About the Bible

Who wrote the Holy Bible?

The Bible was written over a span of 1500 years, by 40 authors. There is one central message consistently carried by all 40 authors of the Bible: God, who created us all, desires a relationship with us. He calls us to know him and trust him.

Why study Bible?

It shows us how to live with purpose and compassion. How to relate to others. It encourages us to rely on God for strength, direction, and enjoy his love for us. The Bible also tells us how we can have eternal life.
Where is a good place to start reading the Bible?

Can we trust the Bible?

Multiple categories of evidence support the historical accuracy of the Bible:Archaeology cannot prove that the Bible is God’s written word to us. However, archaeology can (and does) substantiate the Bible’s historical accuracy. Archaeologists have consistently discovered the names of government officials, kings, cities, and festivals mentioned in the Bible. The Bible has a tremendous amount of historical detail, so not everything mentioned in it has yet been found through archaeology. However, not one archaeological find has conflicted with what the Bible records.

Many of the ancient locations mentioned by Luke, in the Book of Acts in the New Testament, have been identified through archaeology. “In all, Luke names thirty-two countries, fifty-four cities and nine islands without an error.

Evd 1: Cornelius Tacitus (A.D. 55-120), an historian of first-century Rome, is considered one of the most accurate historians of the ancient world.6 An excerpt from Tacitus tells us that the Roman emperor Nero “inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class…called Christians. …Christus [Christ], from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus….”

Evd 2: Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian (A.D. 38-100), wrote about Jesus in his Jewish Antiquities. From Josephus, “we learn that Jesus was a wise man who did surprising feats, taught many, won over followers from among Jews and Greeks, was believed to be the Messiah, was accused by the Jewish leaders, was condemned to be crucified by Pilate, and was considered to be resurrected.”

Evd 3: Even the Jewish Talmud, certainly not biased toward Jesus, concurs about the major events of his life. From the Talmud, ”we learn that Jesus was conceived out of wedlock, gathered disciples, made blasphemous claims about himself, and worked miracles, but these miracles are attributed to sorcery and not to God.”

Missing Books from the Bible?

Between the time of the prophet Malachi and Jesus day, priestly families of Jews including the Maccabees and others who collected and worked on manuscripts, recorded the history during a period of about 500 years. They recorded both secular history and Jewish legends, as well as pagan religious traditions. Some of these manuscripts became known as the Apocrypha. These writings were rejected by the early Christians and not accepted as divinely inspired. However, in 1546 at the Council of Trent the Vatican declared the Apocrypha was “Holy Writ” and officially part of their Old Testament Canon. The Protestant Reformers did not agree with this, however, and maintained their loyalty to the “Textus Receptus” which was considered to be the most pure manuscript of Holy Scripture. Martin Luther used this to translate the scriptures into the German Language, and the King James English version was also based on the Textus Receptus. There was a strong move by papal representatives to include the Apocrypha in the King James Version but they were not successful. For the most part, these writings were full of Jewish fables and legends which contradicted the teachings of the Bible. Although the Apocrypha(http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Apocrypha-Books/) has value from a historical and literary perspective, it does not have the power of the Holy Spirit behind it to change and transform the life and should never be given the same weight as the divinely inspired word of God. As it says in 2 Tim 3:16,17: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” The purpose of our ministry is to uplift God and His word, and provide literature that aids in understanding the scriptures, so we do not carry any of the Apocryphal writings.
Answer from Keith, The Amazing Facts Team, http://www.amazingfacts.org 2015

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