Camels Disprove God’s Existence; Bible Is False...REALLY???

I had to laugh at the ridiculous article Camels Disprove God’s Existence; Bible Is False by Kyle Beshears about the mistake in the Bible concerning domesticated camels...it doesn't take a genius to demonstrate that was really bad journalism, poor research, and poor judgement on the part of atheist to buy into it. This article by Steve Wilkinson should get the atheists blood boiling again for something new to arise.

While browsing the news the other day, I ran across this article on CNN’s ‘Belief Blog,’ “Will camel discovery break the Bible’s back?” by Joel Baden, an associate professor of Old Testament at Yale Divinity School. I soon discovered it was one among many even more umm, ‘provocative,’ articles gaining popularity around the Internet. The conclusion of many of the articles was that this was yet ANOTHER devastating piece of evidence proving the Bible’s accounts are simply made up tales.
Joel Baden takes a slightly different tact. While indulging in some jabs at those who might take the Bible (especially Genesis) as historical, he notes “The camels in Genesis may be ‘wrong,’ but they are not a ‘mistake.’ We all imagine the past to the best of our knowledge, the biblical authors included.” Imagine the past? And he doesn’t seem bothered by this in the slightest. I suppose he’s one of the ‘I know He [Jesus] lives, He lives within in my heart’ types. (1) Or, is he simply studying the Old Testament because it, “…remain[s] so central to who we are as a culture, even today…”? Or, was the article just click-bait?

And soon, the Internet atheists and skeptics piled on in the comment section, as usual. For example, Dyslexic doG commented:
“HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! Comedy gold!
OK Christians. Let me see you proclaim one more time that there has never been anything proved wrong in the bible.
Then we atheists can give you a laundry list of contradictions and historical inaccuracies and pure fantasy and downright foolishness.
And then you can proclaim one more time that there has never been anything proved wrong in the bible.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!”

While some responses were much more crude, with others being less taunting, this one seemed to represent the general sentiment among the skeptics.

Before I decided it best to cancel my Website hosting and sell the domain name, I decided to do something which apparently none of these folks did: a Google search! Or, what some old-fashioned folks might include in what is called research.

Apologetics tip #1: Don’t panic. Do some research.
I’m no expert on camels or Israeli archeology, and I’m guessing most of you aren’t either. However, if we spend a little time, most of us can work through such claims and do a little fact checking and context discovery by simply opening our browsers.

Apologetics tip #2: Saturate yourself with apologetics information.
In my case, I remembered hearing an apologist, many years ago, mention something about Old Testament skeptics and the domestication of camels. I couldn’t remember the details, but at least it got me started in the right direction. While I was searching for that, I ran across a bunch of articles that had already been written in response to the subject.

Apologetics tip # 3: Use your common sense.
But, even before that, my common sense kicked in when I thought about the situation. A common dictum one quickly learns in apologetics is: absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence. For example, skeptics often claim that the Exodus didn’t take place because we haven’t found the archeological evidence for a large group of people wandering through the desert. Maybe we just haven’t found the evidence yet. Should we even expect to? What do evolutionists say when someone mentions the fact that we haven’t found ‘the missing link’ yet? Sure, if you’ve done an exhaustive investigation of something, and find nothing, that is a form of evidence which weighs on the situation, but it is hardly decisive.

Apologetics tip #4: Check the references.
Second, I actually followed the cited link in the article, and do you know what I discovered? While the author spoke of an actual scientific journal article he was referring to, the link actually referred to another news article (and the link in that article, to another news article), not the original scientific journal article. It’s unclear that any of these folks read the original, with the possible exception of the one at the end, which still didn’t link to the journal article.

So, this article which seems to be the research for the rest of the articles (interestingly, even most of the rebuttals I found linked back to this rather than the journal article) was a promotional piece by the ‘American Friends of Tel Aviv University.’ Aside from being a bit overly ‘flowery’ about the research, it took on the anti-Biblical tone the other articles seemed to pick up and amplify.

