The enormous success of “The Bible” miniseries
on The History Channel has left many production
houses scrambling to get more movies/shows
based on Scripture in production.
The record-setting ratings give the general faith
community something to cheer about after
several years of disturbing trends: overall
decrease in church attendance, an increase in
those claiming no religious affiliation, and a
perception that religious people are intolerant and
out of touch with mainstream values.
In spite of the 11.7 million viewers that tuned into
the series finale and the half million DVD units
sold within the first week of release, the real
question is: do people believe these Bible stories
to be fact or fiction?
Are they merely mythological stories that
Bronze Age people constructed to
communicate their culture and beliefs, or are
they historical events that actually happened?
Remember, plenty of fictional series today get
massive audiences like “Iron Man” and “The
Walking Dead.” Ratings alone are not enough
to validate the stories told in “The Bible.”
Instead, we need to look at the evidence. I
believe, and there is a great amount of
supporting evidence to verify it, that the stories in
the Bible are true.
Just look at the event called Easter, recently
celebrated around the world by more than 2
billion people. Is the resurrection of Jesus Christ a
nice story that communicates some allegorical
message or is (and was) it a true historical event?
Let’s start with the most logical piece of historical
evidence: 2,000 years ago a man named Jesus
actually lived. Even popular Bible critic Bart
Erhman concedes that Jesus indeed lived.
The four Gospels are the primary records that tell
of Jesus’ words and actions. They all agree that
He lived, died by crucifixion and rose again from
the grave.
It was this story—a news story, not a bedtime
story—that launched the Christian faith three
days after Jesus’ death.
It was because people knew that dead people
usually stay dead that they believed Jesus’
physical appearance just days after His death was
indeed a miracle.
Ten of the 12 original followers of Christ would die
the death of a martyr (not taking others lives, but
being put to death for their faith) because they
testified that Jesus had been raised from the
dead.
If something like the resurrection can be seen as
the best explanation of the empty tomb after
Jesus’ death, then all the other miracle stories
become plausible.
“New atheists,” such as biologist Richard Dawkins
and physicist Lawrence Krauss, are quick to hurl
the assertion that the Bible is a book of fairy tales,
dismissing the resurrection as one of them.
As far as a fairy tale, a simple week long trip to
Israel would quickly and dramatically
demonstrate to the rational mind that the people
and places mentioned in the Bible are real. You
will find very few people living in Israel today,
religious or secular, that think Abraham, Moses,
David, and Jesus were fictitious characters.
Overall, when you compare the Bible to other
ancient documents it stands head and shoulders
above the rest in terms of historical accuracy and
archaeological verifiability. The discovery of the
Dead Sea Scrolls showed that the content of the
Bible had been transmitted faithfully throughout
the centuries.
Its extraordinary impact is felt in virtually every
aspect of our life and culture, from education—
106 of the first 108 universities in America, like
Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, were founded with a
primary goal of teaching and promoting the
Christian faith—to our nation’s view of helping the
poor and the needy.
The countless hospitals and charities that have
dramatically helped millions in their suffering and
pain testify to the power of its principles and
teachings. Far from religious faith being a bad
thing, as Dawkins and his followers suggest, it has
been a source of great hope and healing for
billions.
Remember, the Bible is not just one book; it is a
collection of 66 books, written by more than 40
different authors over a period of 1,600 years.
The amazing consistency of its message to
mankind points to the reality that it is not just a
book that man wrote about God, but one that
God has inspired and given to mankind as a great
gift of light in the darkness.
Given the evidence, what do you think? Is the
historically accurate text that our nation is built
upon a book of fairy tales and myths? Or does the
single, greatest book ever written, whose timeless
stories brought in millions of viewers, have the
benefit of being true?
www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/04/21/bible-fact-or-fiction/