Thursday, December 30, 2010

Why are the Scriptures Authoritative?

Why are the Scriptures Authoritative is a question that each person should search out an answer for himself. What makes the Bible anymore authoritative than the Koran or any other religious document? I will give you my three reasons why, for me and my house, the scriptures are the sole authority.
First, there are the Wonders of the Bible. It was written over a period of 1500+ years. It was written by 40+ different authors, but speaks about God (and a wide variety of other controversial subjects) with a consistency that sounds like One voice. It has been persecuted and yet preserved throughout time. It has wielded incredible influence on people groups all over the world.
No other book can match these wonders, even though some have tried. I can’t site any specific examples (somebody “in the know” help me here) but I have heard of experiments on college campuses where they have tried. They would take 20 professors and give them a title to this new book to be written. They would give them the chapter titles of this 20 chapter book. Then send them to different locations, each professor to blindly write his own chapter. When they compiled all the chapters together, the book would never read as one book and very often contradicted itself many times.
Second, I sometimes still compare what I believe to what others in the world believe. Just to make sure I have a good reason to believe what I believe. When I compare Christianity to other religions there is one glaring difference that Christianity has that no other religion has. I could travel today to Mecca and visit the enshrined tomb of Mohammed. I could travel to China and visit the enshrined tomb of Confucius. I could travel to India and visit the enshrined tombs of Buddha, whose body was cut into many pieces and sent to many parts of India. But I can’t travel to Jerusalem and visit the enshrined tomb of Jesus Christ. He is not there. He is a risen Lord and Savior. Therefore, the historical resurrection event gives authoritative credibility to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ gave His authoritative credibility to the scriptures that we call the Old Testament. Jesus Christ’s Apostles gave their authoritative credibility to the New Testament scriptures. Therefore, I must view the scriptures as authoritative.
Where did Jesus give authority to the scriptures? This is an excellent question you ask. You would probably miss it unless someone pointed it out. I sure did. Go to Matthew 23:35 and Luke 11:51. In these parallel verses you will find the phrase “…from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah…” Abel’s death is in Genesis and Zechariah’s death is in 2 Chronicles. Genesis is the first book of the Jewish Bible and 2 Chronicles is the last book in the Jewish Bible. Theologians say, Jesus was giving credibility to the Jewish Bible by using this reference in His comments. He excluded all of the Apocrypha, all of which was in existence at that time. The Jewish Bible is the same as our Old Testament, with the books arranged in a different order.
Third, anything that is “true” has an inherent authority. Much of the scriptures have been proved to be historically “true” by sources outside of the Bible. Also, they have been proved to be “true” by those who believe them and have experienced the life changing power of Jesus Christ in their lives. A plethora of books have been written in support of the above two statements.

You can read this same post here.
That is why I think the Scriptures are authoritative.

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