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Does the Bible tell the truth? |
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New Testament
Christianity is based on historical events while other religions are based on e.............l teachings. The early Church is also h..................l. Latest research supports the events that are recorded in 'Acts of the Apostles' and the letters by Paul called the Epistles.
Critics have seen that if the New Testament is historically true they can't say anything against Christianity so they have worked flat out to show it is not t......... historically.
If the New Testament can be clearly shown to be true then all the silly or misinformed i.......... which we read in some books and even novels can be knocked on the head and shown for what they are: ideas by the enemy to take away your interest in s................... for God.
So be prepared: here come some amazing t............... about the New Testament.
1. The Truth of the Documents
For almost 2000 years the New Testament documents have made a tremendous impact on world history. There are over 5000 h............................. manuscript copies of the Greek New Testament and over 15000 in other ............................ No other ancient ............. has so many old copies.
These 20 000 copies have been ch...................... thoroughly and compared to find any c................... errors. Those found have made no change to the t................ of the books.
There are also many thousands of m.................................. from early Christian writers which include q............... from the New Testament dating back to AD 90.
2. Inside Information
There are plenty of words in each book which show that it was written by the a.............. who said he wrote it. For example, Paul talks about his stoning at Lystra and Peter talks about s........... Jesus in a cloud on a mountain with two prophets.
3. Archeology
Digging up evidence has always supported the NT. For example, the towns in the book of Acts were real towns that have r........... you can walk on today. The pool of Siloam where Jesus healed the paralysed man has been un.....................
4. Character of writers
Some critics have tried to talk us out of trusting the New Testament by d.......................... the character of the writers. But they forget that the disciples and Paul were m......................... for their writings and their trust in Jesus. Who would do this if they were p...................? Also the miracles they talked about happened in p............c, e.g. feeding the 5000. If they were lying they would be laughed out of town. Some of them were learned scholars. Paul and Luke were top men in their jobs as th.................. and d....................... The others were known as very pr................. and careful in their work.
5. Character of Jesus
If Jesus was a l........ or a l......................... no one would believe Him. After a while they would find out and leave Him. But His disciples were with Him constantly for ............. years. They left their ............ to be with Him. They saw Him show His l.......... to everyone who came to Him for h.......... He h.............. them and even r................... some from the dead. If they did not see this with their own eyes they would not have written it down.
They did leave Him at His trial but this is more evidence Jesus did what He said He would do because He predicted His d......... and r.............................. The fact that they all came back to Him shows they really did see Him r.................. from the dead.
It is not good enough to just call Jesus a great .................... and do some of the things He wants us to do. Jesus rose again so that we could have a new ................ with Him as our .....................
John 10:10, Jesus: " The thief's purpose is to s............... and k............ and d................ My purpose is to give life in all its f........................" .
Revelation 3:20, Jesus: "Look! Here I s.................. at the door and k................ If you hear me c............. and ................... the door, I will come in, and we will .................... a meal as friends."
6. Baptism and Lord's Supper
Jesus commanded every Christian to be b............................ (i........................... in water to show you are now dead to your old ............ and alive in ......................) and to take b................... and w............. regularly to remember His death. Historical r......................... show that the Church has done this in some way through the c................................
How could baptism and the Lord's Supper have started centuries after Jesus rose again and went to heaven? Jesus c.............................d it and it has been o..................d since then. Any books about Jesus which did not agree with this were r............................ by the early Church.
7. History backs up the New Testament words of Jesus.
In John 8:12 Jesus said He IS the Light of the world not w....... the light of the world. History shows this is true.
Jesus is still the light of the world and His teachings are the b.......... of laws and b..................... Some of the world's most famous b..............., p..................... and m................... have been about what Jesus is about – ................. God with everything you've got and ................. everyone around you.
In Matthew 24:35, Jesus said, "H...................... and e................. shall pass away but My words will not pass away."
How can a h.......................... wanderer in country Israel make such a claim unless He is God Himself on earth! Today we see His words have been heard and read and loved and obeyed by more people in more nations than those of any other man who ever lived.
In John 12:32-33, Jesus said, "If I be l............... up from the earth, I will draw all ........... to Me." John notes that this was how He p................................... how He would die. How can a horrible monstrous nailing to a cross draw people to Him? History has revealed the cross has drawn more p.................. than anything else. Even some godless people have crosses around their necks and on their g....................!
