Is the Bible Really the Word of God?

© Seth Kniep, 2008. All rights reserved.
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I want to thank you for being honest enough to ask this question. Depending on where you stand, you’ll find what I write annoying or enlightening. But I write it because many once stood where you do now, wondering if the Bible can really be the Word of God, let alone be perfectly trusted. After all, who would stake his entire destiny on a book written 2,000-3500 years ago?

First of all, it’s important to understand what someone means when he says that the Bible is God’s Word. It does not mean that God pulled out His holy fountain pen, scribed some thoughts on heavenly scrolls, and then sent it to earth by flying angel. Nor does it mean that God gave a group of spiritual men some spiritual ideas that they worked out in detail and elaborated on leaflets. To say that the Bible is God’s Word is to say that God spoke through humans having them write down exactly what He wanted them to write, without error. Each human writer wrote in his own style and personality, but what he wrote is the flawless and true Word of God.

I know this may be a little hard to believe in a world with more religious circles and claims to prophecy than monkeys in a zoo, but hear on and I’ll show you why after considering the evidence, it’s hard not to believe.

The Bible was either written by men alone or it is the supernatural Word of God, holding authority over everything in existence. Most non-Christians I talk to think the Bible is a good, moral book, just not the only way to heaven. But that’s like calling somebody who lies, deceives, and manipulates people into deception a good person. The Bible claims to be the only way to heaven, to be straight from God, and to be nothing less than God’s Word. So if it’s not perfectly true than the entire book is a farce. Can you call that a good book? The Bible is either the divine Word of God or it is a heaping lie. It is either the truth or a complete farce. It’s impossible to remain neutral regarding your view of the Bible.

But wouldn’t you think it sort of mindless to believe in something with absolutely no evidence to back it up, especially when that belief claims to determine the eternal destiny of your soul? That’s how some people view Christians: mindless idiots using religion as a crutch to pacify their emotional hang-ups.

But if you’ll stick with me I’d like to show you why that is not true. I’d like to show you seven reasons why the faith of Christianity is based on historical fact and truth, as sure as the law of gravity, the heat of the sun, or the life of a cell. Every shred of information in this article is based on the documented research of hundreds of scholars, archeological experts, scientists, eye witnesses, history majors, and manuscript specialists.

At the end of this booklet it’s up to you to decide where you stand. All I ask is that you look at the evidence with an open mind.

1. The evidence of archaeology

Every year archeologists uncover ancient artifacts that confirm the accuracy of the Bible. For a while they were few and small. But since the early 1900’s, archeological findings have confirmed the Bible’s veracity so consistently that non-Christian archaeologists now use the Bible as a map to locate ancient sites and to explain odd artifacts. Following is just a teaspoon of the oceans of evidence:
  • An excavation uncovered a pool with five covered porches just like the pool described in John 5:2, confirming the accuracy of John’s gospel.
  • For years critics claimed that Sodom and Gomorrah were myths until findings at Ebla (previously known as Tel Mardikh) revealed writings that mention the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.1
  • The Nabonidus Chronicle  from 550 B.C. records Belshazzar as the second ruler of Babylon, just as the Bible teaches in the book of Daniel. 
  • The Neo-Babylonian Chronicle dating back to 600 B.C. records Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion of Palestine, just as the Bible said.
  • The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III from 840 B.C. concurs with the Bible’s record of Jehu as king of Israel.
  • The Mari Tablets of 1700 B.C. reveal the same customs as those of the patriarchs recorded in the Bible. 
  • The archaeological find called “Sargon’s Inscription” verifies the mention of Sargon as king of Assyria in Isaiah 20:1. 
  • The Code of Hammurabi from 1700 B.C. matches the style of the Mosaic code, confirming that the Law of Moses was authentic.
  • The Cyrus Cylinder of 500 B.C. records Cyrus’ victory and his decree to permit freedom of worship, coinciding with the Bible’s record of the same facts.
  • In Acts 17:6, Luke mentions “politarchs,” who were city officials. For years scholars derided Luke with error for ancient Roman documents gave no evidence of the existence of a “politarch.” But they had to eat their accusations when a first-century arch was discovered with this inscription, “In the time of the politarchs…” Since that first discovery, archaeologists uncovered 35 more inscriptions mentioning “politarchs.”2
  • Scholars scoffed at Luke’s mention of Lysanias as tetrarch of Abilene in Luke 3:1, for other sources asserted Lysanias as ruler of Chalcis fifty years earlier. But an inscription dating from A.D. 14 to 37 naming Lysanias as tetrarch in Abila was discovered by archaeologists, vindicating Luke’s account and once again proving the Bible to be true (Rom 3:4). It turns out there were two rulers named Lysanias who lived at different times.3
  • The author of the gospel according to Luke names nine islands, thirty-two countries, and fifty-four cities, places that archeology validates to have existed.4 This confirms that the background of his book was based not on emotional aspirations but real places in a real time. 
  • Sir William Ramsay, atheist and world-leading archaeologist, set out to prove that Luke’s gospel was oozing with historical flaws. But instead of discrediting Luke’s gospel, Ramsay’s findings proved its accuracy so consistently that he recanted and dubbed Luke one of the most accurate historians the world has ever known. Struck with awe at Luke’s accuracy, and convicted by the testimony of the Bbile, Ramsay became a Christian.
These are just a few out of thousands of archeological findings verifying the Bible’s accuracy. How many other books can you find with this many details that remain flawlessly consistent with archeology? This is nothing short of a miracle.

