THE IMPLICATIONS
• What does all of this mean? If the Bible accurately tells the future, then logically, its claims to originate from
God would be supported. But what does this mean for our own lives? We discussed above how our current society touts "tolerance" (acceptance
of all religious beliefs as being equally valid, without analysis) as the GREATEST VIRTUE. It's scary that "virtue" has become not thinking
and not analyzing.
• In the media, parts of the Bible are viewed as "hate speech" because the Bible absolutely forbids certain behaviors which are becoming popular in our society. This view of the Bible is based on the assumption that the Bible is solely based on opinion. Unfortunately, the media does not analyze the Bible itself, or its claim to be a supernatural book directly inspired by God. Logically speaking, if we have good evidence the Bible is true, and therefore a supernatural book, then it is not hate speech, but valuable information about the nature of reality which should be made available for everyone.
*Note: Contrary to media bias, making this information available is not equivalent to forcing it on those who have chosen of their own free will to reject it.
• We have shown the assumption that all religion is opinion is false. We can analyze religious writings and beliefs to see if they live up to their own claims. This being the case, if you base your beliefs on writings or traditions other than the Bible or in addition to the Bible, what evidence do you have to show this writing or tradition is true? If it claims to be supernatural, you should have some type of evidence you can verify and prove to others (for example, claiming that a miracle occurred isn't proof enough, you should be able to prove that it happened). Since the Bible challenges all others to accurately prophesy events long before they happen, any writing or tradition that challenges the Bible or claims to be an addition to the Bible should have prophetic proofs at least as good as the ones above (meeting the criteria of being Accurate, Unlikely, Distant and Uncontrollable) And, they should be unique prophecies; just repeating prophecies in the Bible doesn't count if your writing or tradition originated after the Bible was written.
• Recently there have been a number of competing claims presented in the media. These claims present opinions oposing information presented in the Bible. Some of them claim to disprove the Bible. However, these claims are based on very flimsy "evidence", such as the opinions of historical figures, writings dated around the time of the Bible, etc. What the media does not point out is these claims in no way address the prophetic proofs of the Bible, and do not attempt to counter these proofs.
• The Bible contains specific instructions, specific warnings, and information about the nature of reality. The Bible says that Jesus Christ and God are One (Hebrew: echad), and Jesus Christ was sent to a fallen world as a substitutionary sacrifice, to die for the sins of all mankind. Also, the Bible says each person must accept Jesus Christ as Lord in order to be saved from his or her own sins. The Bible is very clear that Jesus is not one path to God, He is THE path to God and salvation:
Romans 14:11 "It is written: 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'"
Philippians 2:10 "...that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth."
John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only
Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
References
Dershowitz, Alan. The Case
for
Fruchtenbaum, Arnold G., The Footsteps of the Messiah (Ariel Ministries,
Is
The Bible The Word of God?" by Eric V. Snow (http://www.rae.org/bibref.html)
Lewis, C.S., The Grand Miracle (Ballantine, New York,
1970)
Reagan, David, Living For Christ in the End Times (New Leaf Press,
The Koran (Quran) vs. The Bible: Prophetic
Predictions show which one is truly from God", by R. Totten, MDiv. (http://www.geocities.com/worldview_3/quranvbible.html)