Masada was a fortress on a plateau overlooking the Dead Sea where Herod the Great built a palace over\u00a030 years before Jesus was born. After the Romans destroyed Jerusalem\u00a0in 70 AD, they were determined to take this fortress from the Jews who had escaped there. They built a siege ramp up to the wall so that they could break through it with a battering ram. At first, some of the workers were killed when the Jews threw rocks on them. Later, Jewish prisoners of war were used to build the ramp, and the ploy worked. The Jews would not kill their own, even though they knew\u00a0the ramp could lead to the taking of the fortress. The wall was eventually breached, and Masada fell into the hands of the Roman army.<\/p>\n
This got me thinking about the wall of faith each of us should have and how we must do all we can to protect it from Satan’s relentless attacks. We must “guard our hearts<\/em>” (Proverbs 4:23) and be aware of his tactics (II Corinthians 2:11). He will try to conquer our minds by building a siege ramp, one shovel-full at a time.<\/p>\n One area in particular that concerns me is the devil’s attempt to destroy our faith in the reliability of the Bible. Is it really the word of God? Can we know that we have what the apostles originally wrote? Have the Scriptures been changed as they have been translated over the past 2000 years? Are there not thousands of variants in the manuscripts? These are not uncommon questions in our day.<\/p>\n While there are variants in the manuscripts used to formulate the original text, the differences are mostly spelling errors and inverted words and phrases. Concerning these, Greg Koukl quoted Greek scholar\u00a0D.A. Carson as saying, “The purity of text is of such a substantial nature that nothing we believe to be true, and nothing we are commanded\u00a0to do, is in any way jeopardized by the variants.” Koukl also wrote that “this issue is no longer contested by non-Christian scholars, and for good reason. Simply put, if we reject the authenticity of the New Testament\u00a0on textual grounds, we’d have to reject every ancient work of antiquity and declare null and void every piece of historical information from written sources prior to the beginning of the second millennium A.D.” (1)<\/p>\n Consider the following example of\u00a0a bias against the Bible instead of\u00a0accepting what other ancient writings have to say. The author of\u00a0an article about Herod the Great wrote, “Herod’s reign over Judea\u00a0from 37 to 4 BC is not remembered for justice but for its indiscriminate cruelty. His most notorious act was the murder of all male infants in Bethlehem to prevent the fulfillment of a prophecy heralding the birth of the Messiah. There is no record of the decree other than the Gospel of Matthew, and biblical scholars debate whether it actually took place, but\u00a0the story is in keeping with a man who arranged the murders of, among others, three of his own sons and a beloved wife.” (2) Did you notice that Matthew’s text is questioned, but apparently any others that speak of what Herod did to his sons and his wife are not?! Where does this latter information come from? Evidently, it comes from the writings of Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian. However, the manuscript evidence we have for the trustworthiness of the Bible is far greater in terms of the number of manuscripts available and the age of some of those in terms of how soon\u00a0they were written after the events\u00a0they told about. I believe we can concur with Tom Moody, who wrote, “Applying the same tests and allowing the same standards by which any other document can be measured for authenticity and reliability, the Bible stands.” (3)<\/p>\n Why do some so easily dismiss the words of the Bible? I suggest that it’s because the Bible has some serious things to say about God and the expectations He has of us. F.F. Bruce noted that “it is a curious fact that historians have often been much readier to trust the New Testament records than have many theologians?” (4)<\/p>\n Other evidence, such as fulfilled prophecies, the unity of the message, archaeological findings, and eyewitness testimonies concerning the resurrection of Jesus (and their willingness to suffer and die for that testimony), can strengthen our faith in the Bible being the word of God. Let our faith in the Scriptures be such that we may say to our Adversary’s attempts to batter down that wall, “You can put away your shovel on that subject.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Lee Wildman via Biblical Insights, Vol 14, No. 9, September 2014 Masada was a fortress on a plateau overlooking the Dead Sea where Herod the Great built a palace over\u00a030 years before Jesus was born. After the Romans destroyed Jerusalem\u00a0in 70 AD, they were determined to take this fortress from the Jews who had…<\/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_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[568,709,122],"class_list":["post-83327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-accuracy-of-the-bible","tag-evidence","tag-textual-criticism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28452,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-roman-soldiers-involved-in-the-arrest-of-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":83327,"position":0},"title":"Were Roman soldiers involved in the arrest of Jesus?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How many Roman soldiers came to arrest Christ? Answer - None - the guard force was from the Temple guard. A Roman guard would not have taken Jesus to the High Priest's house but to the Roman fortress to be held. Answer: \"The band of soldiers (t\u00ean speiran). No\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":42787,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/archaeology-and-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":83327,"position":1},"title":"Archaeology and the Old Testament","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Isaiah 41:21-29 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mankind\u2019s memories of the past are poor at best \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In general, we don\u2019t keep extensive records and those records we do keep are often on material that does not last. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There is a branch of science, called archeology that attempts to bring\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Joash-Inscription.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":59924,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/teach-your-child-the-fear-of-the-lord\/","url_meta":{"origin":83327,"position":2},"title":"Teach Your Child the Fear of the Lord","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Forrest D. Moyer, 1989 When Paul had listed all the sins of the Gentiles and of the Jews and was summing up his argument as to why all need the gospel, he told us why there is so much sin in the world in these succinct words: \"There is\u2026","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\/2006\/03\/rainbow-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1190,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-jews-and-christians-both-follow-the-teachings-of-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":83327,"position":3},"title":"Do Jews and Christians both follow the teachings of the Old Testament?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 31, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do Jews and Christians both follow the teachings of the Old Testament? Answer: The Old Testament was given solely to the nation of Israel. \"And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: \"Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you\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":2809,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-historical-political-background-of-the-new-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":83327,"position":4},"title":"The Historical-Political Background of the New Testament","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Russell H. Dunaway Jr. via Truth Magazine Vol. XLIV: 9 p14 \u00a0May 4, 2000 Beginning in 606 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon launched the first of three successive attacks upon the city of Jerusalem and the people of Judah. During the second attack (597 B.C.) Ezekiel, Daniel, and about 10,000\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":47722,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-the-gentiles-allowed-to-go-into-the-synagogues\/","url_meta":{"origin":83327,"position":5},"title":"Were the Gentiles allowed to go into the synagogues?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Were the Gentiles allowed to go into the synagogues? Answer: Gentiles were allowed to come to the temple complex, but they were restricted to remain in the outer court, the court of the Gentiles. The question is whether some similar restriction forbade Gentiles from entering synagogues. We know that\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83327","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=83327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Footnotes<\/h2>\n
\n