Out and About

As I read the Easter story as told by the Bible, it causes me to pause to think that a record-low 20% of Americans now say the Bible is the literal word of God, down from 24% the last time the question was asked by Gallup polling in 2017. Evidence for the Bible as the Word of God often focuses on its unique textual reliability, fulfilled prophecies and archaeological corroboration.

Key statistics include more than 24,000 New Testament manuscripts with 99.5% accuracy, 300-plus fulfilled Messianic prophecies, and more than 80 historical figures verified by external sources. The Bible boasts unmatched unity, written by more than 40 authors over 1,500 years, yet maintains a consistent narrative. Scholarly people who study odds suggest the odds of the Bible’s prophetic accuracy occurring by chance are astronomically low, often cited as less than 1 in 10^80.

The Bible record may be said to be vastly more reliable than the second law of thermodynamics. You don’t have to like it or understand it — but if you are an unbeliever and want the facts, the odds are in favor of the Bible being true. No matter what we write or say, there will be people who just do not get it, and that is OK because Jesus died for them, too, and maybe one day, their heart will be open to the truth.

Some state that they believe that Jesus existed, but they don’t believe he was the Son of God or that he rose from the dead. Non-Messianic Jews don’t believe Jesus is the Messiah because their Messiah should have come into Jerusalem on a horse, not a donkey. The Jews of the Bible thought the Messiah was to save them from the oppression of the Romans, not their sins.

According to former atheist Lee Strobel, who wrote The Case for Easter, “The amount of testimony and corroboration of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances is staggering. To put it into perspective, if you were to call each one of the witnesses to a court of law to be cross-examined for just 15 minutes each, and you went around the clock without a break, it would take you from breakfast on Monday until dinner on Friday to hear them all. After listening to 129 straight hours of eyewitness testimony.

Sir Edward Clarke, a British High Court judge who conducted a thorough legal analysis of the first Easter, wrote, “To me the evidence is conclusive, and over and over again in the High Court I have secured the verdict on evidence not nearly so compelling. As a lawyer I accept the gospel evidence unreservedly as the testimony of truthful men to facts that they were able to substantiate.”

Would you die a horrific death for a lie? I don’t think anyone would. So how does someone who doesn’t believe account for the disciples of Jesus being killed in horrific ways because they would not recant what they saw or experienced? The New Testament records that James, the brother of John, was executed by the sword under King Herod. Beyond that, early Christian tradition holds that many of the apostles were martyred — Peter crucified in Rome, Andrew crucified, Thomas killed by spears, and others executed in various ways, including being sawed in half while alive and being skinned alive. While the exact details differ across historical sources, the consistent thread is that these early followers of Jesus were willing to suffer and die for their beliefs. John is the only apostle traditionally believed to have died of natural causes after enduring persecution.

There is more archaeological evidence that the Bible is true, and the evidence is clear. To date, there hasn’t been an archaeological find that has discounted the Bible. In fact, atheist and Christian archaeologists and anthropologists use the Bible as a guide for their studies. In my mind, you must have a lot of blind faith to be an atheist … and I’m borrowing that from Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek, who wrote the book, “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist.”

Quote of the Week:  “If someone says, ‘there is no truth,’ ask: ‘Is that true?’” Frank Turek (1961 –    )  An American Christian apologist and author.