2. Unshakeable Truth • Truth One - God Exists • Truth Two - God’s Word • Truth Three - Original Sin • Truth Four - God Became Human • Truth Five - Christ’s Atonement for Sin • Truth Six - Justification through Faith • Truth Seven - Living the Transformed Life • Truth Eight - Jesus’ Bodily Resurrection • Truth Nine - The Trinity • Truth Ten - God’s Kingdom • Truth Eleven - The Church • Truth Twelve - The Return of Christ

3. A Lie to Reject “The Bible is not reliable” A Truth to Embrace “The Bible is the ultimate source of truth”

4. “The Bible is the ultimate source of truth” The Biblical argument: II Timothy 3:16,17 – a road map for life Deuteronomy 10:13; 11:26-28; – a source of blessing Matthew 5;18; 24:35; Luke 16:17- everlasting II Peter 1:16 – an eyewitness account

5. “The Bible is the ultimate source of truth” The logical arguments: The Masoretic Scribes The Dead Sea Scrolls The New Testament Text The Eyewitness Argument The Other Text Argument The Archaeolgy Argument

6. “The Bible is the ultimate source of truth” The logical arguments: The Masoretic Scribes (AD 500-900) established detailed and stringent disciplines for copying a manuscript. Among their guidelines: “The space of thread must appear between each consonant.” “The breadth of nine consonants had to beinserted between each section.” “Nothing could be copied from memory; it had to be copied letter by letter” Even one mistake resulted in the copy being discarded.

7. “The Bible is the ultimate source of truth” The logical arguments: The Dead Sea Scrolls Before 1947 the oldest complete manuscript dated to AD 900. When the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered and translated and compared, word for word, they were identical, in more than 95% of the text. The variation of 5 percent consisted mainly of spelling variations.

8. “The Bible is the ultimate source of truth” The logical arguments: The New Testament Text Historians evaluate the textual reliability of ancient literature according to two standards. the time interval between the original and earliest copy. 2) how many manuscript copies are available. The following table compares several historical records with the Bible, using these two standards.

9. Textual Reliability of Ancient Texts

10. Textual Reliability of Scriptures Nearly 25,000 manuscripts or fragments of manuscripts of the New Testament repose in the libraries and universities of the world. The earliest of these is a fragment of John’s Gospel currently located in Manchester, England and has been Dated within 50 years of the original!

11. “The Bible is the ultimate source of truth” The logical arguments: The Eyewitness Argument Some highly regarded historians reported events that took place many years before they were born and in countries they never visited. The weight of scholarship confirms that the accounts of Jesus’ life, the history of the early church, and the letters of the New Testament were all written by men who were either eyewitnesses or contemporaries of eyewitnesses.

12. “The Bible is the ultimate source of truth” The logical arguments: The Other Text Argument A routine criterion in examining the reliability of a historical document is whether other historical material confirms or denies the internal testimony of the document itself. In all of history, the Bible is by far the most widely referenced and quoted book. Eusubius – Ecclesiastical History Irenaeus – Against Heresies Clement of Rome; Ignatius, Polycarp and Titian

13. “The Bible is the ultimate source of truth” The logical arguments: The Archaeolgy Argument Over and over again throughout the centuries, the reliability of the Bible has been regularly and consistently supported by archeology. Ancient Corinth Arch of Titus Ebla Tablets Babylonian Chronicles Balaam Inscription The external evidence for the Bible is an extremely rare phenomenon, making it unique to religious writings.

14. “Life Change” If we truly believe the Bible is the ultimate source of truth and the inerrant word of God….. We will choose to live under the protection and provision of God. The relevance of God’s Word provides: Our standard for living The means/guidelines by which we live in a godlymanner.

15. “Life Change” If we truly believe the Bible is the ultimate source of truth and the inerrant word of God….. Choosing God’s way, as it is outlined in the Bible, does not “sap” all of the fun and excitement out of life; on the contrary, it accomplishes our good, because we were created to reflect His likeness and image.

16. “Life Change” If we truly believe the Bible is the ultimate source of truth and the inerrant word of God….. Being obedient to God’s Word does not mean giving up the pleasures of leisure, satisfaction or liberty. It means being free to enjoy maximum leisure, maximum satisfaction and maximum liberty – in the way God intended.