Reliability of The Bible:
The NT has over 5800 supporting Greek manuscripts existing today with another 21,000 manuscripts in other languages. Some of the manuscript evidence dates to within 100 years of the original writing and when Jesus walked the earth. There is less than a 2% textual variation in the NT manuscripts where the 2% is different word spelling and word choice. 0% of variants impact orthodox Christian doctrine.
Non-christian academic scholars agree in the historical reliability of the bible:
EP Sanders, Arts and Sciences Professor of Religion at Duke University, Jesus and Judaism and One of the most respected and influential New Testament scholars wrote The Historical Figure of Jesus. He is a Fellow of the British Academy. In 1966 he received a Th.D. from Union Seminary in NYC. In 1990 he received a D. Litt. from the University of Oxford and a Th.D. from the University of Helsinki.
Maurice Casey, Emeritus Professor of New Testament, University of Nottingham and atheist: wrote Jesus of Nazareth
Michael Grant, historian of the Roman Empire and worked at Ankara University, chairman of Humanity (Latin) at Edinburgh University, vice-chancellor of the University of Khartoum, vice-chancellor of Queen's University of Belfast, and an expert of ancient Greek, Roman and Israelite history: wrote Jesus: an historian's review of the Gospels
Top 5 manuscripts: John Rylands MS written around A.D. 130, the oldest existing fragment of the gospel of John. Bodmer Papyrus II (A.D. 150-200). Chester Beatty Papyri (A.D. 200) contains major portions of the NT. Codex Vaticanus (A.D. 325-350) contains nearly all the Bible. Codex Sinaiticus (A.D. 350) contains almost all the NT and over half of the OT.
Ignatius died around A.D. 115, and he quoted Matthew. Therefore, Matthew had to be written before he died. Nevertheless, it is generally believed that Matthew was written before A.D. 70 and as early as A.D. 50. Only 40 to 50 years after Jesus walked the earth.
Mark (the disciple of Peter received his information from Peter) is said to be the earliest gospel with an authorship of between A.D. 55 to A.D. 70. A fragment has been discovered attached to the inside of a burial mask which dates to about that time.
Luke was written before the book of Acts; and Acts does not mention "Nero's persecution of the Christians in A.D. 64 or the deaths of the apostle James (Gal. 1:19, A.D. 62), Paul (A.D. 64), and Peter (A.D. 65)." Therefore, we can conclude that Luke was written before A.D. 62.
Acts which was written after the gospel of Luke by Luke himself. Acts is a history of the Christian church right after Jesus' ascension. Acts also fails to mention the incredibly significant events of A.D. 70 which would have been extremely relevant and prophetically important, yet it is not mentioned in Acts. Why? Because it was written pre A.D. 70. It also does not include the accounts of "Nero's persecution of the Christians in A.D. 64 or the deaths of the apostle James (Gal. 1:19, A.D. 62), Paul (A.D. 64), and Peter (A.D. 65).
Early Accounts of Christianity from Non-Christians
Thallus wrote around 52AD (~17 years after Jesus):
“On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun.” (Julius Africanus, Chronography, 18:1)
Mara Bar-Serapion wrote around 70AD (~35 years after Jesus); He was a Syrian philosopher who was writing to his son.
"...Or the Jews by murdering their wise king?…After that their kingdom was abolished. God rightly avenged these men…The wise king…Lived on in the teachings he enacted.”
Flavius Josephus (37-101AD; wrote ~45 years after Jesus) was a Jewish Historian whom was captured by Romans in Jerusalem, taken to Rome, and was freed.
“About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man (And his conduct was good and he was kown to be virtiucous) For he was one who wrought surprising feats and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing amongst us, had condemned him to be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love him did not give up their affection for him. (They reported that he had appeared to them after his crucifixion and that he was alive). And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared.”
"Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the Sanhedrim of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James,"
Cornelius Tacitus (56-120AD); a very trusted Roman historian, senator, proconsul of Asia, and defiantly a non-christian who wrote around 116AD (~80 years after Jesus)
“Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular.”
Pliny the Younger (61-113AD; ~65 years after Jesus) a Roman non-christian wrote a letter to emperor Trajan and mentioned some things about Christianity.
