Is the Bible really the word of God?
What about other books that claim to be the word of God?
Lets start by looking to see what the Bible says about itself.
2 Tim 3:16-17
"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the
man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."
The word "inspired" here in the Greek Literally means " divinely breathed in" by God. You may ask what does it mean God
breathed? God spoke through men to say exactly what he wanted said. At the same time he allowed us to see the personality
of the writer without deviating from the message that he wanted put forth. So every word in our Greek and Hebrew Bible is
really from God. Now that is quite a claim and it is reasonable for someone to question why they should believe this. Just
because someone says that a book is the word of God or if it says that about itself does not necessarily make it true.
For instance the Mormons tell us that the Book of Mormon is also the word of God. If a book or set of books is actually the
word of God there should be some sort of evidence to validate such a claim. If the Bible and the Book of Mormon are indeed
the word of God they should be able to pass the following test.
1. It's contents should be beyond the ability of mans writing creativity.
2. It should be able to withstand the test of time and attacks of critics.
3. The historical part of it should be able to be confirmed with archeology, it should be historically accurate throughout its
entirety.
4. It's prophetic messages should not be able to be proven false. There should be evidence to show past fulfillment of its
prophecies.
5. Science should not be able to prove its message to be untrue.
6. Since the book claims to be ancient there should be some sort of manuscript evidence verifying its transmission of the text
to be accurate.
7. Its message should have the ability to change people's lives.
As I will show the Bible can pass all of these test validating its claim of being the word of God. The Book of Mormon however
fails several of these tests.
1. It's contents should be beyond the ability of mans writing creativity. It should be remembered that the Bible is not just
one book. The Bible actually contains 66 books. It has at least 40 different authors. It covers a time span of at least 1500 years.
It was written on 3 different continents, Africa, Asia and Europe. The authors of these books were from different backgrounds
or lifestyles. For example we have a doctor, kings, fisherman an ex-Pharisee etc. as authors. The Bible was also written in
3 different languages Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek. Now it is in theory impossible to get this many people of different walks of
life, countries, cultures, time frames and languages to agree without conflict on controversial subjects such as God, sin,
salvation etc. Well folks it happened with so much harmony that each book is not really complete without the other. These
books together have one central theme (Jesus) the coming of the Messiah, His arrival and work and looking for his return. This
would seem impossible unless one mind is behind it. This one mind cannot be man since its writings covered 1500
years. Man simply does not live that long. What other set of books can make such a claim as this?
The Book of Mormon cannot claim this. At least not in any way that could be verified because it has no known ancient
manuscripts. Unlike the Bible it can't be shown that the contents of the book cover any large time period. How do we know
Alma, Nephi or any of the characters mentioned actually existed long ago? Without any manuscripts for the Book of Mormon
we have no way of proving that Joseph Smith is not the author of the entire book. Some have claimed that a man could not
write in such detail of a fantasy. Since I read "The Hobbit" I know this is indeed possible.
2. It should be able to withstand the test of time and attacks of critics. People have attacked the Bible for a couple of
thousand years. Yet it has not been proven untrue in any of its teachings or history. Time Magazine made an interesting
statement that I would like to quote. Time Magazine DEC.30,1974 "After more than two centuries of facing the heaviest
scientific guns that could be brought to bear, the bible has survived and perhaps better for the siege even on the critics own
terms. Historical fact, the scriptures seem more acceptable now than they did when the rationalist began the attack"
The Book of Mormon on the other hand has numerous books that were written proving that the content of the Book of Mormon
has no historical significance. The Book of Mormon has nothing to validate its claims. The fact is in many ways the Book of
Mormon is proven unreliable. I'll mention just a couple of books that show this. "Archeology and the Book of Mormon" by Jerald
& Sandra Tanner, " Are the Mormon Scriptures reliable?" by Harry L.Ropp.
