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Description

I made this stamp to encourage other Christians to study this topic more.

The question of ‘how do you know the bible is true?’ seems to pop out a lot. There are a different ways to research and prove the truth of scripture so study up, that way you’ll be “…ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:” (1 Peter 3:15)

I always like to start with Answers in genesis , they have great study material for this topic and others, and lots of references on their articles.

I found an article in that site that has a review about the truth of scripture, it doesn’t go on in-depth detail but it gives you an idea on how to approach the topic.

Seven Compelling Evidences Confirm the Bible Is True

1. God’s character
If we turn to the Bible as our highest authority in every area (including how we defend the Bible itself!), we will discover that we can appeal to no greater authority than God Himself. If we had to appeal to another authority to prove what God said, then God wouldn’t be our ultimate authority.

2. Claims of divine authorship

3. Unity of the bible

4. Fulfilled Prophesy

5. Scientific Accuracy

6. Archeological Finds

7. Life Changing Power

My Favorite two are Scientific Accuracy and Archaeological finds. Most of these people, stories, and places non-believers said that they didn't exist…until archaeologists (and non-archaeologists) found them.

I’m going to share a few general things about them from the article I found and some other articles.

Archeological Finds:

Dead Sea Scrolls
---Over two hundred scrolls were portions of the Bible itself, dated 250 BC–AD 68.
---Every Old Testament book except Esther was represented.
---Many of these ancient scrolls closely match the Masoretic Text tradition, which modern Hebrew and English Bibles are based upon, confirming the Old Testament text has been faithfully preserved for all these centuries.

The Tel Dan Stele (900–850 BC)
---Carved on its stone face is the expression, “House of David.”

The Meesha Stele (846 BC)
---Popularly known as the Moabite Stone, it records the revolt of Meesha, King of Moab, against Israel (2 Kings 3:5).
---This incredible stele mentions Omri (1 Kings 16:23-28), King of Israel, and David of the United Monarchy. It even refers to Yahweh, the unique name of the God of Israel!

Pilate
---Pilate (John 18:38) Dedication Stone was found in Caesarea. It reads: “Tiberieum, (Pon)tius Pilatus, (Praef)ectus Iuda(eae).”
---The John Rylands papyrus (AD 125) records part of the trial before Pilate, fragments of which are recorded in John 18:31-33, 37-38.

Sumerians
---The 'Sumerian King List' lists kings who reigned for long periods of time. Then a great Flood came. Following the Flood, Sumerian kings ruled for much shorter periods of time. This is the same pattern found in the Bible.
---Sumerian tablets record the confusion of language as we have in the Biblical account of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). There was a golden age when all mankind spoke the same language. The Babylonians had a similar account in which the gods destroyed a temple tower and “scattered them abroad and made strange their speech.”

The Nazareth Inscription
---The Nazareth Inscription is a marble tablet with Greek writing and of course there is still much debate going on about this.
--- One of the theories: The inscription is likely an abbreviated form of an edict (called a rescript) issued by Claudius in response to the story of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.
---In just fourteen brief lines this rescript explains a new law carrying capital punishment for anyone who would move a body from graves or tombs to another place with wicked intent.
---The Nazareth Inscription does not prove that Jesus rose from the dead, but it is consistent with the biblical accounts.

Recorded History

---Campaign into Israel by Pharaoh Shishak (1 Kings 14:25-26), recorded on the walls of the Temple of Amun in Thebes, Egypt.
---Fall of Samaria (2 Kings 17:3-6, 24; 18:9-11) to Sargon II, King of Assyria, as recorded on his palace walls.
---Defeat of Ashdod by Sargon II (Isaiah 20:1), as recorded on his palace walls.
---Campaign of the Assyrian king Sennacherib against Judah (2 Kings 18:13-16), as recorded on the Taylor Prism (discovered among the ruins of Nineveh).
---Siege of Lachish by Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:14, 17), as recorded on the Lachish reliefs.
---Assassination of Sennacherib by his own sons (2 Kings 19:37), as recorded in the annals of his son Esarhaddon.
---Fall of Nineveh as predicted by the prophets Nahum and Zephaniah (Zephaniah 2:13-15), recorded on the Tablet of Nabopolasar.

Read more HERE

Burial sites
---Ossuary of Caiaphas the High Priest
---The tomb of Cyrus: he ruled the Persian Empire from 559-530 B.C
---Darius I was king of the Persian Empire from 522-486 B.C His is the first of three monumental tombs cut into a cliff near the Persian capital of Persepolis, Iran.

