The following is a study of The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict by Josh McDowell. For more post on this subject click on the label below, or better yet buy the book. Below is just a brief synopsis, in the book each number gets explained thoroughly.

Unique In Its Ciculation

It's not unusual to hear about books that have hit the bestseller list, selling a few hundred thousand copies. It's much rarer to come across books that have sold more than a million copies, and rarer still to find books that have past the ten-million mark in sales. It staggers the mind, then, to discover the number of Bibles sold reaches into the billions. That's right, billions! More copies of been produced of its entirety as well as selected portions than any other book in history. Some will argue that in a designated month or year more of a certain book was sold. However, no other book even begins to compare to the scripture in terms of it's total circulation.

3A. Unique In Its Translation

The numbers of translations of the Bible are every bit as impressive as its sales numbers. Most books are never translated into another tongue. Among the books that are, most are published in just two or three languages. Far fewer books see translation figures rise into the teens. According to the United Bible Societies, the Bible (or portions of it), has been translated into more than 2,200 other languages, these languages represent the primary vehicle of communication for well over 90% of the world's population (http://www.biblesociety.org/). Worldwide, no other book in history has been translated, retranslated, and paraphrased more than the Bible.
The Bible was one of the first major books translated. Around 250 B.C. , the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek and given the name Septuagint. (Unger, UBD, 1147) The work was originally produced for Greek-speaking Jews living in Alexandria who could no longer speak Hebrew.
Since then translators have actively rendered the Scriptures-both Old and New Testaments - into languages that either have or are without written alphabet. Wycliffe Bible translators alone has over 6,000 people working with more than 850 different languages in 50 countries to produce new or revised versions of the Bible. (Barnes, OCB, 823) Of these 468 languages are being translated for the first time. According to Ted Bergman at the Summer Institute of Linguistics, at this rate the Bible should be available to almost all language groups between the years 2007-2022. This means that we are less than a generation away from witnessing the world's first translated text!
Not other book in history comes close to comparing with the Bible in its translation activity.

I have not been posting this every week as I had intended to. I hope to get back to posting at least every other week with this study of The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict. I hope you are enjoying this study as much as I am. If this interest you I encourage you to go buy the book, because it is such a good investment for your home library.

The following is a study of The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict by Josh McDowell.
For more post on this subject click on the label below, or better yet buy the book.
Below is just a brief synopsis, in the book each number gets explained thoroughly.


Unique In Its Continuity

The Bible is the only book that was

1. Written over about a fifteen-hundred-year span.
2. Written by more than 40 authors from every walk of life,. including kings, military leaders, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, tax collectors, poets, musicians, statesmen, scholars, and shepherds.
3. Written in different places.
4. Written in different times.
5. Written during different moods.
6. Written on three continents.
7. Written in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, & Greek
8. Written in a wide variety of literary style.
9. The Bible addresses hundreds of controversial subjects.
10. In Spite of its diversity, the Bible presents a single unfolding story.
11. Finally, and most important, among all the described in the Bible, the lead character throughout is the one, true, living God made known through Jesus Christ.

Consider first the Old Testament: the Law provides the "foundation for Christ," and the prophecies display an "expectation" of Christ. In the New Testament, the "Gospels...record the historical manifestation of Christ, the Epistles give the interpretation of Him, and in Revelation is found the consummation of all things in Christ."(Geisler/Nix, GIB'86, 29) From cover to cover, the Bible is Christocentric.

Therefore, although the Bible contains many books by many authors, it shows in its continuity that it is also one book. As F.F. Bruce observes (I tend to agree) "any part of the human body can only be properly explained in reference to the whole body. And any part of the Bible can only be properly explained in reference to the whole Bible." (Bruce, BP, 89)

The uniqueness of the Bible as shown above does not prove that it is inspired. It does however, challenge any person sincerely seeking truth to consider seriously its unique quality in terms of its continuity.