How Do We Know The Old Testament Books Are Historically Reliable?
Dec.18, 2009 in
Book
There are many liberal scholars that would say that many of the Old Testament prophecies were written after the event that was prophecied took place. I am trying to come to grips with the reality of the Old Testament prophecies and believe so to speak, but this is just something that I have to know. What proof is there that validates the Old Testament books being written before the prophecied events took place. Please don’t give me an answer like,”Well just believe.” I just can’t at this point. Faith is an important aspect, but I have some mind barriers that need to be cleared before the Truth can get to my heart 
. Help me out here guys. Thanks.
December 18th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
I’m afraid that we don’t know that the books of the OT are historically reliable. While some of the information contained in them is historically reliable, not all of it is and many events and accounts are, in fact, not confirmed by the available archaeological data and/or contemporary records.
The OT was not written as a historical document in the modern sense. It is a religious document meant to recount the religious history and traditions of the Israelites/Hebrews/Jews, something far different from our modern concepts of “history.”
I’d point out to you as well that prophecies tend to be phrased in ways that leave them ambiguous for interpretation. Even prophecies that can or could be demonstrated to have been made before events took place are frequently so ambiguously phrased that one can see how, looking backward on the prophecy, people can force the events to have fit with a prophecy.
It’s entirely possible, according to some people, to be a good Christian or a good Jew without believing that the OT is historically accurate. Many view the OT as recounting the development of Jewish tradition and as a source of valid ethical principles, but do not regard it as an entirely reliable historical source.
December 18th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Sorry. You’re just supposed to have faith. Would you also doubt Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny? How about the Tooth Fairy? Wait one…That last one is secular.
December 19th, 2009 at 1:57 am
especially when there’s no contemporary corroboration….
December 19th, 2009 at 5:30 am
We don’t
December 19th, 2009 at 10:30 am
We don’t, their not, the Bible is not Christianity. The Church isn’t either…Your barriers will never be broken down, you will always have doubt.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Several prophecies were actually unfulfilled in the sense the prophet intended. But as the prophesied thing happened a long time afterwards, the prophet gets the credit.
For example, when Ezekiel prophesies the destruction of Tyre, he was thinking of Nebuchanezzar’s war with Tyre, going on while he wrote, which was later ended by treaty. The city was destroyed much later by Alexander the Great.
December 19th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Type in “The Bible Code” into Google and see what you come up with. You will find that the Old Testiment can be (In Hebrew) input into a computer as a data string. Searching for words/names will then produce some interesting results.
Luck
December 19th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Here is an article that tells how they validate the Old Testament:http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/b…
Yes, the entire Bible is extremely reliable. (It is considered a reliable historical document because it has passed every test used on ancient documents to determine their reliability.)
In Isaiah in the Old Testament, there are many prophecies about Jesus. There is no way the prophecies could have been written after the fact. The Old Testament was written thousands of years before some prophecies took place. Jesus lived thousands of years after the prophecies concerning Him were written. He fulfilled every prophecy in the Old Testament about Him. (The chances of any person fulfilling all these prophecies is astronomical.)
I know there are people who say, “Just believe,” and as you said, faith is very important, but thankfully God has provided mountains of proof for those of us more like Thomas who need to see to believe!
December 20th, 2009 at 2:32 am
thought rather than behaviour. the thing is that the thing you think good according to the situation. you dont need old testament. tell this to your heart. ..and never ever can you know the reality…