1. Teens Conference 2009
What we really need, after all, is not to defend the Bible
but to understand it.
-Millar Burrows
Sumair Mirza
March 2009

2. Validity of the Bible

4. Teens Conference 2009
What we really need, after all, is not to defend the Bible
but to understand it.
-Millar Burrows
Sumair Mirza
March 2009

5. How can I trust
How do I know that
what the Bible
it is from God?
says?
Why do Christians What does all this
follow it? mean to you?

6.  1600 years old
 40 authors
 Three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic (e.g. Daniel 2-7, portions of
Ezra, Jeremiah 10:10, etc.), Greek
 70% of NT are letters
 OT: Prophets, fire, clouds, glory of light in the temple
• Hebrew scriptures = Masorectic Text (MT)
• Greek translation = Septuagint (Lxx)
 NT: Incarnate
• Written in Greek + used Lxx because writing to Greek speaking
audience
God seems to yell louder as the Bible progresses

7.  Exegesis (Good): Draw meaning out of text
 Eisegesis (Bad): Read one‘s ideas into the text
 GODISNOWHERE (example of what scribes had
to manage with)
• GOD IS NOW HERE = Meaning #1 = state God exists
 theism
• GOD IS NOWHERE = Meaning #2 = state God does
not exist  atheism
• Scribes had to decipher no spaces (continuo scripto)
 Oldest NT manuscripts

8.  Nehemiah 8:8: even prophets show
interest in correct biblical understanding
 John 6:30-33: Jesus corrects wrong
scriptural understanding
 Galatians 3:16: Paul careful interpreter
(seed = one person = Jesus Christ)

9.  Scriptures were tailored to audience as
any good presenter would do…
 In New Guinea the pig is sacred and liver
is the centre of emotions
 Imagine…
• Behold Jesus comes, the piglet of God….?!
• My son Shechem has his liver set on your
daughter. Please give her to him as his wife….?!

10. 1. God exists
2. NT is historically reliable
3. Miracles are possible
4. Miracles confirm Jesus‘ claim to be God
5. Whatever God teaches is true
6. Jesus (= God) taught that the Bible is the Word
of God by confirming the OT and promising the
NT.
7. Therefore, the Bible is the Word of God.

11. 1. Authority – Matt. 22:43
2. Reliability – Matt. 26:54
3. Finality – Matt. 4:4, 7, 10
4. Sufficiency – Luke 16:31
5. Indestructibility – Matt 5:17-18
6. Unity – Luke 24:27, 44
7. Clarity – Luke 24:27
8. Historicity – Matt. 12:40
9. Facticity (scientifically) – Matt 19:2-5
10.Inerrancy – Matt. 22:29; John 3:12, 17:17
11.Infallibility – John 10:35

12. Neo-evangelical Evangelical
True in whole, but not all parts True in whole, and in all parts
True spiritually, but not always historically True spiritually and historically
True morally, but not always scientifically True morally and scientifically
True in intention, but not in all affirmations True in intention and all affirmations
Bible is infallible, but not inerrant Bible is infallible and inerrant
Bible is God‘s instrument of revelation Bible is intrinsically a revelation
Bible is God‘s record of revelation Bible is God‘s revelation
God speaks through the words of the Bible God speaks in the words of the Bible
Human language is inadequate to Human language is adequate but not
communicate God exhaustive
Much of higher criticism may be accepted None of higher criticism is accepted
Faith is opposed to reason Faith is not opposed to reason

13. Argument Response
Science is right about science and Jesus states ―I told you earthly things
Bible is right about spiritual matters and you do not believe, how shall you
believe if I tell you heavenly things?‖
(John 3:12)
Criticism around certain passages Jesus clearly affirms these passages:
Creation (Luke 11:51), Adam and Eve (Matt.
19:4-5), Noah and the Flood (Matt. 24:37-39),
Sodom and Gomorrah (Luke 10:12), Jonah
and the great fish (Matt. 12:39-41), Moses
wrote Law (Mark 7:10; John 7:19)
Not all of the Bible is the Word of God God said = Scripture said & Bible said
= God said (Gen. 12:3 – Gal. 3:8, Ex. 9:6 – Rom.
9:17, Isa. 55:3 – Acts 13:34, etc.)
What about books that were left out? No category of books initially accepted
and later thrown out.
2 groups of books some say should be
included (Apocrypha, Gnostic)

