May 27, 2006
Newsletter Archives

1. The Bible has stronger manuscript support than any other work of classical literature including Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Caesar and Tacitus. Over 5600 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament are in existence today and they were copied within 100 years of the original with an amazing 99.5% textual consistency and accuracy.
2. Both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible have human writers who were actual eye witnesses of the events they are writing about.
3. Secular, non-Christian historians including Josephus (before A.D.100), the Roman Tacitus (around A.D. 120), the Roman Suetonius (A.D. 110) and the Roman governor Pliny the Younger (A.D. 110) confirm in their ancient writings the many events, places, people and customs that are mentioned in the New Testament of the Bible. Even skeptics who have studied history are amazed at the historical accuracy of the New Testament.
4. Archaeological finds over the last century affirm the reliability of the Bible. No archaeological discovery has ever contradicted anything in the Bible.
5. The Bible records predictions of events that could not be known or predicted by chance or by the accumulation of knowledge. Of striking relevance are the many prophecies regarding the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. There are actually more than 300 such prophesies regarding the Christ – a number that silences those who would claim the apparent fulfillment of prophecies is merely coincidental. There are too many to ignore.
6. Finally, the statistical probability of the development of such a book must be considered. Forty different writers, over 1600 years, in three different languages on three continents, wrote on hundreds of subjects. Few, if any of these writers ever had an opportunity to get together and to conspire to write a consistent, non-contradictory theme about a coming Savior and the redemption of mankind. But such a theme is developed and woven throughout the entire Bible. Jesus Christ is the central theme.

Those who have read it the least, attack it the most. That’s called ignorance. Those who study the Scriptures the most, bow in reverence and recognize it as the Word of God.

Peter Ramsey,

submitted by Russ Nesbit