The Bible is God’s message to mankind
So this knowable God has at some point in time revealed Himself to mankind. The next question is: is His revelation found in the collection of Christian scriptures called the Bible?
One day a man brought out a large number of spiral bound pages. He said that they were all written on by his now deceased wife and that the words were divine. When it was discovered that they disagreed with other ‘scriptures’ the man stayed firm in his belief, “I would rather go to Hell believing that what my wife has written is divine rather than believe the Bible.”
That is possibly an odd and extreme example, but it is also in some ways similar to many others. There are probably thousands of things which are described as being divine revelations. There is no way to look at all of them. Not all of them even claim to be divine. Many writings which are called divine make no such claim for themselves. For instance the writings from the Far East, the teachings of Confucius, Buddhism and Hinduism do not even make a claim to be God’s word.
Using some logic we can narrow down the large number of samples.
- This message would have to be of some antiquity. Something written today or tomorrow would not help the thousands who have lived before cell phones.
- It seems reasonable to assume that a revelation from God to mankind would be available. God would not hide His message meant to explain His will to the world.
- The other claimants would dislike the true message and certainly try to rid the earth of it; therefore, it would be attacked. To truly be divine God must preserve His message against their hatred.
- The message must answer the questions that our spiritual instincts are searching for. Who is God, who am I, what am I here for, how did all this begin, how will it end, why is there good and evil?
- The message would be accurate, not contradicting itself.
Starting with the largest religions in the world, we see that they all have some similar claims to God’s message. The 3 largest religions are: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All 3 of these claim to believe the Hebrew Scriptures, known as the Torah, as divine. The two largest religions also claim that Jesus Christ brought a divine message to mankind. Therefore the two largest religions believe that God revealed to man His character and desires in the scriptures which would eventually become the Bible, or “The Book.” Only the second largest religion, Islam, adds to this the writings of Muhammad.
Compare
Compare the books which claim to be divine. Search them and put them to the test. In the end you will find that many easily fail to be supernatural at all.
Most of them do not contain any fulfilled prophesies, or only ones limited to things which happened within sight of their writing. Many of them include contradictions within themselves or history.
Take for instance the Quran. The Quran was written by Muhammad about 600 years after the birth of Christ. Islam claims to be an amendment to the revelations given by Moses and Jesus.
Surah 29:46, “And do not argue with the People of the Scripture except in the best manner possible, except those who do wrong among them. And say, “We believe in what was revealed to us, and in what was revealed to you; and our God and your God is One; and to Him we are submissive.”
Unfortunately, the writings they claim to be divine contradict both the revelation as given by Moses and that as given by Jesus. The Quran teaches that one of Noah’s sons died in the flood (Surah 11:42-43) while the Torah shows that all of his family entered into the ark and was saved (Genesis 7:1-13). The Quran clearly teaches that Jesus did not die on the cross (Surah 4:157) while the Gospel (Injil) repeatedly says that it was Jesus who died on the cross (Matthew 19-28, Mark 10-16, Luke 19-24, John 12-21, Acts 1, 1 Corinthians 1:17-18, Galatians 6:12-14, Philippians 2:8, Colossians 1:20, 2:14, Hebrews 12:2, 1John 2:2, 1Peter 4:1 etc.).
It isn’t difficult to judge the divine claim given to the Quran. When it claims to have the same author as the Bible and yet contradicts it over and over again; it is clear that it cannot be what it claims.
This can be done over and over again; eliminating the false claims of so many. In the end the Bible remains a faithful and powerful testimony of God’s true revelation. It answers every logical point above.
Evidence
The Bible contains hundreds of prophecies. Most of those prophecies have already come to pass, and many more are about our future. The historical and scientific accuracy points to an author beyond the mind of man. The uniformity and effectiveness of its words are supernatural.
The Bible declares itself to be the very words of God over and over again. Phrases such as “And the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying…” are found over 1,800 times in the Old Testament alone. Not only does the Bible claim to be the words of God, but it proves it.
Given all the evidence, is it not reasonable to believe that the Bible is God’s written revelation to man?
