THE BIBLE

The bible´s authenticity










Victor Alvarado 11a
March 10, 2009
International Christian School
Ms Roark
RESEARCH PAPER





Table of Contents
I. Introduction…………………………………………………………

II. Body: Veracity of the Bible……………………………………
a. The Bible’s survival……………………………………………
b. Evidence……………………………………………………………
i. Bibliographic proof
ii. Internal proof
iii. External proof
c. Expert Opinions…………………………………………………

III. Conclusion………………………………………………………………
IV. Bibliography ……………………………………………………………











I. Introduction

This one book, which has attracted millions of people, has been also attacked and has suffered several attempts for its destruction. Some experts affirm this is an obsolete and inexact book, which can not have any truth in it; others have died stating that these scriptures are God’s words. Is this just one ordinary book with an impressive popularity, or is this more than just paper and ink? How can we be sure of the Bible’s veracity?
The Bible has been one of the most controversial book because of its explanatory, its text, its meaning, its doctrines, its inspiration and its origin, therefore it is certainly a book of faith, but the Bible’s veracity, can be proven in many ways.

II. Body: Veracity of the Bible


A. The Bible’s survival
These scriptures have been attacked in many ways through time, many leaders have tried to erase the existence of this book from history; nevertheless, we still find this book in almost every house, every hotel proving its unexplainable survival.
In A.D. 303, the Emperor Diocletian commanded to kill Christians and burn their sacred books. An imperial letter was promulgated, ordering the demolition of the churches and the destruction by fire of the Scriptures, and threatening that those in households who persisted in their profession, would be deprived of their liberty.2
The early Christians’ enthusiasm to their believes in these first centuries following Christ, motivated them to produce numerous manuscripts which were widely copied, distributed, and translated throughout the whole Roman Empire.
Ignatius, the Bishop of Rome by A.D. 70, quoted extensively from the texts and letters of early Christians, which we know today as the New Testament, only 40 years after Christ’s resurrection. 3
Historians have recovered almost one hundred thousand manuscripts and passionate lette rs from the Christians of the first centuries after the facts. These letters contain an enormous number of direct quotations from the gospel books and Paul’s letters, which guaranteed the survival of the Word of God. They contained an astonishing 98 percent of the New Testament. 3. Even if the Roman emperors had succeeded in destroying every copy of the New Testament, we could still reliably reconstruct 98 percent of it from the letters.
These letters can not be a regarded to as a reliable source, but this changed in 1947. This year, young Bedouin shepherds, searching for a stray goat in the Judean Desert, entered in ancient caves and found jars filled with ancient scrolls. Shortly thereafter, archaeologists explored this discovery. Carbon-14, a radioactive isotope used to date ancient objects, established that the scrolls were from the third century B.C. to 68 A.D.4 They were indeed ancient! They were from the Second Temple period, the time were Jesus, the main protagonist of the gospels, lived.

B. Evidence
It is true that faith is believing something that can not be proven as a fact, but when Jesus said to love Him with all our heart and with all our soul, He stressed to love Him with our MINDS too. So why not prove that the Bible is trustworthy?
Any ancient text, as the Odyssey, or Aristotle’s personal notes, passes through a process of studies to prove its authenticity. This process consists of three main tests: a bibliographical, an external and an internal proof.
The bibliographical proof is a study made in the path the text went through before we had it. This is the main argument for those who believe the Bible is not reliable, but what about classical literature? No one will ever question the story of the great Greek historian, Thucydides, which was written in the year 900 AD, when he actually lived in 400 BC (1300 years later!). Aristotle wrote his poetry in 343 BC; however, our most ancient copy is from 1100 AD, leaving a time space of 1400 years! Only five copies of this piece exist. When we compare this to the New testament, which abounds in copies and manuscripts (approximately 20.000 copies),many of which was written no more than two generations after the events 5, the evidence is astonishing.
The bibliographical proof only promises that the text is the one that was actually written, but can we really believe in what it is written here? This is what the internal proof consists in. Doctor Louis R Gottschalk, ex-professor

