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QUESTION 94:
Who wrote the Bible down here on earth? And how do we know it is true?

ANSWER:
The Bible was written by about forty different men over a period of about sixteen hundred years. These men were “prophets” of God, That is, they had the divinely given ability to receive directly from God messages to be spoken or written. This we learn from two scriptures. 2 Peter 1:20, 21 “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture (writings) is of any private interpretation.”

The words “private interpretation” means that it was of “no disclosure or discovery of their own”. It never originated with them. They had received it directly from the Holy Spirit. The next verse verifies this, I quote, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: (that is man had nothing to do with originating this) but holy men of God spake AS THEY WERE MOVED BY THE HOLY GHOST”. The second scripture is in 2 Timothy 3:16 “All scripture (writings) is given by inspiration of God...” The word “inspiration” literally means “God-breathed”. He dictated the very words that each prophet spake or wrote. This is called “verbal inspiration.”

How do we know it is true? I would suggest that the best personal conviction of it's credibility is to believe it's promises. Apart from this there are many ways to verify the truths of the Bible. Take the prophecies of the Jewish people and see if they are not true. Take the first coming of Christ where over three hundred Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled. An impossibility to be untrue. Evolutionists have taught several unverified theories of the origin of man in the past one hundred years; but God inspired a man to write over four thousand years ago and in twenty-seven words He tells us where man came from. Any chemist can prove that, by taking a human body and in his analysis he will only find the dust of the earth. Columbus discovered that the earth was round in 1492, but Isaiah knew it, Isaiah 40:22 “It is He that sitteth up THE CIRCLE of the earth. The best thing to do with the Bible is to read it and believe it.

All comments and questions to: Harold Smith

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Updated July 2009, by Shelly Allen