The Bible is God’s message to mankind
So this knowable God has at some point in time revealed Himself to mankind. The next question is: is His revelation found in the collection of Christian scriptures called the Bible?
One day a man brought out a large number of spiral bound pages. He said that they were all written on by his now deceased wife and that the words were divine. When it was discovered that they disagreed with other ‘scriptures’ the man stayed firm in his belief, “I would rather go to Hell believing that what my wife has written is divine rather than believe the Bible.”
That is possibly an odd and extreme example, but it is also in some ways similar to many others. There are probably thousands of things which are described as being divine revelations. There is no way to look at all of them. Not all of them even claim to be divine. Many writings which are called divine make no such claim for themselves. For instance the writings from the Far East, the teachings of Confucius, Buddhism and Hinduism do not even make a claim to be God’s word.
Using some logic we can narrow down the large number of samples.
- This message would have to be of some antiquity. Something written today or tomorrow would not help the thousands who have lived before cell phones.
- It seems reasonable to assume that a revelation from God to mankind would be available. God would not hide His message meant to explain His will to the world.
- The other claimants would dislike the true message and certainly try to rid the earth of it; therefore, it would be attacked. To truly be divine God must preserve His message against their hatred.
- The message must answer the questions that our spiritual instincts are searching for. Who is God, who am I, what am I here for, how did all this begin, how will it end, why is there good and evil?
- The message would be accurate, not contradicting itself.
Starting with the largest religions in the world, we see that they all have some similar claims to God’s message. The 3 largest religions are: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All 3 of these claim to believe the Hebrew Scriptures, known as the Torah, as divine. The two largest religions also claim that Jesus Christ brought a divine message to mankind. Therefore the two largest religions believe that God revealed to man His character and desires in the scriptures which would eventually become the Bible, or “The Book.” Only the second largest religion, Islam, adds to this the writings of Muhammad.
Compare
Compare the books which claim to be divine. Search them and put them to the test. In the end you will find that many easily fail to be supernatural at all.
Most of them do not contain any fulfilled prophesies, or only ones limited to things which happened within sight of their writing. Many of them include contradictions within themselves or history.
Take for instance the Quran. The Quran was written by Muhammad about 600 years after the birth of Christ. Islam claims to be an amendment to the revelations given by Moses and Jesus.
Surah 29:46, “And do not argue with the People of the Scripture except in the best manner possible, except those who do wrong among them. And say, “We believe in what was revealed to us, and in what was revealed to you; and our God and your God is One; and to Him we are submissive.”
Unfortunately, the writings they claim to be divine contradict both the revelation as given by Moses and that as given by Jesus. The Quran teaches that one of Noah’s sons died in the flood (Surah 11:42-43) while the Torah shows that all of his family entered into the ark and was saved (Genesis 7:1-13). The Quran clearly teaches that Jesus did not die on the cross (Surah 4:157) while the Gospel (Injil) repeatedly says that it was Jesus who died on the cross (Matthew 19-28, Mark 10-16, Luke 19-24, John 12-21, Acts 1, 1 Corinthians 1:17-18, Galatians 6:12-14, Philippians 2:8, Colossians 1:20, 2:14, Hebrews 12:2, 1John 2:2, 1Peter 4:1 etc.).
It isn’t difficult to judge the divine claim given to the Quran. When it claims to have the same author as the Bible and yet contradicts it over and over again; it is clear that it cannot be what it claims.
This can be done over and over again; eliminating the false claims of so many. In the end the Bible remains a faithful and powerful testimony of God’s true revelation. It answers every logical point above.
Evidence
The Bible contains hundreds of prophecies. Most of those prophecies have already come to pass, and many more are about our future. The historical and scientific accuracy points to an author beyond the mind of man. The uniformity and effectiveness of its words are supernatural.
The Bible declares itself to be the very words of God over and over again. Phrases such as “And the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying…” are found over 1,800 times in the Old Testament alone. Not only does the Bible claim to be the words of God, but it proves it.
Given all the evidence, is it not reasonable to believe that the Bible is God’s written revelation to man?
