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BIBLICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
Jesus Freak ( 02/05/2005, 23:40:17 )Biblical evidence for the existence of a divine authorThe Bible, as well as proclaiming the existence of God, also bears witness that God exists, because only divine inspiration can explain the existence of this most remarkable of books. The characteristics that point to divine authorship are:3The Bible’s amazing unity. Despite being penned by more than 40 authors from over 19 different walks of life over some 1,600 years, the Bible is a consistent revelation from the beginning to the end. Indeed the first and last books of the Bible, Genesis and Revelation, dovetail so perfectly—telling of ‘Paradise Lost’ and ‘Paradise Regained’ respectively—that they speak powerfully of their divine authorship (compare for example Gen. 1–3 and Rev. 21–22).The Bible’s amazing preservation. In spite of political and religious persecution, the Bible remains. The Roman Emperor Diocletian, following an edict in A.D. 303, thought he had destroyed every hated Bible. He erected a column over the ashes of a burnt Bible to celebrate his victory. Twenty-five years later, the new emperor, Constantine, commissioned the production of 50 Bibles at the expense of the government! In the eighteenth century, the noted French infidel, Voltaire, forecast that within a century there would be no Bibles left on the earth. Ironically, 50 years after he died, the Geneva Bible Society used his old printing press and his house to produce stacks of Bibles. The Bible is today available in far more languages than any other book.The Bible’s historical accuracy. Nelson Glueck, famous Jewish archaeologist, spoke of what he called ‘the almost incredibly accurate historical memory of the Bible, and particularly so when it is fortified by archaeological fact.’4 William F. Albright, widely recognized as one of the great archaeologists, stated:‘The excessive skepticism shown toward the Bible by important historical schools of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, certain phases of which still appear periodically, has been progressively discredited. Discovery after discovery has established the accuracy of innumerable details, and has brought increased recognition to the value of the Bible as a source of history.’5Sir William Ramsay, regarded as one of the greatest archaeologists ever, trained in mid-nineteenth century German historical skepticism and so did not believe that the New Testament documents were historically reliable. However, his archaeological investigations drove him to see that his skepticism was unwarranted. He had a profound change of attitude. Speaking of Luke, the writer of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, Ramsay said, ‘Luke is a historian of the first rank … he should be placed along with the greatest of historians.’6At many specific points archaeology confirms the Bible’s accuracy.7 There are many particulars where skeptics have questioned the Bible’s accuracy, usually on the basis of there being no independent evidence (the fallacy of arguing from silence), only to find that further archaeological discoveries have unearthed evidence for the biblical account.8The Bible’s scientific accuracy. Some examples: that the earth is round (Isa. 40:22); the earth is suspended in space without support (Job 26:7); the stars are countless9 (Gen. 15:5); the hydrologic cycle;10 sea currents;10 living things reproduce after their kind;11 many insights into health, hygiene,12 diet,13 physiology (such as the importance of blood, e.g. Lev. 17:11); the first and second laws of thermodynamics (e.g. Isa. 51:6), and many other things.14The Bible’s prophetic accuracy. The Bible states that the accurate foretelling of events is the province of God. God said:‘I have foretold the former things from the beginning; and they went out of My mouth; and I made them hear; I acted suddenly; and they came about. … I declared it to you from the beginning. Before it happened I revealed it to you; lest you should say, “My idol has done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, has commanded them.”’ (Isa 48:3,5)One will search in vain for one line of accurate prophecy in other religious books, but the Bible contains many specific prophecies. McDowell6 documents 61 prophecies regarding Jesus alone. Many of these, such as His place, time, and manner of birth, betrayal, manner of death, burial, etc., were beyond His control. McDowell also thoroughly documents 12 detailed, specific prophecies regarding Tyre, Sidon, Samaria, Gaza and Ashkelon, Moab and Ammon, Petra and Edom, Thebes and Memphis, Nineveh, Babylon, Chorazin- Bethsaida-Capernaum, Jerusalem and Palestine. He shows how these prophecies were not ‘post-dictions’ (that is, written after the event). The probability of all these things coming to pass by chance is effectively zero. Only the wilfully ignorant (2 Peter 3:5) could deny this evidence that God must have inspired these prophecies.The Bible’s civilizing influence. The Bible’s message elevated the blood-drinking ‘barbarians’ of the British Isles to decency. It is the basis of English common law, the American Bill of Rights and the constitutions of great democracies such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The Bible has inspired the noblest of literature—from Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, Scott, Coleridge and Kipling, to name a few—and the art of such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Rembrandt. The Bible has inspired the exquisite music of Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mendelssohn and Brahms. Indeed, the decline in acceptance of the biblical worldview in the West has been paralleled by a decline in the beauty of art.15Today the message of the Bible still transforms. Animistic tribal groups in the Philippines are today still being delivered from fear, and former cannibals in Papua New Guinea and Fiji now live in peace, all because of the Gospel. The gospel has transformed the lives of animistic poeple. The Bible’s absolute honesty. Someone has said, ‘The Bible is not a book that man could write if he would, or would write if he could.’ The Bible does not honor man, but God. The people in the Bible have feet of clay; they are shown ‘warts and all.’ Against the backdrop of their sinfulness and unfaithfulness, God’s holiness and faithfulness shine through.Even the heroes of the faith (Heb. 11) have their failures recorded, including Noah (Gen. 9:20–24), Moses (Num. 20:7–12), David (2 Sam. 11), Elijah (1 Kings 19), and Peter (Matt. 26:74). On the other hand, the enemies of God’s people are often praised—for example, Artaxerxes (Neh. 2), Darius the Mede (Dan. 6), and Julius (Acts 27:1–3). These are clear indications that the Bible was not written from a human perspective. The Bible’s life-transforming message. In San Francisco, a man once challenged Dr Harry Ironside to a debate on ‘Agnosticism16 versus Christianity.’ Dr Ironside agreed, on one condition: that the agnostic first provide evidence that agnosticism was beneficial enough to defend. Dr Ironside challenged the agnostic to bring one man who had been a ‘down-and-outer’ (a drunkard, criminal, or such) and one woman who had been trapped in a degraded life (such as prostitution), and show that both of these people had been rescued from their lives of degradation though embracing the philosophy of agnosticism. Dr Ironside undertook to bring 100 men and women to the debate who had been gloriously rescued through believing the Gospel the agnostic ridiculed. The skeptic withdrew his challenge to debate Dr Ironside. The message of the Bible mends lives broken by sin, which separates us from our holy Creator. In contrast, agnosticism and atheism, like all anti-God philosophies, destroy.By Ken Ham, Jonathan Sarfati, and Carl Wieland, Ed. Don Batten From the book "The Revised and Expanded Answers Book" For more info: www.answeringenesis.org
This Message is being posted for educational purposes, as well as for comment and criticism, by the visitors to the HumanCloning.org Foundation website (www.HumanCloning.org ).
Disclaimer: Information provided on this web site is for educatonal purposes only. It is not a substitute for, nor can it replace advice from your own physician.
HumanCloning.org™ Established December 11, 2002.
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