Sprechen Verboten (talking banned). Can we have confidence in the Bible as God’s guide to humanity?

        In 1939 the Germans invaded Poland and the life of Edward Gastfriend, a Polish, Jewish teen, changed forever. In the Auschwitz and the Blechhammer concentration camps, one thing he learnt well, was the command, Sprechen Verboten (speaking is banned). ‟My Father’s Testament” Memoir of a Jewish teenager, 1938-1945. Temple University Press (2000). The Nazis’ pogroms against Jews and others lasted for about seven years, killing about 12 million people, with the latest updates of about 15 to 20 million. This is pure hatred, a refusal to process good information about others or their literary works.

        In this and following newsletters we will seek to uncover the truth about the Bible, whether indeed it can be classed as God’s guide to humanity; and at the same time, we will look at the pogroms against Bible-believing people and the total onslaught against that Book itself which contains just about 1200 pages. What is there in the psyche of man that leads to such extremes of behaviour? As we look at these newsletters that behaviour will be made abundantly clear. So, how did ancient people of God, and later, Christians, define the Bible? First, when Moses wrote what later became the earlier part of the Bible, he wrote ‘matter of factly,’ giving his readers the impression, that God was already understood, and that there was no question of His existence. He writes, ‟In the beginning God…” (Genesis 1:1). He does not stop to explain who God is or whether He has the right to be mentioned. It is as if to say that everyone already knew about God.

        Interestingly enough, all ancient societies begin with God or god as a permanent fixture; travel into any nook and cranny of this earth among ancient peoples or read their folklore and you cannot escape this notion. And the interesting thing is that much of what they believe about God appears to be a distortion of what is written in the Bible. For example, the Bible says that sin came into the earth and into humanity by the express disobedience of God’s command not to eat of a certain tree called ‘the knowledge of good and evil,’ and that it began with Eve, Adam’s wife. And that God, consequently, no longer was able to associate with mankind the way He did before sin entered the world. 

        Now among the Shona of the Bantu people of Southern Africa, we read in their folklore that God and man once lived together, but a woman while using her mortar pestle to prepare food poked God in the eye and so He went back to His home. And of course, we have the stories of the world deluge as logically and reasonably described in the Bible, but fantastically and illogically portrayed in the myths of the nations. So, as we study the beliefs of the nations, we clearly find a deterioration of concepts that are more logically explained in the Bible.

        As we look at these biblical concepts of ‘origins,’ ‘sin,’ and ‘death,’ and compare them with the bits and pieces from among the nations of humanity, we actually find that the Bible appears to be the golden thread, the key, the one piece of puzzle that interprets and brings understanding and harmony to the aetiological musings of nations that we find etched on pieces of pottery, on leather, and on rock surfaces, all trying to make sense of their origins, the causes of good and evil, the structure of their physical surroundings and of the producers of the many artifacts they come across hidden in the earth. The Bible then is recognized as the lynchpin that unravels the enigmas and questions of humanity, and this, unfortunately, puts it right in the crosshairs of atheists, agnostics, skeptics, liberals and unbelievers. Some see this battle as a cosmic one between the forces of good and of evil. Yet the Bible unabashedly predicts victory for its side, the side of good, even if its devotees are told sprechen verboten, speaking is banned, when it comes to communicating God’s Word.

        Let’s back up a little and give a definition for the ‘Bible.’ In B. C. (B. C. E.) times the Bible was the Jewish Scriptures and is composed finally of 24 books, (39 by Christian reckoning), divided into three main sections: (some say 4) The Torah, or the ‟Teachings,” known also as the ‟Five Books of Moses”, also called the Pentateuch (meaning five); next, we have the Prophets or Nevi’im, thirdly, the Ketuvim or the ‟Writings.” In Luke 24:44 It says that Jesus explained to the disciples the things that were written about Him in the law of Moses, the prophets, and in the psalms. The Jewish Scriptures are often referred to as the Tanakh. This Jewish Scriptures later came to be called the Old Testament (OT). Modern archaeological research shows that the OT began to be written way before the 10th century BC. (Clara Moskowitz, Bible Possibly Written Centuries Earlier, Text Suggest, 2010), until the last book was written in the 5th century BC.

