Is the Bible True . . . Really?: A Dialogue on Skepticism, Evidence, and Truth

By Josh McDowell and Dave Sterrett

With over 40 million books sold, bestselling author Josh McDowell is no stranger to creatively presenting biblical truth. Now, partnering with fellow apologist Dave Sterrett, Josh introduces a new series targeted at the intersection of story and truth.

The Coffee House Chronicles are short, easily devoured novellas aimed at answering prevalent spiritual questions. Each book in the series tackles a long-contested question of the faith, and then answer these questions with truth through relationships and dialogue in each story.

In Is the Bible True, Really?: A Dialogue on Skepticism, Evidence, and Truth, we meet Nick, a college freshman at a state school in Texas. Nick has his spiritual world turned upside-down with what he hears in an introduction to religion class. His questions turn into conversations as he dialogues with professors, friends, and family about the authenticity and authority of the Bible.

The other two books in the series: Who is Jesus, Really? and Did the Resurrection Happen, Really? continue the unfolding story at the college campus and the coffee house down the road.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Moody Publishers
• Release date: Jan 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781575679389

Josh McDowell

For over 60 years Josh McDowell has provided breakthrough moments for more than 45 million people in 139 countries about the evidence for Christianity and the difference the Christian faith makes in the world. Through his work with Cru and the global outreach of Josh McDowell Ministry, millions of people worldwide have been exposed to the love of Christ. He is the author or coauthor of more than 150 books, including such classics as More Than a Carpenter and Evidence That Demands a Verdict.

Book preview

Acknowledgments

One

INTELLECTUAL SKEPTICISM

Mid-September

"HOW MANY of you all—or should I say y’all—grew up in Texas?"

About half of the hands in the classroom went up.

"Good, glad to see it. My wife and I have enjoyed living here for almost twelve years now. We’ve learned a few things too. For example, here in the South, especially right here in Dallas, the buckle of the Bible Belt, we dare not question the historical authority of the books of the Bible, or we’re damned to hell!"

A few chuckles echoed across the small auditorium. Dr. William Peterson, Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies and a renowned expert on ancient textual criticism, was well known for his views. Smiling wryly, he continued, Honestly, I appreciate the concern these fundamentalists, Catholics, and evangelicals have for our souls, and I believe they are genuinely sincere—just sincerely misled.

Nick, a freshman at Opal University, listened intently as Dr. Peterson went on. "Conservative Christians are quick to judge those of us in academia for our views, but my question for them would be, ‘What is the historical basis for believing the Bible really is the inerrant Word of God?’ I want to know what persuades them to actually believe that the copies of the Bible translated today are even close to what was originally written down? It sounds good and faithful, but what are the facts? That’s what we’re here to explore. Are you ready for the facts?"

The room fell silent as the professor paused for effect. "Here are the facts that leading scholars all across the country agree upon. We don’t even have the words that these fundamentalist Christians tell us God inerrantly inspired. That’s right. All we have are words copied by scribes—sometimes correctly but certainly not always. We have error-ridden copies that are centuries removed from the originals and different from them in thousands of ways."¹

Nick’s heart raced as he listened to the professor contradict what his pastor back home at Park Springs Community Church had taught the congregation. He sensed in his spirit this was his time to be bold for Christ and take a stand for the Lord. That’s not true! he declared. How dare you question God’s Word.

The professor, somewhat taken aback by the student’s interruption, responded kindly. "Very well, why don’t you tell us what is true. What’s not accurate about what I just said?"

Nick, now feeling a tad embarrassed and put on the spot, raised his voice. "Well, I’m a Christian and I believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God. I accept it as the Word of God by faith! Hebrews says, ‘Without faith it is impossible to please God,’ and since God is sovereign and we are just human beings, who are we to question His sovereignty? Also, the Bible says, ‘All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that everyone will always be prepared to give an answer.’"

Dr. Peterson smiled and nodded. I admire your personal faith and concern to quote portions of Hebrews 11 and 2 Timothy 3. Would you remind me of your name?

I’m Nick.

I’m glad you’re in this class, Nick. I remember memorizing those same verses myself. Looking back, I think it was when I attended Calvin Christian Academy during my early teens. Noting Nick’s look of surprise, he continued, "By the way, Nick, I think 2 Timothy 3 ends by saying, ‘so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.’ Perhaps, you were conflating it with 1 Peter 3:15, which mentions giving an answer or defense. That’s okay, and really beside the point. What I was saying earlier, Nick, is that we really can’t be sure the original book of Hebrews and the letter of 2 Timothy actually said the words you just quoted and that we both memorized. We don’t have the ‘original’ of the Bible. The Bibles that you and I own have been radically changed over the past two thousand years."