3. The historical part of it should be able to be confirmed with archeology, it should be historically accurate
throughout its entirety. There are numerous books that are full of archeological discoveries confirming the historical
accuracy of the Bible. For here I will mention just one archeological discovery confirming the Bible's accuracy clear back to
some of the content in the book of Genesis. The city of Ebla was discovered in an archeological dig around Jerusalem. In this
discovery they found 16,642 clay tablets between 1968 & 1976. The tablets have been dated back to about 2,300 B.C. There
are several cities mentioned on these tablets that are also mentioned in the Bible, such as Adma, Zeboim, Zoar, Damascus,
Jerusalem, Carchemish, Dor, Hazor, Megiddo, Lachish, Gaza, Sinai, Joppa, Harran, Ashdod and of course the ones I find the
most interesting Sodom & Gomorrah. Here are two towns that have not been found because as we read in Genesis God
destroyed them. Yet we know that they really existed because they are mentioned in the tablets discovered in Ebla. Evidently,
Ebla did trading with Sodom and Gomorrah. The tablets also confirm the existence of the Assyrians, the Hittites, and the
Cannaanites. More detail can be found in a book by Dr. Clifford Wilson it is titled "The Ebla tablets". There was also, an article
concerning Ebla in Time Magazine Oct. 18, 1976
The Book of Mormon is allegedly about a people of Jewish descent that migrated to North America before Christ. (Joseph
Smith History 1:3 & 34 also known as Joseph Smith 2, 1:3 & 34.) ) These people supposedly grew into a great nation. There
was so many people that they spread out upon the face of the land. These people had buildings, machinery, and metals
including steel. (Jarom 1:8) They had all manner of tools (Ether 10:25) They had silks, horses, gold, silver and various animals
including elephants. Ether 9:16-19 There was so many people they could be found from coast to coast. Helaman 3:8 They had
wars where as many as 10,000 people died in a single battle. Mormon 6:11
Not only was there people from coast to coast but there was buildings as well. Mormon 1:7 They built ships, Temples,
synagogues etc. Helaman 3:14 These people had a money system which included lots of different types of coins. Alma
11:4-19. It is hard to imagine that a people that were spread from coast to coast and built ships, buildings, machinery and so
forth could disappear and not leave any trace. Not one archeological discovery has ever been linked directly to the contents of
the Book of Mormon. As far as history goes the Smithsonian Institute states that the American Indians did not have horses.
Also silk and steel were not used in the New World before 1492.
Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol.1, ARCHAEOLOGY
Archaeological data from the ancient Near East and the Americas have been used both to support and to discredit the Book of
Mormon. Many scholars see no support for the Book of Mormon in the archaeological records, since no one has found any
inscriptional evidence for, or material remains that can be tied directly to, any of the persons, places, or things mentioned in the
book (Smithsonian Institution).
Another reason why the historical accuracy of the book of Mormon is also called into question, is because in contrast to the
Bible declaring Jesus to be born in Bethlehem Micah 5:2,Matthew 2:1. The Book of Mormon declares Jesus was to be born at
Jerusalem Alma 7:10. Considering the Bible has continually proven itself with archeology and the Book of Mormon never has. It
seems more likely the Book of Mormon is the one in error.
4. It's prophetic messages should not be able to be proven false. There should be evidence to show past fulfillment
of its prophecies. The Bible has hundreds of prophecies some of which are still future and many which have already been
proven to be true. The Bible has never been proven wrong in any of its prophetic messages. I will give one example of a
prophetic message which came true.
Isa 44:28-45:1 "It is I who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.' And he declares of Jerusalem,
'She will be built,' and of the temple, 'Your foundation will be laid.'" Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed, whom I have
taken by the right hand, to subdue nations before him, and to loose the loins of kings; to open doors before him so that gates
will not be shut:
Notice Cyrus is mentioned by name although at this point he has not even been born. What's also interesting about this
prophetic message is that at the time Isaiah wrote this the city was not yet destroyed and the temple was still standing.