Archeologist, Nelson Glueck boldly asserted, “No archeological discovery has ever controverted a single biblical reference. Scores of archeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or exact detail historical statements in the Bible.”5

It is important to understand that if the Bible claims the existence of a person or city that archaeology has never found, this does not mean that the Bible is inaccurate. Just because you have not found something does not mean that it does not exist. That’s like saying that because there are no Wrigley gum wrappers on my desk proves that I never chew Wrigley’s gum while studying. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.6 Consider also that less than ten percent of all archaeological findings have actually been located. And less than ten percent of those located have been surveyed. And less than ten percent of those surveyed have been excavated. And less than ten percent of those excavated have been observed and critiqued. And less than ten percent of those observed and critiqued have been published. If we use ten percent as a marker, this means that for every 100,000 archaeological artifacts, only one of those does the world ever hear about. Clearly, the lack of an archaeological discovery does nothing to disprove the Bible’s historical accuracy while the presence of it continues to confirm its correctness.

2. The evidence of witness

In a court of law, witnesses are vital to the success of a lawyer’s case. One witness is good, two is even better, and three can turn a case around. When you read the Bible you are not just reading the witness of one man but of no fewer than 44, and possibly more.7 And yet these men were not contradictory witnesses as happens all the time in court, but men whose writings perfectly agree to the last detail and doctrine. In the Old Testament:
  • Moses witnessed Israel’s liberation from slavery, disobedience in the wilderness, and 40 years of wanderings.
  • Joshua witnessed Israel’s entrance into and conquest of the Promised Land.
  • Samuel witnessed Israel’s first and second kings.
  • All the prophets witnessed Israel’s rebellion and God’s punishment 
  • Daniel witnessed the southern kingdom’s departure into exile. 
  • Nehemiah witnessed Israel’s return from exile and rebuilding of the walls.
  • Ezra witnessed the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple.
And this is just the bark on the tree. In the New Testament:
The authors of the Bible were not the only witnesses of the events of the Bible. Paul tells us that Christ appeared to “more than five hundred brethren at one time” after his resurrection (1 Cor 15:6). This means that if the four gospels on Jesus’ life were not historically accurate, they had to be one BIG fish story. And if Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John lied, they lied so that they could be persecuted, tortured and killed. People normally lie to help themselves (escaping punishment, making a sale, paying fewer taxes), not so they can die for something they know to be a fib.

Someone will object, “But the suicide bombing Muslims gladly die for their faith.” True, but notice that they die for something they believe to be true, whereas the apostles died for something they saw to be true. No one was there to witness Mohammed’s visions or Joseph Smith’s golden tablets. But if Christianity is false, the first Christians would have been dying for something they knew to be a lie, something that does not happen unless the person is mentally deranged.

Observe also that the writers of the Bible were reporting facts about events that everyone knew about. If they told tall tales or even exaggerated the truth, the populace who knew the facts would have risen up and condemned them as quacks. If I wrote a book entitled Tiger Woods Doesn’t Know How to Play Golf everyone would conclude I’m an idiot (that is, if I could find a publisher crazy enough to publish it!). But the people’s acceptance of the gospels and other books of the Bible recording historical events proves them to be historically accurate and true. It’s hard to gain a following while purporting a blatant falsehood. In Peter’s very first sermon he cries out,
Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know—this Man delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power (Acts 2:22-24).
Why didn’t the people respond screaming, “That’s not true!” or “You got your facts wrong!”? Instead, they asked the golden question: “What shall we do?” (Acts 2:37).

And when do you hear about people from the New Testament times rejecting Christ because He never lived or never performed a miracle? Never. If Christ’s miracles were bogus or if He never lived then it would have been easy to silence the early writings of the New Testament. But people couldn’t deny the obvious. People reject Christ not because He didn’t live or wasn’t God (all evidence says the opposite), but because they cannot embrace both Christ and their evil deeds at the same time. Christ Himself said, “Men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed” (John 3:19-20).

In addition to the witness of the authors of the Bible, non-Christian historians admit that Jesus of Nazareth both lived and was crucified. Tacitus, a Roman historian who lived from AD 55-120, mentions Christ’s death. Suetonius, the chief secretary to Emperor Hadrian (AD 117-138), refers to Christians being persecuted. Josephus, a Jew who worked for the Romans, describes Jesus’ ministry and death and the disciples’ claim of Christ’s resurrection exactly as the Bible records it.8 A Roman satirist named Lucian records Christ’s crucifixion and Christians’ worship of Him.9 The Talmud, a rabbinical commentary on the Torah, notes that Jesus was “hanged” (a common term for crucifixion, cf. Luke 23:39; Gal 3:13).10

3. The evidence of preservation

Just as he promised, God preserved His Word. In spite of the wear of years, death, and mass persecution of Christians, the Bible has been perfectly preserved, just as the Bible claimed it would be (Num 23:19; Josh 23:14; Isaiah 40:18; Matt 5:18; Mark 13:31).

