Faith Questions - 2
CAN THE BIBLE BE TRUSTED?
… based on Luke 1:1-4
Have you heard about the Chicago epidemic of 1885?
1 August 1885 was a sweltering hot day in the city, but relief was on the way. In fact, during the next 24 hours almost 7” of torrential rain fell on Chicago.
It brought cooling … but it also brought flooding. The rainwater swept all the sewage of 750,000 residents into the Chicago River,
along with the runoff of the Chicago Stockyards. Yuck, can you imagine? So, the River carried all this polluted water right into Lake Michigan.
The Chicago Tribune ran an article at the time expressing some concern.
What would happen if this toxic brew got sucked into the drinking water system? There would be outbreaks of cholera & dysentery & typhoid & other waterborne diseases. So, Chicagoans were all talking about this.
I mean this was going to be a major health issue. Sometime later, somebody,
although no one remembers who, said that 1 out of 8 people died from those diseases during this epidemic in 1885. In the succeeding years this story was repeated time & again. Nobody bothered to check the facts,
they just kept retelling the same story based upon the previous telling.
In 1950 the Sanitation Department of Chicago wanted to raise money for a water purification system so they came out with a pamphlet retelling the story of the 1885 epidemic … just to put a scare into everyone
… this could happen again!
Fast forward to 2007, & we were living in Chicago then.
A reporter from the Chicago Tribune decided to write a book on the 1885 epidemic, & do you know what he discovered.
There was no evidence of an 1885 epidemic.
In fact, he learned that the death rates in 1885 had actually been lower than the previous years. And he got to thinking about it … if 1 out 8 people had died back then, that would have been almost 100,000 people!
There would be dead bodies everywhere. But there weren’t.
If a 100,000 people had died in a city of 750,000 the city would have come to a grinding halt. But it didn’t. It was a tall tale.
Question … is that what the Bible is? Is the Bible just a collection of tall tales? Is the Bible just a collection of stories that got exaggerated overtime with each retelling? Exaggerated by storytellers who had an agenda that they wanted to put forward? Exaggerated stories that today’s researchers have proven to be fabrications? Is this what the Bible is?
Or can the Bible be trusted? That’s the 2nd question in our series I’m calling Faith Questions. These are the big questions people have asked through the ages. Last week we asked, “Is God Real?”
And we saw that there is some credible evidence for God’s existence.
Today, question #2, can the Bible,
which is Christianity’s truth source, be trusted?
So, listen now to Good News, as written by Luke, to us who have gathered here for worship. Within our hearing comes the Word of the Lord …
Dear Theolophilus:
Many people have done their best to write a report of the things that have taken place among us. They wrote what we have been told by those who saw these things from the beginning and who proclaimed the message. And so, Your Excellency, because I have carefully studied all these matters from their beginning, I thought it would be good to write an orderly account for you. I do this so that you will know the full truth about everything which you have been taught. (Luke 1:1-4)
This is the Good News of the Gospel; thanks be to God.
May the Lord grant that we may engage in contemplating the mysteries of His Heavenly wisdom with really increasing devotion, to His glory and to our edification. Amen
The Bible is an incredibly amazing book. The Bible is held in high esteem by millions & millions & millions of people, & even skeptics can’t deny this. The Bible was the 1st book ever translated. Back in the 3rd century B.C. the O.T. was translated from Hebrew to Greek. The Bible was the 1st book to be printed on a printing press. Mr. Guttenberg invented the printing press for the express purpose of reproducing Bibles. The Bible is the bestselling book of all-time. Portions of the Bible have been translated into 3,600 different languages, representing 99% of the world’s population.
And even as I speak to you today, linguists are working on that final 1%.
The Bible is a highly esteemed book … but that doesn’t mean it’s trustworthy. So today we’re going to look at the Bible’s reliability in 4 crucial areas … beginning with its’ historical accuracy.
Dr. Luke was a 1st century physician. He was an educated man.
Luke set out to write a historically accurate recounting of the life & ministry of Jesus Christ, & he tells us about how he gathered information with a couple of important phrases.
