WHY WE CAN TRUST THE BIBLE-THE NEW TESTAMENT

This is the companion to the other blog I wrote today called "Why We Can Trust the Bible-The Old Testament."  I'll point you back there if you have questions about what is the Old Testament and how we can know that it is reliable.  Here's a link:  http://www.danielwestfall.com/blog/why-we-can-trust-the-bible-the-old-testament?fbclid=IwAR35nI6e3amUT4xy_JN2tU79RBYF1uSVb5ZOwe2DveI91pIfXY7E99CHlxc

With that said, the attacks against the New Testament are usually different than those against the Old Testament and therefore the arguments presented here are also a little different.  There is no doubt historically from contemporary secular sources to the time of Jesus' birth, His miraculous deeds, teaching, His identity as "the Christ," and his trial death and resurrection according to the Scriptures.

"About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Christ. And when, upon the accusation of the principal men among us, Pilate had condemned him to a cross, those who had first come to love him did not cease. He appeared to them spending a third day restored to life, for the prophets of God had foretold these things and a thousand other marvels about him. And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared."
Flavius Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18, Chapter 3, 3[

So, right out of the gate, I'm going to tell everyone that I'm not going to argue with skeptics that deny history.  Even a Jewish historian said that Jesus was the Christ and while I believe his Jewish faith kept him from coming right out and saying that Jesus was God in the flesh, he came as close as he dared to saying this (which could have been considered blasphemy--a crime punishable by death by the Jewish law).  Notice how he said, "if indeed one ought to call him a man." What else is there other than a man but to assume that Josephus knew that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God (God in the flesh)?

My argument doesn't solely hang on this testimony.  the New Testament also meets the criteria used by most scholars for textual criticism when it comes to reliability of the text and that is numerous copies in close proximity to the date of the original publication.  The closest partial manuscripts of the New Testament are approximately 50 years past when they were supposedly written.  The earliest complete copy of the New Testament is about 225 years old and there are 24, 633 partial or complete manuscripts (hand-written copies) of the New Testament according this video posted by Josh McDowell on July 2, 2012.

So, we have testimony to the historical accuracy of the events told in the gospels and we have more manuscripts than we can shake a stick at to show us that indeed the words we have in front of us today are reliable both in terms of authorship and the words that be believe were originally penned by the author.

I encourage you again at this point to go watch the videos that I posted in the last blog (I'll repost them here) for additional evidences and to do your own research.  If you seriously want to know that God exists, that His Word is true, and that He and His Word can be trusted, simply ask Him and seek him out with sincerity.  He promises that He will answer you--just maybe not in the way that you expect (see the book of Job as an example of this).

Proverbs 8:17 New International Version (NIV)
17 I love those who love me,
    and those who seek me find me.

Jeremiah 29:13 New International Version (NIV)
13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Matthew 7:7-8/Luke 11:9-10 New International Version (NIV)
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

James 1:5-8 New International Version (NIV)
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

Take God at His word and ask and seek Him and see if He doesn't follow through.  It is His character and name that are on the line, and He will deliver what He has promised.

​The Bible:  Fact, Fiction or Falacy (playlist):  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL16ABDCF6DB496225
Is the Bible Reliable (playlist):  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB9B212FAE4985850
Is the Bible True (playlist):  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL90208F780F552C51
Is the Bible Accurate (playlist):  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5A9CF63233837F0B
(some videos may appear in more than one playlist)