Is the Bible True?
Psalm 119:33

Truth or Fiction?
• Everybody has an opinion about the Bible.
• What tests do we use to determine if something is true (historically)?
• Charles Sanders, military historian, suggests 3 tests: bibliographic, internal evidence, and external evidence.

Bibliographic Test
• We don’t have the original Bible documents, but how reliable are the copies?
• We have 24,000 manuscripts copies of portions of the New Testament, far more than we have of Plato or Aristotle for example.
• Of 184,590 words in the New Testament, fewer than 400 have been questioned or debated.
• None of these 400 words touch on any major doctrine.
• The Bible passes the bibliographic test with flying colors!

Internal Evidence Test
• Are the writers of the Bible trustworthy? Truthful? Men of integrity?
• C. S. Lewis states that the Bible is true because of the details it contains; other ancient writings do not contain this level of detail (ex: Jesus asleep on a cushion; number of fish caught).
• Historian Will Durant states the Bible is true because of the way the authors describe themselves; autobiographical veracity.
• Because of the proximity of the writing to the events themselves, the miracles of the Bible can be trusted; most of them were public, and there were witnesses to them.
• Major prophecies about the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus have been fulfilled.
• The Bible stands with crystal clarity!

External Evidence Test
• There is remarkable agreement between biblical accounts and extra-biblical records.
• Jewish archaeologist Nelson Glueck states that “No archaeological discovery has contradicted the biblical record.”

The greatest proof of all
• We can know that the Bible is true because of the truth of what it says about you and me.
• To know the truth and to respond to it are two different things; the critical question is how we respond to the truth of the Bible.

Think it over.
• After watching this message, how would you answer someone who says the Bible is only a collection of stories?
• The Bible accurately describes our sin nature, our need for a Savior, and what happens when we receive Christ and become brand-new. How compelling is the evidence of a changed life?
• Psalm 119:33 states, “Teach me, O Lord, the way of Thy statutes, and I shall observe it to the end.” Take a moment to ask God to give you a hunger for His Word and a desire to apply it to your daily life.