57 REASONS WHY WE KNOW THAT THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD

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15. THE BIBLE DEMONSTRATES ITSELF TO BE THE WORD OF GOD BY ITS POWER TO MAKE MEN HAPPY

Tens of thousands have found the promise true, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST." (Matt. 11:28). What the pursuit of money, fame and pleasure FAILS to do, God's Word does for those who come humbly, sincerely, believing its promises.

Said a world traveler, "The happiest people I have met are the Christian missionaries."

How often we read in the Gospels that those who came, believing, to Christ during His earthly ministry, were blessed, and went on their way rejoicing. And it has been so from that day to this.

This writer, in common with thousands of others, can testify, truly, that he has received from reading and believing God's Word the greatest blessing to be experienced in this life—inward peace of heart and mind.

Gentlemen of the jury, I submit to you this fact that any Book that makes men both righteous and happy MUST come from the Supreme Being of Love who wants His creatures to be both holy and happy.

16. THE BIBLE NOT ONLY MAKES LIVING BETTER BUT IT MAKES DYING EASIER

"Christians die easy," remarked the executioner who had put to death a number of Christian martyrs.

Hundreds of testimonies, like the following, from dying Christians, could be given:

"Eternity rolls up before me like a sea of glory," said Margaret Prior, while dying. Lord Shaftesbury's last

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words were, "I am touching the hem of His garment!" Frances E. Willard cried, "How beautiful to die and be with God." Multitudes have been sustained in the hour of death by such precious promises as Ps. 23:4, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me."

Atheism and heathenism know nothing of victorious dying; rather, a Christless death, leading to a Christless eternity, forecasts the shadow of coming doom.

17. THE BIBLE PRESENTS THE WAY OF VICTORY OVER EVERY KNOWN FOE OF MAN

And the solution that the Bible provides to all of man's problems WORKS! What are man's foes? Is one the haunting ghost of past sins? Here is God's solution and answer to the one who will accept the gospel of the Bible: "The Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.'.' (1 John 1:7). Is the foe the present power of sin. and habit over one's life? The apostle Paul found that, through Grace, he could say, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me." (Phil. 4:13). Is the enemy FEAR, casting a pall over life, keeping out both light and song? The believer can say with David, "I will fear no evil, for THOU art with me." (Ps. 23). The child of God, resting on the precious promises of the Bible, is enabled to "GLORY" in tribulation (Rom. 5:3); to "REJOICE" when persecuted (Matt. 5:9-12) because he will be amply compensated for it; when "tempted and tried" he can "COUNT IT ALL JOY" for the "trial of faith" leads to- patience, discipline, and other precious virtues (James 1:2-4).

Are his circumstances apparently against the believer? Why, the God of the Bible is able to arrange circum-

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stances so that "all things work together for GOOD to-them that love God" (Rom. 8:28). And affliction, before whom so many wilt and faint? Affliction actually becomes a SERVANT to the believer, WORKING for him: "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, WORKETH for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." (2 Cor. 4:17-18). Is one harassed by poverty? The Bible tells those who are poor in this world's goods but rich in faith: "All things are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's." (1 Cor. 3:22-23). "My God shall supply ALL your needs." (Phil. 4:19).

18. THE BIBLE PROVES ITSELF TO BE THE WORD OF GOD BY ITS POWER IN SOCIETY

Not only individuals, but society as a whole is lifted and immeasurably blessed whenever the Bible is read, believed and followed. Charles Darwin once visited Patagonia; he was so impressed with the results of missionary labor among the natives that he became a lifelong" contributor to the missionary society doing work among them. Great Britain, as Queen Victoria admitted, owes her greatness to the open Bible. Pagan Africa is pagan because they have not the Word of God; as missionaries bring them the message of the Bible they are lifted out of their miserable state in direct proportion to their acceptance of the Bible. European nations were won from savagery by the Bible. And now, some of these nations are turning back to savagery because they are rejecting; the Bible. Lack of Bible reading in our own nation is producing an alarming harvest of crime and loose living.