1st of all, his Gospel is based on eyewitness accounts …
“those who saw these things.” In fact, Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John, (the 4 Gospels) were all based on eyewitness accounts. Either they, themselves, walked & talked with Jesus, or they were close friends of people who had known Jesus intimately. All 4 Gospels were written within a generation or so of Jesus’ earthly life. That means it was much too early for their writings to be based on legends. These were people who had known Jesus …
“who saw these things from the beginning.”
There’s another phrase … “carefully studied all these matters.”
Luke has acted as a historian. He carefully studied everything.
He wasn’t trying to write a myth or a legend. He was writing history.
If you ever studied ancient mythology, you know that those stories never tried to pass themselves off as history. They are obviously fiction.
Myths don’t claim to be history. Luke claims to be history.
So, how good of an historian is he? Let me quote Dr. John McKay.
Dr. McKay has a PhD from the University of Chicago.
He has written a 432-page textbook entitled “Archelogy & The Bible.”
“The general consensus of both liberal & conservative scholars is that Luke is very accurate as an historian. Occasionally contemporary scholars
believe that Luke may have been off on something,
but then additional archaeological discoveries come in,
& it turns out that Luke was right & the scholars were wrong.”
The Bible is reliable history.
Then 2ndly, the Bible is reliable according to its’ written transmission.
We have what Luke wrote.
Until 1452, all copies of the Scriptures were handwritten.
And presently, of the N.T. alone, we have 5,000 of those copies in Greek,
& an additional 8,000 in Latin. But because scribes were not inspired,
like the original authors, they occasionally made some mistakes in copying.
But before we start panicking that we don’t have accurate versions,
let me explain the translating process. The Bible was a carefully copied written document. Dr. Bernard Ramm, (I attended his lectures when he spoke at Princeton), was an expert on this subject.
Let me quote him. “The Jews preserved the O.T. like no other manuscript has ever been preserved. They had special classes of men in their culture whose sole duty was to preserve & transmit these documents with practically perfect fidelity.”
Dr. Ramm describes how synagogue scrolls had to be written on specially prepared skins of animals. And each scroll had to have a certain # of columns. And the spacing between the words, & even the letters of each word on the scroll had to be measured by threads. And the ink had to be black & prepared by a certain recipe. And the transcriber couldn’t deviate from the original in any way. No words could be written from memory. He had to copy off of what he had been given.
In fact, the person doing the coping had to start his day by going through a ceremonial washing. They took this copying business seriously.
They would count every line, not just the # of words, but the # of letters,
& then they would match that up with the line they were copying off of.
And then when the scroll was completed, they would hand it to an independent source to do a recount. And the recounter would go through, line by line, counting from beginning to end, & then from the end to the beginning, & then starting in the middle & working toward each margin, to make sure the numbers matched up. This was a carefully copied written document. This is a trustworthy, reliable, transmission.
Can the Bible be trusted? It can with respect to its’ historical accuracy.
It can with respect to its’ written transmission.
Then there’s the reliability of its’ supernatural predictions or depictions.
Here’s what the Apostle John has to say. John was one of Jesus’ closest friends. John had traveled with Jesus for 3 years.
He knew what Jesus said … he knew what Jesus had done.
“In his disciples’ presence Jesus performed many other miracles which are not written down in this book. But these have been written in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, & that through your faith in him you may have life.” (John 20:30-31)
John’s telling us, “I saw Jesus do many miraculous things. And then he adds …
“There are many other things that Jesus did. If they were all written down one by one, I suppose the whole world could not hold the books that would be written.” (John 21:25)
I don’t think those 2 passages are included in Thomas Jefferson’s N.T. Thomas Jefferson had made his own copy of the N.T.
Jefferson was a child of the enlightenment which emphasized scientific investigation. As a result, he didn’t believe anything unless he could study it in a laboratory. So, one day Jefferson got out his scissors & cut out everyone of Jesus’ miracles from the Gospel accounts.
I know people who reject the Bible for the same reason. They say,
“How can any thinking person believe in the miracles described in the Bible?”