14.  Accepted as scripture by Augustine and Syrian
church in 4th century (later added by Catholic church)
 Jews never accepted as Scriptures
 Curious timing,1546 (council of Trent) was added
because of ―Christian usage‖ and 29 years after
Protestant reformation
 No book in group claims to be inspired, and
some deny it (1 Maccabees 9:27)

15. in 2nd and 3rd century with names of
 Written
apostles even though they didn‘t write them (e.g.
Acts of John, Gospel of Peter)
 Books taught 2 early heresies: (1) Jesus was
only a spirit that looked like a man and (2) His
resurrection was a return to spiritual form
 Heretical groups created them
 No early church fathers accepted these and
writings are not consistent with rest of Scriptures

16.  Evangelicals do not try to prove that the
Bible has no mistakes so that they can be
sure the Bible is the Word of God.
 Christians hold the Bible to the Word of
God (and inerrant) because they are
convinced that Jesus believed it and
taught it

17. Incarnate Inspired
Hidden in God from eternity Eternal thoughts of God
(John 1:1) (Ps. 119:89, Eph. 3:9)
Conceived by Holy Spirit Inspired by Holy Spirit
(Luke 1:35) (2 Tim. 3:16, 2 Peter 1:21)
Born a common man Written in common language
(Phil. 2:7) (1 Cor. 2:4-10)
Perfect; sinless Perfect; inerrant
(John 8:46, Heb. 4:15) (John 17:17, Ps. 19:8)
Bore witness to Scriptures Bore witness to Christ
(Matt. 5:17-18) (Luke 24:27)
Reveals the Father Reveals the Son
(John 1:18, Heb. 1:1-2) (John 5:39)
God can produce both a Person and a Book that are without error.

18. Book Rationale
Hebrews Author unknown.
James Conflict with Paul‘s faith alone
2 Peter Style variance from 1 Peter
2 and 3 John Author (Peter) is called ―elder‖
Jude Refers to Book of Enoch and
Assumption of Moses
Revelation Teaches thousand year reign for Christ
(taught by a cult)

19.  Third-Party Verification - a plethora of external sources and facts
outside the Bible corroborate what is found in the Bible.
 Historical Reliability - The Bible's message is a sharp contrast to
the pagan fertility religions and philosophies of the ancient world as
revealed through history.
 Fulfilled Prophecy - Events demonstrate that the Biblical prophets
accurately predicted events hundreds of years before they occurred.
 Archaeological Evidence - Archaeological evidence demonstrates
the historical and cultural accuracy of the Bible.

21.  TheSumerian King List, lists kings
who reigned for long periods of
time.
 Then a great flood came.
Following the flood, Sumerian
kings ruled for much shorter
periods of time.
 Men had long life spans before the
flood and shorter life spans after
the flood.

22.  Sumerian tablets record the confusion of
language as we have in the Biblical account of
the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9).
 Therewas a golden age when all mankind
spoke the same language.
 Babylonianshad a similar account in which the
gods destroyed a temple tower and "scattered
them abroad and made strange their speech.‖

23. 1. Campaign into Israel by Pharaoh Shishak (1 Kings 14:25-26), recorded on
the walls of the Temple of Amun in Thebes, Egypt.
2. Revolt of Moab against Israel (2 Kings 1:1; 3:4-27), recorded on the
Mesha Inscription.
3. Fall of Samaria (2 Kings 17:3-6, 24; 18:9-11) to Sargon II, king of
Assyria, as recorded on his palace walls.
4. Defeat of Ashdod by Sargon II (Isaiah 20:1), as recorded on his palace
walls.
5. Campaign of the Assyrian king Sennacherib against Judah (2 Kings
18:13-16), as recorded on the Taylor Prism.
6. Siege of Lachish by Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:14, 17), as recorded on the
Lachish reliefs.
7. Assassination of Sennacherib by his own sons (2 Kings 19:37), as
recorded in the annals of his son Esarhaddon.
8. Fall of Nineveh as predicted by the prophets Nahum and Zephaniah
(2:13-15), recorded on the Tablet of Nabopolasar.