The original journal article doesn’t resemble all these other news articles, at least not in objective and tone. It only mentions ‘the Patriarchal narrative’ in the opening paragraph as one of two topics which contribute to and take interest in such research. The rest is simply an examination of the data, attempting to narrow the date of “the first significant appearance of [domesticated] camels in the Aravah Valley.”

That statement is important, as the Biblical record isn’t speaking of “a significant appearance,” but some camels owned or utilized by particular Biblical figures. And, anyone who knows a bit about archeology knows that typically it does take a significant presence, or particular circumstances, before such a record is left for us to discover. In this case, the sites were copper smelting operations they think might be related to Pharaoh Shoshenq I’s campaigns.

Also, it is fairly well known that domesticated camels did exist in Egypt and other places (Iran, Babylon, etc.) long before this (possibly as early as 3000 BC, but certainly 2nd millennium BC), and the Bible mentions Abraham traveling to Egypt. (2) You see, before this evidence that domesticated camels existed in Egypt, the focus of the skeptics was on Genesis 12:16 where it says Abraham had them in Egypt. In other words, this debate is a rehash, just pushed forward a step by archeology. The skeptics lost on Egypt, now they are digging in their heels concerning Israel. But, if Abraham had them in Egypt, is it a huge leap to think that he took them out of Egypt with him, and that archeology hasn’t (and likely never will, nor should be expected to) find evidence for such few numbers of them? (cf. “Abraham’s Camels” by Joseph P. Free)
Apologetics tip #5: Follow some of the research branches.

Procedural note: When I found the first PDF resource in the paragraph above through a Google search, I traced that back to the article it was linked from and found the following article which contained the second great resource. “The Camel Claim is Sensational and Unwarranted” by Shawn Nelson. Other apologists might find some great stuff that you don’t. Don’t miss out on mining that gold! (But do remember to give credit!)

Apologetics tip #6: Don’t trust journalists reporting on a discipline.
So, as it turns out, the actual archeologists making the claims might well be dead on IN WHAT THEY ACTUALLY CLAIM! There may well not be evidence of large numbers of domesticated camels in Israel to support mining operations and trade before 1000 BC. However, that has little bearing on the Biblical accounts in Genesis which include camels. In other words, the data just doesn’t support the conclusions all these articles popping up all over the media are claiming (which is often the case when one compares modern journalism to the original research).

If they had bothered to read the original article and/or left their axe (to grind) home, they might not have made such a silly error. And, as you can see, it didn’t take an expert on camels or Israelli archeology to figure that out… just a bit of work. Unfortunately, many journalists carry around such an axe today, just looking for opportunities to put their spin on the data. And, to be fair, I often see Christians do the same. Watch out for this, from either side!

Don’t believe me? Does anyone else find it a bit odd that a tent-making (ie: far less than full-time) Christian apologist (with the help of a few other similar bloggers), can do a better research job than journalists from Time Magazine, The New York Times, CNN, National Geographic, NPR (National Public Radio), PRI (Public Radio International), The Smithsonian, to name just a few? Methinks there is more than just sloppy journalism afoot.
BY STEVE WILKINSON 

See you next blog,
Ted

30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself

If you are an emotionally or physically abused person, or feel like a chronic loser-falling down again and again, and wondering if you can ever get up, this blog is for you! If you have never read Marc Chernoff...do yourself a favor and follow his blog! The people we live with can have a good or bad effect. Negative people are killers to the soul! Positive people who have a healthy outlook on life are like a drink of cool water in the desert! If your life seems to be in a cycle that resembles your clothes dryer, change the setting today for the better. You see, God will help you if call on Him in the name of Jesus and trust that His wisdom is greater than yours. However He will eventually require you to do something outside your comfort zone to prove you want a different life and trust Him implicitly. You write the last chapter of your life. How do you want it to read?