Dr. Stephen Evans has a PhD in philosophy & has written a book entitled, “Why Believe?” Dr. Evans suggests that there are 3 basic reasons why people deny miracles, & none of them is very good.
1st, some people deny miracles because they don’t believe in the existence of God. And once you start with the basic presupposition that there’s no supernatural being, you automatically rule out the possibility of supernatural occurrences. You’ve already made up your mind ahead of time.
However, if you believe the evidence I presented last week,
if you believe in the existence of God, then miracles are hardly surprising. They’re exactly what we would expect. It’s just God doing His God thing.
The 2nd reason people deny miracles is that they’ve never experienced one. “I’ve never seen a miracle.”
There are a couple of obvious responses to this objection.
1st of all, miracles are highly unusual occurrences. If they were commonplace
… they wouldn’t be miracles. We’d call them “ordinaries.” And everybody would say, “Yea, I’ve had one of those.” And just because someone hasn’t experienced a miracle doesn't mean that others haven’t witnessed one.
In fact, let’s take the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.
Paul writes, “then Jesus appeared to more than 500 of his followers at once, most of whom are still alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:6)
Paul was writing at a time when his words could have been contested.
So, he challenges people …
“if you don’t believe me, there are a lot of other people you can talk to.”
This is how we test the truthfulness of a historical event.
We don’t test it in a scientific laboratory.
We test it by the presence of reliable witnesses.
How do we know that George Washington crossed the Delaware River in December 1776? Not because of science. But because of reliable witnesses who acknowledge that it happened. How do we know that Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address in November 1863? Because of reliable witnesses. How do we know that God raised Jesus from the dead?
Because of reliable witnesses.
So, Dr. Evans explains that we can’t deny miracles
just because we haven’t experienced one … others have.
Then 3rdly, some people deny miracles because they violate the laws of nature. But the laws of nature are only descriptions of how God usually operates. They simply describe God’s normal actions as He maintains the universe in an orderly way. But the fact that God normally works in a certain way hardly means that it’s impossible for Him to act differently on a special occasion for some special purpose.
Is the Bible reliable when it comes to supernatural depictions? There’s no reason to suspect that it’s not … unless we start with biased presuppositions.
And then, how about the reliability of the Bible’s moral prescriptions?
Now, some people today argue that the Bible is out of date in this area.
But listen to what the Apostle Paul had to say about Scripture.
This is one of the most critical passages when it comes to defining the trustworthiness of the Bible.
“All Scripture is inspired by God & is useful for teaching the truth,
rebuking error, correcting faults, & giving instruction for right living,
so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified & equipped
to do every kind of good deed.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
Paul teaches that Scripture presents moral prescriptions to live by.
Now occasionally we deviate from those principles … & then we need to get rebuked by God’s Word. It corrects us & puts us back on the right path so that we’re instructed in right living. God’s Word is useful.
But what happens when we come across something that doesn’t sound useful?
Something that sounds out of date or offensive? Let me make 3 suggestions. 1st, we may be confusing prescription with description.
Dr. Richard Dawkins is a British scientist, & a popular atheist,
wrote a book entitled, “The God Delusion.” He doesn’t like God. And one of the reasons is this Book. He says that it has some outrageous material in it.
He cites, for example, an O.T. story from the book of Judges.
It’s the account about a Levitical priest who has a concubine who gets raped by a group of guys, & she dies. Now the priest is outraged, so he cuts her body into pieces & sends those pieces throughout the land of Israel,
calling for people to avenge her rape & murder. (Judges 19-20)
Dr. Dawkins wonders how we can accept that kind of reprehensible material in a Book we honor as God’s Word? “This is the behavior that God condones?” Dr. Dawkins asks. How do we respond to that? … Well, the bottom line is that God doesn’t condone that behavior. This is descriptive of what happened. This is not prescriptive. God is not saying, “go & do likewise.” Not by any means. We must make sure we understand what the Bible is merely describing & what the Bible is prescribing.
Let me give you another example … polygamy. Some people look at the O.T., & even some of our heroes: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon …
they had multiple wives. Talk about patriarchalism at its’ worst.
