Behold the Word of God - Apologetics Press

221 Pages·2009·0.98 MB·English

Behold!
The Word of God
Kyle Butt
APOLOGETICS PRESS
Apologetics Press, Inc.
230 Landmark Drive
Montgomery, Alabama 36117-2752
© Copyright 2007
ISBN-10: 1-60063-002-2
ISBN-13: 978-1-60063-002-6
Printed in China
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be repro-
duced in any form without permission from the publisher,
except in the case of brief quotations.
All Scripture quotations are from The New King James
Version of the Bible, unless otherwise specifi ed. Copy-
right © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
Kyle Butt (1976 - )
Behold! The Word of God
Includes bibliographic references
ISBN-10: 1-60063-002-2
ISBN-13: 978-1-60063-002-6
1. Bible. 2. Comparative religion. 3. Christian theology I. Title
220—dc22 2007929966
DEDICATION
To Eric Lyons, my friend and co-worker, whose positive
infl uence on my life has helped me to understand the
proverb—“As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the
countenance of his friend” (Proverbs 27:17).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Wayne Jackson for graciously
allowing me to include his material on Babylon. His
research and generous, godly attitude have been an
inspiration to me in my writing. Also, special thanks
to my colleagues Dave Miller and Eric Lyons who al-
lowed me to use portions of their materials. Their kind
dispositions help make my work at Apologetics Press
one of the genuine joys of my life.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1 The Bible’s Claim of Inspiration . . . 1
Chapter 2 Inspiration Defi ned. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Chapter 3 Bible Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Chapter 4 The Unity of the Bible . . . . . . . . . . 33
Chapter 5 Factual Accuracy of the Old
Testament. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Chapter 6 Factual Accuracy of the New
Testament. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Chapter 7 Scientifi c Foreknowledge and
Medical Acumen of the Bible . . 103
Chapter 8 Babylon: A Test Case in
Prophecy by Wayne Jackson . . . . 131
Chapter 9 Tyre in Prophecy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Chapter 10 Messianic Prophecy . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Afterword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
CHAPTER 1
THE BIBLE’S CLAIM OF INSPIRATION
In America, as well as many countries all over
the world, the Bible is the most popular book that has
ever been printed. It has been translated in whole or
in part into over 2,000 different languages (“About
the Bible,” 2005). The Bible was one of the fi rst books
mass produced on Gutenberg’s printing press in 1455
(“Johann Gutenberg,” 2006). In a single year over 585
million Bibles or sections of the Bible were distributed
worldwide by the United Bible Society alone (“World-
wide Scripture,” 1999). To estimate a total number of
Bibles and portions of it that have been produced and
distributed worldwide throughout history would be
virtually impossible, but the number stands well over
tens of billions, since the United Bible Society alone
has distributed over nine billion since 1947 (“God
Facts,” n.d.). Without dispute, the Bible is the best-sell-
ing book of all time (“Best Selling...,” 2002). About
90% of American households have at least one copy
of the Bible.
In truth, the Bible has smashed every statistical
record ever devised in regard to numbers published,
printed, and distributed. The Bible has proven itself
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Behold! The Word of God
to be a timeless resource that crosses all geographic
and generational barriers. For hundreds of years, wit-
nesses in judicial proceedings have sworn (or affi rmed)
to tell the truth with their right hands on the Bible.
More Bible verses have been quoted by United States
Presidents in their public speeches than all other books
combined. The Bible speaks to the deepest yearnings
of mankind, answers the most diffi cult philosophical
questions, and comforts the most downtrodden spirits.
The practical, every-day advice from this magnifi cent
book has been the foundation for countless best-selling
self-help books and seminars.
Why is the Bible so popular and pervasive? The
primary reason given in response to this question is
that the Bible is God’s Word. Millions of people print,
purchase, read, and reread the Bible because they
believe that the book they are reading is actually a
product of the one true God.
Oftentimes, when people are asked to prove that
the Bible is from God, they offer as “proof” the fact
that the Bible claims to be from God. Anyone who
reads the Bible cannot help but be impressed with
the fact that the Bible is replete with statements that
suggest that it is a product from God. Second Timo-
thy 3:16 states: “All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God....” In fact, were a person to search the entire
Bible, he or she would discover that it contains ap-
proximately 3,000 instances that claim inspiration. A
quick perusal of the Old Testament book of Jeremiah
uncovers the fact that, in this one book, inspiration is
claimed over 500 times by the use of such phrases as:
“Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying” (1:4;
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The Bible’s Claim of Inspiration
2:1); “Hear the word of the Lord” (2:4); “The Lord said
also to me” (3:6); “For thus says the Lord to the men
of Judah and Jerusalem” (4:3); “Says the Lord” (5:19).