"The Holiest among the mighty and the Mightiest among the holy, lifted, with His pierced hands, empires off their hinges, turned the stream of civilization out of

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its channel, and still governs the ages."—Jean Richter.

19. THE BIBLE IS THE SOURCE AND INSPIRATION OF MAN'S GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS.

"It is inspiring because inspired; it is inspired because inspiring." It is inseparably woven into the very warp and woof of our civilization. It is not a book on legislation, and yet Daniel Webster said, "A great jurist must go to school to the Book; lying back of Blackstone and the Habeas Corpus Act and the Roman Institutes are the statutes of the Mosaic code."

"It has breathed inspiration into the heart of almost every genius." The world's greatest Art, Sculpture, Music, Literature, as well as Morality and Law, have been inspired by the Bible. Milton's "Paradise Lost;" Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress;" Michaelangelo's "David;" the masterpieces of Raphael, Rembrandt, Mozart, and innumerable others of the world's works of genius were inspired by the Bible.

To get rid of the Bible and its influence one would have to wipe out practically all libraries, art galleries, music conservatories, as well as all churches, and practically all humanitarian institutions.

Ruskin expressed what is true of thousands of earth's great men when he said, "All that I have thought of art, everything that I have written, whatever greatness there has been in .any thought of mine, whatever I have done in my life, has simply been due to the fact that, when I was a child, my mother daily read with me a part of the Bible, and daily made me learn a part of it by heart." And another has said, "The finest ideals of .art and the finest inspirations of music are borrowed from the Book."

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20. IT PRESENTS THE HIGHEST MORAL STANDARD KNOWN TO MAN

Here is a supernatural system of morality that tells us to "love our enemies," and do good to them that hate us and persecute us; it tells us that the lustful look is adultery and that hatred is murder; it enjoins love to God and love to man as the supreme duties; it exalts the virtues of faith, meekness, patience, long-suffering—characteristics that many men despise.

The Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, Paul's great Love Hymn in I Corinthians 13, and the practical precepts of the New Testament Epistles, as well as other sections of the Bible dealing with moral precepts, never came from the heart of fallen, sinful man!

All other ancient religious writings are immoral in the extreme. Prof. Max Muller dared not translate the Hindoo books literally, lest he should be arrested for circulating obscene literature. There is an impassable chasm between the Bible and man-made religious books; the difference can be accounted for only by recognizing the fact that God dictated the Bible.

NO MAN YET EVER LIVED UP TO THE TEACHINGS OF THE BIBLE, EXCEPT THE CHRIST WHO GAVE IT. This one fact alone offers a sufficient proof that God gave the Book with its higher-than-man standard.

The God of the Bible says to His people: "As He who called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living" (I Peter 1:15, R.V.). "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." (2 Corinthians 7:1).

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21. MOREOVER, THE FRANK, UNASHAMED TESTIMONY OF THE BIBLE ON MORAL SUBJECTS, AND AGAINST IMMORALITY, IS PROOF POSITIVE THAT THE SUPREME ONE WROTE THE BOOK

The tendency of man, when speaking or writing on sex subjects, is to be either prudish or prurient. The Bible calls black black and white white; adultery is labeled adultery. The sins of Sodom are recorded, but SO IS ITS PUNISHMENT. And how could it be otherwise in God's Book? God, who holds man accountable, and punishes him for default, must clearly define what constitutes sin.

Some, with lamentable ignorance, have accused the Bible of being an immoral book, because it speaks so frankly against sin, and records the exact sin of many of its characters. The absurdity of this is seen by the fact that the Old Testament DEMANDED STONING for sex sins, Deu. 22:21, and the New Testament is even more austere in its condemnation, when the sin is unrepented of; Rev. 22:15. Being the Word of a holy God, the Bible is holy in its teachings; being the Word of a God to whom "all things are naked and open," it is a Book that unbares sin and reveals its awfulness, that all might shudder, and fear, and flee from the loathsome sight.

22. IT HAS PASSED THE SUPREME TEST OF ENDURANCE. If the Bible had been built on a corrupt foundation of fraud, it would have disintegrated long ago.

