The Bible is not just another book. The Bible is the Book of books, as well as a book of books. It is a book of books because it is one large book that is made up of many books … BUT it is alsothe Book of books because it is the only book that is claimed to have been authored by God, working through humans.
Among the things that make the Bible such a unique book, there are four things that make ittrustworthy, namely: 1) the historical accuracy of its accounts; 2) the prophetic accuracy of its claims; 3) the unity of its message in the scriptures; 4) the preservation of the books of the Bible.
- The historical accuracyis important because scholars, over the years, have doubted the existence of persons mentioned in the Bible and scoffed at events in the biblical record. However, many archaeological finds over the years have provided evidence of people, places, and cultures that have been mentioned and described in the Scriptures. The same can be said of the geographical accuracy of the Scriptures, which archaeological finds have proven, in many cases, to be more reliable than the speculations of scholars.
- The prophetic accuracyof the Bible is most significant because of events that have occurred in history years, even centuries, after they had been recorded in the Bible. For example, the Scriptures record that Moses predicted, before Israel even went into the Promised Land, that Israel would possess a particular land (as a gift from God) … would turn from God… would lose the land it was being given … would be scattered throughout the world … would be regathered … and would be reinstated as a nation. Although the modern nation of Israel is not the totality of the descendants of ancient Israel, the establishment of the modern nation shows that the re-establishment of the Israelite nation may not be as far-fetched as it may initially seem. The Scriptures also prophesied that a Messiah who would save God’s people from their sins and eventually bring judgment and peace to the whole world. Christians believe that the first part of those Messianic prophecies have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ and that the latter part(s) will eventually be fulfilled, at God’s appointed time.
- Despite the historical, geographical and prophetic accuracy of the Scriptures, it is the unity of the Messageof the Scriptures that seal the deal for many. Many of us can think of books, written by single authors, that have had to edited, even re-written, after only a few years of being published … because of discrepancies, inherent contradictions, etc. In contrast, the Bible, which is really a collection of 66 books, written by about 40 different authors, over a period of about 1600 years, has has displayed incredible unity in its themes and overall message of salvation. That fact of the Bible’s unity, like the consistency of its theme, becomes even more amazing when we realize that most of the persons who wrote the books of the Bible were not scholars. Indeed, the writers include some who had made their living as simple fishermen.
- The preservation of the Scriptures is important because it has helped to support the unity of the Bible by ensuring the integrity of each of the books that constitute the Bible. The meticulous way in which scribes and copyists would transcribe passages of scripture were legendary, including the counting of letters, jots and tittles before and after each copy and destroying copies where there were discrepancies in the count. The effectiveness of their method was confirmed by the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. They included manuscripts that predated previous oldest copies by about 1,000 years, The scrolls, which included a copy of the book of Isaiah that is essentially the same as the book of Isaiah in modern Bibles, effectively discredited critics who had claimed that the original Bible had been lost.
While none of the points above, taken by itself, may not convince the skeptic, when they are taken together, they present a formidable argument to show that the Bible is NOT just another book. For Christians, the points above show, clearly, that the Bible, although written by Men, was ultimately authored by God. For Christians, the Bible is NOT just a Book of books, BUT also The Book of books, authored by God to reveal His love and His plan for humanity. That, they would say, is why anyone (including you) should trust the Bible.