http://www.marcandangel.com/2011/12/11/30-things-to-stop-doing-to-yourself/

POST WRITTEN BY: MARC CHERNOFF

30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself

As Maria Robinson once said, “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”  Nothing could be closer to the truth.  But before you can begin this process of transformation you have to stop doing the things that have been holding you back.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. Stop spending time with the wrong people. – Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you.  If someone wants you in their life, they’ll make room for you.  You shouldn’t have to fight for a spot.  Never, ever insist yourself to someone who continuously overlooks your worth.  And remember, it’s not the people that stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when you’re at your worst that are your true friends.
2. Stop running from your problems. – Face them head on.  No, it won’t be easy.  There is no person in the world capable of flawlessly handling every punch thrown at them.  We aren’t supposed to be able to instantly solve problems.  That’s not how we’re made.  In fact, we’re made to get upset, sad, hurt, stumble and fall.  Because that’s the whole purpose of living – to face problems, learn, adapt, and solve them over the course of time.  This is what ultimately molds us into the person we become.
3. Stop lying to yourself. – You can lie to anyone else in the world, but you can’t lie to yourself.  Our lives improve only when we take chances, and the first and most difficult chance we can take is to be honest with ourselves.  Read The Road Less Traveled.
4. Stop putting your own needs on the back burner. – The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too.  Yes, help others; but help yourself too.  If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do something that matters to you, that moment is now.
5. Stop trying to be someone you’re not. – One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that’s trying to make you likeeveryone else.  Someone will always be prettier, someone will always be smarter, someone will always be younger, but they will never be you.  Don’t change so people will like you.  Be yourself and the right people will love the real you.
6. Stop trying to hold onto the past. – You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one.
7. Stop being scared to make a mistake. – Doing something and getting it wrong is at least ten times more productive than doing nothing.  Every success has a trail of failures behind it, and every failure is leading towards success.  You end up regretting the things you did NOT do far more than the things you did.
8. Stop berating yourself for old mistakes. – We may love the wrong person and cry about the wrong things, but no matter how things go wrong, one thing is for sure, mistakes help us find the person and things that are right for us.  We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past.  But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here NOW with the power to shape your day and your future.  Every single thing that has ever happened in your life is preparing you for a moment that is yet to come.
9. Stop trying to buy happiness. – Many of the things we desire are expensive.  But the truth is, the things that really satisfy us are totally free – love, laughter and working on our passions.
10. Stop exclusively looking to others for happiness. – If you’re not happy with who you are on the inside, you won’t be happy in a long-term relationship with anyone else either.  You have to create stability in your own life first before you can share it with someone else.  Read Stumbling on Happiness.
11. Stop being idle. – Don’t think too much or you’ll create a problem that wasn’t even there in the first place.  Evaluate situations and take decisive action.  You cannot change what you refuse to confront.  Making progress involves risk.  Period!  You can’t make it to second base with your foot on first.
12. Stop thinking you’re not ready. – Nobody ever feels 100% ready when an opportunity arises.  Because most great opportunities in life force us to grow beyond our comfort zones, which means we won’t feel totally comfortable at first.
13. Stop getting involved in relationships for the wrong reasons. – Relationships must be chosen wisely.  It’s better to be alone than to be in bad company.  There’s no need to rush.  If something is meant to be, it will happen – in the right time, with the right person, and for the best reason. Fall in love when you’re ready, not when you’re lonely.
14. Stop rejecting new relationships just because old ones didn’t work. – In life you’ll realize that there is a purpose for everyone you meet.  Some will test you, some will use you and some will teach you.  But most importantly, some will bring out the best in you.
15. Stop trying to compete against everyone else. – Don’t worry about what others are doing better than you.  Concentrate on beating your own records every day.  Success is a battle between YOU and YOURSELF only.
16. Stop being jealous of others. – Jealousy is the art of counting someone else’s blessings instead of your own.  Ask yourself this:  “What’s something I have that everyone wants?”
17. Stop complaining and feeling sorry for yourself. – Life’s curveballs are thrown for a reason – to shift your path in a direction that is meant for you.  You may not see or understand everything the moment it happens, and it may be tough.  But reflect back on those negative curveballs thrown at you in the past.  You’ll often see that eventually they led you to a better place, person, state of mind, or situation.  So smile!  Let everyone know that today you are a lot stronger than you were yesterday, and you will be.
18. Stop holding grudges. – Don’t live your life with hate in your heart.  You will end up hurting yourself more than the people you hate.  Forgiveness is not saying, “What you did to me is okay.”  It is saying, “I’m not going to let what you did to me ruin my happiness forever.”  Forgiveness is the answer… let go, find peace, liberate yourself!  And remember, forgiveness is not just for other people, it’s for you too.  If you must, forgive yourself, move on and try to do better next time.
19. Stop letting others bring you down to their level. – Refuse to lower your standards to accommodate those who refuse to raise theirs.
20. Stop wasting time explaining yourself to others. – Your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe it anyway.  Just do what you know in your heart is right.
21. Stop doing the same things over and over without taking a break. – The time to take a deep breath is when you don’t have time for it.  If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting.  Sometimes you need to distance yourself to see things clearly.
22. Stop overlooking the beauty of small moments. – Enjoy the little things, because one day you may look back and discover they were the big things.  The best portion of your life will be the small, nameless moments you spend smiling with someone who matters to you.
23. Stop trying to make things perfect. – The real world doesn’t reward perfectionists, it rewards people who get things done.  Read Getting Things Done.
24. Stop following the path of least resistance. – Life is not easy, especially when you plan on achieving something worthwhile.  Don’t take the easy way out.  Do something extraordinary.
25. Stop acting like everything is fine if it isn’t. – It’s okay to fall apart for a little while.  You don’t always have to pretend to be strong, and there is no need to constantly prove that everything is going well.  You shouldn’t be concerned with what other people are thinking either – cry if you need to – it’s healthy to shed your tears.  The sooner you do, the sooner you will be able to smile again.
26. Stop blaming others for your troubles. – The extent to which you can achieve your dreams depends on the extent to which you take responsibility for your life.  When you blame others for what you’re going through, you deny responsibility – you give others power over that part of your life.
27. Stop trying to be everything to everyone. – Doing so is impossible, and trying will only burn you out.  But making one person smile CAN change the world.  Maybe not the whole world, but their world.  So narrow your focus.
28. Stop worrying so much. – Worry will not strip tomorrow of its burdens, it will strip today of its joy.  One way to check if something is worth mulling over is to ask yourself this question: “Will this matter in one year’s time?  Three years?  Five years?”  If not, then it’s not worth worrying about.
29. Stop focusing on what you don’t want to happen. – Focus on what you do want to happen.  Positive thinking is at the forefront of every great success story.  If you awake every morning with the thought that something wonderful will happen in your life today, and you pay close attention, you’ll often find that you’re right.
30. Stop being ungrateful. – No matter how good or bad you have it, wake up each day thankful for your life.  Someone somewhere else is desperately fighting for theirs.  Instead of thinking about what you’re missing, try thinking about what you have that everyone else is missing.

