What are the odds? What are the alternatives? honest records, archaeology, history, science, fulfilled prophecy, psychology
First, a side comment about something else…
Bonus - the status of the dollar
“The U.S. — and the EU — overdid it last year when they started throwing sanctions against Russia and somehow forgot to stop and think whether these sanctions might boomerang. No one, apparently, wondered if, upon seeing the world’s dominant currency wielded as a weapon with such force against one country, other countries might not start questioning how wise it is to continue depending on that currency for all their dealings, including keeping their assets in this currency and conducting trade in it.” from irenaslav@substack.com yesterday Read more
An unrelated comment about digital currency. Or, maybe not so unrelated?
“…men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do…” OK, I know, it’s taken out of context, (1Chron.12:32) but still…it’s good to be aware of the times:
The digital dollar, dubbed “Biden Bucks” by Jim Rickards, is coming for sure, and very soon. It would be fine if we always had a benign gov (government), but an evil gov with a digital currency would have control of all legitimate money, and all legal transactions, and that kind of power would be oppressive.
First they will have to make sure all non-banked people, like many of the homeless and new immigrants, will have access to the internet (cell phones and a free account for everyone?) because a lot of them don't have bank accounts. With digital currency, the gov will be able to dump welfare payments right into (or out of) their (and our) cyberspace accounts with a simple click. Digital currency will actually help non-banked people come up to speed with the rest of society.
You might want to have some gold and silver coins and polish up your bartering skills.
Most coin shops have bags of “junk” silver available in the form of old dimes and quarters that used to be made with 90% silver before 1964. At $24 per troy ounce (as of today) the silver content of a dime would be over $2.00 and a quarter would be worth well over $5.00.
The old saying is still true - Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
Cash in the form of paper money will be phased out (that's already been happening for quite a while) and eventually made illegal. Whether on hand or in a bank account, I'd like to think that cash won't be totally useless overnight, but that the gov would provide some kind of exchange for turning in cash for digital dollars when the time comes. The exchange won't be very favorable; probably some kind of discount, but better than nothing. In 1933 they bought our gold at market value but then in a series of moves changed the value, which was pretty sneaky, but again, better than nothing. In the meantime, for a while at least, during the transition, cash will come in handy if you see an opportunity for a wise investment or two as things unfold.
The politicians now in control seem to be very power hungry and very close to a complete totalitarian gov. We're already looking like a police state and 3rd world dictatorship.
Soon, no one will be able to buy or sell (legally) except with the digital currency issued by the gov.
Could this be the mark of the beast?
“and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark…” Rev.13:17
More comments on this next week…now, to this week’s topic - is the bible true?… note: if you’re already a believer, share this with your friends who aren’t sure if the bible is true
We don’t need all the answers
It took a lot for me to become a believer. There will always be questions that we don’t have the answer to. Every time we make a decision, it has to be based on the information we have available. When it comes to questions that really matter, like “Where did we come from? What is the purpose of life, or Is there a purpose?” our answers will affect our worldview and our very core of being.
Whether the bible is true or not obviously has a direct bearing on the above questions, so the answer ranks right up there with one of the most important questions for our lives and whether our lives have meaning or whether we’re just a meaningless product of random chance processes.
No one (except God) has all the answers.
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.” Deuteronomy 29:29
At some point, you have to decide whether to step out in faith. What kind of evidence and how much will it take to convince a person the bible is true? Staying on the fence is an answer in itself, because if the bible is true, it calls for a response that will change your life. On the other hand, if it’s true, only believers will go to heaven. All others will go to the other place, and suffer the just recompense for their deeds.
Following are some thoughts and areas of evidence that eventually convinced me, even though I started as a skeptic.
What are the odds of 40 different authors agreeing on anything?
The authors not only came from all different backgrounds, but lived in different ages spanning about 1500 years.
Most of the writers in the Old Testament didn’t even know each other.
Yet the theme of man’s failures and need for forgiveness and a Savior is consistent from beginning to end.
What are the alternatives?
Purpose, meaning, and hope come from believing in God and that He has given us the bible as His inspired Word.
What do non-believers have? The opposite – deep down purposelessness, meaninglessness, and hopelessness. Only 9% of millennials attend church today – no wonder the suicide rate in young folks has tripled in the last decade. More about millennials leaving the church next week, and what to do about it.
Honest records and the ring of truth
The heroes of the bible are portrayed realistically. They weren’t perfect. True history tells us both the good and the bad. Out of fear, Abraham told Pharoah his wife was his sister. Moses wasn’t allowed to enter the promised land because of a moment of angry temper. David committed adultery. Solomon was the wisest man in the world, but he was led astray by his 1000 wives and concubines. (Who wouldn’t be?) Peter was a disciple who was willing to die for his faith, yet in a moment of fear and weakness denied Christ three times.
It’s the same with the nation of Israel, the people God chose to make salvation freely available to the whole world. Israel got involved in idolatry again and again, until God kicked them out of the promised land for 70 years. The bible pulls no punches. That’s one of the reasons I believe it’s true history. It has the ring of truth.
