Take Confidence...

Tonight at cell we were looking at the supporting evidence for the credibility of the bible. As Christians most of us are happy to accept that the bible is authoritative in it's own right, but we can't expect non-Christians to accept the accuracy of the bible just because we say so.

As we dug out various chunks of evidence in support of the bible I was reminded of why the scriptures are so reliable and such an important part of our faith. Time does not allow me to unpack all that we discussed, but here are a few tit-bits to encourage you to do your own research.

Consider this :
If you got together forty different people and questioned them on their views on God. If these were people from every part of our socio-economic strata; ranging from those in poverty to those with the greatest wealth, including kings, poets, doctors, oh and fishermen!

Variety
If you ensured that you included people from different continents, who spoke; Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic, and you let their writing styles include; the poetic, history, law, religious ethics, teaching, biography, prophecy, personal letters. Now if you spread these people and their view across ten centuries, and you asked them to put their, thoughts and feelings about God and about truth into writing, what sort of book would you end up with?

Consistency
Would all of these authors be of the same mind and style, or would you end up with a real mixed bag of thoughts? The truth is that, that is what the bible looks like, a mixture of styles and views, yet there is a continuity of thought, and a consistency of theology, historical and geographical fact that runs right through this book in an extraordinary manner!

Archaeology
Modern archaeology supports the biblical narratives in terms of geographical and historical facts.Even the enemies of the Christian faith provide supporting evidence for the events of the bible in their writings, as do huge numbers of fragments of biblical tests, far more than support any other writings from antiquity. (Something like 24,000 bits and pieces of supporting manuscript for scripture, whilst the next nearest historical document from that epoch only consists of between 600-700 pieces of documentation.)

I've only scratched the surface of the surface on this subject, the weight of evidence is overwhelmingly in favour of the bible as being the most unique book in history. Is carries within it's pages the most exciting story ever told, and a truth that will never tarnish no matter how often the story is told.

So be bold in you prayers, and bold in who you invite to hear the Christmas story through the medium of Bethlehem Live. God promises us that His word never returns void, (Isa55:11) so expect great things as you share the truth!