Update:  Read our follow-up to this post:  30 Things to Start Doing for Yourself

See you next blog,

Ted

The Corrupt and Fallible Word Of God...REALLY?

According to some the Bible is not without its difficulties. After all, some of its older books were written 3,000 years ago in a radically different culture than our own. There are cultural barriers to overcome as well as contextual issues to consider when delving into the Bible. But are there really difficulties? Not if you understand how to interpret the Bible.

Since the Bible claims to be the only inspired Word of God, it has become the focus of many attacks. False religions and critics of the Bible have tried to discredit it by chipping away at its authority and credibility. Even cultic and sectarian churches chip away at certain parts of the Bible and choose to interpret loosely or use texts taken out of context to form a hellish doctrine.

Nevertheless, there are those who sit in judgment of God's Word.

The first major attack against the Bible began with what is known as "higher criticism." It arose in Germany around the end of the 17th century. The promoter of "higher criticism" insisted that the Bible was a human product, brought about by the church to express what individual men had to say about God.

The folks who pioneered the "higher criticism" of the Bible did not believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the incarnate Son of God. To transmit their unbelief to their intellectual peers, and from them to the general public, the higher critics did their best to remove people's faith in the Bible.

In the past few decades, the enemies of God have declared open warfare on the Bible. Anyone who doesn't believe in the authenticity of Scripture is given an open forum to launch an attack. It is very important to defend the Word of God against these critics. If a falsehood is allowed to stand, it can become regarded as truth by default.


