by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
There are two ways to test the validity of a book’s claims about itself. There is the external test, which considers the historical accuracy and archeological evidence in its favor.\u00a0Then there is the internal test, which considers prophetic accuracy, unity, harmony, and unusual marks of foreknowledge or super-human knowledge. When these tests are applied, we find some glaring weaknesses in all other books but the Bible.<\/p>\n
The Bible is unique in its characteristics. Additionally, the 39 books of the Old Testament were accepted and honored by the historical Jesus of Nazareth as “God’s word”. He further told that the Spirit would guide His apostles into “all truth<\/em>” (John 16:13). His prediction aligned with Old Testament prophecies of a “new covenant<\/em>” to be revealed by the Spirit (Jeremiah 31:31f; Joel 2:28f).<\/p>\n Since the apostles and prophets gave us the New Testament writings, being guided into “all truth<\/em>“, but they did not give us the Koran or the Book of Mormon, then those writings cannot be considered a part of “all truth.<\/em>“<\/p>\n Furthermore, they fail the external and internal tests that we mentioned. The Bible alone is unique and amazing. It reveals God to us, and those who are wise will diligently study it. Don’t dismiss it without real, honest study and examination.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton There are two ways to test the validity of a book’s claims about itself. There is the external test, which considers the historical accuracy and archeological evidence in its favor.\u00a0Then there is the internal test, which considers prophetic accuracy, unity, harmony, and unusual marks of foreknowledge or super-human knowledge. When these…<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[219],"class_list":["post-95274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-bible"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17566,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/thank-for-the-refutation-on-dan-billingslys-teachings-and-the-information-on-the-historical-accuracy-of-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":95274,"position":0},"title":"Thank for the refutation on Dan Billingsly’s teachings and the information on the historical accuracy of the Bible","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I came across your site twice in two days. Once when I was looking for\u00a0refutations to the teachings by Dan Billingsly\u00a0and now when I was looking for information on the\u00a0historical accuracy of the Bible. Thanks for the help. I also came across a reference to\u00a0the Mesha Stele in Wikipedia\u00a0that\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":94314,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/mistakes-in-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":95274,"position":1},"title":"Mistakes in the Bible","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 4, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Allen Dvorak \"Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem\" (II Kings 8:26). \"Ahaziah was forty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem\" (II Chronicles 22:2). Bible critics love to point to such numerical discrepancies\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":36504,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-it-really-matter-about-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":95274,"position":2},"title":"Does It Really Matter About the Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant Sometimes in talking with people, I ask if they believe the Bible is true. I then give three options: It is inspired by God, and all true; It is just a collection of writings by men through the centuries; or The original writings were God-inspired, but\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":17775,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-convince-my-brother-that-the-bible-is-complete\/","url_meta":{"origin":95274,"position":3},"title":"How do I convince my brother that the Bible is complete?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was discussing baptism with my brother. He knows he needs to be baptized, but he doesn't have confidence in the Bible. He says he watches these shows that tell how corrupt men took books out of the Bible that really might be important. One example was that Mary\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":15179,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-have-some-books-been-left-out-of-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":95274,"position":4},"title":"Why have some books been left out of the Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If the books in the Bible were written by apostles, was Moses considered an apostle? What of Isaiah and Samuel? Were they considered apostles? Is it not said in the book of Matthew that nothing was to be taken from the Old Testament? I'm just curious because if 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":33447,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-any-non-biblical-evidence-that-proves-the-prophecies-in-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":95274,"position":5},"title":"Is there any non-biblical evidence that proves the prophecies in the Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A friend and I talked for a little while tonight regarding Bible evidence, and when we talked about prophecy, he raised the argument that prophecies from the Bible verified purely from within the Bible can't be used to prove the Bible. Is that a fair argument? And are there\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\/95274","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=95274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95274\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}