The Uniquness of the Bible

u'nique:"different from all others"; having no like or equal.

One question always comes up in class. It is usually the first question when we begin...Why the Bible? What makes the Bible different from other books? Can the Bible be trusted? And my answer is always the same..YES! I must admit, when I first started teaching high school Bible at Modesto Christian twelve years ago, I was more of a student, than teacher. Students were asking me questions that really challenged my faith. For the first time in my walk with the Lord I had to give an answer to the "why". Why do you believe the way you do Mr. Limon? Why are you so sure that Jesus is who he says he is? Why is the Bible to be taken literally? Why?...Why?.... You get the picture. I knew the "Sunday School" answers, yet did not know how to back them up. So, study I did!!! In putting curriculum together, I came across "A Ready Defense" by Josh McDowell. The following notes is based on my study to the questions from my students.


The Bible is…

…Unique in its Continuity
1. Written over 1500 yr. span
2. Written over 40 generations
3. Written by over 40 authors- kings, peasants, philosophers, fisherman, poets,
scholars, etc.

Moses: political leader, trained in the universities of Egypt
Peter: fishermen
Amos: herdsman
Joshua: slave turned military leader
Daniel: prime minister
Luke: doctor
Solomon: king
Matthew: former tax collector
Paul: Rabbi

4. Written in different places:

Moses-wilderness
Jeremiah-dungeon
Paul- prison
Luke- while traveling
John- exiled on Island Patimos

5. Written on three continents: Asia, Africa and Europe

6. Written in three languages:

Hebrew- language of O.T.
Aramaic- "common language" of near East
Greek- language of the N.T.

7. Even though many authors-all speak with harmony-God's redemption of man.

…Unique in its circulation
The Bible has been read by more people and published in more languages than any other book in history.

This may not show that the Bible is the "Word of God" -it does show it is unique!

…Unique in its Survival
What two things has it gone through?
1. Through time- more manuscript evidence than any ten
pieces of classical literature combined.(Aristotle, Plato, Homer, Ceaser)

Check out the following link on the New Testament manuscripts.
http://www.carm.org/can-we-trust-new-testament-historical-document


2. Through Persecution- survived vicious attacks as no other
book has.

Governments have tried to burn it, ban it, outlaw it from the days of Rome
to modern day communism and political correctness.

This may not prove the Bible as the Word of God- it does prove that it stands alone among books!

…Unique in its Teaching

Prophecy
produced by a group of men in different times relating to Israel, certain cities and the coming Messiah. Events of Christ were spoken 700yrs prior to his birth! Isaiah 7:14>>>Matthew 18-25; Micah 5:2>>>Matthew 2:1

The following probabilities are taken from Peter Stoner in Science Speaks (Moody Press, 1963) to show that coincidence is ruled out by the science of probability. Stoner says that by using the modern science of probability in reference to eight prophecies, "we find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is 1 in 1017." That would be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. In order to help us comprehend this staggering probability, Stoner illustrates it by supposing that "we take 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, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man."

Stoner considers 48 prophecies and says, "we find the chance that any one man fulfilled all 48 prophecies to be 1 in 10157, or 1 in

100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000, 000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
The estimated number of electrons in the universe is around 1079. It should be quite evident that Jesus did not fulfill the prophecies by accident." (http://www.carm.org/prophecy-bible-and-jesus)


History
events in the Bible coinced with events in history.

Personalities
deals with the sins of the characters.

The Bible in no way paints its characters as ones who are "saints". The Bible tells it like it is.

…Unique in its influence on culture:
It has influenced literature, law, education, philosophy and business.


The reason I start with this study is to prove that Scripture has something to say. Daniel 11:32b (KJV) states,

but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.

In order for us to know the will of God for our lives, we must get to know Him first! In order to get to know Him, requires us to know Him through His message/word to us..that is through reading/studying the Bible. I have shared the uniqueness of Scripture, now let us get to know Him and his purpose for our lives and business.

Join us next week as we begin a study on the Book of Proverbs, entitled, "Business Through the Eyes of Solomon"!