Nebuchadenezzar the king of Babylon came along and destroyed it about a hundred years later. Then about 160 years after
Isaiah's writing the temple was completed because a Persian king named Cyrus gave the decree to rebuild the city and the
temple. The American Peoples Encyclopedia vol.11, pg.395 dates the time of Isaiah's death at about 668 B.C. The same
volume on pg. 611 states that Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city and the temple in 586 B.C In volume 6 pg.688-689 of The
American Peoples Encyclopedia we find that Cyrus liberated the Jews and allowed them to return to rebuild Jerusalem and
even restored sacred vessels taken from the temple. This took place around 539 B.C the new temple was completed in
515 B.C vol.11, pg.611
In all fairness I cannot say that I am familiar with any proven false prophecies within the Book of Mormon itself. However there is
also no evidence to support that the people or places in it ever existed. The fact is there are no ancient manuscripts for the
Book of Mormon. There is no archaeological conformation of any thing in the Book of Mormon. So we are left pretty much
taking Joseph Smith's word for it since he is the one who introduced us to it. Joseph Smith made numerous prophecies that
are recorded in other books which can be proven false. One example can be found in the Doctrine & Covenants Section 84:
1-5. There he prophesied that a temple would be built in the western boundaries in the state of Missouri and dedicated by his
own hand during the generation of those living in 1832. The Mormons failed to ever build a temple there in Joseph Smith's
lifetime making him a false prophet. According to the Bible a true prophet of God must be correct 100% of the time. This is
because God is the one that causes it to come to pass if it is from him. (Deut.18:18-22, Ezek.12:22-25, Hab.2:2-3)
5. Science should not be able to prove its message to be untrue. Most informed Christians will readily admit the Bible is
not a text book on science. You cannot prove the Bible to be the word of God based solely on science. Then again science
does not refute the Bible either. They are in harmony in areas where they do meet. However the Bible was written to reveal God
to mankind, not science. I would like to mention one area where science and the Bible do meet together.
Job 26:7 "He stretches out the north over empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing." Keep in mind that Job lived almost
2000 years before Christ. This idea that the earth was suspended on nothing was not even thought of by scientist for thousands
of years after Job. Now with our satellites and trips into space we know this to be true. But that was not known in Job's day. The
Egyptians declared the earth rested on pillars. The Greeks said it was carried on the back of Atlas. People believed many
things but they did not come close to what we know to be true today, and what Job declared a few thousand years ago.
DNA studies now reveal that the Book of Mormon is wrong in claiming that the Israelites are the main ancestors of modern
day Native Americans. There is now a video concerning this called "DNA Vs. The Book of Mormon" Just put that into a Google
search and you can find a place to purchase the video if desired.
What about other books that claim to be the word of God?
Lets start by looking to see what the Bible says about itself.
2 Tim 3:16-17
"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the
man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."
The word "inspired" here in the Greek Literally means " divinely breathed in" by God. You may ask what does it mean God
breathed? God spoke through men to say exactly what he wanted said. At the same time he allowed us to see the personality
of the writer without deviating from the message that he wanted put forth. So every word in our Greek and Hebrew Bible is
really from God. Now that is quite a claim and it is reasonable for someone to question why they should believe this. Just
because someone says that a book is the word of God or if it says that about itself does not necessarily make it true.
For instance the Mormons tell us that the Book of Mormon is also the word of God. If a book or set of books is actually the
word of God there should be some sort of evidence to validate such a claim. If the Bible and the Book of Mormon are indeed
the word of God they should be able to pass the following test.
1. It's contents should be beyond the ability of mans writing creativity.
2. It should be able to withstand the test of time and attacks of critics.
3. The historical part of it should be able to be confirmed with archeology, it should be historically accurate throughout its
entirety.
4. It's prophetic messages should not be able to be proven false. There should be evidence to show past fulfillment of its
prophecies.
5. Science should not be able to prove its message to be untrue.
6. Since the book claims to be ancient there should be some sort of manuscript evidence verifying its transmission of the text
to be accurate.
7. Its message should have the ability to change people's lives.
As I will show the Bible can pass all of these test validating its claim of being the word of God. The Book of Mormon however
fails several of these tests.
1. It's contents should be beyond the ability of mans writing creativity. It should be remembered that the Bible is not just
one book. The Bible actually contains 66 books. It has at least 40 different authors. It covers a time span of at least 1500 years.
It was written on 3 different continents, Africa, Asia and Europe. The authors of these books were from different backgrounds
or lifestyles. For example we have a doctor, kings, fisherman an ex-Pharisee etc. as authors. The Bible was also written in
3 different languages Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek. Now it is in theory impossible to get this many people of different walks of
life, countries, cultures, time frames and languages to agree without conflict on controversial subjects such as God, sin,
salvation etc. Well folks it happened with so much harmony that each book is not really complete without the other. These
books together have one central theme (Jesus) the coming of the Messiah, His arrival and work and looking for his return. This
would seem impossible unless one mind is behind it. This one mind cannot be man since its writings covered 1500
years. Man simply does not live that long. What other set of books can make such a claim as this?
