The degree of interconnectedness is remarkable, suggesting an author who knew what the whole book would be about and who played a role in it's coming to fruition.

So what is the book about? Well after first telling the story of our creation and early downfall, the Bible then focuses on a budding nation, and God's plan to use this nation, Israel, as a means of blessing the world. Throughout the Old Testament we read stories of Israel's history, many times through seriously flawed characters and occasionally through heroes, though they too by and large have their weaknesses. But woven into all of this is the central character of the Bible and God's redemptive plan. From a veiled reference in chapter 3 of Genesis to a full revealing in chapter 1 of Revelation, Jesus is the true and perfect hero. The Old Testament foreshadows His coming, making numerous predictions of unique details concerning Him, while the New Testament gives an account of His birth, life and ministry, as well as His crucifixion, resurrection, and one day, future return. It's been estimated that the chances of just eight of these predictions/prophesies coming true for Jesus life by accident is effectively zero. Yet Jesus fulfilled many more than that. Conservative estimates suggest 300. Many of these prophesies were written hundreds or even a thousand years before His birth. Now to be clear, saying Jesus is the central character does not mean that His name shows up in every chapter or for that matter in every book of the Bible. The Old Testament book of Esther doesn't even make mention of God. Yet if you know what to look for He's there, by way of prophesies, symbols, and "types", which is a person or thing in the Old Testament that foreshadows a person or thing in the New Testament. So although there are a variety of topics covered in the Bible, the overarching story that connects the beginning to the ending is centred on the person of Jesus.

The photograph at the beginning of this article is intended to be symbolic of Jesus and His righteousness, in contrast to a fallen world. I will get into the details of who Jesus claimed to be and what it was He came to accomplish in my next post, but for now let's consider the trustworthiness of the Bible. Simply put, if we use the same criteria to judge it as we do other historical works, the Bible has proven itself more reliable than any other comparable writings. Just as with other historical works, not every detail can be confirmed, but where it can be checked, it has shown itself to have a flawless track record. Many of the Bibles historical details have been confirmed, and some other portions that have been in doubt have later been affirmed through archeology. For example, the questioning of the existence of the Hittites was laid to rest when a Hittite city complete with records was found in Turkey. Similarly, the presence of cities much like Ur, described in Genesis 11, which some had doubted to exist so early, was dispelled by archeological finds in the 1920s. And clay tablets dating to 2300 BC found in Syria, strongly support the stories, vocabulary, and geography of the Old Testament. There are literally dozens of other Old Testament facts supported by archeological finds with new ones turning up at an increasing frequency, due in part to expanded excavation efforts, use of advanced technologies, and new analysis of previous finds.

Then when it come to the New Testament we once again find that the names of various cities, political officials, descriptions of sites and other details have been verified by historians and archeologists. Among them are the confirmation of the existence and role of Pontius Pilate, the Governor of Judea who authorized the crucifixion of Jesus. The five portico Pool of Bethesda, described by John in his gospel, was thought to be historically inaccurate until the late 1800s. Then archeologists discovered it in Jerusalem, dating it to Jesus time. There's also Iconium, which Luke described as a city in Phyrigia. Some ancient writers wrote that it was located in Lycaonia, however in 1910 a monument was found that confirmed it was indeed a city in Phyrigia. And for many centuries, Lukes use of the word Politarch to describe "rulers of the city", was doubted by the critics as a legitimate Greek term until nineteen inscriptions were discovered. Five were in reference to Thessalonica, the very city in which Luke was claiming to have heard the term. In fact Luke, who's both the writer of the gospel, of the same name, and the book of Acts, was a physician and considered a very fine historian, given his accurate reporting and attention to detail. This should provide a high level of trust in regard to all of his writing.

Faithfull transmission of the text is another consideration when looking at reliability, and here again the Bible ranks at the top when compared to other ancient historical books. For instance the Bible has more support empirically, a shorter time between the original writing and surviving copies, and a greater number of source manuscripts than any other ancient work. In the case of the works of Homer, 1800 plus manuscript copies have been found, which allows for a 95 percent confidence in the original text. The Bible on the other hand has more than 5000 manuscript copies of the New Testament, with most early copies dating around 200 to 300 years after the original and some less than 100 years after. That provides a greater than 99 percent confidence in the original text.

There is much more that could be shared concerning the Bibles trustworthiness, but suffice it to say that there has likely never been a book more carefully scrutinized in all of earth's history. And although you will find skeptics and critics, many respected scholars and historians consider it to be the most textually reliable book of the ancient world. And two of the greatest secular 20th-century archaeologists, William F. Albright and Nelson Glueck believed it to be the single most accurate source document from history.

So is the Bible trustworthy? I believe the answer is yes. Is it the Word of God? I'm convinced it is, but despite very strong evidence in its favour, in reality there really is no way to indisputably prove that. One can debate its contents right down to the smallest minutiae, and possibly in doing so miss the forest for the trees. In truth, the Bible is the greatest love story humanity has ever known. A story of a Creator, whose love for His creation compelled Him on a rescue mission like none other. And only when you begin to read the Bible from this perspective can you truly begin to understand its pages. The book of Proverbs, often referred to as the book of wisdom, states that the fear of God is the beginning of both knowledge and wisdom. The word fear in this context can best be understood as meaning reverence and awe. So as we humble ourselves as human beings, and acknowledge our position in creation under God, asking Him to reveal Himself, we are able to approach the Bible with a mind set that allows it's pages to speak to us in an entirely new way. To be honest with you this requires at step of faith, which as I stated at the beginning, is an expectation of God. But speaking personally, God does not disappoint. The thing of it is, you've got nothing to lose, and as I'll share next time, everything to gain.