The Test of Time
One of the easiest ways to defend the Bible is to point out how it has withstood years of attack. If the Word of God had a fatal flaw, somebody would have found it by now--after nearly 2000 years of scrutiny. Some feel they have disproved the Bible to be the Word of God, yet despite the critics, the Bible remains the world's best-seller of all time. The Bible is reliable; it has earned that status. Why? The words within have changed lives for generations for the better.

No book has been more intensely scrutinized or hotly debated. The Bible has outlasted many governments that sought to ban or destroy it. Scholars, intellectuals and even theologians have pored over every verse, seeking a way to disprove its divine inspiration.

Voltaire, a French Enlightenment writer and deist, once said that within 100 years of his time, Christianity would be swept away from existence and pass into the obscurity of history. Yet 50 years after his death, the Geneva Bible Society used his house and printing press to produce stacks of Bibles. It is now nearly 140 years past his deadline and the Word of God is still going strong.

Any book that wishes to challenge the Bible needs to first prove its worthiness. Dan Brown's novel, The Da Vinci Code, claims the Bible is full of error, but it only took investigators a few weeks to show that Brown's writings are totally based on collection of fraudulent views of history. Most of these more recent attacks on the Bible are more of a sign of the times than they are a test of time.


Famous Testimonies
Many legendary world leaders have testified to the Bible's special nature. No other book can claim to have such a comprehensive record of personal endorsement. Here is what a few have said about God's Word:

Sir Walter Scott, the British poet, on his deathbed, said, "Bring me the Book!" When asked, "What book?" he replied, "There is but one Book."

Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, said, "That Book is the rock on which this republic rests."

Queen Victoria gave the Bible credit for the British Empire's global supremacy.

Prime Minister William E. Gladstone once commented: "The Bible is stamped with a Specialty of Origin, and an immeasurable distance separates it from all competitors."

Thomas Jefferson, our third president, said, "I have always said, and will always say, that the studious perusal of the sacred volume will make better homes, better citizens, better fathers, and better husbands."

John Quincy Adams, our sixth president, said, "The first and almost only book deserving of universal distinction is the Bible. I speak as a man of the world to the men of the world and I say to you, 'Search the Scriptures.'"

Daniel Webster, a distinguished American who served as a congressman, senator, and Secretary of State, said, "The Bible fits man for life and prepares him for death."

Isaac Newton, English mathematician and scientist: "We account the Scriptures of God to be the most sublime philosophy. I find more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history whatsoever."

Robert Dick Wilson, fluent in more than 45 languages and dialects, said, "I may add that the result of my 45 years of study of the Bible has led me all the time to a firmer faith that in the Old Testament, we have a true historical account of the history of the Israelite people."



The Bible Had No Editors
It is often claimed that the Bible was edited by men who decided what books should be included. The Roman Catholic Churchis often cited as be the authority that decided what books would become part of the Bible.

The truth is that there was no lengthy period when the contents of the Bible was in limbo. The church accepted the New Testament books almost as soon as they were written. Once a book was produced by someone like Paul, his book was copied and widely distributed among believers. Because no Church had an exclusive hold any one book, there would be no opportunity for someone to edit Paul's writings.

The books that didn't make it into the canon of Scripture, such as the Gospel of Judas and the Gospel of Thomas, were not included because they were written long after both of those men died. The book credited to Judas was written by the Gnostic sect around 130-170 AD. These and other Gnostic gospels conflicted with the known teachings of Jesus and the Old Testament, and often contained numerous historical and geographical errors.

The only editing the Bible had came in AD 367 when Athanasius formally listed the 27 New Testament books in the order we see today. Athanasius didn't bring in any new books. The whole church had recognized and used the same list of books since the first century after Christ.


Lost in Translation
Some people have the idea that the New Testament has been transcribed "so many times" that it has become corrupted through various stages of translation. It's like the children's game of "gossip" in which players pass along a common phrase until the words reach the ears of the player at the end of the line. The resulting phrase is often quite different from the original phrase.

The translation of the Bible cannot be compared to that child's game. If the translations were being made from other translations, critics would have an argument. But modern translations are actually made directly from original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic source texts based on thousands of ancient manuscripts.

