https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Why-Believe-in-the-Bible.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: I Corinthians 1:18-31<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I. Could the Bible be a product of man?<\/p>\n
A. We know that the Bible was written by about 40 different people<\/p>\n 1. Each from different walks of life, from shepherds to kings, councilors to\nfishermen.\n
2. It was written over a 1,500 year time span<\/p>\n
B. If men could sit down to devise such a book, would they do so?<\/p>\n
C. Think about the various history books and text books that you have read.<\/p>\n
1. How many make statements are similar to Romans 3:9-23?<\/p>\n 2. It is a books that exposes the weaknesses in men, their sinful thought,s and\ntheir actions.\n
3. Even of those involved in writing the books!<\/p>\n
a. Moses wrote the first five books<\/p>\n
(1) But he included his lack of eloquence – Exodus 4:10-14<\/p>\n
(2) He wrote about his sins – Numbers 20:11-12<\/p>\n
b. David’s sin with Bathsheba – II Samuel 11-12<\/p>\n
(1) How do men record their histories?<\/p>\n (2) Wouldn’t their own failings be skipped over or made to be\nshown as an asset?\n
(3) Who would want their dirty laundry hung out for all to see?<\/p>\n 4. Why does every author and person agree that they all sin, yet all agree that\nJesus did not?\n
5. I Corinthians 1:18-31<\/p>\n
D. If men composed a religious book, it would be quite different.<\/p>\n
II. Unusual Features of the Bible<\/p>\n
A. High and Holy Standards<\/p>\n 1. People tend to set standards for themselves which are easy for them to\nreach.\n a. Even when people claim to expect more of others, they expect less\nof themselves.\n b. While not a religious book, look at the laws our government sets.\nHow often do you find that the lawmakers are exempt from their\nown rules or taxes? It is what people tend to do.\n c. So what motivated the writers of the Bible to discuss standards\nwhich no one was keeping?\n 2. David looked like an incredible hypocrite when Nathan exposed his sins –\nII Samuel 12:1-13\n a. Would a king or his heirs have allowed this story to have been\npassed on?\n
b. What did they gain from the knowledge of the story?<\/p>\n
c. These type of stories are normally kept in the closet<\/p>\n
d. And who made up the standards which made David look so bad?<\/p>\n e. Why was that standard more important than the reputation of King\nDavid?\n
3. What nation would treasure a book like Jeremiah?<\/p>\n a. Jeremiah constantly drummed the beat of how horrible Israel acted\n– Jeremiah 8:5-12\n b. He warned them not to do things, and they turn around and did\nthem anyway – Jeremiah 37:7-10\n c. What nation would treasure a book as inspired of God that made\nthem look so bad and so foolish?\n
d. Why weren’t Israel’s virtues trumpeted?<\/p>\n e. And actually most of the 39 books of the Old Testament makes\nIsrael look bad. There are more failures than heros recorded.\n 4. No, human wisdom would not unite behind books whose theme was the\nsins of men. Humans write books of about gods whose own standards are\nsimilar to their own.\n
B. Unheeded Prophecies<\/p>\n 1. The books written long before the coming Savior of the world spoke of\npeople’s blindness – Isaiah 53:1-3\n a. When men make up a story about the coming of a mighty king,\nthey speak of their awe for the man as they see the prophecies\nbeing fulfilled.\n b. But the Old Testament speaks of his humiliation and rejection –\nIsaiah 53:4-12\n c. Human wisdom would not have prophesied that the Savior would\nbe rejected by the bulk of his own people – Psalm 22:6-21\n d. And because of their rejection, their own city would be destroyed –\nMatthew 23:29-36\n 2. Would human wisdom direct Jewish writers to predict the defeat of Israel\nand how various succeeding empires would rule over them, as recorded in\nIsaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel?\n a. There are things predicted in the pages of the Bible that men could\nnot have guessed would take place.\n b. Even if men could accurately write such, who would record the\nhumiliation of the nation that treasures these books as inspired of\nGod?\n
C. Accuracy of the Prophecies<\/p>\n
1. Who would predict that a child called “Mighty God” (Isaiah 9:6)<\/p>\n
a. Would be born of a virgin in a tiny town? – Isaiah 7:14; Micah 5:2<\/p>\n
b. Rejected by his own people? – Psalm 118:22<\/p>\n
c. Save only a few of his people? – Isaiah 10:20-23<\/p>\n
d. Slaughtered by his own people – Isaiah 53:7<\/p>\n
e. Yet not left in the grave – Psalms 16:10<\/p>\n 2. Who could have predicted the rise and fall of kingdoms like Assyria,\nEgypt, Babylon, Tyre, Sidon, the subjugation of the Medes and Persians to\nthe Greeks, and the rise of Rome?\n
3. Who could have predicted the tiny details?<\/p>\n
a. The casting of lots for Jesus’ garments – Psalms 22:18<\/p>\n
b. The piercing of his hands and feet – Psalms 22:16<\/p>\n
c. But no broken bones – Psalms 34:20<\/p>\n
4. Isaiah 41:21-24<\/p>\n 5. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of books which attempt to foretell\nthe future\n a. We have disaster books of overpopulation, ice age, global\nwarming, etc. Yet they never quite get it right\n
b. We have books about coming utopias, but they never happen<\/p>\n c. We can’t seem to predict accurately what will happen in the next\ndecade let alone detail events in the next 500 years with precision.\n 6. Yet the Bible is filled with direct prophecies, subtle use of foreshadowing,\nand seemingly obscure references which all play together as the story\nunfolds.\n a. And a people, whose own books degrade them, keeps them and\npreserves them for the future.\n
III. What other book is like it<\/p>\n
A. The Quran<\/p>\n 1. A book containing the sayings of Mohammed who swings from respect for\nthe Jews and Christians, whom he calls “People of the Book” to disdain\nwhen he realizes they won’t accept him as a prophet.\n
