The Myth That The Bible Has Been Discredited
October 15, 2013
David Cloud, Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061
866-295-4143,
fbns@wayoflife.org
unshakeable_faith_s_160
The following is excerpted from AN UNSHAKEABLE FAITH: A CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS COURSE. ISBN 978-1-58318-119-5. (Second edition January 2013) This course is built upon nearly 40 years of serious Bible study and apologetics research and writing. Research was done in the author’s personal 6,000-volume library plus in major museums and other locations in America, England, Europe, Australia, Asia, Turkey, Greece, and the Middle East. The package consists of a 360-page apologetics course (both print and eBook editions are supplied) plus 20 professional PowerPoint/Keynote presentations featuring 2,253 slides dealing with archaeology (ancient writing, Ur, Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Lachish, Hezekiah’s tunnel, Medo-Persia, evidence from Israel itself, Luke’s writings, the Roman Empire), evolution/creation science (natural selection, mutations, fossil record, homology, peppered moth, Darwin’s finch, fruit fly, Lucy, Laetoli, vestigial organs, Haekel’s embryo chart, the Miller experiment, horse, whale and bird evolution, billions of years, icons of creation), and prophecies pertaining to Israel’s history. (Keynote is the Apple version of PowerPoint.) The course can be used for private study as well as in practically any Bible-teaching setting, such as teen and adult Sunday Schools, Youth Groups, Bible Institutes, and Home Schooling. The course is extensive and has a lot of depth, but this does not mean that it must be used as a whole or that it is limited to a “seminary” setting. It can be adapted to any age group from teen and older and can be divided into segments for any length of study, from one month to a year. The course can also be used as a reference manual. Practically any question that arises in the context of evolution, creation science, archaeology, Christ’s resurrection, etc., can be answered from this book. There are review questions and a summary of the course, which emphasizes the major points that the students should master. The major sections include The Bible’s Nature, The Bible’s Proof, The Dead Sea Scrolls, The Bible’s Difficulties, Historical Evidence for Jesus, Evidence for Christ’s Resurrection, Archaeological Treasures Confirming the Bible, A History of Evolution, Icons of Evolution, Icons of Creation, Noah’s Ark and the Global Flood. The course is printed on 8.5x11-inch stock with coated color cover and is spiral-bound so it can be laid flat. The package consists of the book and the PowerPoint/Keynote presentations. www.wayoflife.org.
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The outcome of a murder trial in a U.S. courtroom requires evidence “beyond a reasonable doubt,” because so much is at stake, and we should require no less on the issue of creation vs. evolution, which has grave consequences that are not only earthly but also eternal.

The Bible claims to be the revelation of God to man, and if the Bible is true, there is an Almighty Creator God and a heaven and a hell; man will live forever in one place or another; and salvation is only through personal faith in Jesus Christ.

This issue is too serious to be decided on the basis of anything other than solid proof that the Bible is
not trustworthy, yet no such proof exists. In fact, the critics have been proven wrong time and time and time again.

Charles Darwin said, “The clearest evidence would be requisite to make any sane man believe in the miracles by which Christianity is supported” (
The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, edited by Nora Barlow).

Like many others since then, Darwin FALSELY ASSUMED that the “clearest evidence” is lacking. They have falsely assumed that the Bible has been discredited by modern science and by the “higher criticism” of theological liberalism, but the fact is that the modernistic theories have been repeatedly
disproven whereas the Bible has been repeatedly authenticated.

Those who have maintained faith in the Bible have never been disappointed.

Consider the situation that existed in 1859 when Darwin published
On the Origin of Species. Theological skeptics such as F.C. Baur claimed that the New Testament was not written until a century and more after the events and that it was based on myths that had taken shape as they were handed down by word of mouth for generations. Skeptics claimed that the book of Acts was filled with historical errors. They claimed that writing was not sufficiently developed by Moses’ time for him to have written the early books of the Bible. This view originated with Andrew Wolf and first appeared in 1795 in his Prolegomena to Homer. H. Schultz is an example of the 19th-century skeptics who were promoting Wolf’s doctrine. In Old Testament Theology (Vol. 1, p. 25) Schultz wrote: “The time, of which the pre-Mosaic narrations treat, is a sufficient proof of their legendary character. It was a time prior to all knowledge of writing.”

But it was the critical views that turned out to be mythical, whereas the Bible was authenticated. Those who maintained their trust in the Bible were vindicated.

The critical views about the date when the New Testament was written and about the historical inaccuracies of the book of Acts were decidedly refuted by the renowned archaeologist William Ramsay, among others. As for writing, archaeologists now know that it was developed around 3150 B.C., at the latest, and we have personally seen the evidence for this at many famous libraries and museums. This was was more than 1,500 years before Moses and in fact carries us back to the lifetime of Adam by biblical chronology. Since the late 19th century, archaeologists have discovered that the ancient kingdoms in Egypt and Mesopotamia were literate societies full of schools and libraries. Ancient libraries have been unearthed at Ugarit, Mari, Ur, Ebla, Nippur, Nineveh, and elsewhere. (For documentation of these things see the section of this apologetics course on “Archaeological Treasures.”)

The skeptics were not only wrong about these things; they were
terribly wrong.

In spite of this, multitudes have gone out into eternity believing that the Bible is untrustworthy and that evolution is true.

Consider the sad case of Arthur Keith. He was one of the greatest anatomists of the 20th century, but he was duped by the Piltdown hoax. His book
The Antiquity of Man treated Piltdown as the preeminent missing link. In his autobiography Keith described attending evangelistic meetings and being on the verge of converting to Christ, but he rejected the gospel because he felt that the Genesis account of creation had been proven to be a myth (Melvin Lubenow, Bones of Contention, p. 59). In reality, the myths were on the side of evolution, and Keith gambled his eternal soul on them. In 1953, he was informed that the Piltdown fossils were a hoax, but by then he was an old man steeped in humanistic rationalism and a “pronounced opponent of the Christian faith.” As far as we know, he went to his grave in that condition. He should have looked at the evidence for the Bible much more carefully and prayerfully. He should not have been so ready to believe what Bible critics and evolutionists taught. The stake is far too high.

I, for one, refuse to stake my eternal destiny on unproven “theories” that are constantly changing. I don’t care if the entire scientific world believes that evolution is true (which is most definitely
not the case); they must provide real evidence to support their doctrine, and they have never done this.
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