How can you know that the Bible is the Truth?

[Guest]

One reason I'm convinced the bible is God's revelation to man is the obvious singularity in voice/tone throughout, despite having been written over 1500 years by 40 authors, ranging from fisherman to kings. If you read through the entire bible it will appear as though there's only one author.

On the contrary, there is obvious plurality of tone, especially between the Old and New Testaments. I have read the Bible, and it doesn't appear at all to me that there's "only one author."

For example, compare the "tone" of I Peter 1:8,9 with that of Eccliastes chapter 1:

Without having seen him you love him; though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy. As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls.

"Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless."

All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

How does the tone of the following two passages compare?

O that you would kill the wicked, O God, and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me-- those who speak of you maliciously, and lift themselves up against you for evil! Do I not hate those who hate you, O Yahweh? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies. Psalm 139:1-22

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

[Guest]

Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? John 14.22

Do you remember dog whistles? They emitted a very high frequency sound that humans cannot hear, but dogs can. The purpose for dog whistles is to make a way to call one’s dog without disturbing the neighbors.

Every once in a while a discussion arises over just how little of the truth one can believe and yet rightly be called a Christian. In truth, it is a silly question, for there can be no useful purpose served by the answer. If we discovered the answer, would we then confine ourselves to only that “essential truth” and preach no more? I hardly think so.

There is a better way to discover who the Lord’s are. The truth is like a dog whistle: all the Lord’s dogs can hear it, but no one else can. God calls His dogs, but the neighbors cannot hear it. We need not try to discover the lowest frequency that these dogs can hear but others cannot. Rather, we need only to take up that Divine dog whistle of the “whole counsel of God” and blow it. All those who come are the Lord’s dogs; all those who do not come prove they did not hear; and they did not hear because they could not hear: they aren’t dogs!

donfortner.com

[Guest]

Same old Calvinist dogma, regenerated unbelievers just waiting around to hear the gospel which they immediately accept!

[Guest]

Paidion, I'm suprised that someone as knowledgeable as yourself wouldn't know how to answer that objection. The book of Ecclesiastes was the rant of a frustrated king. The last chapter (which is about the only thing not "tongue in cheek" in the book) says the whole duty of man is to obey God's commands.

When I say the bible has a single voice throughout, I'm referring to the way in which God deals with man. God hates evil and judges sin, but allows repentent people to return to him. Look through the prophets and tell me you don't hear a single voice. In the Old Testmanet, the whole duty of man is to love God and love your neighbor. In the New Testament, Jesus comfirmed this as the whole duty of man. It's even stated in the book you mentioned (Ecclesiastes).

Of course, the way in which God chose to deal with certain situations has changed over time, but not the way he deals with people. For example, unlike so many pagan religions of the time, God never commanded the practice of mass orgies, seeking riches or praying to idols. Those things were always forbidden in scripture, even though society condoned such things.

[Guest]

Why is the Bible the "Truth"? Every other religion claims their book is true? How can you be sure the Bible is really the Truth?

(Rev 19:10 KJV) And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

[Guest]

When I say the bible has a single voice throughout, I'm referring to the way in which God deals with man. God hates evil and judges sin, but allows repentent people to return to him.

Actually you didn't say "single voice" but "single voice/tone." I think I have successfully shown that the tone is not singular.

You seem to be saying above that by "single voice" you mean that the way God deals with man is the same throughout. Here is a passage from Numbers 5:11-27 which does not seem to exhibit this singularity:

And the LORD said to Moses, Say to the people of Israel, "If any man’s wife goes astray and acts unfaithfully against him, if a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her, since she was not taken in the act; and if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him, and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself; or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him, and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself; then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and bring the offering required of her, a tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it and put no frankincense on it, for it is a cereal offering of jealousy, a cereal offering of remembrance, bringing iniquity to remembrance. And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD; and the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and unbind the hair of the woman’s head, and place in her hands the cereal offering of remembrance, which is the cereal offering of jealousy. And in his hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse. Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, ‘If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness, while you were under your husband’s authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings the curse. But if you have gone astray, though you are under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself, and some man other than your husband has lain with you, then’ (let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman) ‘the LORD make you an execration and an oath among your people, when the LORD makes your thigh fall away and your body swell; may this water that brings the curse pass into your bowels and make your body swell and your thigh fall away.’ And the woman shall say, ‘Amen, Amen.’ Then the priest shall write these curses in a book, and wash them off into the water of bitterness; and he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain. And the priest shall take the cereal offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall wave the cereal offering before the LORD and bring it to the altar; and the priest shall take a handful of the cereal offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. And when he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has acted unfaithfully against her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her body shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away, and the woman shall become an execration among her people.

This was water polluted with the dirt on the floor of the tabernacle. It was called "the water that brings the curse." Doubtless this water contained billlions of harmful bacteria that resulted in pain, swelling, etc. to anyone who drank it. As a test of guilt or innocency, it reminds me of the middle age test for witches, to try drowning the suspect. If she survived, she wasn't a witch.

The LORD supposedly gave this test to Moses and it was to be applied if the husband suspected his wife's guilt, even if she were innocent.

How different Jesus, the Son of God, and the revelation of God on earth, dealt with the woman who actually committed adultery! It doesn't sound like the same voice!

Not only that, but in the day of Moses, a man could take another wife, or concubine, or even visit prostitutes, without having to give an account to his wife, or even an apology. In those days there appeared to be a double standard of sexual behaviour, and there is no record that the LORD ever spoke against it.