How Do You Know The Bible Is True?

Starting the Foundation

Proving whether something is true or not is called apologetics. This word is derived from the
Greek word “apologia,” which means “to defend.” The entire Clarifying Christianity site is
filled with apologetics—proofs and explanations for many Christian-related issues. The focus
of this page is the proof supporting the accuracy of the Bible. After all, if the Bible is not true
or if it is filled with errors, Christianity would only be a “blind faith”—something people
believe without any evidence to support it.

However, Christianity is not a blind faith. It is the only religion that can prove itself, and a
main source of that proof is the Bible. Although it is becoming less common, there are still
people who tell others that they follow Christianity “because it feels right” (or use wording
like that). This is unfortunate, since there is a lot of evidence supporting Christianity. The
existence of all that evidence is one reason we started this site. We want people to learn about
the solid evidence that supports their faith, and have a place that collected that evidence so
they can show it to others.

By the way, if you would like some reference materials that are a little more portable than a
computer with an Internet connection, a book we recommend is Know Why You Believe by
Paul Little. This book is available in larger bookstores and most Christian bookstores. Also,
the Tucson Community Church recorded a seminar called “Knowing The Facts Behind The
Faith.” It is available on DVD and VHS video (NTSC format). If you are interested in
purchasing a copy, you can get one directly from the church that produces them at the Tucson
Community Church website. They also handle international orders.

The Proof of Science

There is a great deal of scientific evidence that supports the Bible. Enough that we have a
separate page to discuss this proof alone. If you would like to see our science page, click on
this sentence.

The Proof of Prophecy

One of the strongest arguments for the accuracy of the Bible is its 100% accuracy in
predicting the future. These future predictions are called “prophecies.” The Old Testament
was written between approximately 1450 BC and 430 BC. During that time, many predictions
of the future were recorded in the Bible by God’s prophets. Of the events that were to have
taken place by now, every one happened just the way they predicted it would. No other
“sacred writing” has such perfectly accurate predictions of the future.

One Type—The Messianic Prophecies

Of these prophecies, the most striking examples are the predictions about an “anointed one”
(“Messiah” in Hebrew) who was to arrive in the future. About 4 BC, a miraculous event
occurred—a boy named Jesus was born to a virgin named Mary. You can read His story in the
book of Luke. Starting at age 30, Jesus fulfilled more and more of these prophecies written
about the Messiah. His fulfillment of these prophecies was very spectacular: Jesus gave sight
to the blind, made the lame walk, cured those who had leprosy, gave the deaf hearing, and
raised people from the dead! These miracles and others were done many times in front of
thousands of witnesses for three years. About 30 AD, Jesus was crucified (a prophecy) and
died (a prophecy). Three days later he rose from the dead (another prophecy), after which He
was seen by over 500 witnesses. Since these prophecies were written down at least 400 years
before they happened, there is no doubt that the Bible’s writers were inspired supernaturally
—by God. To examine these prophecies yourself, click on the link below.

A Second Type—Fulfilled Prophecy Dealing With Nations

There are many prophecies that can be proven through archaeology, especially prophecy
dealing with entire nations. Typically, when God declared judgment on a nation, He would
send a prophet to announce to the citizens why He was judging them and what He was going
to do to them if they continued their evil behavior. On occasion, God would also tell the
citizens how He would reward them if they started doing what was right. The book of Jonah
records a case where the Assyrians stopped doing what was evil as a result of Jonah’s short
prophecy. This is what God wanted, and God did not punish them as a result of their change
of heart. However, most often the people would jeer at God’s prophet and continue their bad
behavior—later becoming recipients of the exact punishment that God threatened.

Like other prophecy recorded in the Bible, these predictions support the supernatural
inspiration of the Bible. The prophecies recorded in the Bible came true in such a detailed
way that they could not have been predicted by chance. Further, archaeologists have evidence
that these prophecies were written down many years before they were fulfilled, proving that
they were not falsified documents claiming to be prophecies that came true. (The discovery of
the Dead Sea Scrolls stopped the majority of that talk.) Although an entire web site could be
filled with this information, we will provide one example—the foretelling of the destruction
of Edom and its capital city of Petra.

The Proof of Textual Evidence

Both the Old and New Testaments are strongly supported by manuscript evidence (the
evidence of early hand written copies). The famous Dead Sea Scrolls are one example of the
Old Testament evidence. These documents came from the “library” of a settlement founded at
Qumran before 150 B.C. and abandoned about 68 A.D. Some of the manuscript copies were
made during that period, and some were written earlier (third century BC) and brought to the
settlement. Ignoring spelling-oriented (orthographic) changes and similar small differences,
the Dead Sea Scrolls match the Hebrew text behind today’s Old Testament, in spite of the
passage of over 2,000 years (where one would expect errors to creep in).

Over 20,000 known manuscripts document the New Testament text. This makes the New
Testament the most reliable document of antiquity (a document written before the printing
press). These manuscripts vary in size from a part of a page to an entire Bible (Old and New
Testaments). The earliest New Testament manuscripts date from the second century (100-
199) AD These manuscript copies were written in different languages by people of different
nationalities, cultures, and backgrounds. In spite of all those differences between them, the
New Testament texts all agree. (That is, those differences that we do observe between these
hand written documents are occasional changes in the spelling of names or isolated cases of
missing or changed words. Still, since we have so many copies, it is obvious to anyone but the
hardened skeptic can that they all represent the same text.)

Note: Those minor differences that do exist between the Old and New Testament manuscripts
are interesting for academic reasons. They are the topic of a future “in depth” Clarifying
Christianity page. (It is currently about 10,000 words long and still under construction—stay
tuned.)

The Proof of People Living at the Time of Christ

Special proof exists for the New Testament, since Christians were strongly persecuted by both
the Jews and the Roman government. If the New Testament writings were false, these two
groups would have produced a great deal of evidence to stop the growth of this “sect.” None
exists. Further, the New Testament writings (before they were assembled into the “book” we
call the New Testament) circulated during the lifetimes of thousands of people who had
actually seen Jesus’ miracles and other historic events. No one ever refuted the New
Testament writings as “fairy tales.”

The Proof of Historians

Secular history supports the Bible. For example, in The Antiquities of the Jews, book 18,
chapter 3, paragraph 3 the famous historian Flavius Josephus writes:

“Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he
was a doer of wonderful works—a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He
drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and
when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the
cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again
the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful
things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this
day.”

In 115 AD, P. Cornelius Tacitus wrote the following passage that refers to Jesus (called
“Christus,” which means “The Messiah”) in book 15, chapter 44 of The Annals:

“Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite
tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus,
from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius
at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition,
thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil,
but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find
their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded
guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the
crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to
their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were
nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination,
when daylight had expired.”