BIBLE-RELIABILITY
We take 107
silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet
deep. Now mark one of these silver
dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly…Blindfold a man and tell him…he must
pick up one silver dollar…What chance would he have of getting the right
one? Just the same chance that the
prophets would have of writing…eight prophecies and having them come true in
any one man.
Science Speaks, Moody Press, 1963, p.
100-107.
Even though
(the Bible) is an ancient document, every person in every situation in every
society that’s ever existed can find in this book things
that endure forever. Here’s a book that never
needs another edition. It never needs to
be edited, never has to be updated, is never out of
date or obsolete. It speaks to us as
pointedly and directly as it ever has to anyone in any century since it was
written. It’s so pure that it lasts
forever.
You Can Trust the Bible, Moody Press, 1988,
p. 21-22.
The best
evidence of the Bible's being the word of God is to be found between its
covers. It proves itself.
Charles Hodge
The evidence
for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for
many writings of classical authors, the authenticity of which no-one dreams of
questioning. And if the New Testament were a collection of secular writings,
their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt. It is a
curious fact that historians have often been much readier to trust the New
Testament than have many theologians.
The New Testament Documents: Are They
Reliable? 1949, p. 15.
There is, I
imagine, no body of literature in the world that has been exposed to the
stringent analytical study that the four Gospels have sustained for the past
200 years. This is not something to be
regretted: it is something to be
accepted with satisfaction. Scholars
today who treat the Gospels as credible historical documents do so in the full
light of this analytical study, not by closing their minds to it.
These men’s
writings do not read like the works of gullible, easily deceived or deceiving
men. Their insights into human nature are profound. Their personal commitment
is sober and carefully stated. Their teachings are coherent and do not look
like the invention of unstable men. The moral and spiritual standard is high.
And the lives of these men are totally devoted to the truth and to the honor of
God.
John Piper