I don’t believe that! Nick blurted out.

Oh? Would you care to educate us then? asked the distinguished professor. The rest of the class murmured their annoyance at this rude, outspoken Christian.

Well … um, Nick stumbled. You can’t, uh, I mean it’s not only about the words, Professor. God continues to change lives. I experience the presence of Jesus in my life every day. And … um … oh yeah, I remember—when I went to youth camp in Tyler we had this former atheist speak to us and he told us his testimony and shared that we have archeological evidence and old historical manuscripts, or copies of the Bible, that verify God’s Word. Professor, this former atheist is now a Christian! Nick asserted this last part with confidence, believing the Holy Spirit had helped him finish stronger than he started.

"Nick, it certainly is true that we have manuscripts or copies of the early letters and gospels written, but what type of manuscripts is the question! I’ve looked at some of these manuscripts myself, Nick, and the number of variants, or differences, between various handwritten copies is in the hundreds of thousands!"² The majority of scholars in the country have come to recognize these facts. For example, a man I respect, Bart Ehrman, the head of the religion department at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, has published some excellent academic works on textual criticism."

Dr. Peterson took a few steps closer to his students and sat on his stool near the front row where Nick was sitting. "Nick, I admire your sincere faith and I respect your religion, but the purpose of this class is to study religion historically. Class, let me ask you a question. Where is the original Bible that God inspired? Is it located in some museum? Does anyone know? Nick? Anybody?"

The class was silent, and by this time Nick was speechless as well.

Come on, class, join the conversation. Anyone can speak up and help Nick out! After a few awkward moments, the professor continued, "It’s okay, Nick. Nobody knows. Listen to me, class. We don’t have the original. There is no evidence that a ‘God’ inspired these letters. If this God of the Bible existed and was all-powerful, don’t you think He would have cleared up the confusion for us all? For example, if you grew up going to church like I did, or like our friend Nick, your Bible probably has four gospels in the New Testament. But did you know there were many other gospels that were not included? What about the Gospel of Thomas, or the gospels of Philip or Mary Magdalene?³

"Students, I care about your personal beliefs. But I also care about your intellectual honesty in all areas—including the history of religion. I wish I had time to explain all of this to you today, but we’ll get to it as the semester progresses. The message of Christianity is nothing new or unique. When I began studying biblical literature in graduate school, I discovered that stories of dying and rising gods, virgin births, and miracle workers were already widespread throughout the known world when the gospels were

Reviews for Is the Bible True . . . Really?

[Keith Bird · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A bit juvenile but it does contain very important facts every Christian should know.

Do like I did and just seek out and absorb the facts. The story is pretty amateurish.

