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THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD
The Scriptures are the inspired Word of God. I must
point out right way some facts about the Bible. Most
study Bibles have two or more sections on each page
The main body is the Scripture. There are often
cross references to the various Scriptures and then
comments from the translator. Please be aware that
only the Scriptures are inspired. All the rest of
the writing is that of the translator, designed to
help you understand the phrases etc. Never consider
the footnotes, introductions, and comments of the
translator to be inspired. Also remember that the
translations are just that. Some translations are
what they call paraphrased. Here the translators are
really authors of the book and are rewriting the
Scripture into a story-type modern language to try
to show the passages better. Other translations are
how the translator interpreted the original language
of the Scriptures.
For example, today some words have totally different
meanings then used only a few years ago. Cool back
several years ago referred to the temperature. Hip
was part of the anatomy. Gay was happy. Another
problem is simply that one word does have more than
one meaning or translation in even our dictionaries.
Another problem is that in the original Greek there
were no small letters. That is all the letters were
capital. There was no separation between words, nor
punctuation's and even the whole book may have only
a couple of paragraph separations. Thus, the
translator had to divide the letters into words. Let
me show you an example of this problem.
GODISNOWHERE
What does it say? Does it read God is no where or
does it say God is now here?
It is important to realize there were very few
chapters and no verses in the original Scriptures.
The division of chapters and verses did not occur in
both the Old and New Testaments simultaneously. For
example, the first five books of the Old Testament
consisted of only 54 sections before 536 B.C. The
Scriptures later were further subdivided into 669
sections for reference purposes. Today we have
31,102 verses of Scriptures. The division of the
Scriptures into verses took place around the 1500s.
The function of the verses is to help in
memorization of the Bible. Therefore, we must read
the verses in relationship to those around them.
Most of the cults that use the Bible often take
verses out of context. They do this to make the
Bible say what they want it to.
It took more than 40 authors from all different
walks of life to write the Bible. They vary from
King (David) to a poor fisherman (Peter), from Prime
minister (Daniel) to a housewife (Ruth). The authors
wrote in different places such as the wilderness
(Moses), prison (Paul), and in three different
languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. The writers
also lived and wrote from three different
continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe. It took over
1,500 years to complete the Scriptures. Yet with all
those authors from different continents, speaking
different languages, there are no mistakes in the
Scriptures.
The Bible has been the most critically-reviewed
writing in the world and one has yet to find a
mistake. The Scriptures we have today are based on
over 5,000 manuscripts recovered from early periods.
The last of the writing of the Scriptures took place
between 64 A.D. and 95 A.D. The earliest fragments
of the manuscripts of the New Testament are dated
about 120 A.D. In addition, we have the writings of
the early church fathers who frequently quoted the
Scriptures. On top of that we have the secular
history and writings that support the Scriptures.
Then, we also have the findings of the
archaeologists to further prove the writings of the
Scripture. Finally and most important to us, God
tells us the Scriptures are His words and inspired.
Before we look at the Scriptures, where God directly
says that these are His inspired words, let us
examine a few facts.
Many prophets wrote about things that would happen
hundreds and thousands of years later. Unlike other
writers, the things they wrote about have occurred
as written. The birth of our Lord Jesus is just one
classic example. Talk about predictions. Parts of
Jesus' autobiography were written thousands of years
before his birth.
For centuries people believed the world was flat and
it was possible to fall off the edge. Yet Isaiah
wrote back around 740 B.C. that the earth was round.
Isaiah 40:22 states "He sits enthroned above the
circle of the earth."
In Job 26:7 it says that the earth is suspended in
space. Then, and for centuries after, one of the top
theories concerning the earth was that our planet
was flat and rested securely upon the back of a
gigantic turtle who was slowly plodding through a
cosmic sea of some sort. The world did not know of
the earth's suspension until Sir Isaac Newton
revealed the facts to the world scientists in 1687
A.D.
How many stars are there? Nearly twenty centuries
before Christ's birth, God spoke to Abraham one
night and told him. This is in Genesis 15:5: "Look
now toward the heaven, and tell the stars if thou be
able to number them: and he said unto him. So shall
thy seed be." There are a little under 1,200 stars
visible to the naked eye. Yet in a previous
conversation God said, "And I will make them seed as
the dust of the earth: so that if man can number the
dust of the earth, then shall they seed also be
numbered." Astronomers, up until 150 A.D., declared
the number of stars to be 1,056. Today, scientists
tell us there are probably as many stars in the
heavens as there are grains of sand.
As recent as a century or so ago, the ocean's volume
and size were viewed as a watery bowl, which sloped
from the coastline gently downward until the middle,
where it was deepest. Then it was thought to proceed
upward to the other side. Yet today we know that
some of the highest mountains and deepest canyons
are located on the floor of the Pacific Ocean.
Interestingly enough, again the Bible has some facts
for us. In 2 Samuel 22:16 David spoke of the canyons
of the sea. A prophet described the submerged
mountains during what might be called the world's
first submarine trip (see Jonah 2:6).
There are other examples of scientific facts
revealed in the Scriptures hundreds or thousands of
years before being actually discovered by those not
reading the Bible first. A very interesting project
is to discover many other scientific facts revealed
in the Scriptures. Answers to questions such as, did
man and the dinosaurs live on earth simultaneously,
are found in the book of Job. Moses introduced the
names, preventions, and cures for many diseases
known today. Often the preventions, symptoms, and
even cures are still being taught in medical
schools. This could be an interesting project. How
many other scientific facts can you find in the
Scriptures before they were generally known to the
world?
The most important fact that we should believe from
the Scriptures is that God tells us it is His word.
In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 we read, "All Scripture is
given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness: That the man of God
may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good
works." Matthew 4:4, Jesus tells us, "It is written.
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by the very
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Peter
tells us that all Old Testament Scriptures were
given by the Holy Spirit as He moved upon men (2
Peter 1:21).
A quick and very brief list of verses covering this
area includes the following:
1 Cor. 2:13; John 17:8; John 6:63; Gal 1:11-12; 2
Pet. 3:2; 2 Pet. 3:15-15; Rev 22 18-19
For Additional Information Contact
True Light Educational Ministry
P.O. Box 310
Shirley, NY 11967
Telephone (631) 395-4646
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TLEM