Why are christians not skeptical of the bible's authenticity?

Question

What makes you so certain that the sheepherders, fishermen, and witchdoctors who wrote the bible were the real thing?
If you can't trust the word of the average person on the street today, how can you blindly trust the word of a book that was written thousands of years ago by primitive people?

........

Answer 1

I too have wondered about that, not only were the people who wrote it primative but they were also people and since no one is perfect the book cant be, but yet they belive it is, how do they know that is the word of god since it was written by man who has a tendecy to place their own point of veiw on things and also things get lost in translation how many things were mistranslated and belived to this day? i personally think that the bible is the greatest work of fiction ever created and it has a cult following that no other book has ever came close to.

Answer 2

Some are.

The bible is not one book, it is a collection of 66. The Old Testament is generally accepted as foundational doctrine by both Jews and Christians, except for some Jews who primarily focus on the Torah or Talmud. Some books of the New Testament have been debated among Christians for nearly 2000 years, such as Revelation, 2 Peter, and James.

Then there are also Christian sects that debate the oldest manuscripts from which the modern Bible is derived and have created their own translation based on revealed truth such as the Mormons who believe Joseph Smith was given the correct scriptures.

But all this aside, most believers accept the oldest Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic scriptures as inspired by God.

Answer 3

Ahhh. The Bible is true because it says that it is. You are correct - the Bible is written by humans many years ago, then translated, edited and boiled-down for us peons. Did you know that there are VOLUMES of books beneath the ground at the Vatican that were THROWN OUT of the Bible?

I can see the other side, too. Most Christians seem to be happy, successful, balanced folks. I'm just too educated about Christianity to belong, though. Sigh.

Answer 4

I can't begin to ansewr a question that is based on so many generalisations but if you are serious about finding an answer, Google for 'form criticism', 'redaction criticism', 'textual criticism' + Bible, and you will see that we do take authenticity very seriously.

Nor should it be forgotten that Catholics, Reformed Christians and the Orthodox Churches, each have different ideas about what is authentically the written Word of God. It takes no leap of the imagination to guess how much scholarly literature those basic disagreements have spawned.

Answer 5

I even have one be conscious for you,"incorrect". there is plenty data approximately it fairly is self The prophecies from one testomony to a diverse. The length of time it to jot down and placed the books at the same time, and the certainty its over 40 adult men who wrote it, and yet it fairly is an exceedingly cohesive e book approximately Gods loving plan for His human beings. in case you have been to take a seat and study the bible you will locate jesus interior the bible from the very initiating, and how each e book the two tells approximately Him and His character, or is an occasion of His plans. And the Nw try. The plans grow to be comprehend by using the guy of Jesus. despite in case you were not in any respect to p.c.. up the bible and pass by using what you hear and notice around you Gods signature is everywhere, it fairly is call the Holy Spirit(Breath of existence) devoid of it, we would all be an merchandise that may not manage to pass. yet with the breath of God, it fairly is magnificent what wad can do.

Answer 6

As a scientist it is my job to be skeptical about everything. This is no less true of the Bible in which I believe. I personally have thought about the Bible and have ascertained to my own satisfaction that it is what it claims to be, the word of the supreme deity and creator of the world.

Please do not criticize ancient peoples as primitive. Just because they did not have the benefit of modern technology means nothing when it comes to knowledge of God, morality and wisdom. If you look at the corruption, crime and conflict in the world today you can see that we are no better off when it comes to our behaviour towards our fellow human beings. If anything, our modern technology makes it worse: we now have the capacity to destroy all life on this planet.

Returning to your main point, among the many reasons in which I believe that the Bible is authentic include:

1. Typology: the way the New Testament fulfills the Old Testament. It's not simply a claim that some prophet wrote "the messiah will come" and some crackpot later wrote "the messiah came". Rather, the Old Testament presents a series of themes: God, man, sin, judgement, death, life, priest, sacrifice, prophet, king, servant, wisdom, witness, righteousness are the main ones. All these themes combine together and find their expression and fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. How is it humanly possible that the Old Testament could have been written to foretell something like that?

2. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead can be ascertained by looking at extra-biblical historical documents. Jesus died (Josephus, Tacitus) but the apostles proclaimed Christ's resurrection from the early days (e.g. letter of Clement of Rome c95AD) in spite of opposition and persecution. How is it possible that so many would either deliberately lie or so many be deluded. If so, Christ's body could have been presented from the tomb to end such superstitious nonsense. The only remaining conclusion is that Christ did rise from the dead. This miracle confirms his claims as recorded in the Bible that he is the Son of God.

3. The Bible answers man's deepest needs:
- the incongruity, indignity and fear of death
- the reason why man hates his fellow man and why society cannot be reformed in spite of millennia of efforts
- the explanation as to why there are so many religions yet none agree
- the meaninglessness and futility of life.
All these issues find their reason and ultimate answer in God's word.

4. Personal experience. At a point in my life many years ago where I found myself doubting the authenticity of the Christian faith, I experienced a miracle which convinced me that I should believe. In brief, at the point where I chose to give up, I entered a trance and, my body being out of my own control, I went and found a book by a Christian author, skipped to a particular chapter and started reading. Soon after I snapped out of the trance and realized that the book was explaining to me what I needed to know. It was the exact answer to the problem that had led me to abandon my beliefs.

So there you go... the Bible is the word of God, and you would do well to read and accept it.

Answer 7

There is scripture in The Bible, Torah and The Dead Sea Scrolls that is written from some ones knowledge of multiple fields of advanced science that wasn't part of human knowledge at that time or now to have wrote it. This includes any Jewish scribes or sheepherders. So that leaves some one named Yahweh to have wrote it because it sure wasn't Charles Darwin.

Answer 8

Christians have been skeptical about the make-up and authority of the Bible since ancient times.

"Modern" Biblical skepticism is at least 2-3 hundred years old. And many of these skeptics have been Christian.

Read widely enough and one realizes that the Fundamentalists do not dominate this field of battle.

Answer 9

It's called Faith. It has been keeping people going for hundreds of years. If you're interested in a why a good read would be Civilization and it's Discontents by Sigmund Freud. He actually gives really good arguments on why people believe in God, the bible, etc.

Answer 10

You're very comment is the proof!
Take 40 people, over 1600 years, from varying walks of life and produce a unified book.
(You see, although its seldom mentioned, the Bible has a theme ....like any good book. Like any good book, that theme is presented, developed and emphasized).
Does it not show there must have been but one author and those 40 were simply the pen-men?
BTW Please get the idea out of your head that people back then were 'primitive'.
Some of those people built the pyramids ....structures that still hold mankind puzzled as to how it was done.