Give five reasons to support your view of the divine inspiration of Scripture.

Question:

Give five reasons to support your view of the divine inspiration of Scripture.

Answer:

I am uncompromising in my stance of the Bible, as originally inspired, being the inerrant Word of God. I can base this statement on many facts (for a much more detailed study on this topic please see my post entitled “Validity of the Bible”) but in summary we can rest assured it is divinely inspired because of the following:

1.    Jesus Himself spoke of the Scriptures’: Authority  –  Matthew 22:43, Reliability  –  Matthew 26:54, Finality  –  Matthew 4:4, 7, 10, Sufficiency  –  Luke 16:31, Indestructibility  –  Matthew 5:17-18, Unity  –  Luke 24:27, 44, Clarity  –  Luke 24:27, Historicity  –  Matthew 12:40, Facticity (scientifically)  –  Matthew 19:2-5, Inerrancy  –  Matthew 22:29; John 3:12, 17:17, Infallibility  –  John 10:35
2.    Third-party verification  –  a plethora of external sources and facts outside the Bible corroborate what is found in the Bible.
3.    Historical reliability  –  The Bible’s message is a sharp contrast to the pagan fertility religions and philosophies of the ancient world as revealed through history. It isn’t shy about mentioning dates and places that have never been proven false (or if they seemingly had later evidence has uncovered these claims to be false themselves thus proving the Bible true). Additionally, the multitude of manuscripts and breadth of textual criticism has brought us much closer over time to understanding the truly amazing accuracy of the Scriptures.
4.    Fulfilled prophecy – Events demonstrate that the Biblical prophets accurately predicted events hundreds of years before they occurred.
5.    Archaeological evidence  –  Physical evidence demonstrates the historical and cultural accuracy of the Bible.
6.   Life …

The Truth: Absolute and Unchanging. Infinite and Incarnate.

Key verse(s)/quote(s):

“What was truth to Abraham is truth to us; what was truth to Paul is truth to us; what was truth to the martyrs is truth to us; what is truth to us will be truth to all generations of the world in all lands, and will be truth for ever. This fact, too, is a just foundation for universal praise…” - Albert Barnes

“The truth of the matter is that all truth is absolute  —  there are no relative truths. If something really is true, then it really is true everywhere and for everyone.” - Norman Geisler

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” - John 14:6

Key takeaway(s):

1. The nature of truth is absolute.
2. The nature of truth requires a decision.
3. We must apply the truth by: Living it, Defending it Without Fear, and Proclaiming it.

Overview:

Among the plethora of topics discussed on this site, Truth remains at the core of all that TiS stands for. The declaration of an absolute, unchanging, infinite and incarnate Truth is what TiS’ sole mission is founded upon (click here for details). Without an accurate and objective understanding of Truth as a philosophical concept, it is impossible to realize the need to seek Truth and understand that it demands exclusivity. For instance, if one were to simply adopt a traditional post-modern view of truth as being relative, one could rest on their laurels as there …

Bible Contradictions

Key verse(s)/quote(s):

• even prophets show interest in correct biblical understanding

“They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.” - Nehemiah 8:8

• Jesus corrects wrong scriptural understanding

“So they asked him, “What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” - John 6:30-33

Key takeaway(s):

1. It is important to understand the difference between: Exegesis (Good): Draw meaning out of text, Eisegesis (Bad): Read one’s ideas into the text.
2. Context is necessary and without it something can easily become a pretext.
3. A proper/complete view of biblical study is key to an accurate understanding of what the text says
4. Developing a reflex to research and not to doubt is mandatory for any sound pursuit of Truth.

Overview:

This post serves as a practical extension to the topical discussion on the “Validity of the Bible”. Beyond understanding the tools, approaches, and broader questioning of the Bible the attached documents address more specific examples of “apparent contradictions”. …

Validity of the Bible

Key verse(s)/quote(s):

“What we really need, after all, is not to defend the Bible but to understand it.”  –  Millar Burrows

“If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came  —  and the Scripture cannot be broken”  –  John 10:35

Key takeaway(s):

1. Understanding the Bible in context and being able to gain and communicate its validity is paramount to the Christian faith.
2. One can easily say they “believe” in the Bible or claim the opposite naming it “myth”, each is without veracity as one must understand “what” the Bible says completely and “why” we can have assurance it is actually the Word of God.
3. Basis for trust is rooted in:
   • Third-Party Verification
   • Historical Reliability
   • Fulfilled Prophecy
   • Archaeological Evidence
4. God can produce both a Person and a Book that are without error.

Overview:
This topic is one that sometimes seems bland and often ignored yet ironically in my view it is arguably the most or second most paramount aspect of the Christian dialogue. As Paul states that Christianity itself stands and falls on the resurrection of Christ, it is of utmost importance that prior to generating thoughts and basing our world views on the teaching of a book we must put to rest the discussion on the validity of such a book. More simply put, how can we live by the word of a book if it’s just a book and yet we think and say it is the word of God yet we don’t know it to be so?

Secondarily, how can we respond to the popular …