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Bible Questions with Michael Pearl
Episode 087: How do we know the Bible is correct?

By Michael Pearl

This Week’s Bible Question:

How do I explain to my Atheist / Agnostic friends that the King James Bible is the correct Bible to take my information from? They stump me with saying, “Other stories are similar and have been around before Jesus.”

Episode Transcription

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Michael Pearl: Alright. Michael Pearl here behind the camera, and Jared on the backside of it doing all the digital functioning. We're here to answer your Bible questions. So, Jared has received some from you by email I suppose, and he's going to read them to me. I've never seen them or heard them, that's why sometimes I'm not too sharp on these things. But we're going to try to come up with an answer real quick. What is the first question, Jared?

Jared: How do I explain to my atheist, agnostic friends that the King James Bible is the correct Bible to take my information from? They stump me with saying, "Other stories are similar and have been around before Jesus."

Michael: Well, what you need to do is ask for a reference to one of those stories. Go to the library and get it and read it. I made a decision years ago. When I was about 16 years old I started preaching on the street. I started ministering in coffeehouses, hippie coffeehouses that were on college campuses. I ran into people taking humanities, taking philosophy, taking psychology, psychiatry courses, and they're in all kinds of religions, of course. Jehovah's Witness, Mormons, Church of Christ, Roman Catholic, some nutty Baptists, a Presbyterian, a Methodist. Everybody had a little different viewpoint.

When a Mormon would say to me, "Joseph Smith's golden tablets," I went and got a copy of the Book of Mormons, and I read the thing. I went and got "Words of Wisdom", "Pearls of Great Price." I went and got the new world translations, Jehovah's Witnesses.

I went to the libraries when someone made reference to an old book, and found the book and read it. I made up my mind, the next time someone hit me with that question I wouldn't stand there with my mouth open wondering, what's he talking about, and stuttering around.

I'm excited when somebody, anybody, especially an atheist says to me, "There is another book that says..." Hey, show me the book. Give me the book. I want to read it. I'll talk to you again. I go and I get the book. And I read it. That's what you need to do.

He's running a bluff on you, is what he's doing. And what you do when somebody runs a bluff, you don't cower. You call the bluff, because it's the insecurity of their position that makes them run the bluff. And then, you need to get good books on the history of the Bible, how we received it. There are lots of books, but not all of them are good.

The one I can most recommend would be Gale Riplinger's In Awe of Thy Word. Another one by Lloyd Jones—what's the book he's got? Which Version is the Bible, maybe? Something like that? That's a good one. There are others.

But get you one and read it, and what you'll find out is that the King James Bible is extremely authenticated right down to the very first century. Even a piece of the Book of Matthew found dated in the 50s, that we're talking about 20 years after Christ. Less than 20 years after Christ.

Other portions of the Bible are well substantiated to exist in the first century, and even copies of it are available. Little pits where a writer in 125 AD writes and quotes 30 verses of scripture from various books in the Bible.

It's well substantiated that the Bible existed during the first century, was written by the apostles during the first century, and that it's an accurate representation of what they saw and experienced themselves. If the Bible were some stand-alone book dug up out of the ashes somewhere that had to be translated into our language we would be troubled by it.

But the fact is it has existed from the first century and early second century in multiple languages down to this present time. By being in multiple languages it is cross‑checked. In other words, if an error were to creep in deliberately or otherwise into an Ethiopic version then the Syriac and Coptic and Scythian languages, which many people could read multiple languages would still maintain the integrity of the text. The text would be brought back to its original integrity.

Having the Bible right from earliest times in 50, 60, 75 languages has preserved the integrity of it to down to our present age. The King James Bible is the only one in English that accurately represents these vernacular languages throughout Europe the romance languages and the languages of the Middle East like Arabic down to this present time.

The others are not really translations they are not preservations of the word of God they are modern renderings which involve somewhat the imagination of the authors. They are all done for the sake of selling something. I don't know why you would want to convince an atheist of that. what you want to convince an atheist of is that the Bible, any Bible all of your versions have the fulfilled prophecies in them.

In other words they all tell you about the city of Tyre and about the prophecies of Tyre. And how that it would be destroyed. How not one rock would be left standing on another. How the stones would be cast into the sea. How the dust would be cast into the sea and the timber. How the city would never again be rebuilt.

And fishermen would spread their nets there and there would be a well of water springing up that they would use to wash the nets. That's a prophecy still being fulfilled right now that was given some 2,800 years ago. That is the thing you need to give the atheist—fulfilled prophecy.

I would suggest you get the book by Joshua McDowell, Evidence That Demands A Verdict, or, More Evidence That Demands A Verdict. If you want to go and debate with them they have a very feeble position and you have the facts on your side. Learn the facts and quit stumbling around. Alright, that is all for today.

Voiceover: If you would like to ask a Bible question email us at [email protected] or call at 931‑805‑4820.

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Leave a Reply

9 comments on “How do we know the Bible is correct?”

  1. I couldn't find the book by Lloyd Jones. Can you please help me find the right title and maybe publisher? Thankyou.
    Michael said below.
    "Lloyd Jones—what’s the book he’s got? Which Version is the Bible"

  2. Nice answer

    There are a lot of other books in the world with more being written all the time. If you pursue the 'read them all' path then you will waste a huge part of your life reading things that were written just to deceive and confound easily manipulated people. Don't get pulled into that stream. I do agree though that you should read a few of them. It will teach you those books are knockoffs that mock and twist the bible message or that they are just complete fantasy.

    I think you would better spend your time working to understand the Holy Bible. This book has been attacked more than any other book in the world, by far. Jesus was murdered in cold blood to suppress it's message. Thousands, if not millions, of his direct followers were also murdered. Copies of it and writings about it have been sought out and burned/destroyed for centuries in an effort to eradicate anything to do with it. Even today there is a massive well funded and organized effort to rewrite, discredit and change it. So what does it contain that is so vile? That's what I think you should spend your time on.

    When you find it then you will be able to very easily guide your confused friends in understanding the ways they are deceived.

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