This list of inspiration claims in the book of Jeremiah
could literally fi ll several pages. Other books such as
Isaiah, Ezekiel, Psalms, and Micah, to name a few, are
similarly packed with such claims.
New Testament writers, as well, insist that their
writings are not the product of human invention, but
instead are the work of God. In writing to the Thes-
salonians, Paul stated: “For this reason we also thank
God without ceasing, because when you received the
word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed
it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the
word of God, which also effectively works in you who
believe” (1 Thessalonians 2:13, emp. added). Similar
sentiments fl owed from Paul’s pen in his fi rst letter to
the Corinthians, in which he wrote: “If anyone thinks
himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge
that the things which I write to you are the command-
ments of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 14:37). The apostle
Peter also attributed inspirational status to the writings
of Paul when he included Paul’s writings in connection
with the “rest of the Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:16). Peter
further included the commandments of the apostles in
with the words “which were spoken before by the holy
prophets” as inspired commandments and teachings
(2 Peter 3:1-3). It certainly cannot be denied that the
Bible claims to be inspired by God.
Yet, even though one would expect to fi nd that any
book truly produced by God would claim such inspira-
tion, such a claim does not necessarily prove anything.
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Behold! The Word of God
It is a necessary trait of inspiration, but it is not a suf-
fi cient trait. Several other books claim to be inspired by
God, but are contradictory to the books found in the
Bible, and can be proven to be inaccurate and defi cient
in multiple categories. Just because a book or particu-
lar writing claims inspiration is not positive proof of
its inspiration. Any person could stand in front of an
audience and claim to be the president of the United
States of America. In fact, he could fi ll many hours
claiming such to be the case in a multitude of diverse
ways. But his multiple claims to the presidency would
utterly fail to prove his case unless he could provide
more adequate and suffi cient evidence for his claim.
Sadly, most of those individuals who consider
themselves to be Christians have never taken their
defense of the Bible past the statement that it claims to
be God’s Word. When asked why they believe that the
Bible is God’s Word, they site passages like 2 Timothy
3:16-17 or 2 Peter 1:20-21 and insist that the case is
closed. When they are shown that such does not suf-
fi ciently prove the Bible’s inspiration, they often are at
a loss for additional evidence that verifi es the Bible’s
divine origin.
In fact, when confronted with the fact that bibli-
cal claims of inspiration are insuffi cient proof, many
Christians say that the Bible’s inspiration must be ac-
cepted by “faith.” By the term “faith,” most people in
the religious world mean the acceptance of the claim
without suffi cient evidence to prove it. Even Webster’s
Dictionary gives one defi nition of faith as a “fi rm belief
in something for which there is no proof” (“Faith”). To
accept this idea, however, lands the adherent in complete
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The Bible’s Claim of Inspiration
confusion. If one is to accept the Bible’s inspiration by
“faith” (without adequate evidence), what would stop
the Mormon practitioner from demanding that the
Book of Mormon and The Pearl of Great Price should be
considered inspired based on “faith”? The same could
be said for the Quran, Hindu Vedas, and several other
writings that claim inspiration. If “by faith” is meant
that adequate evidence is not necessary to establish the
claim, then any book in the world could be considered
inspired “by faith.”
In most instances, when a person says that the
Bible’s inspiration should be accepted by “faith” (with-
out supporting evidence), that person believes that he
is recapitulating the Bible’s own statements regarding
the necessity of having faith (see Hebrews 11:6). The
problem lies, however, in the discordant defi nitions of
faith. The biblical defi nition of faith never has embodied
the idea of accepting or believing something without
adequate evidence. On the contrary, when Bible writers
demand “faith” from their readers, they are demanding
that the readers draw only those conclusions that are
warranted by the evidence.
The showdown between Elijah and the prophets
of Baal on Mount Carmel provides the perfect case-in-
point (1 Kings 18:20-40). Elijah had summoned Ahab
and all the people of Israel to Mount Carmel. He then
said to the multitude of people, “How long will you
falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, fol-
low Him; but if Baal, then follow Him” (18:21). Elijah
then proposed a contest in which the 450 prophets of
Baal would be given a bull and he would be given one
as well. Each “team” would be allowed to put the bull
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