But maybe you’ve asked this question before, “How can I trust the accuracy of a book that’s been copied and translated thousands of times over a period of 2,000 plus years?”

Good point. Chances would dictate that what we have isn’t trustworthy. But if a book translated and copied thousands of times over a period of more than two millenniums still showed 99.9% accuracy to the oldest copies, then you have nothing short of a miracle.

It’s like the telephone game. Johnny whispers to Laura “The blue bird flew over the hill.” By the time it gets to Suzy she’s whispering, “The blue nerd swallowed his pill.” Now take the same phrase, “The bird flew over the hill,” and whisper it to five different people who each in turn whisper it to five people and repeat this process several thousand times. What are the chances the final message will be true to the original? About zero!

And yet the Bible is the only book that has passed this kind of test and still emerges with unbelievable accuracy. The original documents of the New Testament (called “autographs”) were copied and translated repeatedly over a period of 2,000 years leaving us with 5,000 of them in Greek, 8-10,000 of them in Latin, and 8,000 more in other languages, reaching a total of more than 24,000 manuscripts! And what are the results? They all agree. The variations are less than one percent and consist of minor discrepancies in spelling or added or omitted words. But how do we know that they agree with the originals? Because the modern day Bible agrees almost perfectly with manuscripts dating back to the first century—manuscripts which we still have today. Nothing but the providential hand of God could protect a work from change for this long.

And the Bible is no typical work. Numerous emperors and rulers have tried to wipe out its existence by fire, and yet it still endures. Other men like Julian, Celsus, Porphyry, Bolingbroke, Hume, Voltaire, Strauss, Renan, Eichhorn, Graf, Wellhausen, and Kuenen, have tried to exterminate its authority by the work of their pen, but it still stands true and continues to change lives. I am convinced that people’s efforts to exterminate the Bible have only accented God’s divine preservation of this Book.

An objective comparison between the works of secularists (which are never brought in to question) and the Bible, quickly shows how prejudiced men are when they take secular works for granted but criticize the Bible vehemently: 



No human alive can objectively look at the facts without facing the astounding evidence that the Bible holds a thousand times more proof of accuracy to its original documents than any other book ever written. Dr. James D. Kennedy wrote,
No other ancient writing—of any kind anywhere—rests on as solid a foundation as does the Bible. In fact, if we were to throw out the Bible as being textually uncertain, we would have to do away with all ancient history. We would have to say that we know absolutely nothing about anything that happened in this world before AD 1000 because the Bible rests on a more solid foundation than any secular writing.11

But the overwhelming evidence of the accuracy of the Bible does not stop here. The church fathers (those leading Christians who lived in the next few centuries after the apostles passed away) quoted the New Testament so abundantly that if you pieced all their quotations together you would have the entire New Testament!12

If the miraculous preservation of the New Testament proves it to be the Word of God, then everything it contains must be true for God by His very nature cannot lie (Titus 1:2), and since it quotes the Old Testament repeatedly, the Old Testament must also be the Word of God.

The New Testament cites, depends on, and appeals to the Old Testament so much that were you to remove all its allusions to or quotations of the Old Testament, there would be little New Testament left. You cannot reject one without rejecting the other. W. Graham Scroggie comments:

One thing is perfectly certain—namely, that the credit or discredit of either Testament is shared by its fellow; that the Old Testament and the New Testament stand or fall together.13

But this is not to say that the Old Testament is without its own evidence of preservation. For over two thousand years no Jew questioned the authority of the Old Testament, for their commitment to accuracy in copying their Scriptures was unrivaled. The Talmud tells us that special scribes were selected to count every letter in every line to see if the copy matched the original. In his book, The Hebrew Test of the Old Testament, Samuel Davidson describes the radical criteria used by Jewish scribes:14
  • A synagogue roll must be written on the skins of clean animals.
  • The roll must be prepared for the particular use of the synagogue by a Jew.
  • The skins must be fastened together with strings taken from clean animals.
  • Every skin must contain a certain number of columns, equal throughout the entire codex.
  • The length of each column must not extend over less than 48 nor more than 60 lines; and the breadth must consist of thirty letters.
  • The whole copy must be first-lined; and if three words should be written without a line, it is worthless.
  • The ink should be black, neither red, green, or any other color, and be prepared according to a definite recipe.
  • An authentic copy must be the exemplar, from which the transcriber ought not in the least deviate.
  • No word or letter, not even a yod, must be written from memory, the scribe not having looked at the codex before him.
  • Between every consonant the space of a hair or a thread must intervene.
  • Between every new parashah, or section, the breadth of nine consonants.
  • Between every book, three lines.
  • The fifth book of Moses must terminate exactly with a line; but the rest need not do so.
  • Besides this, the copyist must sit in full Jewish dress, wash his whole body, not begin to write the name of God with a pen newly dipped in ink, and should a king address him while writing that name he must take no notice of him.
Josephus, a non-Christian Jew who later betrayed his own people to the Romans, said of the Old Testament books:
We have given practical proof of our reverence for our own Scriptures. For, although such long ages have now passed, no one has ventured either to add, or to remove, or to alter a syllable; and it is an instinct with every Jew from the day of his birth to regard them as the decrees of God, to abide by them, and, if need be, cheerfully die for them. Time and again ere now, the sight has been witnessed of prisoners enduring tortures and death in every form in the theaters, rather than utter a single word against the Laws and the allied documents.15
For years more liberal scholars scoffed at the Old Testament’s reliability, for the oldest copy in our possession dated back only to AD 900-950 (the Aleppo Codex), 1400 years after the Old Testament was completed. But one day a Bedouin shepherd in Palestine tossed a rock into a cave. A loud shatter reverberated from within and climbing inside he and his two friends found an earthenware jar with scrolls, consequently making one of the greatest discoveries of all time: the Dead Sea Scrolls. This massive collection of Old Testament manuscripts dated back to 100 BC, bringing us manuscripts 1,000 years closer to the original writings of the Old Testament authors! And here was the big question: Did these texts agree with our modern Hebrew Bibles based on the Masoretic text? Yes! They proved that for one thousand years the Jews had faithfully and accurately copied the Old Testament. Nothing had changed.

