The Reliability of the Bible

Steve Riggs, a doctor in the Cedar Falls area came and talked at Navigators the other night. He spoke about the reliability of the Bible and how we can trust that what we have today is what was originally written in the Bible. Here are a few things he stated.

Do Christians REALLY believe the Bible is the Word of God?

82% said "God helps those who help themselves" is the most widely quoted verse in America (NOT EVEN A VERSE)

42% of the congregation read the Bible less than 5 minutes a day

58% could not name more than 5 of the 10 commandments.

63% could not Name the Four Gospels.

DEUTERONOMY 32:47- "They are not just idle words for you- they are your life."

New Testament Manuscript Evidence

I hope you can read this... Ultimately the Bible has less time between when it was written and the earliest copy we have than plenty of other books we call 'fact' or study intensely. It also has thousands more copies than any of the other books on the list.

These copies are 98.33-99.5% pure and without doubt as to textual accuracy.

Because of the small amount of years between the original writing the date of the copy we have today, there is no time for a legend to have occurred.

Old Testament Manuscript Evidence

The Old Testament was completed around 400 BC and we have copies dating from 100-200 BC. (Dead Sea Scrolls). All of the copies of the Old Testament are 95% accurate in comparison to each other. The other 5% of variate are basically made up of obvious slips of the pen and variations of spelling.

We have a LIVING GOD who spoke these words into being... and we have a RELIABLE source from which we can learn about this Incredible God!