2. It doesn’t prove itself to be divine by prophecies.<\/p>\n 3. It calls the Bible divine and holy, but it is inconsistent with the Bible’s\nprecepts.\n
4. It has internal contradictions, though it is the sayings of one man<\/p>\n
5. It imposes rules on its followers while giving exceptions to the author<\/p>\n 6. It is a book that you would expect from the hand of a man, written from\nhuman wisdom. \n
7. It spreads evil, fear, murder, and subjugation.<\/p>\n
B. The Book of Mormon<\/p>\n 1. It leans heavily on the King James Version of the Bible, which is odd if it\nwas really a collection of scared writings from two thousand years earlier,\nbut discovered in the 1800’s. After all, the KJV was written in the 1600s so\nwhy quote so heavily from this version?\n
2. Where are the predictive elements?<\/p>\n
3. Why are there so much controversy over its origin and contents?<\/p>\n
4. This is a book that could come from human wisdom.<\/p>\n a. Its author, Joseph Smith, was heavily influenced by Free-Masonry,\nand popular beliefs of the time.\n b. Example: He wrote essays on the origins of the Indians which were\npopularly believed in the 1800s but have since been disproved.\n
c. There are no elements of divine wisdom or accurate foreknowledge<\/p>\n
5. It is a book you would expect from the hand of a man<\/p>\n
IV. Unity of Theme<\/p>\n A. Only the Bible has a single theme pointing forward to the Messiah (Old\nTestament) and backward to the Messiah (New Testament) in a completely\nconsistent manner.\n
B. Only the Bible shows accurate predictive features<\/p>\n
C. Only the Bible calls people to a standard that has been shown to improve men<\/p>\n
D. And it calls itself complete<\/p>\n
1. John 16:13 – Having all truth<\/p>\n
2. Jude 3 – Given once for all<\/p>\n
3. II Peter 1:3 – Having everything pertaining to life and godliness<\/p>\n
4. II Timothy 3:16-17 – Makes a person complete<\/p>\n
E. It is a firm foundation – Ephesians 2:19-22<\/p>\n
F. The Bible is God’s book, the Creator’s only written revelation.<\/p>\n
\n
Based on an article by Terry Benton<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Corinthians 1:18-31 I. Could the Bible be a product of man? A. We know that the Bible was written by about 40 different people 1. Each from different walks of life, from shepherds to kings, councilors to fishermen. 2. It was written over a 1,500 year time span B. If men could sit…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[568,37,219,49],"class_list":["post-19309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-accuracy-of-the-bible","tag-apologetics","tag-bible","tag-faith"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42079,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ive-listened-to-the-entire-bible-during-my-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":19309,"position":0},"title":"I’ve listened to the entire Bible during my day","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read your article on \u00a0Reading the Bible Cover to Cover. Permit me to share that I love listening to my audio Bible and have covered 50 to 100 chapters a day. I have since gone through the Good Book eleven times. By late Wednesday, March 5th, I'll complete\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92647,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-i-believe-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":19309,"position":1},"title":"Why I Believe the Bible","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Keith Greer Today, God's book is under attack from many enemies. Even some in the church question the Bible's validity. Why should we believe the Bible? Allow me to present, for your consideration, a few of my reasons for believing. It Is Completely Honest Consider the honesty of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49007,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-bible-left-to-each-individuals-interpretation\/","url_meta":{"origin":19309,"position":2},"title":"Is the Bible left to each individual’s interpretation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A few questions I have: Is the Bible left to each individual's own interpretation? How can we trust translations? Isn't that just someone else's interpretation(s)? How can I prove the Bible is correct if someone doesn't even believe it in the first place? Thank you. Answer: \"But know this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29411,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/drinking-in-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":19309,"position":3},"title":"Drinking in the Bible","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Old Testament Sermon with Audio: Drinking in the Old Testament Article: Old Testament Beverages New Testament Sermon with audio: Drinking in the New Testament Article: New Testament Beverages","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0013_tif-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11699,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-scriptures\/","url_meta":{"origin":19309,"position":4},"title":"The Scriptures","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 4, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Luke 24:33-49 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How do you look at the Bible? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lately I\u2019ve talked to people with wide opinions concerning the things written \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One person seems to take great pleasure in locating and pointing every apparent inconsistency he can find in God\u2019s Word. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0a.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is obvious\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52203,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-insufficiency-of-the-bible-alone\/","url_meta":{"origin":19309,"position":5},"title":"The Insufficiency of the Bible Alone","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19309\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}