4. The evidence of impact

The hundreds of historical events instigated by the Bible's influence through scores of centuries make it stand out with matchless power far beyond any book ever written. No book has produced more bloodshed, hate, confusion, happiness, peace, and blessing than the Bible. It has been fought for, suffered for, died for, and lived for. With the 15th century came the first printing press invented by Johannes Gutenberg, and on September 30, 1452, the first book to roll off its press was the Guttenberg Bible. Since that day the Bible has remained the number one best selling book of all time having sold 6 billion copies since its first printing. That’s more than six times as many copies as the second best selling book in all of history, Mao Tse-Tung’s Quotations from Chairman Mao which sold 900 million.

Of course, popularity alone does not prove the Bible as God’s Word, but the impact of the Bible on the course of history makes it a force to reckon with, further supporting its supernatural ability to influence.

Just for a moment reflect on the would-be condition of our world today were it not for the Bible. Without the influence of the Bible thousands of hospitals and orphanages would never have been built. It was the Bible and Christianity that inspired the founding of the very first college, the University of Bologna, in AD 1158. From that day and into the 19th century all universities have been founded as Christian institutions, teaching theology right alongside math, science, and medicine. The slowing of communistic regimes that murdered millions, the war against male chauvinism that abused women, and the snuffing out of Nazism that was responsible for the merciless slaughter of over six million Jews find their tracks leading back to the influence of the Bible.

Businessmen quote the Bible and leadership experts teach principles from the Bible without even realizing it. Business ethics of honesty, hard work, and a worker being worthy of his wages find their ultimate source in the Bible. All laws against murder, theft, rape, and injustice find their same values rooted in the pages of the Bible. Long after America turned from her Christian heritage small emblems still remind us of the convictions of her founding fathers through the “In God we trust” emblem on coins or the court procedure of swearing by the Bible when standing under oath. No one will ever know what shape this world would be in were it not for the Bible. Hundreds of clichés and quips used in everyday life come straight from the Bible, whether in principle or verbatim:
“The truth will set you free.”
“You reap what you sow.”
“Treat others like you want to be treated.”
“Fight the good fight.”
“You get what you pay for.”
“Let there be light.”
“What goes around comes around.”
“He’s a Pharisee.”
“Do not judge.”
“It’s gospel.”
“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
“This is the holy grail.”
“A nation divided against itself cannot stand.”
“Be sure your sins will find you out.”
“Be all things to all people.”
“That was resurrected.”
“I’m taking a sabbatical.”
“He’s the scapegoat.”
Had the Bible been erased from history, we would live in a different world. Scroggie writes, “This queen of books is essentially freeing, health-giving, ennobling, inspiring, and were all its beneficent effects extracted from society and civilization, we would all be back to paganism and barbarism.”16 Listen to the influence of the Bible at every level:
Its literary splendor was acknowledged even by heathen critics like Longinus…It exercised the toil of Origen and Jerome; it fired the eloquence of Gregory and Chrysostom; it molded the thought of Athanasius and Augustine; the ‘Summa Theologiae’ of Thomas Aquinas was but a meditation upon its theology, and the ‘Imitatio Christi’ of St. Thomas a Kempis an attempt to express its spirituality. All that is best and greatest in the literature of two thousand years has been rooted in it and has sprung from it…St. Vincent de Paul learned from its pages his tenderness for the poor, and John Howard his love for the suffering, and William Wilberforce his compassion for the slaves, and Lord Shaftesbury the dedication of his life to the amelioration of the lot of his fellow-men…It dilated and inspired the immortal song of Dante and of Milton. All the best and brightest English verse, from the poems of Chaucer to the plays of Shakespeare in their noblest parts, are echoes of its lessons; and from Cowper to Wordsworth, from Coleridge to Tennyson, the greatest of our poets have drawn from its pages their loftiest wisdom. It inspired the pictures of Fra Angelico and Raphael, the music of Handel and Mendelssohn. It kindled the intrepid genius of Luther, the bright imagination of Bunyan, the burning zeal of Whitefield. The hundred best books, the hundred best pictures, the hundred greatest strains of music, are all in it and all derived from it.17
And stop to consider the chief figure of the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ. No Man in history spoke with more authority and influence. Men hear about Mohammed and even fewer know the name of Joseph Smith, but no name is known so far and so wide as the name above all names (Philipp 2:9). Why do men take Christ’s name in vain but not Mohammed’s? Why do they curse by God’s name but not by Buddha’s. Could it be that deep inside the heart of every human is the knowledge that Jesus Christ’s name is holy, powerful, and real? Could it be that by using His name flippantly we feel more relief in our moment of anger because His name is precious? No man in history has claimed to be God like Christ did. No man in history had 500 people proclaiming his bodily resurrection, witnessing his talking, eating, and living like Christ did. No man in history has been more hated, more loved, more quoted, or more lied about than the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the name prophesied, proclaimed, and presented in the pages of the Bible.

