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Thursday, October 29, 2009

Is the Bible Reliable as a Historical Document?

A great defense from Lee Strobel on the reliability of the scriptures as literal "history". Listen to the points he makes regarding the details that the authors leave in their accounts/writings regarding what they saw and experienced.

These are not just a collection of stories one man created in his basement some years back and cleverly put together. It never fails when I'm debating someone and I bring up the bible, for them to say right away "but the bible was written by man", as though this is supposed to discredit it right off the bat. And while I won't disagree that man has some flaws and memory issues, this is a central point, worth noting, in that God gave man divine revelation and guidance from the Holy Spirit when he told man to "write this down...." If you want to discredit the bible, you should first ask yourself whether or not this collection of books is actually "inspired" or not. No Christian argues that man wrote the bible. What we argue is that it has been beautifully and accurately preserved for thousands of years. The book of Isaiah is dated to be around 800-1000 years before the time of Christ. So its worth it to point out the fact that he prophesied Jesus would be born of a virgin in Bethlehem and that he would "die on a tree" Now how would Isaiah know 800 years before Jesus was born that he would die of crucifixion even before the Romans invented it? Do you think Jesus was smart enough to plan where he would be born and the exact way he would die? Now that's clever. The truth is no man could ever make up what is written in scripture. The bible was written over a period of 1400-1600 years from 40 different authors over three different continents in three different languages and yet is in such harmony that it is as though one man did write it. In my opinion, this is exactly what one would find if a consistent (Hebrews 13:8) God was giving man divine inspiration.


This will always amaze me. And lets not forget that the bible mentioned historical and scientific facts long before man even discovered them. Job said the world was a "sphere" long before man did. Solomon described the hydraulic cycle man only discovered but a short time ago. There are quite a number of scientific facts in the bible. Enjoy the video

3 comments:

highdesert said...

Would you explain again why you are convinced that 'circle' means 'sphere' in this case? (Is it Job or Isaiah you meant?)

Joe Sirianni said...

Both Isaiah and Job speak of it:

Isaiah 40:22 (King James Version)

22It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

Job 26:7 (New International Version)

7 He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;
he suspends the earth over nothing.

And Job 9:8

Job 9:8 does not refer to the firmament, but it says of God, "Which alone spreadeth out the heavens." This is not a reference to a solid dome, but the observed expansion of space. This interpretation is supported by Isaiah 40:22.

I am familiar with the arguments against this teaching and interpretation such as "Talk Origins" and a few other anti creation sites teach

But the fact of the matter is that the bible taught a spherical/circled earth which rotated

Here's a quote from AIG from 1992:

"The Bible of course teaches the correct shape of the earth. Isaiah 40:22 says God sits above ‘the circle of the earth’ (the Hebrew word for ‘circle’ can also mean a ‘sphere’). Also, Luke 17:34–36 depicts Christ’s Second Coming as happening while some are asleep at night and others are working at daytime activities in the field—an indication of a rotating earth with day and night at the same time."

Thanks again for your comments

highdesert said...

That explanation doesn't work. You were saying that the Bible claimed the earth was a sphere rather than a flat circle. But all you can say is that the word translated as circle could also have meant sphere. That doesn't show that the word was intended to mean sphere.