Found places
--- The city of Jericho
---The palace at Jericho where Eglon, King of Moab, was assassinated by Ehud (Judges 3:15-30).
---The east gate of Shechem where Gaal and Zebul watched the forces of Abimelech approach the city (Judges 9:34-38).
---The Temple of Baal/El-Berith in Shechem, where funds were obtained to finance Abimelech's Kingship, and where the citizens of Shechem took refuge when Abimelech attacked the city (Judges 9:4, 46-49).
---The pool of Gibeon where the forces of David and Ishbosheth fought during the struggle for the kingship of Israel (2 Samuel 2:12-32)
---The pool of Heshbon, likened to the eyes of the Shulammite woman (Songs of songs 7:4).
---The royal palace at Samaria where the kings of Israel lived (1 Kings 20:43; 21:1, 2; 22:39; 2 Kings 1:2; 15:25).
---The royal palace in Babylon where King Belshazzar held the feast and Daniel interpreted the handwriting on the wall (Daniel 5).
---The royal palace in Susa where Esther was queen of the Persian king Xerxes (Esther 1:2; 2:3, 5, 9, 16).
---The royal gate at Susa where Mordecai, Esther's cousin, sat (Esther 2:19, 21; 3:2, 3; 4:2; 5:9, 13; 6-10, 12).

Read more HERE

Scientific Accuracy:

Even though the bible is not a science textbook…

Astronomy
---Stars are innumerable (Genesis 22:17; Jeremiah 33:22)
---Stars differ in glory (1 Corinthians 15:41)
---Stars follow a predictable pattern (Jeremiah 31:35)
---Earth is round, not flat (Isaiah 40:22)
---Earth hangs on nothing (not built on pillars) (Job 26:7)
---Universe Expansion (Isaiah 40:22)
---Scientific evidence of a young universe:
1) Spiral galaxies
2) “Missing” supernova remnants
3) Short-lived comets
4) Moon moving away from Earth

Geology
---Water cycle (Ecclesiastes 1:7; Isaiah 55:10)
---Sea currents (Psalms 8:8)
---“Fountains of the deep broken up” (Genesis 7:11)
---Scientific evidence of a young earth:
1) Continents erode too fast
2) Too much mud on the sea floor
3) Too much sodium in the ocean
4) Too rapid decay of earth’s magnetic field

Biology
---Value of blood (Leviticus 17:11)
--- Biogenesis (Genesis 1:21)
---Scientific evidence of a recent creation:
1) DNA programming for irreducibly complex protein sequences
2) Lack of missing links in the fossil record
3) Dinosaur blood vessels in fossils

Physics
---The weight of air (Job 28:25)

Meteorology
---Circulation of the atmosphere (Ecclesiastes 1:6)

Non-Christian Historians and non-biblical sources

Cornelius Tacitus (Roman historian)

"Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberious at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and amost mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular". (Tacitus, Annals, vol. 15, The Complete Works of Tacitus, ed. Moses Hadas (New York: Random House, 1942), 44.)

Suetonius (Roman historian)

---During the reign of Emperor Claudius: “Because the Jews at Rome caused continuous disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from the city.” (Suetonius, Claudius, 25, quoted in Habermas, The Historical Jesus, 191.)
---This historical fact fits with Luke’s statement in Acts 18:2

Julius Africanus

---“On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun.” (Julius Africanus, Extant Writings, XVIII in The Ante–Nicene Fathers, ed. by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973), vol. VI, p. 130, as cited in Gary R. Habermas, The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ, (Joplin, MO: College Press Publishing Company), 1996.)
--- This historical fact fits with Luke 23:44-45

The Talmud:

"On the eve of the Passover Yeshu was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald went forth and cried, "He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy. Any one who can say anything in his favor, let him come forward and plead on his behalf." But since nothing was brought forward in his favor he was hanged on the eve of the Passover!" (The Babylonian Talmud, transl. by I. Epstein (London: Soncino, 1935), vol. III, Sanhedrin 43a, p. 281 as cited in Habermas, Gary R., The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ, (Joplin, MO: College Press Publishing Company) 1996.)
--- This historical fact fits with Gal 3:13 and Luke 22:1-2

My purpose with this stamp is NOT debate, but encouragement to do research

Description

I made this stamp to encourage other Christians to study this topic more.