5. The evidence of prophecy

Of the seven proofs presented in this booklet this is the crown of them all.  Take Isaiah 53, for example. Isaiah predicted that the Messiah would suffer miserably (Is 53:4), be pierced through (Is 53:5), whipped (Is 53:5), not fight back (Is 53:7), executed (Is 53:7-8), and buried by a rich man (Is 53:9). This was written 700 years before it ever happened. That’s like you predicting who will win the NBA championship in year 2707! Christianity stands apart in that every other religion almost entirely lacks any prophecy:
  • Absolutely no prophecy in Buddhist writings
  • Absolutely no prophecy of the future in Confucius writings
  • The only prophecy in the Koran is Mohammed prophesying that he will return to the Mecca—a self-fulfilling prophecy!18 Compare that to Christ’s prophecy that He Himself would rise from the dead (Luke 24:7).
Imagine that you predicted the gender, date of birth, name, weight, college, occupation, manner of death, and age at death of the child of an expectant mother. The chances of all eight of your predictions being fulfilled is 1 in 10 to the 17th power. That’s 10 with 17 zeroes! The likelihood of all eight prophecies being fulfilled is as probable as covering the state of Texas two feet deep with silver dollars, marking one coin with an “X”, mixing it in, blindfolding a person, and sending him across the state to find the X-marked silver dollar.19
Yet the Bible predicts the lineage (2 Sam 7:16), birth (Is 7:14), place of birth (Micah 5:2), ministry (Isaiah 42), suffering (Is 53:3), death (Is 53:8), resurrection (Ps 16:10), and ascension of Jesus Christ (Ps 68:18). This is just one of hundreds of detailed prophecies made of Christ that came to pass, not to mention the several thousand prophecies of the Old Testament that accurately predicted other historical events like the rise and fall of Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Pesia, Greece, and Rome.

For ages people have tried to counterfeit prophesy, but time and scrutiny eventually rip away the cloak of lies and reveal the deception. Modern day “prophets” wait until events occur and then claim that they predicted the event before it happened while others make thousands of predictions and then publicize the few that so happen to come true while ignoring the thousands that went debunk.

Very few talked about the prophetic failures of Jean Dixon who prophesied the presidential candidates of each of the major political parties and the winner of each of the three presidential elections in 1952, 1956, and 1960. The outcome? Every prophecy turned out to be false.20

One year the National Enquirer magazine listed 61 prophecies by the ten leading seers on the planet. These prophecies were supposed to occur in the last six months of that year. Compared to the Bible which predicts events thousands of years before they ever occur, these prophecies should have been relatively easy. How did they do? They missed all 61 prophecies.21

These are just two samples from an army of self-proclaimed prophets whose own predictions forced them to confess they are charlatans or to ignore the facts. And quack prophecy is not a new occupation. Thirty-five hundred years ago Moses warned the people of Israel, “When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him” (Deut 18:22). To see a full list of fulfilled prophecies of Christ see the appendix at the end of this booklet.

6. The evidence of scientific accuracy 

Science has never disproved the Bible, but continues to back it up time and time again. This is a massive topic worthy of a library of volumes all on its own. Let it suffice to give a few solid examples of science supporting the credibility of the Bible.

Not a single finding has proven a cross between an ape or a human, a fish or a frog. No missing links have been found. Evolutionists used to believe that the earth was just a few million years old. But when they discovered how absurd it was to assume that things progress over time (instead of degenerating), with no evidence to back this assumption, they just added on a bunch of years. Now the earth is supposed to be 20 billion years old. What would the honest route have been?

Darwin admitted that if the cell is more complex than he realized (and scientists knew very little about the cell in his day), his entire system has failed. Well, 100 years later scientists have discovered that the cell is not just a complex machine, but an entire city all by itself, and how it runs without any apparent help still boggles scientific brains. But instead of admitting Darwin’s error, evolutionists cling fast to their religious belief in evolution.

