| Is the Bible true? Can we trust the texts we read | | | | part of the list of Inspired writings. The disagreements |
| today? Does archaeology confirm the Bible stories? | | | | in the 3rd and 4th century only centered around a few |
| Much as been written about the evidences for | | | | of the smaller New Testament books: James, 2 Peter, |
| historical reliability of the Bible and/or to prove that it | | | | 2&3 John, Jude and Revelation. |
| cannot be trusted. To help you find a path through the | | | | 8. Authorship and dating of the Gospels: Although |
| labyrinth of information, following an overview of the 12 | | | | technically anonymous, there are strong internal and |
| most compelling evidences for the historical reliability | | | | external evidences that support the authorship of the |
| and truthfulness of the Christian Holy Scriptures: | | | | gospels by the names we identify them by today. |
| 1. The Dead Sea Scrolls: These contain Old Testament | | | | Mark is generally considered to be the oldest gospel; |
| manuscripts from 100 years before the birth of Christ, | | | | even liberal scholars will agree on a dating before 70 |
| proving that over the centuries the scriptures were | | | | AD, although more realistic is in the 55-65 timeframe. |
| very carefully copied and our current texts are close | | | | Luke, Mark and Acts are generally dated in the 60-80 |
| to identical to the original texts. | | | | timeframe. The gospel of John is now universally |
| 2. The Septuagint: The first translation from the | | | | accepted to be written in the 80-90 period. |
| Hebrew Old Testament to the Greek language, dated | | | | 9. Authorship and dating of Paul's letters: All substantial |
| from the 285-270 BC timeframe. The Septuagint | | | | letters are universally accepted to be written by the |
| proves the existence of all the Old books before 300 | | | | apostle Paul in the 49-65 AD timeframe. That makes |
| BC. | | | | these letters likely the earliest written documents in the |
| 3. The canon of the Old Testament: The list of books | | | | New Testament. |
| that now makes up our Old Testament was never | | | | 10. The 'lost' books of the Bible were never 'lost': |
| under serious dispute, showing these books were | | | | Modern liberal scholars claim recently discovered 'lost' |
| accepted, and treated as God's word almost | | | | or 'deliberately misplaced' gospels that claim alternative |
| immediately after they were written. | | | | views on Jesus and His teachings. Famous examples |
| 4. Authorship and dating of the Old Testament: | | | | are the 'gospel of Thomas', the 'gospel of Judas' and |
| Although most of the Old Testament books are | | | | the 'gospel of Mary Magdalene' (one of the 'sources' |
| technically anonymous, we have strong internal and | | | | for the claims of the Da Vinci code). However |
| external evidences to support the traditional authorship | | | | evidence shows that these gospels were not only |
| and date of writing for these books. | | | | written generations after the apostles, but also that the |
| 5. The manuscripts of the New Testament: The | | | | preserved texts were subject to 'creative editing' |
| abundance (over 25,000 partial and complete texts) | | | | (rewriting) by Gnostic heretic sources. |
| and early dating (the earliest papyrus is from 125 AD) | | | | 11. The historical reliability of the Bible: Archeology and |
| of preserved manuscripts of the New Testament | | | | historical analysis again and again show the accuracy |
| shows the reliable preservation of the original texts. | | | | of the events, locations and customs mentioned in the |
| 6. Testimony of the Early Church leaders: Additionally | | | | Bible accounts. Never has anybody been able to |
| there exist over 86,000 quotations from the New | | | | disprove any of the accounts. |
| Testament texts in the preserved writings of the | | | | 12. The credibility of the eye-witnesses: The |
| leaders of the Early Christian church, testifying to the | | | | eye-witness accounts to Jesus prove to be honest |
| original texts. | | | | and factual testimonies. The abundance of (irrelevant) |
| 7. The canon of the New Testament: The official | | | | detail, consistency of the accounts, as well as |
| canon of the New Testament was agreed upon by | | | | between the different gospels, lack of exaggeration |
| 397 AD, however, before the year 150 AD, all gospels, | | | | and confirmations from extra-Biblical sources prove |
| Acts and Paul's epistles were universally accepted as | | | | their credibility. |