The Bible is often referred to as God’s Word. To some, this is a fact that they build their entire lives around. To others, the whole thing seems bogus. But, there are some things about the Bible that seem to be good evidence for having some level of Divine Authorship. Whether you think it is the inerrant word of God or not, it can still be said that if any pieces of it required a divine influence, then God must exist.
Before I get into the main argument, I would like to point something out that is often overlooked. The Bible is an amazing work of literature. It has everything: great poetry, strange and unique stories, incredible use of foreshadowing, very original characters, great ideas about love, and so much more. I think this, in itself, is evidence for God’s existence. The fact that a large number of educated and uneducated people combined to create such an incredible work of literature is worth noting. Simple fishermen wrote the best selling book of all time. It is sometimes hard for me to think they made it all up.
But the main reason I think divine influence can be seen in the Bible is prophecies. There are hundreds of prophecies in the Bible. Many have come true, and some are supposed to happen in the future. Many of these prophecies (around 300) deal with Jesus. Some are quite specific, and some broader, but all of them came true in the person of Jesus. Now, you may argue that much of that is due to chance or a few have been twisted to fit. So let us account for those. Since I am feeling generous, we will suppose that only 8 of those prophecies about Jesus were about him and actually came true. But through modern science of probability, it has been determined that the odds of making 8 prophecies or predictions about a person and all of them coming true is 1 in 10^17 power. Those odds are pretty slim. The following illustration presents a good way of understanding how ridiculous those odds are. If you were to cover the state of Texas with 10^17 silver dollars, they would cover the state and be two feet deep. One of these silver dollars has been painted red, and you get one shot at picking it out with your eyes closed. I doubt that you will find it.
The Prophecies in the Bible often came true. It must be asked, how did someone know what one person would be like 500-1000 years into the future? The only reasonable answer is that God must have been writing through them, because only God would know. We cannot say the texts were changed later, because we have manuscripts of the Old Testament that predate the life of Jesus. If we were to say that the writers of the New Testament made a story up to fit all the prophecies together, we would have to admit that uneducated fishermen were some of the most intelligent men in history and tricked their own nation and the entire Roman Empire. Since this seems extremely unlikely to me, I am left with the conclusion that God helped write the Bible and must, therefore, exist.
Good examples of prophesies in the Bible:
In Isaiah 44 and 45, a prophecy is made that a King named Cyrus (yes, it actually gives his name) will conquer the World and will return the Israelites to their home. Years later, Cyrus of the Persian Empire took over the world and sent the Israelites back to Jerusalem.
Read Psalms 22. You will be very surprised to see how much of it relates and foreshadows Jesus’s crucifixion.
A prediction that Jesus will be born in Bethlehem: "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity" (Micah 5:2).
A prophecy about Jesus being crucified and his nature during the event: “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth“ (Isaiah 53:7).
A prophecy about the Triumphal Entry: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9).
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I think you would benefit from learning about biblical textual criticism. Self fulfilling prophecies don't count; Neither do entirely made up ones.
ReplyDeleteThose that take interpretation are also quite good examples of reader bias.
I actually have learned about biblical textual criticism. Multiple college courses in fact. I think it is important to note that some people criticize the Bible with the goal of proving it wrong. Others just want to prove it right. It is important to take as objective view as possible. Some prophecies may seem self-fulfilling and have a level of interpretation. But, objectively, I do not think one can deny every single prophecy. Out of the several hundreds, I supposed that 8 were fulfilled. Those odds were still astronomical.
ReplyDeleteRemember also that the authors of the new testament were not all scholars, many were uneducated and would not have been able to make up the results of every prophecy, because they would not have known them.