JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

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The records we have of Jesus, therefore, can be relied upon without hesitation. They are
historically trustworthy.
Then why do so many people, including scholars, reject the testimony of Scripture? Their
antisupernatural worldview blinds them to the compelling evidence. And their naturalistic
presuppositions (i.e. dead men don't rise) makes it impossible for them to be open to any amount
of historical testimony which might substantiate what they have narrowly labeled myth.
This does not mean that the historical method proves that Christianity is true, but it does
remove impediments to faith and can also help believers achieve a more informed understanding
and reasonable confidence in the unique authenticity, and thus authority, of the biblical record as
claimed by the Christian religion.
The Survival of the Bible
The survival of the Bible through time is another pointer to its authenticity. Although it
does not prove that the biblical record is genuine, if it did not survive through time it would
prove that it was not authentic. After all, how could God provide His revelation and not have it
available to His people?
Even though the Bible was written on material that perishes and had to be copied and
recopied for hundreds of years before the invention of the printing press, this did not diminish its
style, correctness nor existence. Compared with other ancient writings, the Bible has more
manuscripts which serve as evidence than any 10 of classical literature combined. No documents
of the ancient period are as well attested bibliographically as the New Testament. Bernard Ramm
says concerning its accuracy:
"Jews preserved it as no other manuscript has ever been preserved. With their
massora (parva, magna, and finalis,) they kept tabs on every letter, syllable,
word, and paragraph. They had special classes of men within their culture whose
sole duty was to preserve and transmit these documents with practically perfect
fidelity—scribes, lawyers, massoretes. Who ever counted the letters and syllables
and words of Plato or Aristotle? Cicero or Seneca?"55
The Bible has withstood the vicious attacks of its enemies as no other book. Many have
tried to burn it, ban it, and outlaw it from the days of Roman emperors to present day Communist
dominated countries.
Voltaire, the noted French infidel who died in 1778, said that in one hundred years from
his time, Christianity would be swept from existence and passed into the annals of history. It is
Voltaire, however, has passed into history, while circulation of the Bible continues to increase in
almost all parts of the world.