Six facts that prove the Bible’s authenticity and God’s words
According to Guinness, the Bible is the world’s best-selling and most widely distributed book, with 5 billion sold. The only book translated into 349 languages shaped nations was the U.S. Constitution, which influenced rulers and changed lives.
→ Six major branches of Christianity today.
1. Historicity of the Bible
The Old Testament Bible is a historical document written about 1,200 BC. Approximately 10,000 manuscripts were discovered, while the New Testament (N.T.) has 25,100 manuscripts discovered with a 99.5% textually pure. [See CARM Manuscript evidence]
Likewise, Jesus is a historical figure, attested by sources outside the Bible. The resurrection of Jesus is the ultimate proof of God and the Bible’s authenticity.
Roman Emperors and historians like first-century Jewish historians Josephus and Flavius Josephus corroborate Biblical accounts. The Bible, preserved for the last 3,400 years, is a source of historical records and prophecies.
→ Which Bible translation can you trust?
2. Science supports the Bible
The first mention of earth round was in 500 B.C. by the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras. Around 350 B.C., Aristotle said it was a sphere. However, the world believed the earth was flat. In the 1500s, Columbus tried to prove the earth was round.
Today, some people still believe the earth is flat. The Bible tells us that the planet is round (Book of Job 600 BC; Isaiah 740 BC). It was only 1946 when the first photograph of the earth showed it was round.
More than half of Nobel Prize winners believe in the Bible
To date, more than half, or approximately 65% of Nobel Prize winners believe in God and the Bible.
For example, American astrophysicist Joseph H. Taylor, Jr. won the Nobel Laureate in physics for his discovery of the first known binary pulsar.
He said in 2002, “There is no conflict between science and religion…” Today, scientists have answers to creation vs. evolution, God and science, or the earth’s age using scientific data. Answers in Genesis]
3. Archeological evidence
Archeological discoveries in places like Eygpt correspond to Biblical accounts. For example, Robert Koldewey mapped the ancient capital of Babylon. The semi-legendary Babylon of the Bible became a geographic and historical reality.
Other discoveries were that of the fall of Jericho, the Hittite kingdom, mentioned only in the Bible. Critics dismissed these as mythological.
The oldest fragment closest to the time of the apostles
The oldest fragment to include John 8:58 is Papyrus Bodmer II (P66). It predates the Council of Nicaea by 100 to 125 years. PP66 has the phrase “Before Abraham was, I AM” quote. Thus affirming the divinity of Jesus within the arms-stretched generation of the apostles.
Dead Sea Scrolls: The most important discovery written 2,000 years ago validates today’s Bible
The scrolls were found in caves near the Dead Sea in 1947. It was written in ancient Hebrew. Some of the Old Testament (O.T.) scrolls were written just over 100 years before Christ was born. Mario Seiglie]
Comparing it with the “modern Bible,” the differences are mostly typographical errors. This means that the original text (autograph) was preserved, but in another way — through the multiplicity of manuscripts. Michael J. Kruger, NT professor]
- List of artifacts in biblical archaeology
- List of burial places of biblical figures
- List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts
- List of New Testament papyri
- List of New Testament uncials
- List of biblical figures identified in extra-biblical sources
Archeological discoveries support the Bible’s historical narrative
- The Code of Hammurabi.
- The Nuzi Tablets.
- The Existence of Hittites.
- The Merneptah Stele.
- The Moabite Stone.
- Biblical Cities Jericho, Haran, Megiddo, Beersheba, Lachish,
- Obelisk of Shalmaneser III.
- Burial Plaque of King Uzziah.
- Hezekiah’s Siloam Tunnel Inscription.
- The Sennacherib Prism.
- The Cylinder of Cyrus the Great.
- Hieroglyphic carvings, Temple of Amon in Thebes.
- Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and Greeks record a great flood.
LIST OF ARCHEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES THAT PROVE THE BIBLE.
4. Fulfillment of Messianic Prophesy
About 300 to 350 prophecies written in the Old Testament identify the promised Messiah. For example, the Book of Isaiah mentions a messianic prophecy. It was written (perhaps by several authors) during the reign of King Hezekiah from 715 to 686 B.C.
The messianic probability of it happening to one man, Jesus, is one in one Billion Trillion Trillion Trillion. In short, the Bible can only be the accurate word of God for hundreds of prophecies to come true and point to only one person — Jesus.
5. Prophecy on Israel
The prophecies on the nation of Israel is a fascinating historical proof of God. For example, the Bible says that Israel will be dispersed, but God will gather them back to their promised land towards the end times. Ezekiel 36)
- The establishment of Israel as a “new modern nation” in 1948 fulfills Biblical prophecies. [Short history of Israel]
- Israel could have been wiped out after Jerusalem was sacked in 70 A.D. Although they were scattered all over Europe, their culture was incredibly intact.
- Adolf Hitler tried to wipe out the Jews by killing 6 Million of them. Even before Hitler, Jews were hated and systematically killed in Europe during the Middle Ages.
- Hebrew was extinct as a colloquial language by Late Antiquity. Naturally, when someone migrates to another country, the second or third generation can no longer speak the native language of their parents or grandparents. After 2,000 years, the Hebrew was resurrected beginning in 1881.
6. Transformed lives
The Bible surpassed empires and civilizations. Despite religious thumpers twisting the Bible, the evidence of millions of testimonies about God’s love is overwhelming.
While atheists may accuse Christians of creating God as “opium for the masses,” in truth, miracles happen, people’s lives have been changed, and many have been blessed. Read Christian testimonies]
RECOMMENDED READ:
Atheists Scientists who became Christians.
List of Christian scientists and academes.
Intellectual Design and Irreducible Complexity.
Where did the Bible come from?
