Why I Trust My Bible
About This Class
We can no longer assume that people trust their Bible. The popular media has launched such an attack on the believability of Scripture that our people have serious questions about the Bible. Are you ready to answer them? Did Jesus actually live? (Bill Maher on Larry King Live says no.) Did the biblical writers get it right, or did they slant/create the message? The gospels were written so long after Jesus lived; how can you trust them? How can you believe a Bible that is full of internal contradictions with itself and external contradictions with science? Doesn’t archaeology disprove the Bible? Why should we believe the books that are in the Bible; many good ones were left out, like the Gospel of Thomas. Why trust the Bible when there are so many and contradictory translations? These questions and more are discussed and answered in this class.
The YouTube Videos and handouts which Dr. Mounce refers to in lecture 1 are the links that you will find on the class page. The two handouts are a list of the books of the Apocrypha, and a chart showing translations of the Bible on a continuum from formal to dynamic equivalence. The two links are an article by Dr. Blomberg, and a YouTube video of a debate between Dan Wallace and Bart Ehrman.
The bibliography and footnotes in the book, Why I Trust the Bible, by Dr. Mounce, also provide a detailed list of the resources that are the basis for this online course and for the book.
Some additional resources that will give you a picture of what is going on in culture are interviews and debates with people like Sam Harris, Jordan Peterson, Bill Maher, Ben Shapiro, Joe Rogan, Tim Keller and Steven Crowder (e.g. "Change my mind"). You will find many of these by searching on YouTube. Many of these people are not believers, and Harris and Maher, for example, think that religion is the underlying cause of all the problems in the world.
For biblical responses regarding issues raised outside of the trustworthiness of the Bible, you can see classes on BiblicalTraining.org like C.S. Lewis: His Theology and Philosophy, Advanced Worldview Analysis, and others. Other websites that you may find helpful are Apologetics 315 and Summit Ministries.
About the Professor
Bill Mounce
Bill Mounce has had a distinguished career as an author, translator, and teacher. As the founder of BiblicalTraining.org and also serving on The Committee for Bible Translation to create the NIV translation of scripture, Bill is well-known for his best-selling biblical Greek textbook ‘Basics of Biblical Greek’ amongst other acclaimed works.
Lessons
- 0% CompleteSome people feel that it is wrong to ask fundamental questions such as whether or not they trust the Bible. But if you never seriously ask the question, you will never be convinced that it really is true and trustworthy.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteSome question whether Jesus actually lived, claiming there's only one non-biblical reference. This is false; there are many more.0% Complete
- Learn about the reliability of the New Testament through oral tradition, the impact of Jewish oral culture, three approaches to orality, memorization techniques, corporate memory, scholarly presuppositions, the Holy Spirit's role, and the delayed documentation of the Gospels.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteWhile the gospels are anonymous, tradition is very strong as to who wrote Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and all four authors were in a position to know the truth and we can trust their writings. If the church did not care about authorship traditions, they would not have picked these four.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteIf the biblical writers were not concerned about historical accuracy, we would expect more verses that would have answered the burning questions of the first century, and we certainly would not have the many embarrassing and difficult verses that we do have. The gospel is couched in historical fact, and if the events did not happen then the teaching is false.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteLearn how to address perceived contradictions in the Bible by understanding harmonization, interpretation, and considering possible errors in secular sources, all while encouraging a trust in the Bible’s reliability.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteInvestigate whether Paul changed Jesus’ message. Despite different contexts and approaches, Jesus' and Paul's teachings align on core theological issues like justification by faith and ritual purity, affirming their compatibility.0% Complete
- 0% CompleteLearn why trusting the Bible is rational despite the inability to prove it, and you'll gain tools to ask questions, strengthen your faith, encourage others, and counter opposing views with sound biblical doctrine.0% Complete
It does no good to talk about inspiration and canonization if the church altered the contents of the Bible through the centuries. And why are there differences among the Greek manuscripts? This is the topic of textual criticism. The current situation is that we are confident of 99% of the New Testament text, and the 1% we are unsure of contains no significant theological doctrine.
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Unless you can read Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic, you need a translation. But why are there so many, and why are they so often different? Can they be trusted? Bill Mounce, chair of the ESV translation for 10 years and currently on the Committee on Bible Translation that is responsible for the NIV, shares his answer to these questions.
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We have looked at attacks on the trustworthiness of the Bible and given reasonable counter-arguments. it remains but to share personally why I trust my Bible.
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Class Resources
Recommended Books
Why I Trust My Bible - Student Guide
We can no longer assume that people trust their Bible. The popular media has launched such an attack on the believability of Scripture that our people have serious questions...
Why I Trust The Bible
Answers to Real Questions and Doubts People Have about the Bible
Links
Downloads
Recommended Readings
About BiblicalTraining.org
BiblicalTraining.org wants every Christian to experience a deep and loving relationship with Jesus by understanding the life-changing truths of Scripture. To that end, we provide a high-quality Bible education at three academic levels taught by a wide range of distinguished professors, pastors, authors, and ministry leaders that moves from content to spiritual growth, all at no charge. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit funded by gifts from our users. We currently have over 180 classes and seminars, 2,300 hours of instruction, registered users from every country in the world, and in the last two years 1.4 million people watched 257 terabytes of videos (11 million lectures).
Our goal is to provide a comprehensive biblical education governed by our Statement of Faith that leads people toward spiritual growth.