bind the sweet influences (cluster) of Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion?" Job 38:31. God can and has done it.
9. Spherical Earth.
It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth" Isaiah 40:22
".... when he set a compass upon the face of the depth" Proverbs 8:27
Circle 2329 = Compass 2329 in Hebrew is "Khoog"= to describe a circle, or circuit , meaning the horizon which is circular.
In 712 BC, when Isaiah wrote, people thought that the earth was flat, and that you could sail over the edge of it and fall off. Columbus and Magellan proved that the earth was circular by sailing around it in a circle from East to West and then returning to the point of departure.
Question:How did the Bible know that the earth was spherical?
Answer: God wrote it.
10. Treasures of the Snow.
"Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? Job 38:22.
Snow crystals are invisible to the naked eye, but under a microscope every snow crystal is different. No two crystals are the same. They are all beautiful 6-sided patterns, just like exquisite treasures. How did the Bible know this 3300 years before the microscope was invented? God wrote it.
11. All Mankind came from One Woman.
"Adam called his wife's name Eve : because she was the mother of all living." Genesis 3:20. DNA is found in every cell, in both the nucleus and the mitochondrion (energy station). Mitochondrial DNA is always and only inherited from the mother. Analysis of this DNA in humans from all over the world shows unmistakably that all humans on earth have inherited it from one woman. This research was done by Wilson, Cann, and Stoneking from the University of California, Berkeley. |
12. The Bloodstream Carries Life.
"The life of the flesh is in the blood." Leviticus 17:11.
From 400 BC to 1900 AD, a procedure called "blood letting" was popular. Sick people had blood drained from their bloodstream as a supposed therapeutic measure. It was responsible for killing millions of people, such as George Washington. People thought that blood carried disease instead of life. By draining the blood, the patient died of blood loss. Now we give blood to some sick patients. The Bible was right again.
13. Diseases Caused by Pigs.
"And the swine ..... is unclean to you. Of their flesh shall ye not eat and their carcass shall ye not touch". Leviticus 11:7, 8.
Forbidding to eat pigs was because of:
lack of refrigeration and
roasting pork over an open flame does not destroy the parasites.
Parasites are obtained by handling fresh pork.
Some diseases are caused by eating pork that is not properly cooked. For example TRICHINOSIS larvae attach to the intestine when eaten. They then bore through the intestine into the blood stream, and the larvae are carried to all parts of the body. They develop and grow in a person's striated muscle.
PORK TAPEWORM may feed off the intestine and grow to 12 foot long. It may be fatal in 10-20 years.
God, by forbidding people to eat or touch pork, shows His care for us.
Question:How did the Bible know about the dangers of pork in 1500 BC?
Answer: God wrote the Bible.
14. Leprosy to be Quarantined.
"he (the leper) shall dwell alone; outside the camp shall his habitation be. Thou shalt burn that wherein the plague is by fire." Leviticus 13:46, 57. Moses laid down the rules to recognise and to quarantine the infected leper as contagious, lest other people catch leprosy.
15. Sanitation.
"Thou shalt have a place outside the camp .... when you will ease yourself, you shall dig (with a paddle) and shall turn back and cover that which cometh from thee. Deuteronomy 23:12, 13
Up until 1800 AD, human excrement was dumped onto the unpaved, filthy streets. Powerful stenches gripped villages and cities. Flies bred in the filth, spreading intestinal diseases that killed millions of people. Such deaths by diseases like typhoid, cholera and dysentery could have been avoided if they had obeyed the Bible.
Question:How did the Bible know this, when man couldn't understand it until 1800?
Answer: God wrote the Bible. Moses never learnt this information from Egypt, because Egypt's standard medical textbook was the "Papyrus Ebers." It contained quack cures like "lizards blood, pigs teeth, stinking fat and meat, pig's ear wax, excreta from humans, dogs, flies, cats etc.! Moses never referred to these false cures in this writings.
16. Hands and Clothes Washing.
Until 1900 AD, many hospital patients died due to infections caused by doctors not washing their hands or clothing after contact with infectious patients. The Bible required repeated washing in running water with time allowed for drying and exposure to the sun to kill the bacteria. 17. Fountains Under the Sea.
"Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?" Job 38:16.
"When he strengthened the fountains of the deep." Proverbs 8:28.
There are at least 10,000 known underwater volcanoes, adding extra water to the oceans of 430 million tons each year.
Question:How did the Bible know what took place on the deep ocean floor?
Answer: God wrote it.
18. The Water Cycle.
"All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from where the rivers come, there they return again." Ecclesiestes. 1:7 Rain falls on the coast, runs down the rivers into the oceans, evaporates into clouds, and is blown back to land. It then rains, thus repeating what is known as the water cycle.
