SIDEBAR 2: SELF-AUTHENTICATION PROVES EVERYTHING
It is well-established that simply reading the Books of the true Bible with an open mind will show any reasonable person that they are the inspired word of God. Here are a small sample of famous quotes from John Calvin, Martin Luther, and other Reformers that demonstrate the many self-authenticating facets of the Bible:
Sola Scriptura
The Bible is the jewel of Christianity. The “why” of Christian belief, it is the prize of the Church and the foundation of the faith… As a Christian, my faith is built on nothing except the text of the Bible and its excellence… We regard the Bible more highly than anything else in the world. After all, we believe it is the Word of God.
The Excellence of the Bible
The excellence of the Bible is unsurpassed; it is inimitable in its literary quality. This is inherently true, because it is inspired by God. We believe that the Bible is second to none in the world according to the unanimous decision of the learned men in points of diction, style, rhetoric, thoughts and soundness of laws and regulations to shape the destinies of mankind. This, we contend, is proof positive that the Bible is the very Word of God.
The Fulfilled Prophesies
If the New Testament can be shown to contain fulfilled prophecies from the Old Testament, then we have good reason to believe that both are from God … This is exactly what happened … Other prophecies, more long-term in their predictions, have also come true. … Many more prophecies confirm that the Bible is the Word of God.
The Miraculous Scientific Knowledge in the Bible
There is miraculous scientific knowledge in the Bible. Christians often argue that the Bible speaks of the big bang … In addition to the miraculous astronomic insight, the Bible goes on to show miraculous biological insight… The best explanation of this miraculous scientific knowledge is that the Bible must have come from God.
The Mathematical Marvels of the Bible
The Bible displays mathematical marvels that could only be the result of God’s inspiration. One kind of mathematical marvel is numerical parallels: the word month appears twelve times in the New Testament, the word day appears 365 times, the words man and woman appear an equal number of times, the words angels and Satan appear an equal number of times, and the words ‘this world’ and ‘the hereafter’ appear an equal number of times. Such numerical parallels could only be the result of a divine mind behind the text.
The Unity of the Bible
That the Bible has no contradictions is evidence of its divine origin: Do they [skeptics] not consider the Bible with care? Had it been from other than God, they would surely have found therein much discrepancy… the unity of the Bible is admittedly greater than that of any other sacred book. And yet how can we account for it except through the unity of God’s purpose and design?
Inerrant and Eternally Correct
Of course, it would follow that since the Bible is the very Word of God, it is completely without error, since God cannot utter error.
Changed Lives
The changed lives and cultures affected by the Bible are evidence of its divine origin.
Preserved Intact from the Writing of the Original Evangelists
The text of the New Testament remains exactly as it was inspired, from God to the Evangelists and down to our day. The Bible is the eternal expression of God, so it can never change. Its immutability is also necessary because it is the foundation of Christian doctrine.
Of course, all those quotes are actually from Moslems explaining why the Qur’an is the word of God. I just changed a few words around.[1] The manifest weakness of relying on nothing but self-authentication as a basis for belief (let alone as reasoning when arguing with others) is exactly what bothered Kruger his whole life, and it is why he wrote his book. It is also why I ignore the whole topic. If you truly believe that only self-authentication is needed, and the historical case does not matter, then I would be happy to discuss sports.
Personally, I think the Buckeyes will have a good football team this year.[2]
[1] See No God but One by Nabeel Qureshi, and Answering Islam by Norman L. Geisler and Abdul Saleeb. (Both books provide typical Christian responses to some Moslem arguments.)
[2] Statistically, Ohio State is the most likely team in any major sport to have a good year (only six losing seasons in the last 100, two in the last 58). I would not want my book to become outdated.
