Dear friends:

This is Part 1 of a series that will establish that God's Word is truth, just as Jesus said it is in John 17:17, "Thy Word is truth."  There is nothing on earth more important to understand than this fact.  Without that understanding, you really cannot realize who you are, where you came from, where you are going, who Jesus is, His plan of redemption, or even that we can be saved.

This material is taken mostly from Appendix 2 of the awesome and incredible book, THE POWER! by James Bramlett (me! :)), Xulon Press, 2003.

Be blessed.

Jim
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Frank H. Leavell wrote, “Christianity does not need defense; it needs proclamation.”  That is a great truth.  However, it is good to know the proofs of the faith.  And Peter said, “Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15, NKJV).

Biblical apologetics is the field of marshalling and presenting the many facts proving the total inspiration and reliability of the Bible as God’s holy Word.  The word apologia means “defense.”  Apologetics defends the truth of the Bible.  Paradoxically, the derived word “apology” means to express regret.  There is no expression of regret concerning the truth of the Bible, only praise to God for giving it to us!

It is critical that the Bible’s authority be firmly established, without a shred doubt.  Or else there would be no basis for faith.  Faith must be based on fact, or else it is blind faith, which we do not need.

When you are hanging out there in the realm of faith, where both circumstances and other people tell you that you are crazy, your faith must not be a blind faith, which would be foolish and would soon collapse.  It must be hinged to something as solid as a rock, or it will fail you.  But if your faith is based on fact, it cannot fail you.  The faith proposed in this book is based on undisputed fact.

The information in this book is so revolutionary, it is absolutely necessary that the authoritative basis be constantly clear in the mind of the reader.  Otherwise, you could not believe it, and if you cannot believe it, you cannot act upon it and receive what God has for you.

But you are able to believe and act upon it, because it is based on irrefutable fact.

If the contents of this book were just my ideas, you might as well trash it now.  The world has millions of books that are just the ideas of mere humans, and few are worth more than the paper upon which they are written.

But these are not just my ideas.  The principles herein come with the Ultimate Authority.

Can you think of a more final and credible authority than the Creator of the universe, the one who spoke and more than 100 billion galaxies were created, according to the findings of the Hubble telescope.  That’s galaxies, not planets, nor even solar systems!  And for all we know, better telescopes in future generations may find hundreds of billions, or maybe trillions, more, ad infinitum.  If God is infinite, why not?
 
 

God’s attributes

Consider this comparison: Each of us is less than a speck in the vastness of our city or town; our city or town is but a speck on the earth; the earth is but a speck in the vastness of our solar system; our solar system is but a speck in the vastness of our galaxy; and our galaxy is but a speck in the vastness of the universe of the 100 billion or more galaxies.

This Creator has unimaginable power.  And we know that He is holy, without flaw, pure and perfect.  He cannot lie.  You can always take what He says to the bank.  He always tells the truth, without exception.  The Bible says, “God is not a man, that he should lie” (Numbers 23:19).

He has revealed other attributes of Himself, such as omnipotence (all power), omniscience (all knowing), omnipresence (everywhere present), just, loving, merciful, faithful, to name a few.
 
 

God’s perfect message to the world

This Super Person, God, revealed His actual personal name to Moses with the Hebrew consonants equivalent to YHWH.  Scholars believe the original pronunciation was Yah’-weh, or Yahweh.  A few hundred years ago this was mistakenly translated to Jehovah.  In most modern Bibles, YHWH is mistranslated as “the LORD.”

YHWH has given us His holy, written Word, what we call the Bible.  The Bible consists of what Christians call the Old Testament, or what Jews call the Tenach, and the New Testament.  Both comprise His revealed Word, considered inerrant by thousands of scholars throughout the world and throughout history.

The Bible was physically written by different humans, but it only has one Author, God Himself, who guided the thoughts and writing of those humans, His servants.  Of this there can be no doubt, for the reasons to follow.

To be continued...