24. 9. Fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (2 Kings 24:10-
14), as recorded in the Babylonian Chronicles.
10. Captivity of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, in Babylon (2 Kings 24:15-16), as
recorded on the Babylonian Ration Records.
11. Fall of Babylon to the Medes and Persians (Daniel 5:30-31), as recorded
on the Cyrus Cylinder.
12. Freeing of captives in Babylon by Cyrus the Great (Ezra 1:1-4; 6:3-4), as
recorded on the Cyrus Cylinder.
13. The existence of Jesus Christ as recorded by
Josephus, Suetonius, Thallus, Pliny the Younger, the Talmud, and Lucian.
14. Forcing Jews to leave Rome during the reign of Claudius (A.D. 41-54)
(Acts 18:2), as recorded by Suetonius.

26.  Jews buried flawed and worn-out copies
 Only have a few OT manuscripts
 All manuscripts agreed to a great extent
even with Septuagint, Dead Sea Scrolls,
writings in Qumran caves.
 Nothing was to be written by memory
 Any copy with one mistake was destroyed
 95% word-for-word identical

27.  5,600+ manuscripts available
 Most textual difficulties are slight (e.g. Word order)
 Some say 200,000 ―errors‖ in Bible but
only 10,000 variants
 < 40 places where original is not 100%
known
 Have 100% of NT and are certain about
99.5%

28. * Source: Evidence that demands a verdict, Josh McDowell

30.  The name "Canaan" was in use in Ebla, a name
critics once said was not used at that time and
was used incorrectly in the early chapters of the
Bible.
 The word "tehom" ("the deep") in Genesis 1:2 was
said to be a late word demonstrating the late
writing of the creation story. "Tehom" was part of
the vocabulary at Ebla, in use some 800 years
before Moses.

31.  Many thought Solomon's wealth was greatly
exaggerated. Recovered records show that
wealth in antiquity was concentrated and
Solomon's prosperity was entirely feasible.
 Claimed there was no Assyrian king named
Sargon (Isaiah 20:1). Then, Sargon's palace was
discovered in Khorsabad, Iraq. The very event,
his capture of Ashdod, was recorded on the
palace walls.

32. Selected Important Old Testament Archaeological Finds

33. Selected Important New Testament Archaeological Finds

35.  The OT foretells His place of birth as Bethlehem —
Numbers 24:17, 19, Micah 5:2
 His lineage from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David —
Gen: 12:3, 21:12, 2 Samuel 7:13
 His forerunner, John the Baptist — Isaiah 40:3, Malachi 3:1
 His vicarious suffering and death — Isaiah 53
 His crucifixion, before crucifixion was a mode of
execution — Psalm 22:16, Zechariah 12:10
 His execution with common criminals — Isaiah 53:9, 12
 His divinity — Isaiah 9:6, Jeremiah 23:6, Micah 5:2

36. 1. He will be betrayed by a friend (Psalm 41:9; Matthew 26:49)
2. The price of his betrayal will be thirty pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12; Matthew
26:15)
3. His betrayal money will be cast to the floor of my temple (Zechariah 11:13;
Matthew 27:5)
4. His betrayal money will be used to buy the potter‘s field (Zechariah 11:13;
Matthew 27:7)
5. He will be forsaken and deserted by his disciples (Zechariah 13:7; Mark 14:50)
6. He will be accused by false witnesses (Psalm 35:11; Matthew 26:59-60)
7. He will be silent before his accusers (Isaiah 53:7; Matthew 27:12)
8. He will be wounded and bruised (Isaiah 53:5; Matthew 27:26)
9. He will be hated without a cause (Psalm 69:4; John 15:25)
10. He will be struck and spit on (Isaiah 50:6; Matthew 26:67)
11. He will be mocked, ridiculed, and rejected (Isaiah 53:3; Matthew 27:27-31; and
John 7:5, 48)

37. 12. He will collapse from weakness (Psalm 109:24-25; Luke 23:26)
13. He will be taunted with specific words (Psalm 22:6-8; Matthew 27:39-43)
14. People will shake their heads at him (Psalm 109:25; Matthew 27:39)
15. People will stare at him (Psalm 22:17; Luke 23:35)
16. He will be executed among ―sinners‖ (Isaiah 53:12; Matthew 27:38)
17. His hands and feet will be pierced (Psalm 22:16; Luke 23:33)
18. He will pray for his persecutors (Isaiah 53:12; Luke 23:34)
19. His friends and family will stand afar off and watch (Psalm 38:11; Luke 23:49)
20. His garments will be divided and won by the casting of lots (Psalm 22:18; John
19:23-24)
21. He will thirst (Psalm 69:21; John 19:28)
22. He will be given gall and vinegar (Psalm 69:21; Matthew 27:34)
23. He will commit himself to God (Psalm 31:5; Luke 23:46)

