Bible Authenticity

HOW SHOULD WE VIEW IMMIGRANTS?

February 2, 2018 BibleAuthenticity Comments 0 Comment

We live in a world today where xenophobia (fear of strangers) has taken hold. Many people have a negative view of immigrants. But if we want to follow Bible principles, how should we view immigrants?

“Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith” (Romans 4:11 NLT). Did you know that “a severe famine struck the land of Canaan, forcing Abram to go down to Egypt, where he lived as a foreigner” (Genesis 12:10 NLT)? How would God view someone who would refuse to help, or even attempt to deport Abram? The Mosaic Law included this principle: “Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves KNOW HOW IT FEELS TO BE FOREIGNERS, because you were foreigners in Egypt” (Exodus 23:9 NLT). The entire nation of Israel lived in Egypt as foreigners for many years, and was not treated well during the final years. Instructive for us is: “Yahweh then said, ‘I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt’” (Exodus 4:7 NJB). Yahweh sees all. Did you know that young Jesus and his parents lived for a while as refugees in Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15)? read more

How Can Jesus Be God If He Is the Mediator?

January 26, 2018 BibleAuthenticity Comments 2 comments

“There is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all”—1 Timothy 2:5,6 NIV

“Mediator. One who represents God to humans and humans to God–and who removes all alienation between them by offering himself as a ransom for ‘all'”—NIV Study Bible footnote on 1 Timothy 2:5

The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the mediator BETWEEN God and mankind.

“GOD-MAN” MEDIATOR CLAIMS

Trinitarians claim that Jesus is God, and their “God-man” also. How do they explain this apparent contradiction? read more

“Modern Humans Left Africa Much Earlier”?

January 26, 2018 BibleAuthenticity Comments 1 comment

A new article on BBC News entitled “Modern humans left Africa much earlier” was published on January 25, 2018. The story can be read here.

Image from BBC article — *Israel Hershkovitz, Tel Aviv Uni*

Anthropological evolution is being revised again! Due to recent discoveries, “We have to rewrite the whole story of human evolution,” the article quotes researchers as admitting. If they only used the Bible as their guide, they wouldn’t have to keep constantly revising their story. They would know that the human race did not originate and spread abroad from Africa, but from the Tower of Babel area, which is located in what is northern Iraq today. “In that way (confusing their languages, Genesis 11:1-7), the LORD scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city. That is why the city was called Babel, because that is where the LORD confused the people with different languages. In this way he scattered them all over the world.” (Genesis 11:8,9 NLT) read more

Who is the Rock the Church is Built On?

January 25, 2018 BibleAuthenticity Comments 2 comments

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that Jesus personally appointed Peter as the leader of the church, and the pope is Peter’s successor to that position. At the root of this doctrine is the claim that Jesus appointed Peter as leader when he called him a “rock.” But is this really what the Bible teaches?

JESUS CALLED PETER A SMALL STONE

In Matthew 16, Jesus was speaking in front of a rather large cliff face near Caesarea Philippi. There is no doubt that this is historical, that is, it actually took place. read more

Pedophile Priests Problem Treated Lightly by Catholic Church

January 23, 2018 BibleAuthenticity Comments 0 Comment

Pope Francis arriving to celebrate Mass at the Las Palmas Air Base in Lima, Peru

The Pope visited Chile in January 2018 (click here for a news article about it). A prominent priest in Santiago had been exposed as a serial child molester. The Pope had appointed this serial molester’s understudy as Bishop there, under much protest, due to the fact that victims say this newly appointed Bishop witnessed personally, and was obviously well aware of such atrocities, but never voiced any opposition to it. The Pope, in response to these protesting voices, accused these Catholics of slandering the new Bishop. After much protest against his calloused attitude, the Pope has now apologized. So much for “papal infallibility”, despite the fact that he “exalts himself above every so-called god and object of worship, so as to seat himself in the temple of God, claiming that he is a god” (2 Thessalonians 2:4 NAB)! Also, the fact that the Roman Catholic Church has tolerated and covered up their grossly immoral, pedophile priests for centuries, makes it an abomination in the sight of God. Notice the principle expressed at Deuteronomy 23:18: “You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the wages of a dog into the house of the LORD your God” (NASB), “dog” is footnoted as being “male prostitute, sodomite”. This Hebrew word for “dog” also likely refers to “a pederast, one who practices ANAL INTERCOURSE, ESPECIALLY WITH A BOY”. This is exactly what the RCC has done by allowing these predatory pedophiles to remain in the service of the church! Romans 1:26,27 tells us exactly what God thinks of such: “God gave them over to shameful lusts . . . the men . . . were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men” (NIV). What will God do about this? In his due time, he says “I will remove them from tending my flock so that the shepherds will no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them” (Ezekiel 34:10 NIV). The RCC with its pedophile, immoral priests will be exterminated by God permanently! read more

New Covenant – ‘Good Things Now Already Here’ – Access to God

January 23, 2018 BibleAuthenticity Comments 0 Comment

Do we need to go through some human intermediary, or hierarchy, to get to Almighty God? – No! Why not? We certainly do not want to in any way diminish the need of “meeting together” with those of like faith (Hebrews 10:24,25 NIV), nor do we want to downplay the importance of Christlike spiritual leadership (Hebrews 13:7,17). What does the New Covenant have to do with any of this?

