The Bible- Part 2

It's been a little while since I've posted, so I'll try to keep up with them! Now, back to the Bible, part 1 was just a little background information about the Bible, and now we will look into one of the very unique things about it that no other book has. Fulfilled prophecy.

There are two categories of biblical prophecies: Messianic and Non-Messianic. We will focus on Messianic for right now. There are over 300 prophecies in the Bible that were fulfilled concerning Jesus, like His birth place, how He would die, His resurrection... written hundreds of years before they happened. Here is a list of those prophecies: 365 Prophecies fulfilled by Christ

One professor took it into his own hands to figure out the probabilty of one man fulfilling just 8 of these prophecies, he and a handful of students (about 600) have this to say:

"After examining eight different prophecies, they conservatively estimated that the chance of one man fulfilling all eight prophecies was one in 10 to the 17th power.

To illustrate how large the number 10 to the 17th power is (a figure with 17 zeros), Stoner gave this illustration. Imagine covering the entire state of Texas with silver dollars to a level of two feet deep. The total number of silver dollars needed to cover the whole state would be 10 to the 17th power. Now, choose just one of those silver dollars, mark it and drop it from an airplane. Then thoroughly stir all the silver dollars all over the state.

When that has been done, blindfold one man, and tell him he can travel wherever he wishes in the state of Texas. But some time he must stop, reach down into the two feet of silver dollars and try to pull up that one specific silver dollar that has been marked.

Now, the chance of his finding that one silver dollar in the state of Texas would be the chance the prophets had for eight of their prophecies coming true in any one man in the future."

So..10 to the 17th power: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000. Now imagine the probability of 48 prophecies....that's 10 to the 157th power! There are over 300 fulfilled by Jesus Christ!! There is no possible way one man could fulfill just 8 of these, no other religous text touches the Bible, the Bible should be on a shelf all by itself, with any and all other books on the shelf below it. Think about the implications. Since these prophecies are true, then there is a God, and He wants you to know who He is.... head on over to needGod.com  and take the good person test. Where will you go when you die?

The Bible- Part 1

Many people own a Bible, but that's not to say that each one of them reads it though. Most the time, their Bible sits on the shelf to collect dust, rarely to be opened. I have been and sometimes still am guilty of this, and by no means am I excusing myself. Other people think of the Bible as some "bronze-age book with fairy tales" and that since times have changed, it doesn't apply. I beg to differ. But let's take a look at some very interesting things about it, which I will attempt to break up into parts over the course of the next few posts.

Just a short introduction to the Bible:

-The Bible was written over a span of 1,500 years
-Written by more than 40 authors from every walk of life (kings, peasants, military leaders, fishermen, musicians, scholars, tax collectors, philosophers, shepards, etc.)
-The Bible is made up of two testaments (66 books): the Old Testament (containing 39 books) was composed from about 1400 B.C. to 400 B.C., and the New Testament (containing 27 books) was written from approximately A.D. 50 to A.D. 90.
-Was written on 3 continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe and in 3 languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
-The Bible addresses hundreds of controversial subjects, yet from Genesis through Revelation, the writers addressed them with amazing harmony. (Try getting 10 people from the same city to agree on one controversial subject, I doubt you will!)

One word to describe the Bible, is the word "unique". Let's take a look at the definition as Merriam-Webster defines it:
1: being the only one
2a: being without a like or equal:unequaled

It is unique in its continuity, like I stated before, all the authors agree on the same controversial subjects, yet all are from different walks of life.

It is unique in its circulation and in it's translation. Selling millions of copies (in a year) and is in over 2,000 languages.

Is unique in it's survival. It has been persecuted and criticized yet withstands to this day. Many have tried to outlaw it and burn it. Interesting to note that the French infidel Voltaire, who died in 1778, said that within 100 years from his time, Christianity would be swept from existance and passed into history. 50 years after his death, his printing press was used to print bibles at his house.

It is unique in it's teachings. We will get into more of this later, but with hundreds of prophecies fulfilled, scientific facts, and it being very specific about controversial topics, it is hard to dismiss this as some "bronze age" book.

God's word has changed millions of lives over the course of history. We will end up diving a bit deeper into what the Bible consists of over the next few posts, and I hope you stick with me, as it is very thought provoking and hopefully will end up answering some questions you may have.

-Zach

Happy Late 4th

Well, yesterday was the 4th of July (Happy Late Independence Day!). It's been a while since blogging (I don't believe I have many followers (if any) haha. I was on leave down in Kansas where my folks live, and got to see my family all together in one spot for the first time in 3 years! God is good for allowing me to go on leave and see the ones I love. Enjoy the firework pics! Because I won't be taking any until next year!