Evolutionists begin with the presupposition that God does not exist, or that if He does, Genesis 1-2 cannot be taken literally. They also begin with the presupposition that evolution is correct before ever proving it. If someone begins with a premise, he will try to make all his findings support the premise regardless of the evidence.

The entire concept of evolution flies in the face of proven fact. Psalm 102:25-27 says, "Of old You founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. Even they will perish, but You endure; and all of them will wear out like a garment; like clothing You will change them and they will be changed; but You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end." This is the 2nd law of thermodynamics, also known as entropy. It means that everything is continually degenerating. Drop a handful of marbles and they scatter everywhere, illustrating nature’s magnetism toward chaos. Let a house sit for 500 years and the paint will peel, the porch will rot, and termites will make it look like a haunted mine. Hundreds of insects or microorganisms go extinct every day. The Bibles’ testimony of a degenerating earth is happening all around us, yet evolution teaches the very opposite: everything began with a cell and progresses from a primordial soup to higher and more sophisticated forms of life.

Take the sun, for example. The earth is continually moving closer to the sun. At its current rate, 20 billion years back would put the earth so far from the son that no animal or human life would be possible. The oceans would be ice cubes and life would be impossible.

Take the moon. The moon collects a small amount of dust on its surface every year. It is over 20 feet deep. At the rate of its dust-collecting, if we go backwards, the moon would have no dust on it around 6-10,000 years ago. Why didn’t it collect dust for 10-15 billion years? Or does this once again confirm a young earth that the Bible supports?

Take the earth’s sedimentary layers of rock and dirt, also called “strata.” Evolutionary scientists have observed earth strata, concluding that it took millions of years to collect. Then Mt. Helens exploded. The volcano created the same strata in a few days.

Take the molecule. The likelihood of a single enzyme molecule developing through random processes is almost ridiculous. Imagine every square foot of the earth is covered with 95 pounds of protein molecules that could mix freely, and that these molecules are replaced with fresh protein molecules every year for one billion years. The probability that one enzyme molecule would be formed in one billion years in this state is one chance in 80 billion.22

Dr. Morowitz, an evolutionary scientist, calculated the probability for the formation of the smallest likely living organism by random processes. The likelihood is 10340,000,000! That is once chance in 10 with 340 million zeroes. And get this: Dr. Morowitz still believed it happened!23 It becomes painfully obvious that his commitment is not to the evidence, but to his religion of evolution, regardless of the facts.

Imagine you are standing in line at Magic Mountain, the theme park, to enjoy the newest ride Scream! But before you board you notice a sign stating that the chances of this ride not crashing and exploding are one to the 340 millionth power. Would you ride?

What the Experts Said24

Evolution is a fairy tale for grown-ups. This theory has helped nothing in the progress of science. It is useless. ~ Professor Louis Bounoure, Director of Research, National Center of Scientific Research

Evolution is unproved and unprovable. ~ Sir Arthur Keith (Sir Arthur Keith wrote the foreword to the 100th edition of Origin of the Species)

I myself am convinced that the theory of evolution, especially the extent to which it’s been applied, will be one of the great jokes in history books of the future. ~ Malcolm Muggeridge, the famous British journalist and philosopher

Scientists who go about teaching that evolution is a fact of life are great con-men, and the story they are telling may be the greatest hoax ever. ~ Dr. T. N. Tahmisian of the Atomic Energy Commission

Classic evolution, theistic evolution, and every other kind of evolution boldly rush against all evidence, evidence that coincides beautifully with the testimony of the Bible. Looking at the Bible’s genealogy records, we can come to a very close dating of the earth, around 6-10 thousand years. Evolution is not science because it is not based on observation but speculation. It is theory—a theory that tries to explain away God Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. Look into the history of science and you will see that science has always been observation of things now, not speculation into how they were brought into existence.

As the theories of evolutionists swell in absurdity, and as its own strongest supporters begin to admit royal failure, it becomes increasingly obvious that they are running from the Creator they cannot escape. In Paul’s own words, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.  For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:20-21). Napoleon was right when he said, “Man will believe anything unless it’s in the Bible.”

This is why humanity’s observation of nature will never be an objective judge of the credibility of the Bible. If you had to rest your destiny and purpose for existence on the Bible or man’s so-called scientific conclusions, which would you choose?