38. 24. His bones will be left unbroken (Psalm 34:20; John 19:33)
25. His heart will rupture (Psalm 22:14; John 19:34)
26. His side will be pierced (Zechariah 12:10; John 19:34)
27. Darkness will come over the land at midday (Amos 8:9; Matthew 27:45)
28. He will be buried in a rich man‘s tomb (Isaiah 53:9; Matthew 27:57-60)
29. He will die 483 years after the declaration of Artaxerxes to rebuild the
temple in 444 B.C. (Daniel 9:24)

39.  Jesusfulfilled 60 Old Testament
prophecies made 400 years before his
birth
1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000 = the
probability of just 8 prophecies being
fulfilled in one person supported by work
from Peter Stoner validated by the
American Scientific Affiliation

40. Remember…
To doubt God is the first
step to muffle God‘s voice
To criticize God is the first
step to gag God‘s voice

41. How can I trust
How do I know that
what the Bible
it is from God?
says?
Why do Christians What does all this
follow it? mean to you?

42. Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart;
 How to read the Bible for all it‘s worth
 How to read the Bible Book by Book
William Klein, Bloomberg;
 Introduction to Biblical Interpretation
D.A. Carson;
 Exegetical fallacies
Norman Geisler;
 When critics ask: Popular Handbook of Bible Difficulties
 When skeptics ask: A Handbook on Christian Evidences
Jr., Gleason L. Archer;
 New International Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties

43. If you are interested in apologetics,
please feel free to write down your name
and email address.

44. ―For the time will come
when men will not put up
with sound doctrine.
Instead, to suit their own
desires, they will gather
around them a great
number of teachers to say
what their itching ears want
to hear.‖
- Paul (2 Timothy 4:3)

47.  Who caused David to take a census of
Israel?
 A. God (2 Sam. 24:1) or B. Satan (1 Chron. 21:1)
• Western thinking leads to disjunctive choice (e.g.
A or B) (Aristotelian thinking)
• Eastern Jewish can be both (e.g. A+B)
• God permits Satan to act (Job 1-2) (Satan can‘t do
anything without God‘s consent (Luke 22:31)

48.  Who killed Goliath?
• 1 Sam. 17:50 says David OR 2 Sam. 21:19 says
Elhanan?
• Answer: 1 Chron. 20:5
• David, accidental/incidental scribal error resulted
in dropped ―brother‖

49.  Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
(Matt. 7:1)
 Stopjudging by mere appearances, and
make a right judgment." (John 7:24)
 What is going on here?
• Read Context: It‘s about hypocritical judgment

50.  Psalm 82:6 "I said, 'You are "gods";
you are all sons of the Most High.‗…‖
 We are gods?!
 Answer: read context… read before and after…
• ―Provide justice‖
• ―Like mere men‖
• Similar theme in Exodus 7:1 with Moses but merely
talks about presiding justice/authority (Exodus 21:6; 22:8)
• God is the real judge (Psalm 50:6)

51.  Muslim‘s say Paul corrupted Christianity... Why?
 James 2:20,24 (Jesus‘ bro says works + faith?)
vs. Rom. 3:28, 4:4-5 (Paul seems to say faith
alone?)
• Seemingly contradicts Sola Fide? (Faith Alone)
• Response:
 James is talking about works of faith (faith before men)
 Paul is talking about works of law (faith before God)
 How do we know? (James 2:14 – ―to the brethren‖, ―that faith‖ 
should result in works (matches Eph. 2:8-10))

52. • ―…Father is greater than I‖ (John 14:28), how? Is Jesus
saying the Father is better than himself?
• Answer: Does ―greater‖ = ―better‖?
 For example, is a parent greater than the child (e.g. Jesus
submitted to Joseph and Mary) or the Prime Minister of Canada
greater than us? (office of authority)
 It is a reference to authority (hierarchy exists in the trinity)
 Father elects for salvation
 Son purchases with blood
 Holy Spirit seals them