"It is the only Book in the world that has stood age after age of ferocious and incessant persecution," Cannon

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Dyson Hague reminds us; and yet, "it is here today stronger than ever. It stands, and it will stand." Innumerable times man has lifted his sword against the granite Rock of God's Word; he has hacked away ferociously— and has managed to destroy his sword and himself, but the Rock remains uninjured.

"The adversaries have done their worst. They have charged their heaviest charge. Whatever unexpected adversaries appear in the future, no more destructive trios than Julian, Celsus and Porphyry, than Voltaire, Strauss and Renan, than Eichhorn, Wellhausen and Kuenen, will confederate against it."

Man has attacked it with fire, sword, pen, spade, test tube and microscope; he has examined its claims, minutely, in the light of all positively ascertained facts of science, archeology, history, morality and every other branch of human learning, AND INSTEAD OF OVERTHROWING THE BIBLE HE HAS REVEALED HOW FIRMLY IT IS ESTABLISHED IN THE COUNSELS OF INFINITE WISDOM.

Gentlemen of the jury, I submit to you this fact, THAT ONLY TRUTH can run the gauntlet of the fiercest fires of persecution—venomous, hell-born hatred and antagonism, satanic spleen, weapons of intellect, government, and wealth; fires that have raged intensely for the past nineteen centuries and more—AND COME FORTH UNSCATHED FROM THE FLAME, as did the Hebrew young men of old (Daniel 3). And the reason for the miraculous escape is the same in both cases: The God of Heaven, who is ever on the side of righteousness and truth, has simply protected His own.

MODERN scholarship (when true), MODERN criticism (when just), MODERN research (when unbiased),

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have universally taken their stand as witnesses FOR the Bible.

23. NOT ONLY HAS THE BIBLE ENDURED, BUT IT IS A GROWING BOOK, showing that it is not sterile, but alive with the very life from God

More Bibles are published today than ever before in the history of the world. In whole or in part, Scripture has been published in over 1,000 tongues and dialects, and it reaches the fabulous world wide circulation of close to 30,000,000 copies (Bibles, Testaments and portions) a year! Consider what this means, in view of the fact that very few "best sellers" ever reach a circulation of 100,000 for their entire lifetime.

It is true the Bible tells us that just before the return of Christ professed Christianity will be largely formal; there will be a departure from vital godliness; but on the other hand the gospel is to be given to all nations as a witness; and then, after the second coining of Christ, it is to be universally accepted. The day is not far off when its dominion, in fact as well as in name, will be "from the river to the ends of the earth."

Honored sirs, the only way you can account for the marvelous growth and spread of the Bible, over the entire world, is THE BIBLE IS A LIVING BOOK. It throbs with the message of the love of God for man; it is alive with regenerating and lifting power; through its arteries, carrying life and peace to the world, is the message of the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. God has promised, "My Word shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isaiah 55: 11).

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24. THE BIBLE IS A SUPERNATURAL BOOK, BECAUSE IT AND THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE WIN AND HOLD THE DEVOTED LOVE OF MEN AND WOMEN TODAY SUCH AS NO OTHER CAUSE CAN

In the latter part of his life, Napoleon said, "Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I myself, founded great empires . . . upon force. Jesus alone founded His empire upon love. I tell you all these were men; none else is like Him. Jesus Christ was more than man. He asks for the human heart; He demands it unconditionally, and forthwith His demand is granted. Wonderful! All who sincerely believe in Him experience that remarkable supernatural love towards Him. Time, the great destroyer, is powerless to extinguish this sacred flame . . . This it is which proves to me quite convincingly the divinity (deity) of Jesus Christ."

This supernatural love has impelled hundreds of thousands to "forsake all and follow Him"—multitudes are willing to die for Him. I ask you, respected jurymen, for what other Book would an intelligent American or European sacrifice all, even life itself? Only a God-given Book can do that!