Eyebrow-Raising Questions

If you have ever found yourself tempted to call the Bible an outdated, primeval book of ignorance, ask yourself the following questions:26

  • How did the Bible know 2500 years ago that the earth floats in empty space in a day when everyone else thought that the world sat on an oversized animal (Job 26:7)?
  • How did the Bible know 3,000 years ago that blood is the source of life in a human or animal (Lev 17:11) when only 120 years ago doctors “bled” sick people thinking it would heal them when it often killed them?  
  • How did the Bible know 3,000 year ago that washing your hands with running water would curb the spread of disease (Lev 15:3) while up until 100 years ago doctors washed their hands in a basin of still water not knowing that it caused the spread of germs and the death of thousands? The Encyclopedia Britannica documents that in 1845, a young doctor in Vienna named Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis was horrified at the terrible death rate of women who were dying after giving birth in hospitals. As many as 30% of those giving birth died. He noted that doctors would examine the bodies of those who had died, then, without washing their hands, go straight to the next ward and examine expectant mothers. This was their normal practice, because the presence of microscopic diseases was unknown. Doctor Semmelweis insisted that doctors wash their hands before examinations, and the death rate immediately dropped down to 2%.
  • How did the Bible know 2500 years ago that billions of stars fill space (Jer 33:22) at a time when man could only account for the approximate 1,100 stars that he could see with the naked eye? 
  • How did the Bible know 2800 years ago that the earth is round (Is 40:22) in a day when the world would have laughed you out of town for thinking that the world was not flat? It was the Bible that inspired Christopher Columbus to sail around the world. He wrote, "It was the Lord who put it into my mind. I could feel His hand upon me . . . there is no question the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit because He comforted me with rays of marvelous illumination from the Holy Scriptures . . ." (From his diary, in reference to his discovery of "the New World").
  • How did the Bible know approximately 5900 years ago that the universe is made of time, space, matter, power, and motion (Gen 1:1-2)? "In the beginning (time) God created (power) the heavens (space) and the earth (matter) . . . And the Spirit of God moved (motion) upon the face of the waters."
  • How does the Bible have the only answer for the appearance of the dinosaur which has baffled thousands of scientists? 1,950 years ago God said, “Behold now, Behemoth, which I made as well as you; he eats grass like an ox. Behold now, his strength in his loins and his power in the muscles of his belly. He bends his tail like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are knit together. His bones are tubes of bronze; his limbs are like bars of iron. He is the first of the ways of God; let his maker bring near his sword. Surely the mountains bring him food, and all the beasts of the field play there. Under the lotus plants he lies down, in the covert of the reeds and the marsh. The lotus plants cover him with shade; the willows of the brook surround him. If a river rages, he is not alarmed; he is confident, though the Jordan rushes to his mouth. Can anyone capture him when he is on watch, with barbs can anyone pierce his nose?”  (Job 40:15-24). 
  • How did the Bible know 2800 years ago that the ocean is filled with currents (Ps 8:8), 2,650 years before man ever discovered this? Matthew Maury (1806- 1873) is considered to be the father of oceanography. He was bedridden during a serious illness and asked his son to read a portion of the Bible to him. While listening, he noticed the expression "paths of the sea." Upon his recovery, Maury took God at His word and went looking for these paths. His book on oceanography is still considered a basic text on the subject and is still used in universities.
  • How did the Bible know 2800 years ago that the ocean floor is peppered with mountains (Jonah 2:6) while man didn’t discover this until recent years? The greatest ocean depth has been sounded in the Challenger Deep of the Mariana's Trench, a distance of 35,798 feet below sea level. Mount Everest is 29,035 feet high.
  • How did the Bible know 3500 years ago that the earth spins on an axis (Job 38:12, 14), thousands of years before modern science discovered that the spinning of the earth explains the rise and setting of the sun? 
  • How did the Bible know 2800 years ago that the sun moves through space (Ps 19:4-6), while Bible critics scoffed at the Bible’s claim until they discovered that the sun travels through space at 600,000 miles per hour? 
  • How did the Bible know 2000 years ago that the earth and universe are wearing out (also known as the Second Law of Thermodynamics, Heb 1:10-11) thousands of years before man discovered this law? 
  • How did the Bible know 3900 years ago to command circumcision on the eighth day (Gen 17:12) when science did not discover until recently that the eighth day is the only day in the life of the newborn that the blood clotting element prothrombin is above 100%? 
  • How did the Bible know 5900 years ago that the female and not just the male possesses the “seed of life” (Gen 3:15) when until recently people thought that the woman was nothing more than a glorified incubator for the development of a fetus? 
  • How did the Bible know 2800 years ago that an exact measurement of water on earth is necessary for life to be possible (Is 40:12)? If the sea became three meters deeper, the water would absorb all the carbon dioxide and nitrogen, resulting in the death of every living creature.

The evidence of continuity

If 44 men from diverse cultures and different backgrounds who lived at different times over a span of 1500 years wrote their opinion on a controversial subject, and all their writings perfectly agreed, you’d have to admit something miraculous took place. That’s the miracle you encounter every time you read the Bible. This is incredible when you consider the odds.

Joshua was a military general, Daniel a royal official, Peter a fisherman, Nehemiah a cupbearer, and Samuel a judge. Moses wrote from the wilderness, Paul from prison, David in the land of Israel, and John on a far off island. The books were also composed in three different languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. In my Bible that’s 1268 pages of material! If you have a New American Standard Bible (the 1995 updated version), that means 66 books, 1189 chapters, 31,103 verses, and 775,306 words all come together in one unified, cohesive, non-contradictory masterpiece.

Not a single critic, atheist, or skeptic has ever raised an accusation against the Bible that could stand the test of time. Anyone who views the evidence objectively cannot escape the inevitable conclusion that he is looking at a book like no other.

Will You Consider?

