How do we know the Bible is reliable? Why do you believe it?

If someone asked you why you believe the Bible, would you know what to tell them??

How do you know the Bible is reliable? Why do you believe it?

This is important, y’all. Faith is paramount, but people need some reasons behind that faith. These days most people are not educated about the Bible. I’m going to do the best I can to re-tell the excellent illustration that Pastor Craig Bowers used to show just how reliable the Bible is.

Jar illustration

This jar illustration shows how many separate ancient manuscripts exist of the Bible as opposed to the works of Julius Caesar, Plato, or Aristotle. And yet, which one do naysayers question?

Do you see those first few jars on the left? Those represent how many ancient writings we have found from Julius Caesar, Plato, or Aristotle. We have 10 remaining copies of Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars. That’s the 1st jar.

Plato had a handful of letters that remained. That’s the 2nd jar.

Aristotle has 49 copies remaining, and the oldest one of those was copied 1400 years after Aristotle died. 

Does anyone question these tiny jars of writings? No.

You see the 1 jar to the left of the Bible that is full of packing peanuts? That one represents Homer’s works. Most of these were recorded ages after Homer was long gone. But no one questions the validity of these documents. These are great stories. No problem.

Do you see those stacks and stacks of Sam’s size jars of packing peanuts to the right of the Bible?? Those represent how many ancient copies have been found of the Bible, in miraculous agreement with each other. There are over 24,000 copies. Over 24,000!!!

Over 5,000 ancient “Greek manuscripts from the New Testament alone still exist today.” (source 2, page 18)

The Dead Sea Scrolls were written between 200 BC and 68 AD and are the same as the manuscripts we have today.

By 200 AD, the Bible was already translated into 7 different languages.

500 AD–13 languages

900–17 languages

1400–28 languages

And remember, this is all long before the invention of the printing press in 1440.

The Bible itself was written by eye-witness accounts, eye-witness accounts who had other witnesses to hold them accountable for telling the truth.

This was so real to these apostles that 10 out of 12 of them died a martyr’s death for this cause. What were they killed for? Simply for preaching the gospel. Jesus saves. Trust in Jesus. They never hurt a soul. In fact, they healed many people.

The Bible doesn’t have a leg to stand on, it has at least 24,000 legs to stand on. The evidence is overwhelming. 

And that’s not all!! There are countless other writings and archaeological finds from antiquity that support the stories in the Bible. There are stories of the flood, stories of the Exodus, and the list goes on and on.

People don’t disbelieve the Bible because the evidence isn’t there. The evidence is everywhere. People disbelieve because either they are ignorant or because their hearts are hardened to the truth.

As believers, it is also our responsibility to know WHY we believe. I hope you found reassurance in these facts today.

13This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’ 14In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.…    Matthew 13:13-14

For God so loved the world he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.  John 3:16

Sources:

1.) Sermon notes from Craig Bowers, Jan. 15, 2017. You can follow him on this recently launched YouTube channel.

2.) Rose Book of Bible Charts, Maps, and Time Lines, 2015, pages 10-11, 48-49

3.) 25 Fascinating Facts About the Dead Sea Scrolls 

4.) The Holy Bible, NIV

5.) The Holy Bible, KJV