How reliable is the Bible?

Part I: Where does the bible come from?

Hey guys! Recently I attended the first session on a Seeker Series which helps people who are seeking for biblical and spiritual questions. It is also very timely in view of the release of the movie "Da Vinci Code". Growing up, many of us had limited exposure to the Bible. Some of us had to study it in school and others were introduced to the Bible through their friends. But few people know the history of the Bible and where it came from. Who wrote it and how did it come together?

Before we answered this question, we needed to ask what makes the Bible different from other kinds of books such as a newspaper? Some special characteristics are that the Bible is over 1000 years old and was written by over 40 different people from different generations. The Bible was not written by one person but people from all walks of life who were moved to write about their experiences with God. The Bible has two parts – the “Old” Testament (written before AD) and the “New” Testament (written after AD). The Bible is not just one book but a library of 66 individual books.

Because the Bible was written over such a long period of time, it was not officially bound together until AD 300. Now, this raises many questions; “How do the Bible come together?” It was a process. After certain events in history, people were moved to write down their thoughts about God and Jesus. For example, after Jesus died, a few witnesses decided to write down thoughts about Jesus’ life. Then these books were circulated to tell others about Jesus’ life. Over time, these books became very popular and special to early Christians who wanted to share the life of Jesus to others. Over a period of time, people noticed there were many books that spoke about the same God and Jesus and these were organized into the Bible.

However, another troubling question is this: “Can people still write books to be included in the Bible today?” This issue is brought by the best-selling novel, the DaVinci Code. Dan Brown claims that there are many “missing” books that belong in the Bible. The simple response to the question is “No, we can not add any more books to the Bible.” There is one main reason: authorship and historical time.

Most books in the Bible were written by people who were present during the events. Therefore, if Janelle Ong wrote a new story about Jesus, it would not be accepted because I did not live the same time Jesus. All the stories about Jesus in the Bible were written by people were witnesses who lived close to the events. After the books were written, the early Christians knew they could trust what they were reading because of the author and the source.

In the end, the Bible is unique and we may never know 100% how it came to be. But the fact that this book has survived for thousands of years is remarkable. Perhaps God was the “divine editor” who made sure that His book would be compiled. As the Bible says, for the Bible “never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20-21)

Be encouraged to read this book if you have never done so. As many have said, the Bible can speak for itself.