The question of ‘how do you know the bible is true?’ seems to pop out a lot. There are a different ways to research and prove the truth of scripture so study up, that way you’ll be “…ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:” (1 Peter 3:15)

I always like to start with Answers in genesis , they have great study material for this topic and others, and lots of references on their articles.

I found an article in that site that has a review about the truth of scripture, it doesn’t go on in-depth detail but it gives you an idea on how to approach the topic.

Seven Compelling Evidences Confirm the Bible Is True

1. God’s character
If we turn to the Bible as our highest authority in every area (including how we defend the Bible itself!), we will discover that we can appeal to no greater authority than God Himself. If we had to appeal to another authority to prove what God said, then God wouldn’t be our ultimate authority.

2. Claims of divine authorship

3. Unity of the bible

4. Fulfilled Prophesy

5. Scientific Accuracy

6. Archeological Finds

7. Life Changing Power

My Favorite two are Scientific Accuracy and Archaeological finds. Most of these people, stories, and places non-believers said that they didn't exist…until archaeologists (and non-archaeologists) found them.

I’m going to share a few general things about them from the article I found and some other articles.

Archeological Finds:

Dead Sea Scrolls
---Over two hundred scrolls were portions of the Bible itself, dated 250 BC–AD 68.
---Every Old Testament book except Esther was represented.
---Many of these ancient scrolls closely match the Masoretic Text tradition, which modern Hebrew and English Bibles are based upon, confirming the Old Testament text has been faithfully preserved for all these centuries.

The Tel Dan Stele (900–850 BC)
---Carved on its stone face is the expression, “House of David.”

The Meesha Stele (846 BC)
---Popularly known as the Moabite Stone, it records the revolt of Meesha, King of Moab, against Israel (2 Kings 3:5).
---This incredible stele mentions Omri (1 Kings 16:23-28), King of Israel, and David of the United Monarchy. It even refers to Yahweh, the unique name of the God of Israel!

Pilate
---Pilate (John 18:38) Dedication Stone was found in Caesarea. It reads: “Tiberieum, (Pon)tius Pilatus, (Praef)ectus Iuda(eae).”
---The John Rylands papyrus (AD 125) records part of the trial before Pilate, fragments of which are recorded in John 18:31-33, 37-38.

Sumerians
---The 'Sumerian King List' lists kings who reigned for long periods of time. Then a great Flood came. Following the Flood, Sumerian kings ruled for much shorter periods of time. This is the same pattern found in the Bible.
---Sumerian tablets record the confusion of language as we have in the Biblical account of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). There was a golden age when all mankind spoke the same language. The Babylonians had a similar account in which the gods destroyed a temple tower and “scattered them abroad and made strange their speech.”

The Nazareth Inscription
---The Nazareth Inscription is a marble tablet with Greek writing and of course there is still much debate going on about this.
--- One of the theories: The inscription is likely an abbreviated form of an edict (called a rescript) issued by Claudius in response to the story of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.
---In just fourteen brief lines this rescript explains a new law carrying capital punishment for anyone who would move a body from graves or tombs to another place with wicked intent.
---The Nazareth Inscription does not prove that Jesus rose from the dead, but it is consistent with the biblical accounts.

Recorded History

---Campaign into Israel by Pharaoh Shishak (1 Kings 14:25-26), recorded on the walls of the Temple of Amun in Thebes, Egypt.
---Fall of Samaria (2 Kings 17:3-6, 24; 18:9-11) to Sargon II, King of Assyria, as recorded on his palace walls.
---Defeat of Ashdod by Sargon II (Isaiah 20:1), as recorded on his palace walls.
---Campaign of the Assyrian king Sennacherib against Judah (2 Kings 18:13-16), as recorded on the Taylor Prism (discovered among the ruins of Nineveh).
---Siege of Lachish by Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:14, 17), as recorded on the Lachish reliefs.
---Assassination of Sennacherib by his own sons (2 Kings 19:37), as recorded in the annals of his son Esarhaddon.
---Fall of Nineveh as predicted by the prophets Nahum and Zephaniah (Zephaniah 2:13-15), recorded on the Tablet of Nabopolasar.

Read more HERE

Burial sites
---Ossuary of Caiaphas the High Priest
---The tomb of Cyrus: he ruled the Persian Empire from 559-530 B.C
---Darius I was king of the Persian Empire from 522-486 B.C His is the first of three monumental tombs cut into a cliff near the Persian capital of Persepolis, Iran.