from Chicago University, points out that the “ability of the author to say the truth” can count for historians as evidence in the study of its reliability.6 This “ability to say the truth” is related to the proximity in space and time of the writer to the facts written. The books of the New Testament were made by people who wrote what the ocular witnesses had said, or people like John and Peter, who were eyewitnesses. Here are some abstracts of what they wrote.
“…the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word…I myself have carefully investigated everything” 7
(Luke wrote what direct witnesses saw)
Peter: “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” 8 (Her was a disciple of Jesus!)
John: “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”9
The information written by these authors was in circulation when hundreds of ocular witnesses were alive; they could have confirm or denied the accuracy of the facts and events.
The third, and last proof, is the external one; this one consists in the accuracy and reliability of the data written with other external sources. Considering that the Bible has the characteristic of being very detailed in facts; it would be too extensive to compare all places and dates, its an example of the external verification of facts:
“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene…” 10
History and Bible prove to be complementary again.

C. Expert’s opinions.
Sherwin-White, a classic historian declares in one of his books that after a hard study in the attempt of disproving the consistency of the Scriptures, he has concluded that the Bible is, indeed, trustworthy, and that anyone that wants to deny it would have to throw away almost every piece of classical [history] that possesses.[such as Th ucydides] 11
Clark H. Pinnock, ex-professor of Regent University, declared: “No document of the ancient world exists which offers such a coherent and splendid historical and textual testimony. Any honest intellectual can not discard a book like this.12

III. Conclusion

So many attempts to destroy God’s words have been made, so many books and studies trying to deny and discard this book; and all the while, the Book itself has never answered back, never made any explanation. It keeps a majestic silence, and does not say anything else than what it has already said.
"But it survives both friends and foes, and continues to give its testimony through the passing centuries. Its enemies die, pass away and are forgotten. It lives and grows in power".1
It does not really matter whether we believe or not in God or in the texts that speak about him, but we certainly can not discard the New Testament, its precision, can be proven. One thing He has said: “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."13 And even today, hundreds of things have passed away, dozens of empires have fall, hundreds of civilizations have been practically erased, lands have sunk and some have risen, thousands of species have extinct, but this book keeps


changing people’s life today in drastic ways, and it keeps being one of the best sellers every year14. Sixty-six different books, thirty-six different writers, sixteen centuries, but only one message that persists through time, even if we do not believe in it.



















Bibliography

1. Carlye B Haynes. The Bible Unauthorized.

2. Prof. Stanley L. Greenslade, Cambridge History of the Bible (Cambridge University Press, 1963)

3. Times of Hope. THI Institution, NJ, 2001

4. http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/deadsea.scrolls.exhibit/world.scrolls.html
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill's MetaLab.

5. John A.T. Robinson, Redating the New Testament. London, SCM Press, 1976.

6. Louis R. Gottschalk, Understanding History, NY, Knopf, 1969.

7. Luke 1:1-3, Biblia de Estudio de la Vida Plena, New International Version, International Bible Societies. Miami, Florida. (1999)

8. 2 Peter 1:16 Biblia de Estudio de la Vida Plena, New International Version, International Bible Societies. Miami, Florida. (1999)

9. 1 John 1:3 Biblia de Estudio de la Vida Plena, New International Version, International Bible Societies. Miami, Florida. (1999)

10. Luke 3:1-2 Biblia de Estudio de la Vida Plena, New International Version, International Bible Societies. Miami, Florida. (1999)

11. A.N. Sherwin-White, Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1963, p189.

12. Clark Pinnock, Set forth your case, New Jersey, The Craig Press, 1968, p.58

13. Isaiah 40: 8 Biblia de Estudio de la Vida Plena, New International Version, International Bible Societies. Miami, Florida. (1999)

14. http://www.bestsellerever.com Best Seller Ever Institution