Its Most Distinctive Features

The Bible itself reveals why it is so accurate in scientific, historical and other matters and why it is so harmonious and honest. It shows that the Supreme Being, the almighty God, the Creator who authored the universe, is the Bible's author. He merely used human Bible writers as his penmen, moving them by his powerful active force to put down what he inspired them to write.

In the Bible the apostle Paul states: "All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work." And the apostle Paul also said: "When you received God's word, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but, just as it truthfully is, as the word of God." - 2 Timothy 3:16, 17; 1 Thessalonians 2:13.

Thus, the Bible comes from the mind of one Author - God. And with his awesome power, it was a simple thing for him to make certain that the integrity of what was written was preserved down to our day. Of this a leading authority in Bible manuscripts, Sir Frederic in Kenyon, in 1940, said: "The last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed."

Humans have the abiltiy to send radio and television signals to the earth from thousands of miles in space, even from the moon. Space probes have sent back to the earth physical information and pictures from planets that are hundreds of millions of miles away. Surely man's Creator, the Creator of radio waves, could do at least as much. Really, it was a simple thing for him to use his almight power to transmit words and pictures to the minds of those he chose to record the Bible.

Moreover, there are many things about the earth and life on it that give evidence of God's interest in mankind. Therefore, it is understandable that he would want to help humans find out who he is and what his purpose is for them by expressing these things clearly in a book - a permanent document.

Consider, too, the superiority of a book authored by God, compared with information handed down by humans only by word of mouth. Word of mouth would not be reliable as people would paraphrase the message, and over a period of time, its meaning would be distorted. They would relay the information by the spoken word according to their own viewpoint. But a God-inspired, permanent written record is much less likely to contain errors. Also, a book can be reproduced and translated so that people reading various languages can benefit from it. So is it not reasonable that our Creator uses such a means to provide information? Indeed, it is more than reasonable, since the Creator says that this is what he did.


Continued-Next time: Fulfilled Prophecy