Is the Bible a reliable document?
The Koran came from Mohammed. The Book of Mormon came from Joseph Smith. But the Bible is unique among the many sacred books in the world. One person did not write it. Rather, the Old and New Testaments were written by 40 different authors, located in Asia, Africa and Europe, over a 1600-year time span. That alone is simply amazing. Imagine 2 people today writing a story and agreeing on each account, let alone over 40 authors over 1600 years coming together to write a harmonious collection of writings about the Creator and Sustainer of the world.
The Bible's writers--even over such a long period of time--all convey the same basic message: the God who created the heavens and the earth has provided a way for people to know Him in a personal way
and God desires to grant each individual eternal life with Him (John 3:16).
Beyond its unique authorship, the Bible contains a massive amount of prophecies which later were fulfilled in detail. For example, various Old Testament prophets gave over 300 specific prophecies about the coming Messiah, ie. where He would be born, where He would grow up, etc (see Isaiah 53). These prophecies were perfectly fulfilled by Jesus Christ hundreds of years later. These and the many other fulfilled prophecies show why the authors could write, "Thus says the Lord..."--they were speaking for the One who knows "the end from the beginning."
Also archaeology repeatedly confirms peoples' names, historical events, and geographical details exactly as they are recorded in the Old and New Testaments. Though archaeology cannot prove the spiritual truth of the Bible, the discoveries do show the Bible's reliability as
a historical report.
Also, compared to other ancient writings, the Bible has been remarkably
protected and preserved over time. Compared to only seven existing
manuscripts of Plato's writings, there exists over 5,000 manuscripts of the New Testament. And when the text of all these volumes are compared one to another, you find they are 99.5% consistent with each other.
The Bible is the most reliable document imaginable, and can be read by the spiritual seeker with confidence. It is simply the most reliable document in human history, therefore if you cannot count on the Bible, what
ancient or modern document can you count on???