[ron_gilbert_18 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Is The Bible True...Really?Josh McDowellDave SterrettChicago: Moody Publishers, 2011“To be fair, much of the Bible is not systematically evil but just plain weird, as you would expect of a chaotically cobbled-together anthology of disjointed documents, composed, revised, translated, distorted and 'improved' by hundreds of anonymous authors, editors and copyists, unknown to us and mostly unknown to each other, spanning nine centuries” ― Richard Dawkins, The God DelusionIt is a common evangelistic tactic to plead with the lost that God loves them if they would only respond to the Good News of the Gospel in faith. In a (presumably) post post-modern setting, the unbeliever↽and especially a fanatically militant atheist↽will respond with the statement that they have no belief in a thing that doesn’t exist.The Dawkins quote above illustrates many things↽ignorance of the Bible’s content, authorship, and related historical details is obvious↽but the quote demonstrates to us that a simple asking of others to “take it on faith” that the Bible is reliable and authoritative will most likely fail to convince. The authority of the Bible may be appealed to by a believer with another believer when they both assume its authority, but preceding the authority of a document, or, in the present context, the case of the Bible (many documents pulled together into one), the question is reliability: Can we trust this Word?Written in the form of a story, the authors open the ball by addressing doubts being encountered by the main character, college-student Nick, about the Bible’s historical authority. The common objection that we do not have the original manuscripts (autographa), but only copies (apographa) is addressed and soundly answered. The copies are objected to as being “error-ridden” and different from the originals “in thousands of ways.” Such objections are sometimes couched in the context of intellectual honesty. To deny the assertions would be futile, for the assertions are true, in their way. Admissions to errors in the copies should not be avoided, but the apologist should labor for an opportunity to address the objections in an equally honest intellectual manner.Nick reaches out to his youth pastor and we are struck by the inadequacy of the response. Christians sometimes fall into doubt and seek assurance from their pastors, who sometimes have not prepared them for the attacks they will and do encounter upon their precious Faith, especially in the halls of the universities and colleges. Replies to such doubts too often take the form of “Look what the Bible has done for me,” or “The Bible is true because of faith.” The former is unhelpful for its subjectivity; the latter for its falsehood. The Bible is true regardless of whether men believe it to be or not. Feeling “betrayed by Christianity,” Nick meets with his Professor’s new teaching assistant, Jamal, and over coffee he engages Nick’s idea of doing a paper. “What academic sources will you cite to document that the Bible stole from pagan mythology?” he asks. Nick is remiss when he learns that scholars have agreed there is no historical documentation that will support his thesis. As Jamal points out to Nick, there are no resurrections akin to Christ’s in pre-second century literature.Many facts are adduced throughout this small work that support the reliability of Scripture: the historical background of Scripture (over 40 authors over 1500 years; the Jews recognized Old Testament books before Constantine as early as 4 BC, and no later than 150 BC; Malachi was written between 450 and 430 BC; the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, was written between 250 and 150 BC; etc.)Also addressed are axioms and presuppositions that affect one’s view of Scripture. Anti-supernaturalism (the philosophy of naturalism has an anti-supernatural bias, evidenced by such as Dawkins) is evident in the worldviews of materialism, atheism, and materialism, which each affirm that there can only be a naturalistic or materialistic explanation for everything.If these worldviews are false, then the the alternate is true and there is another reasonable and rational explanation: Theism↽God exists↽the supernatural is real, miracles are possible, and God has communicated with Man. Anti-supernaturalism is based on an unwarranted assumption, whereas Theism is based on the axiom that “The Bible is the Word of God.” Atheists who demand the right to their anti-supernatural axioms cannot object to ours choosing our own axioms.Other objections↽such as “We do not have the originals of many ancient works”, or “What about the mistakes in the Bible?”↽are answered. Inerrancy is supported by the use of the bibliographical test: “an examination of the textual transmission by which ancient documents reach us from the past.”Some questions asked in bibliographical testing are, “Is the original reproduced to a credible degree of certainty? Are the copies reliable? How many have survived? Are they consistent with one another? and, What time has passed between the original and the copy?”We are free to confess that we do not have the originals of many ancient works, and we admit there are many mistakes in parallel accounts. It is important to recognize that the claim of inerrancy applies to the originals, not the copies. “...the biographical test determines only that the text we have now is what was originally recorded” (page 86).The bibliographical test is applied to all types of literature as well as the Bible.The fact that there are variants in the papyrii that affect the truth of the biblical texts is addressed as well. [A variant is “any instance where the New Testament manuscripts have alternate wordings” (page 81).] A reasonable reply is given, that “When all variations are considered, only about one percent involve the meaning of the text” (page 84).Quoting the authors of Reinventing Jesus: “The short answer to the question of what theological truths are at stake in these variants is↽none” (page 84).Then we read of the Internal Evidence Test, and internal criticism.The short explanation is that the New Testament accounts were written and circulated during the lifetimes of those who knew Jesus. People who read these accounts could confirm or deny the truth claims made by the writers (Acts 2:22; 26:24-26). The conclusion is:1. We have evidence that suggest the New Testament we read today is a reliable and trustworthy copy of the originals.2. We also have good reason to believe that the original accurately portrays to us what Jesus taught and did.Is the Bible reliable?“Is The Bible True...Really?” answers the question in a simple and readable format laden with gems of information. The question is posed on page 10 in this way: “What is the historical basis for believing the Bible really is the inerrant Word of God?” Solid scholarship supports an affirmative answer. That the question must be answered in a world increasingly hostile to Christianity in its attack on Scripture is obvious. That a book must be written that highlights the problem that Christians are generally unprepared to combat such attacks is to the shame of the churches. That the churches should distribute such books as “Is The Bible True...Really?” is conclusive.

[broreb · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Decent introduction to Biblical criticism