Talk about men dominating women. Talk about a system where fathers sold their daughters for a price, & men bought girls to be their wives. I agree … this is nasty stuff. But do you know what? The Bible never condones polygamy. In fact, everywhere that we find polygamy in the O.T. we find disaster … economically, relationally, socially, spiritually, you name it.
The Bible doesn’t prescribe it … it describes it.
Here’s a 3rd example. What do we do with all those weird O.T. laws?
Have you ever read through the books of Leviticus or Deuteronomy & come across that law about not wearing clothing that’s made with more than 1 kind of material? (Leviticus 19:19; Deuteronomy 22:11) Where does this come from? Does that mean when I go to Kohl’s I ought to be checking the labels to make sure I’m not breaking God’s Laws?
This was a ceremonial law having to do with Israel’s religion that no longer applies to our lives. It’s not a moral law that is to continue through the ages. The ceremonial laws were only for Israel. Actually,
they were kind of visual aids; they were illustrations of spiritual principles … like this one about wearing clothing of 1 type.
The Hebrews lived among people, who worshiped other gods,
& the Lord was forever saying to them, “you worship the one true living God; you don’t mix it up spiritually with other people.
And as a reminder, here’s the kind of clothes I want you to wear.”
That law is no longer for us. Don’t confuse description with prescription.
2ndly, we may come across moral standards that seem to be primitive or offensive. I’ve actually had people say to me, “Well,
the Bible condones slavery, so, it must be wrong on other issues as well.”
Does the Bible condone slavery? That’s a good question.
Didn’t the Apostle Paul encourage slaves to obey their masters? Yes, he did.
(Ephesians 6:5-9) But we need to read everything else Paul taught about slavery.
The entire N.T. letter, Philemon, was written to a slave owner … Philemon.
And Paul tells him that his runaway slave, Onesimus, ought to be welcomed home, not as a slave, but as a brother in Christ. (Philemon 16)
In fact, let me point out something with respect to the culture in Biblical times. Slavery, as understood in the Bible was completely different than what took place here in the 17th, 18th, & 19th centuries. A slave in Bible times was like an indentured servant. Slavery was not a race-based thing. Certain groups were not slaves because of the color of their skin. Slaves were often educated well beyond their masters & ended up being household managers. Slaves made the same wages as day laborers … often earning enough money to buy their own freedom. Very few slaves in Biblical times were slaves for life. Freedom often came within the 1st 10 years.
Slavery in our country bore little resemblance to Biblical slavery.
Slavery, the kind we practiced up to the Civil War, is clearly condemned in Scripture. The Bible condemns the trading of slaves & the kidnapping of slaves which was the foundation for our slavery system.
(i.e. Deuteronomy 24:7; 1 Timothy 1:10)
It’s interesting how people, & I’m guilty of this as well, like to cherry pick what they’re going to obey, & what they’re going to reject.
For example, we come across “forgive your enemies” (Matthew 6:14) …
& we acknowledge that makes good sense, that ought to be put into practice.
But then we come across the Biblical prohibitions regarding sexual behavior … that sex is to be enjoyed within the confines of a marriage commitment (Genesis 2:24) … & we say well, that’s so old fashioned & out of touch.
You know, when we come across stuff we don’t like …
maybe God knows what’s best.
Maybe God’s standards about honesty or financial debt or taking care of one’s physical body, etc. …
I suspect God knows better about these issues than we do.
So, can the Bible be trusted? Yes!
It’s reliable in terms of its’ historical accuracy;
it’s reliable in respect to its’ written transmission;
it’s reliable with respect to its’ supernatural depictions;
& its’ reliable with respect to its’ moral prescriptions.
But all of that doesn’t do any good if we never crack the binding & read it for ourselves.
I think everyone would like to hear from God. Well, here it is!
So, your Pastor’s request continues to be … read your Bible.
It will point you to the truth … it will rebuke errors … it will correct faults …
it will give instruction for right living … it will equip & qualify you to do good deeds … & it will point you to Jesus Christ.
MARANA THA