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From: geoff@pmafire.UUCP (Geoff Allen)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Is the Bible God's Word?
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Date: 1 Oct 89 01:06:25 GMT
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In article  
palmer@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (Grant E. Palmer) asks why we believe that
the Bible is the Word of God.

For me, the most convincing evidence of God's authorship of the Bible is
fulfilled prophecy.  In fact, God Himself offers this as a test of any
supposed prophet's words (all quotes in this article are from the New
International Version of the Bible):

	You may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has
	not been spoken by the LORD?"  If what a prophet proclaims in
	the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a
	message the LORD has not spoken.  That prophet has spoken
	presumptuously.  Do not be afraid of him.  (Deut. 18:21-22)

Any true prophet will have 100% accuracy when speaking of the future.

For a detailed account of many fulfilled prophecies, I would refer you
to the book _Evidence_That_Demands_a_Verdict_, by Josh McDowell.  It's
pretty dry reading, since it's written in outline form and just presents
the evidence.  (But it's very much worth reading.)  I'll give just a
couple of examples here. 

First, we'll look at the case of Cyrus, King of Persia.  In the book of
Isaiah, we find these words about him:

	[I am the LORD,] who says of Cyrus, "He is my shepherd
	and will accomplish all that I please;
	he will say of Jerusalem, `Let it be rebuilt,'
	and of the temple, `Let its foundations be laid.'"
                                            (Isaiah 44:28)

Now, when Isaiah wrote this (sometime around 700 B.C.), Jerusalem was a
healthy city and in no need of being rebuilt.  The same was true of the
temple.  Yet Isaiah said that a man named Cyrus would say that Jerusalem
and the temple should be rebuilt.

So what happened? Around 600 B.C.  (100 years later than Isaiah's
prophecy), King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and
carried off the Isrealites into exile.  Several generations after that,
the Persians took over Babylonia and King Cyrus of Persia issued the
following decree:

	This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:

	The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of
	the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at
	Jerusalem in Judah.  Anyone of his people among you -- may his
	God be with him, and let him go up to build the temple of the
	LORD, the God of Isreal, the God who is in Jerusalem.
                                             (Ezra 1:2-3)

Isaiah named names and told of events over 100 years into the future. 
Coincidence, or the Word of God?

Another example is the many prophecies concerning the Messiah, which are
fulfilled in Jesus.  Some people try to argue that the prophecies
concerning the Messiah were actually written *after* Jesus lived, and
that's why they match so well.  Well, the Septuagint (the greek version
of the Old Testament) was completed at least 200 years B.C., so anything
in the Old Testament was at least written 200 years before Jesus lived. 
Here is a list of a few of the prophecies concerning the Messiah, cross
referenced with New Testament passages documenting their fulfillment. 
The Old Testament says that he would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2,
cf. Matthew 2:1 & Luke 2:4-7), that he would be born of a virgin
(Isaiah 7:14, cf. Matthew 1:18 & Luke 1:26-35), that he would come to
Jerusalem amidst rejoicing riding on a donkey (Zech. 9:9, cf. John
12:13-14), that he would be betrayed by a friend (Psalm 41:9, cf. 
Matthew 26:14-16 & Mark 14:10) for 30 pieces of silver (Zech. 11:12-13;
cf. Matthew 26:15), that the money for his betrayal would be used to
buy a potter's field (Zech. 11:13, cf. Matthew 26:6-7).  There are
also numerous prophecies concerning his crucifixion (Psalm 22 and Isaiah
53 are two examples) and resurrection. 

Coincidence?  Not very likely.

There are several other reasons to believe the Bible, but I believe that
fulfilled prophecy is by far the most compelling.  Check out
_Evidence_That_Demands_a Verdict for more.

--
Geoff Allen                  \  Test everything.  Hold on to the good. 
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