There are four primary reasons we view the Bible as the true, verified word of God:

  1. Though it was written by dozens and dozens of different people over thousands of years, it tells a consistent story of the one true God from beginning to end, which was one of the requirements it set out to validate itself with [Deuteronomy 13:1-3]
  2. Another test it applies to itself (and brilliantly passed) is the unfailing accuracy of its explanations and predictions [Deuteronomy 18:20-22]
  3. Also, God promised to protect His word over time [Psalm 12:6-7]
  4. And Archeological finds have supported the historical accounts found in the Bible (while they have not at all supported the stories told in other religious literature)

When different writers in different parts of the world, speaking different languages are all able to tell a consistent story about God and His activity over thousands of years, it lends tremendous credibility to the work.

  • For example, one prophet told the Hebrew people they would be taken captive for 70 years, another prophet wrote by whom they would be released from that captivity (though the man who would release them hadn’t been born yet), while a third prophet was receiving messages from God when the release actually occurred.
  • Jesus was careful to say that He did not come to start a new religion but rather to fulfill what had already been recorded by Moses and the other prophets.

But the main reason we believe the Bible is because it established a validation criteria for itself (what we call today the scientific method) which it consistently passed.

  • When religious literature is tested in this rigorous fashion, the Bible and found it to be true and other religious literature false. This is the same way we test scientific hypothesis and determine which are true and which are false.

God told Moses that many so called prophets would try to speak for Him but some would simply be making their own statements and, thus, producing false scripture. Then, He told Moses how to apply the falsification principle to filter God-breathed scripture from manmade writings.

And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.  Deuteronomy 18:21–22

Philosophers say that if a hypothesis is falsifiable, then that is a true scientific endeavor but if it cannot be falsified, then it is not true science.

In the exact same way, if a writing doesn’t contain falsifiable information, it is not true religious literature.

  • If it contains falsifiable information but gets falsified (such as the predictions and explanations of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons), it is FALSE religious literature
  • If it contains information which can be tested but was not falsified, then it is the word of God
    • Only the Bible meets this final condition

God says that He will protect His word.

The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. You, O LORD, will keep them (your words in the Bible); you will guard us from this generation forever. Psalm 12:6–7

When false religious literature contains information that contradicts existing scripture in the Bible, the proponents always claim that the true word of God must have been distorted and that is why their new writings don’t match the existing accounts.

  • But the reason we do have a consistent message within and between the Old and New Testaments is because God’s word cannot be corrupted.
  • Therefore, any religious texts that do not align with the Old and New Testaments can be disregarded.

And finally, archeology has proven to an incredibly remarkable degree that the places, people and events of the Bible were true, even when other historical sources originally questioned the facts.

  • Again, this simply cannot be said of other religious literature.