If we are to answer the question, "Can you know God?", then we must examine the book that proclaims to be the written Word of God, the Bible. The Bible is the most awesome book that mankind has ever known or come across! The Bible is a collection of 66 books that were written over a span of 1500 years by more than 40 men from every walk of life, at different places, under various circumstances, and addressing a multitude of issues! Even with such diversity, the Bible has a continuous unity and continuity in its message! No other book can claim this uniqueness!
Authors include an adopted Egyptian noble (Moses), a shepherd (David), a Babylonian official (Daniel), a tax collector (Matthew), a doctor (Luke), a philosopher/rabbi (Paul), and a fisherman (Peter), to name a few. Many of the Biblical authors did not even exist in the same lifetime! The Bible includes poetry, history, government records, prophecy, dialogue, parables, sermons, letters, and religious instructions. It was written in 3 languages. The Old Testament was written mostly in Hebrew and some Aramaic (part of Daniel), and the New Testament in Greek. The oldest of the Old Testament books was written somewhere around 1400 B.C., while the youngest of the New Testament books around 95 A.D., or perhaps earlier. There are over 5,300 Greek copies of the New Testament manuscripts alone! Copies of the Old Testament Hebrew manuscripts throughout the world are estimated to run into the tens of thousands!
Despite the wide gap of centuries between books and variety of authors, the Bible consistently carries a central theme throughout its pages. It tell of a God who wants His creation to know Him and that He was even willing to send His own Son to come and live among us, even dying for all mankind in order to save us from eternal separation! It is a message of love such as we could never know! Someone once said that God would rather die so we could live with Him, than live without us!
The unity of the Bible is one of the arguments that point to its divine inspiration. There are others I would like to use: Manuscript evidence, archaeology, prophecy, and the most compelling of all, the testimony of Jesus Christ!
1/22/2008
James
Information compiled from:
Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics
by: Norman L. Geisler
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