CAN WE TRUST THE BIBLE?

The short answer? Yes. We can trust the Bible. Here are some resources that have helped answer some of my doubts and questions over the years:

AUTHENTICITY OF THE BIBLE

• Video/Audio Resources
  • Has the Bible Been Corrupted? – Ben Stuart, Breakaway Ministries 2010
  • Why We Believe the Bible – A series by John Piper, Desiring God Ministries
    • Session 1
    • Session 2
    • Session 3
    • Session 4
    • Session 5
  • Why I Trust The Scriptures – John Piper, Desiring God Ministries
  • Is the Bible Without Error? – John Piper, Desiring God Ministries
• Articles
  • How We Got The Bible – Dirk Jongkind, Desiring God Ministries
  • What is the Apocrypha? – David Briones, Desiring God Ministries

Dead Sea Scrolls – Forgeries?

In March 2020 news was released that a portion of the Dead Sea Scrolls were determined to be fake. What does this mean for Christians? According to an article published by National Geographic, this finding only applies to about 70 snippets of text discovered after 2002.

The new findings don’t cast doubt on the 100,000 real Dead Sea Scroll fragments, most of which lie in the Shrine of the Book, part of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. However, the report’s findings raise grave questions about the “post-2002” Dead Sea Scroll fragments, a group of some 70 snippets of biblical text that entered the antiquities market in the 2000s. Even before the new report, some scholars believed that most to all of the post-2002 fragments were modern fakes.

– Michael Greshko, National Geographic (Emphasis Added)

Even if the 70 pieces of text are forgeries, what Danial Wallace said concerning the number of

New Testament scholars face an embarrassment of riches compared to the data of classical Greek and Latin scholars have to contend with. The average classical author’s literary remains number no more than twenty copies. We have more than 1,000 times the manuscript data for the New Testament than we do for the average Greco-Roman author. Not only this, but the extant manuscripts of the average classical author are no earlier than 500 years after the time he wrote, but for the New Testament, we wait a mere decades for surviving copies.

– Daniel Wallace, Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary

CONTROVERSIAL PASSAGES

• New Testament Additions
  • Neither Do I Condemn You – John Piper, Desiring God Ministries
  • If the Bible Has Been Added To, Can We Trust It? – John Piper, Desiring God Ministries

GENEALOGY DIFFERENCES

• The Lineage of Jesus
  • Why Are Jesus’ Genealogies in Matthew and Luke Different? – Zondervan Academics
  • Why are Jesus’ genealogies in Matthew and Luke so different? – Got Questions
  • Who Was Jesus’ Grandfather? – Desiring God

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

2 Timothy 3:16-17