by James Thomas Lee, Jr. 11/06/96 Copyrighted 1995 by James Thomas Lee, Jr. Copyright Number: TXu 704-227
Chapter 21. Knowing The Bible Is Correct and Accurate {404 words}
Chapter 21. Knowing The Bible Is Correct and Accurate {404 words}
Thus far, the existence of God, or at least that of knowing Him in a current setting, plus the proof of Jesus Christ as Lord, have been presented. Now, the third and final fundamental to be examined by this analyses is one which pertains to the reliability of Scriptures. As must be asked when one sets out on such a pursuit, what good is the Bible if a person cannot have complete and absolute assurance that it comes from God? The answer is none! Well-meaning, trite phrases are nice. They can make a person feel good. But what an individual really needs to know is the truth of God, and that knowledge can only come from a book which He has given. In undertaking this task of finding the truth, along with that of ensuring the validity of God's Word, the discussion shall proceed through four important steps, as are outlined in Table 13.
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Table 13. The Four Steps For Proving God's Word.
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The first step will be to show why it was and why it is necessary for Christians to have a reliable version of Scriptures. In addition to what may already be an obvious reason, there are three others. The second step will be to explain how early church leaders determined which literary works should or should not be included. What criteria or criterion did they use to accept or reject certain writings? Included with that discussion will be a short book-by-book analysis to show that each book in the present-day Bible can be qualified and that it truly does belong. The third step will be to briefly discuss some of the archaeological data which have been uncovered through the years and to show how they have had an impact on the overall understanding and acceptance of the Bible. The fourth and final step will be to examine the standards by which the original Bible has been copied and preserved through the years. At that point, all should see that the putting together and preserving of this Book has not been clumsy, haphazard, or even half-hearted. In fact, the whole process has been just the opposite - very thorough, very meticulous, and done with great care!
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