Dear Friend,

Thanks for your question about the reliability of the BIble.

I must first correct your assumption about the bible. You suggest that the BIble was written ages after the actual events. This is not true.

While the dates of writing of many biblical books is debated, at least the New testament was written very soon after the events took place. Most scholars agree that the New Testament books were all written by 90AD with some as early as 50-60AD. John Dickson’s book “The Christ Files” talks about this. He describes how the bible was written and has substantial information on dating.

If this is true, then the entire NT was written within 60 years of Jesus death (Jesus dies in about 33AD). Historically speaking this makes the bible very reliable. For example, Peter Fitzsimmons (ex Australian Rugby Union player and now radio host on Sydney 2UE) has written a book on the WW2 Battle at Tobruk that happened 65 years ago. No one is doubting the reliability of that book!

The bible was written by people who were interested in keeping the truth of Jesus alive. They were eyewitnesses of the events or spoke to those who were, So we need not have any doubt about the realibilty of the Bible.

I hope this is helpful to you and please feel free to ask another question - and try to get a hold of John Dickson’s Book, as it is great.
Thanks
Nigel