Why We Believe The Bible.

There are two lines of proof of the reliability of the scriptures, the external and the internal. These different kinds of evidences may be put down, without separation, somewhat as follows:

1. The Formation and Unity of the Bible. There are sixty-six books written by nearly forty men, who lived at various times, and yet these books agree in making a perfect whole. These writers were of different classes and occupations. They possessed different degrees of training and lived in widely different places and ages of the world. The perfect agreement of their writings could not, therefore, be the result of any collusion between them. The only conclusion that can explain such unity is that one great and infinite mind dictated the scripture.

2. The Preservation of the Bible. That the Bible is a divine book is proven in that it has survived the wreck of empires and kingdoms and the destruction of costly and carefully gathered libraries and that, too, when there was no special human effort to save it. At times all the constituted powers of earth were arrayed against it, but it has made its way against the tide of fierce opposition and persecution.

3. Its Historical Accuracy. The names of towns, cities, battles, kings, empires and great events, widely apart in time and place, are given without a blunder. The ruins of cities of Assyria, Egypt and Babylon have been unearthed and tablets found that prove the accuracy of the Bible narrative. These tablets corroborate the stories of the creation and fall of man, of the flood, the tower of Babel, the bondage in Egypt, the captivity, and many other things. This accuracy gives us confidence in the reality of the book.

4. Its Scientific Accuracy. At the time of the writing of the Bible. there were all sorts of crude and superstitious stories about the earth and all its creatures and processes. It was humanly impossible for a book to have been written that would stand the teat of scientific research, and yet at every point it has proven true to the facts of nature. Its teachings areas to the creation of all animal life is proven in science, in that not a single new species has come into existence within the history of man and his research or experiment. David said the sun traveled in a circuit (Ps. 19:6), and science has proven his statement. Job said the wind had weight (Job 28:25) and science has finally verified it. That the earth is suspended In space with no visible support is declared by Job, who said that "God hangeth the earth upon nothing", Job 26:7. Besides these and other specific teachings of science which correspond to Bible utterances, the whole general teachings of the scripture is sustained by our investigations. Many theories have been advanced that contradicted the Bible (at one time a French Institution of Science claimed that there were eighty hostile theories), but not a single such theory has stood. Wherever a teaching of science contradicting the Bible has ever been advanced, it has been proven false, while the Bible was found to correspond to the facts.

5. Its Prophetic Accuracy. At least sixteen prophets prophesied concerning future events. They told of the coming destruction of cities and empires, calling them by name. They told of new kingdoms. They told of the coming of Christ, his nativity, the place of his birth, and the result of his life and death and made no mistake.

Christ himself showed how their old prophecies were fulfilled in Him. He told the destruction of Jerusalem and the nature of his Kingdom and work, all of which has been shown to be true. No other but a Divine book could have foretold the future in detail.

6. The Richness and Universality of Its Teachings. Its contents are fresh and new to every age and people. Its teachings furnish the highest standards for right human government and for personal purity of character. Its virtues are superior to all others. Every generation finds new and wonderful treasures in it, and while hundreds of thousands of books have been written about it, one feels that it is still a mine, the riches of whose literary excellence, moral beauty and lofty thought have scarcely been touched.

7. The Fairness and Candor of Its Writers. In portraying its heroes, the Bible does not attempt any gloss. Their faults are neither covered up nor condoned, but condemned. This is unlike all other books.

8. Its Solution of Man's Difficulties. What is the origin of the world? What is the origin of man? How came sin in the world? Will there be punishment of sin that will satisfy the unfairness and inequalities of life? Is there redemption for weak and helpless man? Is there a future life? These are some of the questions that have troubled man in all ages. The Bible alone answers them in a simple yet adequate way. It alone gives us the knowledge of the way to secure happiness. Its remedies alone furnish a certain balm for bruised human hearts.

9. Its Miracles. The Bible, which records how God sent his son and others on special missions, also tells how He attested their work by signs or miracles. These miracles were performed in the presence of creditable witnesses and should, therefore, be believed. Moreover, they are so different from the superhuman deeds of ancient mythology as to stamp them as divine and true and at the same time to discredit all the false.

Bible miracles are never for mere exploitation or for personal profit to the one who performs the miracle. They are for the good of others. The blind and deaf and lame are healed. The sick and dead are raised. Lepers are cured and sins forgiven. Moreover, those who perform the miracle claim no power of their own, but attribute it all to God and only perform the miracle that God may be exalted.

10. Its Spiritual Character. It is evident that man alone could not have conceived the lofty ideas of the scripture. All his experience proves that he can not produce anything so far beyond himself. These high truths therefore, have come from a greater than man.

11. Its Fruit. No other book will do for man what the Bible does. The spread of its truths makes man better. Wherever the Bible goes civilization and enlightenment follow. This is so, no matter what the former condition of the people. Where everything else fails, the Bible succeeds in lifting men out of ignorance and shame.

12. Its Own Claims to Divine Origin. (1) It clearly claims to be the the word of God. (a) All scripture is given by inspiration Of God. 2 Tim. 3:16. (b) God spake unto the fathers by the prophets, Heb. 1:1. (c) Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 2 Peter 1:21. (d) He spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, Luke 1:70. (e) Which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake. Acts 1:16. (f) God showed by the mouth of all his prophets. Acts 3:18. (g) By the revelation of Jesus Christ, Gal. 1:12. (h) Not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God, 1 Thes. 2:13. (2) It claims to be a good book and to be given for man's good. Both of these claims have been amply justified. But it could not be a good book and claim what is not true. This it would do if it ware not the Word of God.