Page 25 - Doctrine and History of the Preservation of the Bible revised

Almost all biblical scholars agree that the New Testament documents were all written before the close
of the First Century. If Jesus was crucified in A.D. 30., then that means the entire New Testament was
completed within 70 years. This is important because it means there were plenty of people around
when the New Testament documents were penned--people who could have contested the writings. In
other words, those who wrote the documents knew that if they were inaccurate, plenty of people would
have pointed it out. But, we have absolutely no ancient documents contemporary with the First Century
that contest the New Testament texts.

Furthermore, another important fact is that we have a fragment of the gospel of John that dates back to
around 29 years from the original writing (John Rylands Papyri A.D. 125). This is extremely close to the
original writing date. This is simply unheard of in any other ancient writing, and it demonstrates that the
Gospel of John is a First Century document.

If the critics of the Bible dismiss the New Testament as reliable information, then they must also dismiss
the reliability of the writings of Plato, Aristotle, Caesar, Homer, and the other authors mentioned in the
chart above. On the other hand, if the critics acknowledge the historicity and writings of those other
individuals, then they must also retain the historicity and writings of the New Testament authors; after
all, the evidence for the New Testament's reliability is far greater than the others. The Christian has
substantially superior criteria for affirming the New Testament documents than he does for any other
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ancient writing. It is good evidence on which to base the trust in the reliability of the New Testament.
Another interesting fact about the uniqueness of the Bible is that those who read it and apply its truths
are changed. In the Bible it is called being “born again.” It comes when a person realizes he is a sinner
and in need of a savior. He understands the claims of Christ in that He came to die a substitutionary
death (His death for ours) and pay the ultimate penalty for sin. When a person accepts this by faith, He
makes Christ Lord of His life. The Bible says this about that experience:

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old
has passed away; behold, the new has come. (ESV)

Over the last couple of thousands of years, literally millions of people have given testimony of
what happened in their life as a result of this salvation experience. Here is a testimony of one
man who came to Christ, but the same testimony could be repeated a million times over:

In a moment, the truth of Jesus Christ became reality to me. The spoken words seemed to pierce my
very heart and reveal what I’d always longed for: to be restored to my Creator, through His only Son,
Jesus Christ. Though in the past, others had tried to prod or persuade me to a decision, this time I
willingly stood to make that long walk to the altar. On the way I said, “God, if you prove Yourself real to
me today, I will live my life for You.” Down on my knees, I was totally sincere for the first time in my life.
“Lord, I am sorry for all my sins! I want to give my life to You. Please, forgive me.” On the following
evening, the evangelist said to me, “Young man, last night there was a battle between heaven and hell.
Hell wanted to keep you, but God won.”

My whole life was changed. Now that I had accepted Christ I had to grow in this new relationship with
God. I was baptized and began changing from someone who only cared about himself and used people,
to someone who really cared for others.

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