However, we need to keep in mind that “there is only one God, and there is only one mediator between humanity . . . Jesus Christ” (1 Timothy 2:5 NJB). read more

The Early Acceptance of Revelation

January 19, 2018 BibleAuthenticity Comments 2 comments

The Book of Revelation is without doubt the most complicated, controversial, and esoteric of the entire Bible! Some even doubt that it should even be in the Bible at all, and assert that its place in the Bible Canon was controversial from the start. This is false. Why? The early acceptance of Revelation by the Christian Church is proof that the book is divinely inspired.

EVIDENCE OF THE EARLY ACCEPTANCE OF REVELATION

We have early, widespread and consistent reception of Revelation. Papias (c 125), Justin Martyr, Irenaus, the Muratorian Fragment, Hippolytus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and Origen all accepted Revelation as authentic. That’s impressive! Every one of these accepted Revelation as inspired, on the basis that John, the apostle was the recorder. B W Bacon was so impressed with the initial widespread acceptance of Revelation, that he wrote: “There is no other book in the entire NT whose external attestation can compare with that of Revelation, in nearness, clearness, defintiteness, and positiveness of statement” (The Making of the New Testament, 190).
Objections to Revelation were later and limited. Gaius in the early 3^rd century rejected Revelation, thinking it was a forgery of the apostate Cerinthus. This is the first real objection.
Objections to Revelation were not on any historical basis. Gaius rejected the literal millennnial reign of Christ, so he thought the reference in chapter 20 of such had to be a product of the apostate Cerinthus.
Any such objections were resolved early. It was accepted by the synods of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397), by Philastrius of Brescia (c 385), Rufinus of Aquilia (c 404), Jerome (c 414), and Augustine (c 426). They accepted Revelation as authentic because it was accepted by the early Christians as authentic.
There are many quotations from Revelation by early writers, who quoted it as being authentic.
The writings of the Apostles were viewed as authentic (Jude 1:17-18; 2 Peter 3:15-16).

One source for this article is: Biblical Archaeology Study Bible

For more information about related to this subject, please see the following article on this website read more

Atheists Ask: “If God Is Real, Then Why Is Faith Required?”

January 8, 2018 BibleAuthenticity Comments 0 Comment

First of all, when people ask, “Why is faith required if God is real?”, they are using a different definition of “faith” than the the Bible does. The average person thinks “faith” means: “blind faith”, or belief without any evidence, zero, zippo, nada. That is not Biblical “faith”.

WHAT IS FAITH, ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE?

So let’s clarify what we mean Biblically by faith. ^“Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 NAB). Biblical faith has evidence in support of it, in fact, lots of it! read more

Why Jesus – Not God – Died For Our Sins

December 13, 2017 BibleAuthenticity Comments 25 comments

The Bible says God cannot die. Yet Trinitarians assert that Jesus must be God himself in order to die for the sins of mankind stands in stark contradiction to all scriptural evidence. It was Jesus, not God, who died for sins.

Jesus, not God — It was Jesus – not God – who died for the sins of mankind

“LORD [Yahweh], are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die” (Habakkuk 1:12 NIV)

From this scripture, we can see that it is impossible that Jesus could be the God who would die for the sins of mankind, since the prophecy of Habakkuk was written over 600 years prior to Jesus and clearly states that God will never die. read more

Are the Doctrines of Purgatory and Hellfire in the Bible?

December 6, 2017 BibleAuthenticity Comments 0 Comment

The doctrines of Purgatory and Hellfire are taught and believed by many. But are Purgatory and Hellfire in the Bible?

“The dead no longer know anything”—Ecclesiastes 9:5 NAB

“Those who contend with you shall be as nothing and will perish . . . Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent”—Isaiah 41:11,12 LSB; NASB

The Bible teaches that death is non-existence. Purgatory is a Catholic doctrine which teaches there is an intermediate state after physical death in which some of those ultimately destined for heaven must first undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven, holding that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come. But what does the Bible teach? Let’s compare some Catholic claims about the doctrine of Purgatory to the Scriptures. read more