19. The Sun is the Source of the Earth's Wind Systems.
"By what way is the light parted , which scatters the east wind upon the earth? Job 38:24
Wind is caused by the uneven heating of the air around the earth by the sun. The sun also heats the surface of the earth unevenly. Air above hot areas (such as land) expands and rises. Air from cooler areas then flows in to take the place of heated air. This is called circulation.
20. Light can be Parted or Dispersed into a Rainbow Spectrum.
"By what way is the light parted 2505 ?" Job 38:24 "Parted" in Hebrew is "chalaq" which means "separated".
White light can be separated into 7 colours of the spectrum which are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. This was not understood until experiments with light were performed in the 1600's.
Note: Light is like Jesus Christ: "I am the light of the world." John 9:5 As light has seven colours, so Christ has the seven spirits of God. See Isaiah 11:1, 2.
21. Winds blow in Circuits.
"The wind goes toward the south, and turns about unto the north, it whirls about continually and the wind turns again according to his circuits." Ecclesiastes 1:6.
At the equator, the sun heats the air causing it to rise. In the upper atmosphere this air flows away from the equator. When the air returns to the earth's surface, it flows across the surface. This moving surface air produces the six belts of prevailing winds around the earth.
22. Winds have Weight and hence Air Pressure.
"To make the weight for the winds." Job 28:25.
Galileo in 1600 AD noted that a suction pump would not raise water more than 34 feet. Torricelli suggested that if air could support a column of water 34 feet high, then air should support a column of mercury about 2.5 feet high, because mercury is 13 times as heavy as water. Torricelli made a mercury barometer and proved that air has pressure and hence weight as the Bible says. God revealed that air has weight 3200 years earlier.
23. Sea Paths or Ocean Currents.
" ....... whatsoever passes through the paths of the sea". Psalm 8:8. "Paths" in Hebrew means "customary roads." Matthew Maury is the father of Oceanography. A statue of him exists in Virginia with charts of the sea in one hand and a Bible in the other. Until Maury's work there were no charts of sailing lanes. One day during a temporary illness, his son read from Psalm 8:8. Maury stopped him, asking him to read it again. Maury then said: "It is enough. If the Word of God says that there are paths in the sea, they must be there, and I am going to find them." Within a few years he had chartered the sea lanes and ocean currents.
Question: How did the Bible know about sea paths or ocean currents?
Answer: God wrote it.
24. Laws of Physics control matter, energy and motion.
God asked Job: "Knowest thou the ordinances (laws) of heaven?" Job 38:33. Ordinances are physical laws that govern the movement of heavenly bodies, stars, planets, comets, meteors etc. Examples include:
Keplar's laws of equal areas of orbits
Solar Physics
Newton's law of universal gravitation
Quantum mechanics
Newton's three laws of motion
Radioactive decay
The first and second laws of thermodynamics
Sub atomic particle laws
Laws governing blackholes, quasars pulsars etc.
The more that man learns about science, the more he realises that there is to learn.
Question:How did the Bible know that science operates on laws in 1500 BC?
Answer: God wrote it
25. The First Law of Thermodynamics states that no new matter or energy is being created in the known universe; it is only being interconverted from one form to another. "On the seventh day God ended his work which He had made." Genesis 2:2
26. The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the disorder of the universe is increasing. Systems are running from a high to a low state of energy.
"..... they (the earth and heavens) all shall wax old as doth a garment. And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail." Hebrews 1:11,12. Scientists admit that with all the energy that the sun burns up, it must become cold one day in the distant future. The same must happen to all stars. This is called the "heat death of the universe." Without solar heat, life on earth could not exist. Thankfully Jesus Christ is going to remake this universe to a perfect state, at the end of the Millennium.
27. Can a Whale swallow Jonah
"Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." Jonah 1:17. Many people use this as their reason for doubting the Bible's truthfulness. How can a fish swallow a man?
Several cases in modern times have been reported of a whale swallowing a man who survived. One is reported by Francis Fox in "Sixty-three years of Engineering" p.298-300 and confirmed by two scientists, one being M. DeParville, the scientific editor of "Journal Des Debats" in Paris.
In February 1891, the whaling ship, "Star of the East" was near the Falkland Islands, where they sighted a large sperm whale. Two boats were sent out after the whale . One boat harpooned the whale, but the whale upset the other boat, drowning one man and the other sailor James Bartley, disappearing without a trace. After the whale was killed and cut open two days later, James Bartley was found unconscious and doubled up inside the whale. He had lost his senses through fright and not through lack of air. His skin was bleached white from stomach acid. He fully recovered. If a man can survive two days in a whale in 1891, surely Jonah could have survived three days in a great fish in 862 BC.
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