The scribes who copied Hebrew manuscripts were keenly aware of the fact that they were handling a sacred and precious revelation. They were trained to exercise the greatest care. They counted not only the words but the letters, making note of how many times each particular word and letter occurred. If an error was detected, the entire sheet would be destroyed and the scribe would begin again. (1)

Many people seem to think there are only a handful of master copies of the biblical test. The truth is that there are more than 24,000 manuscripts of New Testament writings. We could destroy every modern translation of the Bible and perfectly reproduce their content from these manuscripts.

Dr. Ravi Zacharias at Oxford University made the following statement: "In real terms, the New Testament is easily the best attested ancient writing in terms of the sheer number of documents, the time span between the events and the documents, and the variety of documents available to sustain or contradict it. There is nothing in ancient manuscript evidence to match such textual availability and integrity."(2)

When one compares the text of one manuscript with another, the match is amazing. Sometimes the spelling may vary, or words may be transposed, but that is of little consequence. Concerning word order, Bruce M. Metzger, professor emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary, explains: "It makes a whale of a difference in English if you say, 'Dog bites man' or 'Man bites dog'--sequence matters in English. But in Greek it doesn't. One word functions as the subject of the sentence regardless of where it stands in the sequence."(3)

The Dead Sea Scrolls have proven to be an excellent resource for proving the accuracy of the Bible. They were written around the year 100 A.D and include a copy of every old Testament book minus the book of Esther. The text of each book has been found to be a mirror reflection of the translation we have to today.


Historical Witnesses
There has long been debate concerning the life of Jesus. Some people claim that Jesus never existed. One reason for their argument is fact that Jesus never wrote anything himself. There may not be a book of Jesus, but Matthew, Mark, Luke and John certainly offer detailed records about Him, His life and His activities.

We don't have archives of old newspapers to turn to, but several ancient historical records corroborate the Bible's account of Jesus. Because the first century was a time when the vast majority of these witness were indifferent to Christianity, there would be no reason for them or later Christians to fabricate their statements.

Flavius Josephus (AD 38-100+) wrote about Jesus in his Jewish Antiquities. From Josephus, "we learn that Jesus was a wise man who did surprising feats, taught many, won over followers from among Jews and Greeks, was believed to be the Messiah, was accused by the Jewish leaders, was condemned to be crucified by Pilate, and was considered to be resurrected." (4)

Lucian of Samosata (c. AD 120 - after 180)was born at Samosata in Commagene and calls himself a Syrian. In Lucian's book, The Passing Peregrinus, he wrote about a traveler named Proteus who met some followers of Jesus in the early Church.

"At which time he learned the wonderful doctrine of the Christians, by conversing with their priests and scribes near Palestine... they spoke of him as a god, and took him for a lawgiver, and honored him with the title of master... They still worship that great man who was crucified in Palestine, because he introduced into the world this new religion... Moreover their first lawgiver has taught them, that they are all brethren, when once they turned, and renounced the gods of the Greeks, and worship that master of theirs who was crucified, and engage to live according to his laws."

Tacitus (c. 56 c. 117) wrote on the subject of Christ and Christianity in 116 AD. He wrote about several events that match the New Testament writings. He states that "Christ" was put to death by "the procurator Pontius Pilate" in Judea in the reign of Tiberius, and this is where the mischief originated.

"But not all the relief that could come from man, not all the bounties that the prince could bestow, nor all the atonements which could be presented to the gods, availed to relieve Nero from the infamy of being believed to have ordered the conflagration, the fire of Rome. Hence to suppress the rumor, he falsely charged with the guilt, and punished Christians, who were hated for their enormities. Christus, the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius: but the pernicious superstition, repressed for a time broke out again, not only through Judea, where the mischief originated, but through the city of Rome also, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular."

Pliny the Younger (c. 62 - c.113 AD) the provincial governor of Pontus and Bithynia, wrote to Emperor Trajan in 112 AD concerning how to deal with Christians, who refused to worship the emperor, and instead worshiped "Christus." The Emperor replied that it would be the right thing in executing them, but advised him not to seek out Christians for prosecution. Pliny mentioned Christ by name three times as the center of Christianity and described Christian practices, including the worship of Christ, "as to a god."