“They (the Christians) were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god"
Suetonius (69-140AD) a Roman historian records how Christians were treated in Roman society. He mentioned a disturbance in Rome around 49AD (~14 years after Jesus) and then the fire of Rome in 64AD where Nero blamed the Christians.
“Because the Jews at Rome caused constant disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus (Christ), he (Claudius) expelled them from the city (Rome).” (Life of Claudius, 25:4)
“Nero inflicted punishment on the Christians, a sect given to a new and mischievous religious belief.” (Lives of the Caesars, 26.2)
Lucian of Samosata (120-180AD; ~115 years after Jesus) was a satirist and Roman comedian who very negative and sarcastically critical of Christians.
"The Christians. . . worship a man to this day - the distinguished personage who introduced this new cult, and was crucified on that account. . . . You see, these misguided creatures start with the general conviction that they are immortal for all time, which explains their contempt for death and self devotion . . . their lawgiver [taught] they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws. All this they take on faith"
The Jewish (Babylonian) Talmud was written around 375 to 427 AD. It records that Jesus was crucified in Sanhedrin 43 and that he had close disciples.
"On the eve of the Passover Yeshu (Jewish for Jesus) was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald went forth and cried, 'He is going forth to be stoned because he has practised sorcery and enticed Israel to apostacy. Any one who can say anything in his favour, let him come forward and plead on his behalf.' But since nothing was brought forward in his favour he was hanged on the eve of the Passover!35 — Ulla retorted: 'Do you suppose that he was one for whom a defence"
"Our rabbis taught Jesus the Nazarene had five disciples, and these are they: Matthai, Naqqai, Netzer, Buni, and Todah:
Shabboth 14:4/8 – "someone ... whispered to him in the name of Jesus son of Pandera"
Abodah Zarah 17a – "One of the disciples of Jesus the Nazarene found me"
Sanhedrin 103a – "that you will not have a son or disciple ... like Jesus the Nazarene"
Sanhedrin 107b – "The master said: Jesus the Nazarene practiced magic
THE BIBLE HAS CHANGED ARGUMENT
We can compare the Dead Sea Scroll of ISAIAH (200BC), the Septuagint manuscript of Isaiah (100AD), and Masoritic Text of Isaiah (900AD) and see that there are no changes.
We can compare the earliest manuscripts of the New Treatment with other 24,000 quotes, later manuscripts, and comments through history of the New Testament and determine that it has not changed.
WHAT MAKES THE BIBLE DIVINELY INSPIRED?
Daniel 9:24-27 counts down the date to the Messiah, which calculates to around 30AD.
Micah 5:2 where he explicitly names the birthplace of Israel's Messiah, a village named Bethlehem.
Zechariah 11:12-13 details how much the shepherd of God will be betrayed for; 30 pieces of silver. This amount comes from a slaves wage in Ex.21:32. A predominate Jewish commentator David Kimchi also understands this passage to be Messianic in nature and the gospels recorded the exact amount Judas was awarded from the Jewish leadership for the location of Jesus so he could be arrested.
Ezekiel 26 records the future of The Tyre empire and its great city. The book itself is dated to 550BC, even the most critical scholars hold a minority view that date it to 400BC. The city was in fact torn down and as other empires conquered the land, they used the reminisce to rebuild their own buildings. To this day the Phoenician empire and buildings do not exist. Verse 14 makes it clear it would never be built again. Once Alexander the Great destroyed the city in 332AD; the Phoenician Tyre empire never was restored or resurrected. This prophecy has been true for 2,340 plus years even to this day.
Nahum 1:8-9 describes the fall of The Assyrian capital Nineveh and that it's destruction would be permanent. The Babylonian chronicles and Egyptian Pharaoh Neco II historical records support what is stated in Nahum and the end of the conflict and fall of Nineveh is dated around 609BC. Historical scholars agree that Nahum was written around 615BC which makes this prophecy true for over 2,630 years.
Isaiah 35:4-6, written around 8th century BC, and currently have a scroll dated 200 BC that states that God will come (in the whole context is the Messianic prophecies) to heal the blind and deaf. Jesus came and did just that as recorded by the gospels. Even the Jewish Talmud Sanhedrin 107b, Sanhedrin 43a, and Sotah 47a describes Jesus as practicing sorcery that lead people of Israel astray and that healing was done in the name of Jesus (Hul 2:22f; AZ 2:22/12; y Shab 124:4/13; QohR 1:8; b AZ 27b).