53.  Days contradiction?
• Matt 17:1, Mark 9:2, Luke 9:28
• Answer: Luke is approximate says ―some‖, not
concerned with exact # of days

54.  You may ask me for anything in my
name, and I will do it. (John 14:14)
 Ask God and he will give you anything?
(John 14:14)
• Answer: Tota Scriptura (1 John 5:14-15)
• Paul rejoices in infirmities
• C.S. Lewis ―God whispers to us in our joy but
screams to us in our pain.‖

55.  Jonah was in a fish or whale?
 How if whale is not a type of fish?
• Jonah 1:17
• Matt. 12:40
• Answer: Dag is Hebrew word for ―fish‖, no word for
―whale‖ exists. Dag used in reference to sea
animals

56.  Deuteronomy 34:5-8
• Who wrote about Moses‘ death? Couldn‘t be
Moses (author of Deuteronomy)?
• Answer: Likely Joshua, Moses‘ successor
(Epilogue flows into Joshua 1:1)
• Epilogue doesn‘t take away from authorship of
book (often when an author passes away prior to
completion of book a close friend will write
epilogue, doesn‘t confuse authorship)

57.  Sign above cross (why all say different things?)
• Matt. 27:37, Mark 15:26, Luke 23:38, John 19:19
• Answer: Sign in different languages (John 19:20 -
Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where
Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign
was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek.)
• Matthew: Hebrew/Aramaic  For Jews as their
languages
• Mark: Latin (Romans)  Romans ruling (usually only
charge mentioned)
• Luke: Greek  common language
• John: Roman form of sign  (name of accused +
charge) (probably from Pilate himself)

58. How was it tailored to
Gospel Audience Focus
audience?
Matthew Jews What did • Frequently quotes OT
Jesus say? to show Jesus
fulfillment of the
messianic prophecies
• Quotes reflect the
Hebrew text and the
rest are from the
Greek version
(Septuagint)
Mark Romans What did • Power
Jesus do? • “Movie-like”
snapshots (quick)
Luke Greeks Who followed • Like birth stories
Jesus? • Wisdom
• Saviour of world
John Believers Who was • Galilean mission to
Jesus? Judea*

59. Prophetic
Meaning Gospel Reflection
Symbol
Lion King Matthew* • Messiah King
Ox Servant Mark* • Suffering Servant
Jesus
Man Humanity Luke* • Humanity, grew up 12
years old (b/c bar
mitzvah age)
• He is the perfect and
ideal human who
comes to reconcile
both Jews and Gentiles
to God
• Emphasis on the
Gentile outreach of
Jesus
Eagle Deity John • All about God and God
is all and all is from
him and for him
* Synoptic gospels = ―see through one eye‖

60.  Narratives; mostly literal
 Poetry; can contain metaphors
(Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, etc.)
• In Hebrew meanings rhyme not the words (e.g. Heavens
vs. Firmament – Psalm 19)
 Apocalyptic; highly symbolic (Daniel 2-7, some of
Joel, some of Isaiah, etc.)
 Prophetic; deals with present conditions and also
future ones (some of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, some of
Daniel, Hosea, Joel, etc.)
• Propheme means ―To speak‖ , not always future‖

61.  Anthropomorphism; applying human like
qualities to God (e.g. hands, eyes, nose, arm, etc.)
 Zoomorphism; applying animal like qualities to
God (e.g. lion (Hos. 13:8, Amos), she bear, wings, feathers, etc.)
 Anthropopathism; applying human emotions to
God (laughter (Psalms 2:4, 37:13), anger (Exodus
4:14), grieving, etc.)
• Distinct difference is God is not controlled by emotions like
us

62. 1. Was it written by a prophet of God?
(Deut. 18:18, Heb. 1:1, 2 Peter 1:20-21)
2. Was he confirmed by an act of God?
(Heb. 2:3-4)
3. Does it tell the truth about God?
(Gal. 1:8, Deut. 18:22)
4. Does it have the power of God?
(Heb. 4:12)
5. Was it accepted by the people of God?
(1 Thes. 2:13, Deut. 31:24-26, Col. 4:16, 1 Thes. 5:27)