Even the Jewish Talmud, certainly not biased toward Jesus, concurs about the major events of His life. From the Talmud, "we learn that Jesus was conceived out of wedlock, gathered disciples, made blasphemous claims about himself, and worked miracles, but these miracles are attributed to sorcery and not to God." (5)


The Old Testament Supports the New Testament
The Old Testament contains more than 125 predictions about the Messiah. By fulfilling these prophecies, Jesus proved that He was the was indeed the Messiah. He also proved that the Bible was the result of a supernatural revelation. Here are 8 examples that show the prophetic bond between the Old and N.T.

1. The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem - O.T. (Mic. 5:2) - N.T. (Mat. 2:1)

2. The Messiah would be born of a virgin - O.T. (Isa. 7:14) - N.T. (Mat 1:18-23)

3. The Messiah would be a descendant of David - O.T. (Jer. 23:5) - N.T. (Rev. 22:16)

4. Herod would attempt to murder the Messiah - O.T. (Jer. 31:15) - N.T. (Mat. 2:16-18)

5. The Messiah would be betrayed by a friend - O.T. ( Psalm 41:9) - N.T. (John 13:18)

6. The Messiah would be sold for 30 silver coins - O.T. (Zec. 11:12) - N.T. (Mat. 26:15)

7. The Messiah would be crucified - O.T. (Zec. 12:10) - N.T. (John 19:16-18, 37)

8. Lots would be cast for His clothes - O.T. (Psalm 22:18) - N.T. (Mat. 27:35)


The Bible Is About True Human Experiences
One element that makes the Bible so believable is its determination to show the good and bad side of key biblical figures. No other book of its kind presents people who are heroes as fearful when they are facing battle, as having doubts about God, or as making huge moral mistakes.

If the Bible were the work of fictional writers, there wouldn't be reason for them to paint their subjects in such a negative light. David, one of the most amazing people we can find in the Old Testament, trusted God in many ways; in fact, he was called "a man after God's own heart. And yet David committed adultery and arranged for one of his faithful soldiers to be murdered so that he could escape his own guilt for impregnating the soldier's wife.

Peter is regarded as one of the most significant leaders of the early Church. He watched Jesus perform miracles, and his faith was so great that he stepped out of a boat and walked on water when Jesus invited him to do so. He also lopped off the ear of one of those who came to get Jesus to bring Him before Pilate. In reporting about such a hero, it would go totally against human nature to describe him denying his Lord three times. And to reveal that Peter was intimidated by a young girl's questioning about his association with Jesus when the Lord was about to undergo crucifixion would be unthinkable to any human author wanting to describe their hero.

Human logic would have Peter portrayed as having flawless bravery at a time when the Church was struggling for survival. Those who recorded things and who were part of the efforts to establish the church would have painted a word picture of a man who had no chinks in his armor.


God Is No Fool
My final defense of the Bible is the statement that God is no fool. If he is the Lord of the universe, there would be no reason why He would allow His Holy Word to be monkeyed with by common man.

God has spoken through prophets directly and indirectly through scribes and psalmists, and all were under the influence of the Holy Spirit. The message remains clear because the Lord has protected it at every step.

The Lord's protective hand is one reason some people see the Bible as a collection of random events. They don't see the invisible Creator guiding everything from Genesis to Revelation.

Paul, the Apostle and great hero of the faith, had this to say about those who see the Bible as anything other than the very Word of God:

"11 For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.[a]
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Cor. 2:11-14).ESV

God has given us all the evidence we need to find the truth. If we reject God's Holy Word without weighing the evidence, not only are we fools, but we are fools with no valid excuse.

(1) Strauss, Lehman. We Can Trust the Bible http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=666
{2} Zacharias, Ravi. Can Man Live Without God? (Word Publishing, 1994), p. 162.

{3} Strobel, Lee. The Case for Christ (Zondervan Publishing House, 1998), p. 83.

{4} Wilkins, Michael J. & Moreland, J.P. Jesus Under Fire (Zondervan Publishing House, 1995), p. 40.

{5} Ibid.