How Does The Bible Compare to Other Ancient Books?

So, is the Bible really all that accurate? You've head it before. Maybe it's by friends or a teacher....but, you've heard it: "Sure the Bible is a good book, but, it's got mistakes." Well, take a look at the evidence and decide for yourself. With regards to the Old Testament, the Jewish copyists of the Hebrew Scriptures had to follow strict rules:

• Each copy had to be written in a certain number of columns of 30 letters width and with a certain number of lines to each column. · Each copy had to be made from a certified original.
• Every letter was copied one at a time from the original. They could not even write one letter from memory.
• The distance between each letter was measured by a single hair or thread.
• Every letter on every page and book was counted against the original. The number of times each letter occurred in the book was counted and compared against the original.
• If one of these rules (and many others) were broken, the entire copy was destroyed.

What about the New Testament you ask? There are two important factors involved in determining the reliability of a historical document:

1. The number of manuscript copies still around and,
2. the time between when it was first written and the oldest copy still in existence.

Let's compare the New Testament with some other writings of olden days. The New Testament was written over a time period of 60 years. We have over 24,000 copies and some of the copies we have are only 25 years removed from the originals! Caesar's work, The Gallic Wars, was written over a 56 year period. We have 10 copies, the closest to the original is 1,000 years removed. We have 643 copies of Homer's Iliad and there is a 500 year span between the original and oldest existing copy. So you see, no other work comes close to the New Testament. So why do so many put down the Bible as being inaccurate and untrustworthy?

 

Author	When Written	Earliest Copy Still in Existence Today	Time Span Between 1st Written and Oldest Copy	Number of  Ancient Copies in Existence Today
Pliny the Younger	A.D. 61-113	850 A.D.	750 yrs	7
Caesar	100- 44 B.C.	900 A.D.	1,000 yrs.	10
Plato	427-347 B.C.	900 A. D.	1,200 yrs.	7
Aristolte	384-322 B.C.	. 1100 A. D.	1,400 yrs.	37
Sophocles	496-406 B.C.	1000 A.D.	1,400 yrs.	193
Euripedes	480-406 B.C.	1100 A.D.	1,500 yrs.	9
Catallus	54 B.C.	1550 A.D.	1,600 yrs.	3
New Testament	48 A. D. (Mark)	130 A.D. (N.T.)	80 yrs.	24,630

The Scriptures were written by over 40 different authors, over a period of approximately 1,500 years. These authors not only lived in different time periods, but were also in totally different cultures, living in totally different environments, over 3 different continents, in a wide variety of occupations. Yet, miraculously, all the books of Scripture are in complete unity and agreement, revealing the Nature of God, man and his relationship to God, and how God planned to restore that relationship. Scriptures are completely in agreement in controversial matters such as God, the meaning of life, etc...

NOTE:

Try getting even 5 people in 1 period of time, in 1 culture, to be in complete unity and thought about   even a simple controversial subject, i.e. "What about T.V.?".   Scripture are one in thought because the were under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Peoples, places, and stories found in the Bible are all historically proven.

Critics at one time denied that the Hittites mentioned in the Bible had ever lived, because no record of their existence had yet been found. Today in Ankara, Turkey, there is an entire museum devoted to the Hittites.

The Bible is the only book that bases its authenticity and authority on prophecy. No other books, such as the Koran, the Bhagavad-Gita, the Hindu Vedas, the Book of Mormon, the sayings of Budda or Confucious, have the element of prophecy in them.

	There were a total of 109 specific prophesies fulfilled at Jesus’s first coming.
	There are hundreds of fulfilled prophesies in the ancient and modern history of the Jewish people.

The Scriptures contain advanced medical and sanitation knowledge that was thousands of years ahead of its time.

Several years ago archeologists found in the Hinnom Valley near Jerusalem, two silver charms with biblical inscriptions on them, Numbers 6:24-26. When compared to modern Bible translations they are essentially the same.