In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said, "On this r............ I will build my church and the g............... of hell shall not be able to beat it." This has obviously happened through the centuries. Whatever the enemy throws against it the true Church has thr.................. Of course there are plenty of ph........... churches doing a lot of damage but the true Church, showing the love of Jesus to all who call upon Him, has never been so strong in places like Africa and South America (for example, Christians who come back from Africa say they learned more from Christians there than they gave to them).
Don't look at the work of the enemy. Look at what Jesus is doing.
In Acts 1:8 Jesus predicted that His disciples would tell about Him all over the e........... That seemed i.................................. then but it is happening today.
Many more prophetic claims of Christ would be insane coming from anyone else but all His predictions have come ........... If you can find any which haven't please tell us. We have studied every word carefully.
Everything Jesus says is true. As He says: "I am the w....., the t......... and the l....... No one comes to God e...................... through Me." John 14:6
OLD TESTAMENT
How can we be sure the Old Testament is telling the truth?
Many critics say it is nothing more than a collection of m............ and l................. or ex.......................... stories handed down by generations of Jewish families. This may sound possible but it is idle speculation. In this Post-modern age where truth is ignored and opinion is most highly r............., you are surrounded by deadly distractions and wild ideas which suit human nature but have nothing to do with God and the real world. So you are faced with a choice – search for God and the truth or believe a lie.
Here comes the truth. Are you ready? Pray first even if you are not sure about God yet. He rewards all those who search for Him and are fair dinkum about it. (Deuteronomy 4:29)
1. Do the 39 books tell the same truth?
The 39 books of the OT today are the same books that Jesus and the Jews in His day used as we can see in the New Testament. They were the books written about by non-Christian historians like J................ For example, Jesus talked about the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms which pr..................... He would come (Luke 24:44).
2. Are the words reliable?
The text which Jews and Christians accept is the Masoritic text. The Masorites were Jewish copiers who collected the ancient manuscripts and compared them. They wrote any differences in the margins. There were only 1200, which averages at less than one per ............ of the Hebrew printed Bible and these were only m.................... copying errors.
The Septuagint version is a translation into the ................. language around 280 BC.
The Latin Vulgate was translated by J................. in about AD 400. The Syriac version was translated about AD 200. None of these versions have any i........................... differences.
The Dead Sea Scrolls, found in 1946, and other scrolls have shown that the Old Testament has not
.......................... over the years. At the time of discovery of these scrolls there were many critics who said the Jews must have made up stories and e............................ them over the years because they don't believe God can perform miracles like parting the Red Sea and flattening the walls of Jericho. These critics now have egg on their faces.
The critics also claimed that writing was not invented in ancient history. But archeologists in the 1940s onwards have found thousands of ................... tablets in underground libraries like Ninevah and Nuzi which contain alphabetic ....................... and H....................... writings from the days of M............. onwards.
Critics also claim miracles and prophecies in the OT are impossible because they don't believe in the God of the Bible. But archeologists have found writings which date back to the time when these prophecies were made. More egg on the critics.
3. Does geography and history support the Old Testament?
Critics choose to assume the Old Testament is false unless there is overwhelming evidence which forces them to change their minds. For example, they did not believe the Old Testament was telling the truth about the existence of the Hittites, the Horites, the Edomites, etc. only because other ancient history books did not mention them. The archeologists' spades have silenced them and many d......................... have been made about these places, e.g. Petra the capital of the E.................. The Old Testament has shown itself to a......................... every time.
The names of kings listed in the Old Testament during the Old Testament times have been shown accurate by recent discoveries in Iraq and Syria. A Palestinian archeologist, Dr Nelson Glueck, explored the whole land of Israel and found the Bible to be amazingly reliable at all points. He often used the Old Testament text to lead him to new d....................................
4. Does Jesus accept the Old Testament as the truth?
Jesus quotes the Old Testament always as the true words of God.
For example, He said "The scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35) and "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the l..... to fail" (Luke 16:17). He accepted Moses as the author of the P........................ (Luke 24:27; John 5:46-47), Isaiah as the author of Isaiah (Matthew 13:14), and Daniel as the author of Daniel (Matthew 24:15).
He accepted the h.......................... of Adam and Eve (Matthew 19:4-5) and the events in Genesis including the c...............(Mark 10:6) and the F................... (Matthew:37-39).
Jesus had no trouble believing the Old Testament miracles including the d.......................... of Sodom and Gomorrah(Luke 17:29) and Jonah's deliverance from the .............. (Matthew 12:39-40)
How dare modern critics, some of whom are behind ..............., dare to question the Old Testament when Jesus accepted it.
It is now up to you to accept what Jesus accepted. Don't go for those doubting scholars who want to water down the Bible. God will only accept full bore believers.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
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