Archaeology
The most impressive testimonies come from people who were so impacted by evidence that contradicted their previous bias that it completely reversed their previous view. More on this later, but here’s an example from the field of archaeology:
“Sir William Ramsay (1851-1939) was an archaeologist and biblical skeptic. He taught at the University of Edinburgh and believed that Bible writers made facts and stories up. The book of Acts, he declared, was full of errors, and to prove this contention, he traveled to Asia Minor to demonstrate Luke’s unreliability. He understood he could not prove or disprove miracle accounts, but if he could show Luke to be a sloppy historian on facts that could be verified (geographical and historical), he felt he could discredit Luke’s unverifiable stories. Ramsay the skeptic returned to Great Britain a believer. Every one of Luke’s facts checked out. He found Luke to use specific and accurate terminology that reflected a careful chronicle of events. There were proconsuls in senatorial provinces, asiarchs in Ephesus, politarchs in Thessalonica. His conclusion was that Luke was a highly reliable historian, rendering the story of the early church in the book of Acts a remarkably clear one” Forthright Magazine 12/5/2017
History
The bible is not a history book, but there’s a lot of history in it, and it has been found to be totally accurate.
“Is the Bible true? The fact is that secular history corroborates the existence of more than 100 biblical characters and provides clear evidence for the existence of Jesus Christ, the central figure of the Bible.
The Bible is … amazingly accurate when it comes to the historical record. There is much historical proof of the Bible. This fact alone supports a single and divine origin.”
From the May/June 2015 issue of Discern Magazine, “Historical Proof of the Bible”, by Jim Franks.
Paul wrote that after Jesus rose from the dead, he “appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now…” Acts 15:6
He wrote this while most of those witnesses were still alive, yet there is no record of any of them denying what he wrote.
Science
The bible is not a book of science, but where it touches on science, it has been accurate through the ages, even when “science” was in error.
Fulfilled prophecy
Some of the bible prophecies are so specific that the odds of their fulfillment was astronomical, but fulfilled they were. Anyone who is familiar with statistics knows that the odds of an event occurring become exponentially less possible with the stacking of each additional parameter or requirement for fulfillment. Start with Jesus’ birth. His parents lived in Nazareth. What were the odds that he would be born in Bethlehem? Now string along several more very specific predictions, like his hands would be pierced and his side would be wounded and they would cast lots for his clothes. The odds of all of these and many more being fulfilled in one man? It would be thought to be impossible, yet Jesus was that man.
“After all, Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew) fulfilled not just the 48 specifically Messianic prophecies. In fact, He fulfilled more than 324 individual prophecies that related to the Messiah!” Jonathan Bernis, FIRM
But I caved in and was convinced before I even knew all that. You see, I took an ancient history class in college. I became fascinated with Alexander the Great, and studied all the Greek historians that wrote about his life. I had become very familiar with how he conquered Tyre, and knew the details.
One day someone pointed me to Exekiel ch.26, which predicts and describes the fall of Tyre. At the time of the prophecy, Tyre was one of the most prominent cities in the ancient world. When I saw the details that lined up perfectly with the way Alexander had defeated that city, I was so amazed that something happened in my heart. I had started reading and investigating the bible about a year earlier. By that time, I had seen lots and lots of evidences, but was still a skeptic. Until then. I no longer resisted, and became a believer.
The psychology of overcoming bias
I mentioned earlier that Sir William Ramsey started out to disprove the writings of the apostle Paul, but ended up confirming their accuracy.
This is a familiar pattern. Frank Morison is another skeptic. He was a journalist, and also had legal training. He started out to disprove the resurrection, which is the very heart of the gospel. Despite his negative bias, he ended up believing!
Lee Strobel is another example.
“Atheist-turned-Christian Lee Strobel, the former award-winning legal editor of The Chicago Tribune, is a New York Times best-selling author of more than forty books and curricula that have sold fourteen million copies in total.” Read more
He was an investigative journalist and a skeptic who decided to disprove Christianity. But the more he dug into the subject, the more he was forced to consider changing his mind. After extensive, deep research, he concluded that Christianity is indeed the real thing. He wrote “The Case for Christ”, which has become a classic.
Strobel wrote the preface to a recent edition of “Who Moved the Stone?”. Here’s an excerpt: "I owe Morison a great debt of gratitude. “Who Moved the Stone?” was an important early link in a long chain of evidence that God used to bring me into his kingdom. Morison’s stirring intellectual exploration of the historical record proved to be an excellent starting point for my spiritual investigation."
“Who Moved the Stone?” is a well-researched book that is as fascinating in its appeal to reason.
Josh McDowell, who wrote “Evidence That Demands a Verdict”, is another example.
“As a young man, Josh McDowell considered himself a solid skeptic. He truly believed that Christianity was worthless. He even made fun of Christians. But when challenged to intellectually examine the claims of Christianity, Josh discovered compelling, overwhelming evidence for the reliability of the Christian faith. After trusting in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, Josh’s life changed dramatically as he experienced the power of God’s love.” Read more
But for me, the most convincing argument of all is the psychology of the disciples’ willingness to die for their faith. They were with Jesus for his whole ministry of over three years. Then they saw him crucified. If they made up the story of the resurrection, who would be willing to die for a fake story? Would you?
Next week: the real reason for millennials leaving the church, and what to do about it