The Reliability of the Bible & Did Jesus Exist?
Updated: Jun 4, 2022
This is for anyone to read, but mostly, I am writing it to share with my brothers and sisters in Christ who may be vulnerable to the people who make it their life's mission to to make you fall away. I wrote this after I started getting messages from someone (who denies Christ) in response to one of my posts on social media (it seems this person had watched Zeitgeist one too many times).
I don’t understand why someone would work so hard to make me not believe. What does that individual have to gain? How does my faith harm you? Just a heads up, be careful how you approach the little children, those new to the faith, and those weak in the faith (which I was weak in the faith when this person was causing me to stumble).
The scriptures say in Matthew 18, "And whoever shall cause to stumble one of these of the little ones believing in Me, it is better for him that a heavy millstone should be hung around his neck, and he be sunk in the depth of the sea."
Advice for those new to the faith, weak in the faith, or want to have faith: Read, listen to, and study things that will solidify your faith! If you are reading, listening to, or studying something that is making your faith falter, DROP IT. There may be truth to it, but it may be something you aren't ready for and you can pick back up at a later time. I am speaking from personal experience on that. We need to be able to endure patiently until either we're called home or until Jesus Christ returns. Solidify your relationship with Christ first and foremost.
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Cor 2:14
I am not a Bible scholar or a professional writer. Just a child of God who wants to help others. I will try to make things flow well so it’s easy to read. AND....I will keep it simple! My intended audience is not the ones who already know all the things. I barely skim the surface on most of these blog posts intentionally. It's up to you to dig deeper if you are led to. These are things that have helped me over the past several years; so if these things helped me, surely there's someone else out there it may help.
"I use to be a skeptic. I use to be a doubter. I use to believe the Bible was just some old book that we could go to when we were dealing with tough times in life.
That all changed for me eight years ago. When I actually read through the Bible and saw that it was perfect in every way. And from Genesis to Revelation it testifies of Jesus Christ.”
Quote source: Chad Thomas
The Old Testament, written hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth, contains over 300 prophecies that Jesus fulfilled through His life, death, and resurrection.
Mathematically speaking, the odds of anyone fulfilling this amount of prophecy are staggering. Mathematicians put it this way:
1 person fulfilling 8 prophecies: 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000
1 person fulfilling 48 prophecies: 1 chance in 10 to the 157th power
1 person fulfilling 300+ prophecies: Only Jesus!
Link to a great study on those prophecies is at the bottom of this post.
Jesus is real. He was here on this earth. He was crucified. Risen. Jesus Is Alive. Jesus is the only way to the kingdom of Heaven!
Repent and Believe the Gospel.
𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞? 𝐀 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲! When Satan knows you’re a truth seeker, he knows exactly what doors to knock on in your mind. Being a truth seeker without the help of the Holy Spirit almost sent me on a dark and hopeless path!
Once we lose that child-like faith and become adults who question everything, maybe the next step could be to study the chronology of the Bible and what prophesies did Jesus fulfill. Jesus was not a mythical figure; He's documented in more places than the Bible.
He was mentioned by Jewish and Roman historians as well. There were many eyewitnesses. Again, just skimming the surface here! Tons of interesting reading to do on that topic!
When you begin studying the Bible and see all the prophecies fulfilled by Jesus Christ, that's your tangible evidence He is Who He says He is.
When you start looking at the chronology, I hope you will see, with the help of the Holy Spirit, that this is something God has done for us! Because He knew we'd ask questions.
How the Old and New Testaments line up/match up is nothing short of magnificent. Truly a God-breathed miracle. There are at least 150 chapters throughout God’s word in which the end times is the major topic.
Hundreds of years passed between different books being written; the synchronization is stunning.
It’s not like the Bible writers were sitting around at a table together and boom...the Bible was done. Hundreds of years and miles separated these authors; a scroll here….a tablet there….and it all lines up with each other countless times!
Sure, there are several versions of the Bible out today and many distort and even leave out/add verses. But we have the resources to be able to assist us with that matter. Most importantly, we have the Holy Spirit to aid us in our discernment. Be sure to read my home page of this site for more on that matter and other disclaimers.
The Bible is not just a book. The Bible was written over a period of roughly 2,000 years by 40 different authors from different continents, who wrote in different languages. The Bible declares some 3,800 times, "God said," or "Thus says the Lord." For example, "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever." Isaiah 40:8 "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away." Matthew 24:35
"The Bible was written over a course of 1600 years between 2000 and 3600 years ago.
66 books written on 3 different continents by 40 different authors most of which never met each other yet they form a flawless integrated message system.
The infallible, God breathed, divine, inerrant, and inspired Holy Word of God is eternal perfection."
- Paraphrased from Greg The Berean
Many also seem bothered that books were written several decades after they happened. That time span is within the lifetimes of many eyewitnesses to Jesus, His miracles, and His ascension.
When Christ yielded His spirit at the Cross (Matthew 27), many people saw the the veil of the temple torn in two and felt the earth quake, many saw the graves come open and the bodies of the sleeping saints arise - they went into the city and appeared to many! All those people....saw. And they believed. They said, "Truly. This was the Son of God."
This is why even though there have been haters of Christ since the beginning, Christ's name lives on.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND TOOLS 📖🛡⚔
Spiritual Growth Documents and Resources - Click on the picture below.
Chronology of the Bible - Click on the picture below
WHAT VERSION OF THE BIBLE IS BEST???
The question frequently comes up, “Which version of the Bible is the most reliable?” I am not KJV only, but it is my favorite version. How about we study from several versions, use concordances, and use the discernment the Holy Spirit gives us? After all, all versions have been altered from the original in one way or another. Jesus Christ is the Word and we preach Christ crucified.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1 Corinthians 1:18-25 18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Quote:
There are 2 types of skeptics: An honest one and a dishonest one.
An honest skeptic isn’t sure, but is willing to objectively investigate a matter. When given a logical or rational reasoning, he or she accepts it.
A dishonest skeptic doesn’t want to know the truth. He doesn’t want to read an answer, except maybe to mock and scoff some more.
There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts.
Word document below: There are over 300 prophecies that point directly to the Messiah.
Jesus Fulfilled Over 300 Prophecies
.docx
Download DOCX • 72KB
See comment section below for links regarding
evidence for Jesus outside of the Bible.