Having given you the iceberg tip of evidence, I ask you to read the Bible to see for yourself. Could this be just another optional book on religion? Or is it the authoritative and flawless Word of God?

The Bible tells the story of a rich man who went to hell and a poor man named Lazarus who went to heaven (Luke 6:19-31). Writhing in the agony of the flames, the rich man can see Lazarus with Abraham in heaven.

“I beg you, Abraham,” the rich man cries, “that you send Lazarus to my father's house—for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.”

“They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them,” says Abraham.

“No, father Abraham,” moans the rich man, “but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!'  

But Abraham replies, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.” Even if the rich man’s five brothers saw someone miraculously rise from the dead, they would not believe. Their problem was not a lack of evidence, but the presence of pride.  

The lesson here is vital. Even if I have proved the Bible as God’s Word to you, you still wouldn’t believe unless you are willing to humble yourself. You see, humanity’s problem is not intellectual but moral. The Bible says that no one comes to the Bible with an unbiased perspective because his heart is already stained with the corruption of sin. This is why Rusty Wright tells how a Georgia Tech philosophy professor peppered him with questions, which he answered as best as he could. Then Rusty asked him, “If I could answer all your questions to your satisfaction, would you put your life in Jesus’ hands?” The professor quickly replied: “[Expletive] no!”

Gleason Archer said it well: “Every man must settle for one of two alternatives: the inerrancy of Holy Scripture, or the inerrancy of his own personal judgment.”

The Pharisees had all the evidence, but they did not believe. In fact, the evidence only further hardened their hearts against the truth (Matt 28:11-15). The rich man had all the evidence, but he did not believe (Luke 16:19-31). And now that you have been given a truckload of evidence, what will you do? Will you further suppress the truth of God or will you humble yourself, admit that you have sinned and rebelled against your holy Creator, believe that His Son paid the price of your sin on the cross and rose from the dead, and ask Him to forgive you and to become Lord of your life? Will you do that?

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. I leave you with the words of Charles Haddon Spurgeon:

I would recommend you either believe God up to the hilt, or else not to believe at all. Believe this book of God, every letter of it, or else reject it. There is no logical standing place between the two. Be satisfied with nothing less than a faith that swims in the deeps of divine revelation; a faith that paddles about the edge of the water is poor faith at best. It is little better than a dry-land faith, and is not good for much.

Endnotes

1. This site included 15,000 Sumerian tablests and dates back to around 2350-1600 BC.

2. Lee Stroble, The Case for Christ (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998), 70.

3. Ibid. 

4. Norman Geisler and Ron Brooks, When Skeptics Ask: A Handbook On Christian Evidences (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 201. 

5. Ibid., 179.

6.  This quote comes from Dr. Bill Barrick in his "Old Testament Introduction" class taught at The Master's Seminary, 2005. 

7. This number includes the sons of Korah as well as Asaph, Solomon, Ethan, and Moses who all contributed to the collection of Psalms. The psalms with no prefix citing the author may have been written by other authors not mentioned above. 

8.  Josephus, Antiquities, 18:3 from the Arabic text as it appeared in "New Evidence on the Life of Jesus," The New York Times, February 12, 1972, p. 1, 24.

9. The Death of Peregrine, 11-13 in The Works of Lucian of Samasota, translated by H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler, 4 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1949). 

10. The Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin, 43a, cited by Geisler and Brooks, When Skeptics Ask, 24. 

11. James D. Kennedy, Skeptics Answered (Sisters: Multnomah, 1997), 27.

12."John Burgon has catalogued more than 86,000 citations by the early church fathers who cite different parts of the New Testament" (Josh McDowell, Answers to Tough Questions Sketpics Ask About the Christian Faith, Living Books, 1986, p. 5). 

13. W. Graham Scroggie, Is the Bible the Word of God? (Philadelphia: The Sunday School Times Company, 1922), 58. 

14.Norman Geisler, A General Introduction to the Bible (Chicago: Moody, 1986), 348-349. 

15. "Flavius Josephus Against Apion," in The Complete Works of Josephus, translated by William Whiston (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1960), 179-180. 

16. Scroggie, 119. 

17. Ibid. 114. 

18. D. James Kennedy, Evangelism Explosion (Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1996), 151. 

19. Ibid.

20. Ibid., 155.

21. Ibid. 

22. Kofahl and Segraves in The Cration Explanation (H. Shaw Publishers, 1975), 99-100 quoted by Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 284. Grudem notes that even if life was somehow created in a laboratory, it would only further prove Creation, because this laboratory-produced life came from other life, it did not come from no life, thus proving intelligent desing is necessary for life to be created (p. 285). 

23. Kofahl and Segraves, 99-100. 

24. These quotes are taken from Ray Comfort’s “Scientific Facts in the Bible” pamphlet.

25. Evolutionary scientists first estimated the age of the earth at thousands of years, then millions, and now billions. If their conclusion can change on this massive of a scale, there is no telling what the new estimate will be tomorrow.

26. Credit for the majority of these questions goes to Ray Comfort, “Scientific Facts in the Bible” pamphlet.