        In A. D. (C. E.) times there came some more writings, 27 books, that were added to the Old Testament, these were called the New Testament writings or NT. The NT was written virtually within 50 years of the death of Christ, from about AD 50 to AD 100. These two testaments make up what Christians and scholarship recognize as the Holy Bible. In the Old Testament apart from the five books of Moses, and a few others, the prophets began their writings or pronouncements by saying, ‘the Word of the Lord…’ So, the Holy Bible is also known as the Word of the LORD, the Word of God, or the Scriptures. And in the NT Peter confirms this when he wrote that no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. 2 Pet. 1:21. Christians believe that the New Testament is best understood in light of the Old Testament. The Messiah which is predicted in the OT has His fulfilment in the New Testament. We will look at some of these predictions and fulfilment in the life of Jesus Christ in a later newsletter.

        It is amazing that these two testaments took over a period of 1600 years, from before the 10th century BC (BCE) to the 2nd century AD to be composed, and that they were written by forty authors many of whom were not contemporaneous with the others; yet the harmony and consistency of each of these 66 books are amazing. How is it possible to produce such a ‘library’ of 66 books over such a long period of time demonstrating such consistency with each other in theme, objective and purpose? No other set of books in the history of this earth can match the creation of the Bible.

        And as far as the authenticity of the Bible is concerned, it is well attested to historically, and better certified than any other book, as we shall see later. No one today can deny the authenticity of the Jewish Scriptures. The history of the Jews, the archaeological discoveries of the existence of Abraham, Joseph, Isaac are as real as the existence of their contemporaries, the kings of Egypt whom we do not dispute. Just as we have the tombs of the Pharaohs in Egypt, we also have the tombs of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph right there in Palestine today. Just as we can believe in the Egyptian book of the dead which archaeology attests to, so can we believe in the Jewish Scriptures which the Jews have always had with them from times immemorial to this very day.

        As for the New Testament, the plot thickens uncannily. Do you know, friends, that Homer’s Iliad has the second most manuscripts surviving that prove its authenticity? Only the unlearned would doubt that Homer’s Iliad existed in light of the 643 extant manuscripts we have today. There is only one set of books whose manuscripts by far surpass those of the Iliad or any other set of books on this planet. And if a miserly set of 643 manuscripts can force a belief in Homer’s works, what about the New Testament, written over a period of only 50 years, beginning as early as 17 years (some say even earlier) after the death of Jesus, the one whom all these manuscripts affirm? Now listen to this, the NT has over 5800 Greek manuscripts, with an astounding 2.6 million pages of the biblical text. There are over 8000 Latin manuscripts, and over 9300 others such as Coptic, Syriac, Armenian! Friends, no other set of books on earth has such an overwhelming amount and such an array of manuscripts in so many different languages testifying to its veracity!

        Friends, if we can believe in the ancient Egyptians, who lived contemporaneously with the Jews, due to their manuscripts and archaeological findings; if we can believe in Homer’s Iliad due to a puny 643 extant manuscripts, why do people refuse to believe in the authenticity of the Bible with an overwhelming 23,000 manuscripts, and counting, in several languages? It would seem to me, my friends, that God is going all out to show humanity that He is for real; that His love for humanity, His creation, is strong and personal; and that His desire to pardon, forgive, and transform humans once more into the divine image without sin and rebellion is certain and true. And one day He will return to this earth to fetch all those that await His appearing. My plea to you, my friends, is to please give Him an opportunity to transform your life and make you a citizen of God’s universe, a citizen of the wonderful family of God.

        Friends, when we seek to tell people of this good news found in God’s Word, like in the ages gone by, often we are told, sprechen verboten, speaking is banned! Please, open your ears and hearts to these words of God now while there is opportunity because tomorrow can be too late. My next article will be part two of the authenticity and reliability of God’s Word.

If you have any comments or questions, please contact Pr. Ron Henderson at ronhende@outlook.com.