Found places
--- The city of Jericho
---The palace at Jericho where Eglon, King of Moab, was assassinated by Ehud (Judges 3:15-30).
---The east gate of Shechem where Gaal and Zebul watched the forces of Abimelech approach the city (Judges 9:34-38).
---The Temple of Baal/El-Berith in Shechem, where funds were obtained to finance Abimelech's Kingship, and where the citizens of Shechem took refuge when Abimelech attacked the city (Judges 9:4, 46-49).
---The pool of Gibeon where the forces of David and Ishbosheth fought during the struggle for the kingship of Israel (2 Samuel 2:12-32)
---The pool of Heshbon, likened to the eyes of the Shulammite woman (Songs of songs 7:4).
---The royal palace at Samaria where the kings of Israel lived (1 Kings 20:43; 21:1, 2; 22:39; 2 Kings 1:2; 15:25).
---The royal palace in Babylon where King Belshazzar held the feast and Daniel interpreted the handwriting on the wall (Daniel 5).
---The royal palace in Susa where Esther was queen of the Persian king Xerxes (Esther 1:2; 2:3, 5, 9, 16).
---The royal gate at Susa where Mordecai, Esther's cousin, sat (Esther 2:19, 21; 3:2, 3; 4:2; 5:9, 13; 6-10, 12).

Read more HERE

Scientific Accuracy:

Even though the bible is not a science textbook…

Astronomy
---Stars are innumerable (Genesis 22:17; Jeremiah 33:22)
---Stars differ in glory (1 Corinthians 15:41)
---Stars follow a predictable pattern (Jeremiah 31:35)
---Earth is round, not flat (Isaiah 40:22)
---Earth hangs on nothing (not built on pillars) (Job 26:7)
---Universe Expansion (Isaiah 40:22)
---Scientific evidence of a young universe:
1) Spiral galaxies
2) “Missing” supernova remnants
3) Short-lived comets
4) Moon moving away from Earth

Geology
---Water cycle (Ecclesiastes 1:7; Isaiah 55:10)
---Sea currents (Psalms 8:8)
---“Fountains of the deep broken up” (Genesis 7:11)
---Scientific evidence of a young earth:
1) Continents erode too fast
2) Too much mud on the sea floor
3) Too much sodium in the ocean
4) Too rapid decay of earth’s magnetic field

Biology
---Value of blood (Leviticus 17:11)
--- Biogenesis (Genesis 1:21)
---Scientific evidence of a recent creation:
1) DNA programming for irreducibly complex protein sequences
2) Lack of missing links in the fossil record
3) Dinosaur blood vessels in fossils

Physics
---The weight of air (Job 28:25)

Meteorology
---Circulation of the atmosphere (Ecclesiastes 1:6)

Non-Christian Historians and non-biblical sources

Cornelius Tacitus (Roman historian)

"Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberious at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and amost mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular". (Tacitus, Annals, vol. 15, The Complete Works of Tacitus, ed. Moses Hadas (New York: Random House, 1942), 44.)

Suetonius (Roman historian)

---During the reign of Emperor Claudius: “Because the Jews at Rome caused continuous disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from the city.” (Suetonius, Claudius, 25, quoted in Habermas, The Historical Jesus, 191.)
---This historical fact fits with Luke’s statement in Acts 18:2

Julius Africanus

---“On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun.” (Julius Africanus, Extant Writings, XVIII in The Ante–Nicene Fathers, ed. by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973), vol. VI, p. 130, as cited in Gary R. Habermas, The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ, (Joplin, MO: College Press Publishing Company), 1996.)
--- This historical fact fits with Luke 23:44-45

The Talmud:

"On the eve of the Passover Yeshu was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald went forth and cried, "He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy. Any one who can say anything in his favor, let him come forward and plead on his behalf." But since nothing was brought forward in his favor he was hanged on the eve of the Passover!" (The Babylonian Talmud, transl. by I. Epstein (London: Soncino, 1935), vol. III, Sanhedrin 43a, p. 281 as cited in Habermas, Gary R., The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ, (Joplin, MO: College Press Publishing Company) 1996.)
--- This historical fact fits with Gal 3:13 and Luke 22:1-2

My purpose with this stamp is NOT debate, but encouragement to do research