Middle America's Worldview

I find it interesting for those that cannot accept the Bible as factual historical documents. They continue to view the bible as a reference of religion as opposed to written documents in history.

I pulled some resources and quotes on the reliability of the Bible.

The oldest Bible versions available to us today are millennia old. The Masoretic Text, written in Hebrew, became the standard authorized Hebrew text around 100 AD. It existed prior to the writings of the New Testament, confirmed by the Dead Sea Scrolls as early as 168 B.C., and was used as the official Hebrew Old Testament at the time the biblical canon was established.

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Few accept the significance in finding the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Notice how no other ancient book's text is questioned or maligned like that of the Bible. For instance, Aristotle's Ode to Poetics was written between 384-322BC. Our earliest copy of this work dates 1100AD, and we find there are only 49 extant manuscripts. Note that the gap between the original writing and the earliest copy is 1400 years. A second example is Plato's Tetralogies, written 427-347 BC. Our earliest copy is 900 AD, and there are only 7 extant manuscripts to study. The gap between the original and the earliest copy is 1200 years. What about the New Testament? Jesus was crucified in 30 AD. The New Testament was written between 48-95 AD. The oldest mss date to the last quarter of the first century, and the second oldest 125 AD. This gives us a narrow gap of 35 to 40 years from the originals written by the apostles.

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We see the bible as opposed to any other historical document has the least amount of time gap from event to writing.

So other than the above, shouldn’t we also have some outside sources to back the Bible’s writings? Other than the obvious writings of the great Josephus.


Here is a great link depicting some archeological finds that support the events of the Bible.

Here is another link on the same above website showing additional sources backing certain biblical events.

The above doesn’t even touch on the many prophecies written in the bible that have come to be.

One quick example is the following.

Daniel 11:3-4: "And a mighty king will arise, and he will rule with great authority and do as he pleases. But as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out toward the four points of the compass, though not to his own descendants, nor according to his authority which he wielded, for his sovereignty will be uprooted and given to others besides them."

[The "mighty king" was Alexander the Great (336-323 BC) who, shortly after conquering the Persian Empire, died abruptly at the age of 32. His empire was not bequeathed to his children (who were murdered) but instead was divided up amongst his generals (the Diadochi). Four lesser kingdoms emerged from the rubble of Alexander's empire: Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt.]

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For me relying on the Bible as fact doesn’t really take much faith as much as logical findings.