Can anyone ever be a 100% sure that what the bible says is the actual word of God? I know this relationship between man and God is based on faith, but I often find that to be hard. My faith is stonger at times than it is at others. If nothing else, God knows how much I want to believe. I greatly want to believe. I just don't know if I'm tricking myself into believing because I want it so much.
What is one reason for finding the Bible as historically sound ? Before 1993, there was no proof outside the Bible to support the historicity of David, the brave young shepherd who later became king of Israel. That year, however, archaeologists uncovered in northern Israel a basalt stone, dated to the ninth century B.C.E., that experts say bear the words "House of David" and "king of Israel".
How accurate is the Bible scientifically ? The Bible is not a scientific textbook, but when it comes to scientific matters, the Bible is noteworthy not only for what it says but also for what it does not say. Some 3,500 years ago, the Bible stated that the earth is hanging "upon nothing"(Job 26:7)" In the eighth century B.C.E., Isaiah clearly referred to the "circle [or, sphere] of the earth.(Isaiah 40:22) A spherical earth held in space without any visible or physical means of support.
Regarding prophecy, how concise is the Bible ? About 732 B.C.E., the prophet Isaiah penned an ominous prophecy - Babylon would fall. Isaiah provided specifics: A leader named "Cyrus" would be the conqueror, the protective waters of the Euphrates would "dry up," and the city's gates would "not be shut".(Isaiah 44:27-45:3) Some 200 years later, on October 5, 539 B.C.E., the prophecy was fulfilled in all it's details. Greek historian Herodotus (fifth century B.C.E.) confirmed the manner of Babylon's fall."
Isaiah made a further startling prediction regarding Babylon: “She will never be inhabited.” (Isaiah 13:19, 20) To predict permanent desolation for a sprawling city occupying a strategic location was bold indeed. You would normally expect that such a city would be rebuilt if ruined. Although Babylon lingered on for a while after its conquest, Isaiah’s words eventually came true. Today the site of ancient Babylon “is flat, hot, deserted and dusty,” reports
Smithsonian magazine.
It is awesome to contemplate the magnitude of Isaiah’s prophecy. What he foretold would be the equivalent of predicting the exact manner in which a modern city, such as New York or London, would be destroyed 200 years from now and then emphatically stating that
it would never again be inhabited.
Does archaeology support the Bible ? Concerning the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., Jesus had prophetically stated some 37 years before it's downfall that this would occur.(Luke 19:42-44) What evidence is there of its total ruin ? A team of archaeologists digging in Jerusalem in 1970 came upon a charred ruin. "The picture was clear to any trained eye," wrote Nahman Avigad, the team leader. "The building had been destroyed by fire, and the walls and ceiling had collasped." In one room were the bones of an arm, it's fingers spread, grasping at a step". How can this be shown as the fall of Jerusalem that Jesus spoke of ? Because "strewn on the floor were coins, the latest of which dated to the fourth year of the Jewish revolt against Rome - 69 C.E." It further said that "objects had been scattered before the building collasped." Avigad said that "Seeing this, we recalled Josephus's description of the Roman soldiers looting the houses after the city had been conquered."
In addition, at one time, prominent scholars held that Assyrian King Sargon II, whose name only appears in the Bible at Isaiah 20:1, never existed. In 1843, however, near present-day Khorsabad, Iraq, on a tributary of the Tigris River, Sargon's palace was discovered. It covers some 25 acres." Thus, Sargon was raised from secular obscurity to become one of the "best known kings of Assyria."
These are only a few examples of the Bible's accuracy and truthfulness, that it is a book to be trusted as God's word. Hence, this provides evidence of the existence of God, for no one can accurately prophecy the future, except our Creator, who has precisely foretold what would happen even thousands of years in advance such as in the book of Revelation, of the rise and fall of the ' seventh king' at Revelation 17:10, the Anglo-American dual world power.
