Sentilong Ozukum
The eighteenth century French philosopher Voltaire once remarked, “Twelve ignorant fishermen started Christianity and one wise Frenchman will stop it.” When invited to the palace of the King of Prussia Voltaire predicted that within 100 years the Bible would be extinct and replaced by his ninety-two volumes. Not long ago the library of the Earl of Dude was auctioned in a London bookstore, and ninety- two volumes of Voltaire’s writing, bound in leather, were sold for a sum of eight shillings. Almost at the same time, the British Government paid the Soviet Union the sum of 100,000 pounds for the “Codex Sinaiticus” an ancient manuscript of the Bible. The Bible is today the best selling book in the world. It is estimated that more than 50 million Bibles are sold a year. The Times one ran an article sub headed, ‘Forget the modern British novelists and TV tie-ins, the Bible is the best selling book every year.’ The writer remarked, “As usual the top seller by several miles was the Bible. It is wonderful, weird, or just plain baffling in this increasingly godless age- when the range of books available grows wider with each passing year- that this one book should go on selling hand over first, month in, month out…… It is estimated that nearly 1,250,000 Bibles and testaments are sold in the UK each year.” The writer ends the article with the words, “All Versions of the Bible sell well all the time. Can the Bible society offer an explanation? ‘Well,’ I am told disarmingly, ‘It’s such a good book’ ” All that Homer had to say has been told in twenty modern languages. All that Shakespeare wrote has been translated into forty languages. All that Tolstoy declared to the world has found expression in sixty languages. John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress is read today in 118 different languages and dialects. But the Bible today is translated into more than 2000 languages and dialects. It has weathered all the storms of hate. It has withstood all the thunderbolts of wrath. It has triumphed over edicts of tyranny. It has conquered all the gnawing teeth of time. It has out lived, out loved, outreached, outranked and out blessed all other books.
Here are seven simple reasons why I believe in the Divine authorship of the Bible.
Amazing Unity
Started by Moses at the dusty deserts of Arabia and completed by John in the lonely island of Patmos, the Bible has really come a long way. Despite being penned by more than 40 authors from over 19 different walks of life over some 1600 years, the Bible is a consistent revelation from the beginning to the end. Indeed the first book and last book, Genesis and Revelation, dovetail so perfectly. Genesis speaks about ‘Paradise Lost’ and Revelation tells about ‘Paradise Regained’ and speaks powerfully of their Divine Authorship. (Compare Genesis 1-3 and Revelation 21-22) No wonder Paul wrote, “All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16 NIV)
Amazing Preservation
In spite of Political and religious persecution, the Bible remains. For Example- The Roman emperor Diocletian, following an edict in AD 303, thought he had destroyed every Bible. He erected a column over the ashes of a burnt Bible to celebrate his victory. Twenty five years later, the New Emperor, Constantine commissioned the production of 50 Bibles at the expense of the Government. As mentioned earlier, in the eighteenth century the noted French Philosopher Voltaire predicted that within a century there would be no Bibles left on earth. 50 years after he died, the Geneva Bible society used his old printing press and his house to produce stacks of Bible. The Bible today is the best selling as well as the most translated book.
Historical Accuracy
Over and over again archeology has confirmed the historical accuracy of the Bible. Often, archaeologists have been skeptical of the Old Testament only to have new discoveries corroborate the Biblical account. There have been thousands of archeological findings in the Middle East which supports the picture presented in the Biblical record. For example- The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was thought to be mythological until evidence was uncovered that all five cities mentioned in Genesis were in fact situated just as the Old Testament said. Earlier critics said that the group of people called Hittites mentioned several times in the Old Testament never existed. Now archaeologists digging in modern Turkey have discovered the records of the Hittites. As the great archeologist William F. Albright declared, “There can be no doubt that archaeology has confirmed the substantial historicity of the Old Testament tradition.”
Scientific Accuracy
The Bible is a scientifically accurate book. If we look at the scriptures we find many examples of modern scientific facts recorded in the Bible thousands of years before scientists discovered them. For example- Earlier people believed that the earth was flat and so they avoided long voyages. It was only in 1519 that Magellan the famous navigator sailed around the world to prove the earth was round. It is interesting to note that two thousand years before Magellan prophet Isaiah recorded that the earth was round (Isa 40:22) The Bible is also astronomically reliable. For centuries there have been attempts at counting the number of stars. Ptolemy counted 1056, Brahe said 777, Kepler counted 1005. Modern astronomy tells us that there are more than 100 billion stars in our own Galaxy with probably another 100 billion galaxies. Yet thousands of years ago Jeremiah wrote that the stars are countless. (Jeremiah 33:22. See also Genesis 15:5) Other modern scientific statements which are confirmed by the Bible are- the earth is suspended in space without support (Isaiah 40:22), the Hydrological cycle (Eccl 1:7), Hematology and the importance of blood for life (Lev 17:11), Molecular biology and the wonder of the human body (Psalms 139:14) Chemistry and the component of our body (Gen 3:19, Psalms 103:14) the first and second law of thermodynamics (Isaiah 51:6)
Prophetic Accuracy
“The Bible is the only book in the world that has precise, specific predictions that were made hundreds of years in advance and that were literally fulfilled.” (Norman Geisler) According to Barton’s Payne’s Encyclopedia of Biblical prophesy there are 191 predictions in the Old Testament about the coming of Christ including his ancestry, the city in which he would be born, that he would be born a virgin and so on. Using the science of probability we find that the chances of all these prophecies being fulfilled in one person is nearly zero. All these prophecies were literally fulfilled in the life of one man, Jesus Christ even though he had no control over most of the prophecies. You may disagree and say that the prophecies were written down after the time of Christ and fabricated to coincide with his life. This might sound feasible until you realize that the
Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, was translated around 150-200 BC.
Civilising Influence
The message of the Bible has elevated many blood drinking barbarians and animistic tribal groups to civilization and decency. The Bible is the basis of the English common law, the American Bill of Rights and the constitution of great democracies such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia an new Zealand. The Bible has inspired the noblest of literature from Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, Scott, Coleridge and Kipling. It has inspired the art of Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael. It has also inspired the exquisite music of Bach, Handel and Brahms.
Life transforming Message
Today the message of the Bible transforms the lives of millions of people around the world. We don’t have any history of murderers and criminals whose lives were changed by reading Shakespeare or Shiv Kera. But the Bible has transformed and is transforming the lives of millions of people around the world. The Bible is the word of the Living God. It must be. It has to be.
(The writer can be contacted at sentilong_ozukum@yahoo.com).