The Book of Mormon cannot claim this. At least not in any way that could be verified because it has no known ancient
manuscripts. Unlike the Bible it can't be shown that the contents of the book cover any large time period. How do we know
Alma, Nephi or any of the characters mentioned actually existed long ago? Without any manuscripts for the Book of Mormon
we have no way of proving that Joseph Smith is not the author of the entire book. Some have claimed that a man could not
write in such detail of a fantasy. Since I read "The Hobbit" I know this is indeed possible.
2. It should be able to withstand the test of time and attacks of critics. People have attacked the Bible for a couple of
thousand years. Yet it has not been proven untrue in any of its teachings or history. Time Magazine made an interesting
statement that I would like to quote. Time Magazine DEC.30,1974 "After more than two centuries of facing the heaviest
scientific guns that could be brought to bear, the bible has survived and perhaps better for the siege even on the critics own
terms. Historical fact, the scriptures seem more acceptable now than they did when the rationalist began the attack"
The Book of Mormon on the other hand has numerous books that were written proving that the content of the Book of Mormon
has no historical significance. The Book of Mormon has nothing to validate its claims. The fact is in many ways the Book of
Mormon is proven unreliable. I'll mention just a couple of books that show this. "Archeology and the Book of Mormon" by Jerald
& Sandra Tanner, " Are the Mormon Scriptures reliable?" by Harry L.Ropp.
3. The historical part of it should be able to be confirmed with archeology, it should be historically accurate
throughout its entirety. There are numerous books that are full of archeological discoveries confirming the historical
accuracy of the Bible. For here I will mention just one archeological discovery confirming the Bible's accuracy clear back to
some of the content in the book of Genesis. The city of Ebla was discovered in an archeological dig around Jerusalem. In this
discovery they found 16,642 clay tablets between 1968 & 1976. The tablets have been dated back to about 2,300 B.C. There
are several cities mentioned on these tablets that are also mentioned in the Bible, such as Adma, Zeboim, Zoar, Damascus,
Jerusalem, Carchemish, Dor, Hazor, Megiddo, Lachish, Gaza, Sinai, Joppa, Harran, Ashdod and of course the ones I find the
most interesting Sodom & Gomorrah. Here are two towns that have not been found because as we read in Genesis God
destroyed them. Yet we know that they really existed because they are mentioned in the tablets discovered in Ebla. Evidently,
Ebla did trading with Sodom and Gomorrah. The tablets also confirm the existence of the Assyrians, the Hittites, and the
Cannaanites. More detail can be found in a book by Dr. Clifford Wilson it is titled "The Ebla tablets". There was also, an article
concerning Ebla in Time Magazine Oct. 18, 1976
The Book of Mormon is allegedly about a people of Jewish descent that migrated to North America before Christ. (Joseph
Smith History 1:3 & 34 also known as Joseph Smith 2, 1:3 & 34.) ) These people supposedly grew into a great nation. There
was so many people that they spread out upon the face of the land. These people had buildings, machinery, and metals
including steel. (Jarom 1:8) They had all manner of tools (Ether 10:25) They had silks, horses, gold, silver and various animals
including elephants. Ether 9:16-19 There was so many people they could be found from coast to coast. Helaman 3:8 They had
wars where as many as 10,000 people died in a single battle. Mormon 6:11
Not only was there people from coast to coast but there was buildings as well. Mormon 1:7 They built ships, Temples,
synagogues etc. Helaman 3:14 These people had a money system which included lots of different types of coins. Alma
11:4-19. It is hard to imagine that a people that were spread from coast to coast and built ships, buildings, machinery and so
forth could disappear and not leave any trace. Not one archeological discovery has ever been linked directly to the contents of
the Book of Mormon. As far as history goes the Smithsonian Institute states that the American Indians did not have horses.
Also silk and steel were not used in the New World before 1492.
Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol.1, ARCHAEOLOGY
Archaeological data from the ancient Near East and the Americas have been used both to support and to discredit the Book of
Mormon. Many scholars see no support for the Book of Mormon in the archaeological records, since no one has found any
inscriptional evidence for, or material remains that can be tied directly to, any of the persons, places, or things mentioned in the
book (Smithsonian Institution).
Another reason why the historical accuracy of the book of Mormon is also called into question, is because in contrast to the
Bible declaring Jesus to be born in Bethlehem Micah 5:2,Matthew 2:1. The Book of Mormon declares Jesus was to be born at
Jerusalem Alma 7:10. Considering the Bible has continually proven itself with archeology and the Book of Mormon never has. It
seems more likely the Book of Mormon is the one in error.
4. It's prophetic messages should not be able to be proven false. There should be evidence to show past fulfillment
of its prophecies. The Bible has hundreds of prophecies some of which are still future and many which have already been
proven to be true. The Bible has never been proven wrong in any of its prophetic messages. I will give one example of a
prophetic message which came true.
Isa 44:28-45:1 "It is I who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.' And he declares of Jerusalem,
'She will be built,' and of the temple, 'Your foundation will be laid.'" Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed, whom I have
taken by the right hand, to subdue nations before him, and to loose the loins of kings; to open doors before him so that gates
will not be shut:
Notice Cyrus is mentioned by name although at this point he has not even been born. What's also interesting about this
prophetic message is that at the time Isaiah wrote this the city was not yet destroyed and the temple was still standing.
Nebuchadenezzar the king of Babylon came along and destroyed it about a hundred years later. Then about 160 years after
Isaiah's writing the temple was completed because a Persian king named Cyrus gave the decree to rebuild the city and the
temple. The American Peoples Encyclopedia vol.11, pg.395 dates the time of Isaiah's death at about 668 B.C. The same
volume on pg. 611 states that Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city and the temple in 586 B.C In volume 6 pg.688-689 of The
American Peoples Encyclopedia we find that Cyrus liberated the Jews and allowed them to return to rebuild Jerusalem and
even restored sacred vessels taken from the temple. This took place around 539 B.C the new temple was completed in
515 B.C vol.11, pg.611
In all fairness I cannot say that I am familiar with any proven false prophecies within the Book of Mormon itself. However there is
also no evidence to support that the people or places in it ever existed. The fact is there are no ancient manuscripts for the
Book of Mormon. There is no archaeological conformation of any thing in the Book of Mormon. So we are left pretty much
taking Joseph Smith's word for it since he is the one who introduced us to it. Joseph Smith made numerous prophecies that
are recorded in other books which can be proven false. One example can be found in the Doctrine & Covenants Section 84:
1-5. There he prophesied that a temple would be built in the western boundaries in the state of Missouri and dedicated by his
own hand during the generation of those living in 1832. The Mormons failed to ever build a temple there in Joseph Smith's
lifetime making him a false prophet. According to the Bible a true prophet of God must be correct 100% of the time. This is
because God is the one that causes it to come to pass if it is from him. (Deut.18:18-22, Ezek.12:22-25, Hab.2:2-3)
5. Science should not be able to prove its message to be untrue. Most informed Christians will readily admit the Bible is
not a text book on science. You cannot prove the Bible to be the word of God based solely on science. Then again science
does not refute the Bible either. They are in harmony in areas where they do meet. However the Bible was written to reveal God
to mankind, not science. I would like to mention one area where science and the Bible do meet together.
Job 26:7 "He stretches out the north over empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing." Keep in mind that Job lived almost
2000 years before Christ. This idea that the earth was suspended on nothing was not even thought of by scientist for thousands
of years after Job. Now with our satellites and trips into space we know this to be true. But that was not known in Job's day. The
Egyptians declared the earth rested on pillars. The Greeks said it was carried on the back of Atlas. People believed many
things but they did not come close to what we know to be true today, and what Job declared a few thousand years ago.
DNA studies now reveal that the Book of Mormon is wrong in claiming that the Israelites are the main ancestors of modern
day Native Americans. There is now a video concerning this called "DNA Vs. The Book of Mormon" Just put that into a Google
search and you can find a place to purchase the video if desired.
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