The Old Testament writings is the understanding of a bodily resurrection (Psalm 16:10, Isaiah 26:19, Daniel 12:2, Job 19:25-26). Even early and later Jewish Rabbis supported this belief in a bodily resurrection (Ketubot111b, Sanhedrin 72a, Niddah 70b, Crescas, Albo, Orthodox Judaism). Jesus himself is recorded as declaring his own bodily resurrection 3 days after his death (Matthew 12:40) which not only was symbolized through the story of Jonah but is echoed in Hosea 6:2. Matthew 28:11-15 records the Jewish leadership coming up with an explanation for why his body was no longer there. Even the Jewish Anti-Christian medieval writing the Toledoth Yeshu records the explanation; thus validating the bible's record and the missing body. Names are given of people in 1 Corinthians 15:5-8 who could have been interviewed. Paul wrote before 70 AD and died around 64AD. Jesus died only 36 years before Paul died. In fact, most scholars date the writing of 1 Corinthians around 53 to 57 AD. Making it written only 20 years after Jesus died; making eye witnesses named key proof of Paul's claims. Papias (70-165AD) is even quoted by Eusebius (263-339AD) as speaking with witnesses first hand and talking with the daughters of Philip.
The Talmud records Jesus as practicing sorcery. Why would they think of 'sorcery' if he was just teacher? He clearly conducted some inexplicable, highly improbable, extraordinary supernatural acts that they refused to accept as a miracle. Matthew 12:22-23 even records their attempted justification. Later mentions of Jesus in the Jewish writings (Babylonian Sanhedrin107b, tHul2:22-23, Sanhedrin 43a; cf. t. Shabbat 11.15; b. Shabbat 104b) continue this as their only way to explain how he did what he did.
Eye witness accounts (Acts 1:1-3; 1 Cor. 15:5-7; John 1:14; 1 Peter 5:1; 2 Peter 1:16-18; Heb. 1:1-2)
Sufficiency of The Bible (1 John 5:13; John 14:26, 20:31; Romans 2:16; Gal. 1:8-9; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Cor. 11:4; Acts 20:27; Ps. 19:7-14).
Effectiveness of The Bible (1 Thess. 2:13; 1 Cor. 15:1-3; Romans 1:16; Heb. 4:12)
Do not add or subtract to The Bible (Rev. 22:10-18; Deut. 4:2; John 14:26; Gal. 1:8-9; 2 Cor. 11:4; 2 John 1:9; 1 Tim. 6:3; Ps. 19:7-14).
Contend for what the Prophets and Apostles taught (Jude 1:3; 1 Cor. 5:12, 15:1-3; 2 Tim. 4:2-3; Gal. 6:1; Matt. 10:34-35, 18:15-17; Eph. 5:11; 1 Tim. 4:6, 6:3; Titus 1:9; Col. 2:8)
The authority of the Apostles (Jude 1:3; Acts 2:42, 5:2-4; Eph. 2:20; John 14:26; 2 Peter 3:2; 1 Cor. 14:37; Romans 2:16; 1 Thess. 2:16; 2 Thess. 3:6; Gal. 1:8-9; 2 Cor. 11:4; Titus 1:9; 1 Tim. 6:3).
Test teachings against scripture (1 Cor. 14:37; Romans 2:16; Gal. 1:8-9; Heb. 4:12; 2 Cor. 11:4; Acts 17:11; 1 John 4:1; Is. 8:20; Jer. 23:28; Rev. 2:2; John 7:24; Matt. 7:16; Titus 1:9; 1 Tim. 6:3; Col. 2:8; Ps. 19:7-14)
Avoid teachers of different doctrines (2 Thess. 3:6; Gal. 1:8-9; 2 Cor. 11:4; 2 Tim. 3:1-5, 4:3; Eph. 5:11; Col. 2:8)
Signs and wonders are not proof of God alone (Matt. 7:21-23, 24:11, 24; Deut. 13:1-3; Jer. 23:16-17)