References: (1) “Bible Doctrine” (pp. 33-50) by Wayne Grudem. (2) “Understanding the Bible” by John Scott. (3) The OT was written thousands of years ago, and the NT was completed by the year 100 AD. The Bible claims there is a God who created the universe in the first verse of Gen. 1. The Bible also claims that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to be the propitiation for our sins (John 3:16; 1 John 2:2; 4:10). (4) Jesus died on the cross and was buried proving that He died, was resurrected from the dead; He appeared to 517 individuals after His resurrection (1 Cor. 15:3-8) proving that He really was resurrected. (5) All the essentials of Buddhism, Hinduism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, Christian Science, or Scientology would, I think, remain UNIMPAIRED if you subtracted the miraculous, the same is almost true of Islam, but you cannot do that with Christianity. It is precisely the story, from the beginning of the NT to the end of a GREAT MIRACLE. A naturalistic Christianity advocated by Christian Liberalism, leaves out all that is specifically Christian and should be abandoned by any thinking Christian. (6) One out every 25 verses in the NT mentions Christ’s return where He promised the resurrection of all believers in Him and declared He will reign as judge and king (John 14:3; Phil. 3:20-21; Zech. 14:9: Rev. 20:4-6). (7) What happens when Jesus returns? Evil is defeated, the earth is restored, and God wins. That should give us hope. (8) In 1919 Frank Watson Dyson and Arthur Stanley Eddington’s experimental observation CONFIRMED Albert Einstein’s prediction that light is deflected in the presence of mass. The. aim of Dyson and Eddington was to measure the gravitational deflection of starlight passing near the Sun during a total solar eclipse. This EXPERIMENTAL SUPPORT for Einstein’s general theory of relativity garnered Einstein INSTANT WORLDWIDE ACCLAIM.  If that deflection of starlight had NOT happened it would have FALSIFIED his theory and he would never have gotten the Nobel prize. But since it did happen he did get the Nobel prize. This fact of the deflection of light in the presence of mass did not PROVE his theory but merely CONFIRMED or CORROBORATED his theory. (9) In 1919 Frank Watson Dyson and Arthur Stanley Eddington’s experimental observation CONFIRMED Albert Einstein’s prediction that light is deflected in the presence of mass. The aim of Dyson and Eddington was to measure the gravitational deflection of starlight passing near the Sun during a total solar eclipse. This EXPERIMENTAL SUPPORT for Einstein’s general theory of relativity garnered Einstein INSTANT WORLDWIDE ACCLAIM.  If that deflection of starlight had NOT happened it would have FALSIFIED his theory and he would never have gotten the Nobel prize. But since it did happen he did get the Nobel prize. This fact of the deflection of light in the presence of mass did not PROVE his theory but merely CONFIRMED or CORROBORATED his theory. (10) Allow me to apply this idea to the question: Is the Bible  true and trustworthy? It is vitally important to answer that question for our culture today. It’s important because legitimate questions deserve legitimate answers. Peter says in 1 Pet. 3:15 that we should always be prepared to give an apologia — the Greek noun that means a REASONED RESPONSE, a VERBAL DEFENSE against a CHARGE,  to everyone who asks you an answer for the hope within you.   (11) You might expect to observe chaos and confusion in the Bible, yet it miraculously remains absolutely CONSISTENT and INTERNALLY HARMONIOUS that tells one primary STORY OF REDEMPTION. This story is like a “SCARLET THREAD” that runs throughout the entire Bible. But internal consistency and external fitting the facts do not PROVE the Bible is a revelation from God. Other facts will be needed. (12) The Bible, unlike any other religious book, demonstrates its reliability through hundreds of detailed prophecies, written centuries before the events they accurately describe. For example, the OT predicts the basic facts of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection. The book of Daniel predicts the division of Alexander the Great’s empire and the very timing of the crucifixion of the Messiah and predicts the destruction of city of Jerusalem and of the Temple (Dan 9:24-26). (13) in all the more than 25,000 archaeological discoveries not a single one has ever refuted any biblical claim. No other religious book can be verified in this way, not the Qur’an, not the Vedas, not the writings of Joseph Smith, not the Watch Tower tracts, not the Divine Principle  by Sun Myung Moon, nor the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, not the writings of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, not the Humanist Manifesto for which all the secularist ascribe. (14) Only the Bible remains unscathed. People can claim it is full of contradictions, but after careful investigation all the contradictions are gone with the wind. This is episode 251.