There are standard tests historical documents go through to find out if their historically reliable. And the Bible pulls through: both looking inside and outside to other books that talk about the events of the New Testament!
0:00 – INTRO
1:09 – CHRISTIANITY DEPENDS ENTIRELY ON JESUS. THE NT IS THE PRIMARY SOURCE ABOUT JESUS.
1:50 – 3 TESTS: 1. BIBLIOGRAPHIC TEST (*Check out Ep. 52), 2. INTERNAL TEST, 3. EXTERNAL TEST
2:35 – 2. INTERNAL TEST: what’s written in the NT. ERRORS IN THE BIBLE? NO ERRORS IN THE BIBLICAL MANUSCRIPTS: overwhelming majority are variant readings that are mostly grammatical. Or word order. Or synonyms. Bruce Metzger: LESS THAN 40 OF 20,000 LINES – NOT SURE WHICH IS ORIGINAL (quoted in Geisler and Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible (Chicago: Moody Press, 1986), 475.).
5:06 – WE AREN’T MISSING ANYTHING; WE HAVE TOO MUCH.
6:19 – VARIANT READINGS HELP CONFIRM THE ORIGINAL TEXT. 5,000 MANUSCRIPTS PROVE ORIGINAL MESSAGE
8:03 – CONTRADICTIONS IN THE BIBLE? (2. INTERNAL TEST cont’d). SO-CALLED “CONTRADICTIONS” ARE INTERPRETATION MISTAKES. Still conveys the message of the Bible.
10:45 – REVIEW!: MANUSCRIPTS (1. BIBLIOGRAPHIC, 2. INTERNAL, 3. EXTERNAL), AUTHORS
11:24 – 3. EXTERNAL TEST: HISTORICAL WRITINGS? ARCHEOLOGY? *Gary Habermas, The Historical Jesus: 17 NON-CHRISTIAN WRITINGS that confirm NT.
13:08 – 140+ ARCHEOLOGICALLY CONFIRMED FINDINGS
14:00 – SO WHAT? NT IS HISTORICALLY RELIABLE & TRUSTWORTHY
15:47 – WHAT’S YOUR NEXT STEP? ASK SOMEONE WHO DOUBTS
17:00 – THANK YOU & WRAP UP
FURTHER RESOURCES:
Geisler, Norman. “New Testament, Historicity of.” In Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (1999). (Updated as The Big Book of Christian Apologetics: An A to Z Guide (2012))
Geisler, Norman. (2002). Systematic Theology, Volume One: Introduction, Bible. Bethany House. (digital, used)
Habermas, Gary. The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ. College Press Publishing (1996).