25. AND STRANGE PARADOX, IT IS NOT ONLY THE BEST LOVED BOOK IN THE WORLD, BUT THE MOST HATED AS WELL

It is hated and fought by evil men. Now it is quite evident that evil men would not hate an evil, fraudulent (hence harmless to them) book! They hate it for .the same reason that the incorrigible criminal hates the righteous arm of the law that punishes him. But, as was

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Christ, so is the Bible today, "hated without a cause." (John 15:25).

26. THOUGH THE BIBLE IS AN ANCIENT ORIENTAL BOOK, YET IT IS WITHOUT MISTAKE, CONTRADICTION, AND DEMONSTRABLE ERROR, and it is HISTORICALLY ACCURATE

We speak, not of the various translations of the Bible (for men may err in translating), but of the Bible as. originally given; though both the Authorized and the Revised translations are conceded to be remarkably accurate translations, on the whole.

"Nor has the widest learning and acutest ingenuity of skepticism," said Archdeacon Farrar, "ever pointed to one complete and demonstrable error of fact or doctrine in the Old or New Testament." Thomas Newberry, a devout English student, spent fifty years studying the Bible. He said, "I accept the . . . plenary inspiration of the Scriptures. I have studied every 'jot and title' of the Word of God, and after these fifty years I see no reason for changing my position." Hundreds of Bible scholars, of the highest rank intellectually, can testify to the same conclusion.

We are well aware of the fact that infidels claim that "the Bible is full of contradictions." But these so-called "contradictions" exist solely in the mind of the infidel! Every supposed discrepancy has been fully and satisfactorily explained by reverent scholarship. We would expect the perfect God to produce a perfect Book, and SO IT IS. We challenge the world to point to a single, demonstrable error or bona fide contradiction in the Bible in the original languages.

The Bible mentions thousands of historical incidents

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persons and places; consider how staggering is the fact that there is NOT ONE demonstrable historical inaccuracy in it. Surely, God wrote the Book!

27. Though the Bible was written by a nation not scientifically inclined and in an age of gross ignorance of scientific subjects, THE BIBLE IS SCIENTIFICALLY ACCURATE, and thousands of years ahead of its time

When one considers that the Jews were "without telescopes, microscopes, or the faintest interest in experimental science" and then wrote a book that, whenever it touches the realm of science, speaks with ABSOLUTE ACCURACY, we are confronted by a literary miracle of the first magnitude.

"The Bible is not a book of science, but it is a scientific book. When the Bible does speak on a question of science it speaks with the same absolute infallibility it possesses when it speaks on history or faith." (Rimmer.) "I have searched the Bible from beginning to end for scientific error and have found none," says Mr. Harry Rimmer, President of the Science Research Bureau. (Mr. Rimmer will give $100 to any person who can demonstrate one scientific fallacy in the Bible.)

The Bible taught, long before man discovered it, the countless number of the stars (Gen. 22:17; Jer. 33:22), and this at a time when man thought there were about 3,000 stars!; the immensity of space (Job 22:12; Isa. 55:9); the universal law of motion (Job 38:7); the refraction of light (Job 38:12, 13); the weight of atmosphere (Job 28:25); the sphericity of the earth (Isa. 40: 22); the circuits of the wind (Eccles. 1:6); that light is vocal (Ps. 65:8; 19:2) ; the heavens are built on circuits—

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or, orbits—(Job 22:14); man's body has the same chemical analysis as the dust of the ground (Gen. 2:7); and many, many more such facts.

Where did the authors of Scripture get their scientific information, and who protected them from making the foolish mistakes that the other ancient writers made (like teaching that the world was supported on the back of an elephant, etc.)? The only possible answer is, GOD IS THE REAL AUTHOR OF THE BOOK!

28. THE BIBLE CONTAINS THE ONLY REASONABLE COSMOGONY KNOWN TO MAN

Most every truly great scientist alive today admits the FIRST CAUSE—A Supreme Creative Intelligence—as the Originator of the Universe. That is exactly what Moses said, "In the beginning GOD created the heavens and the earth." (Gen. 1:1.) Dr. I. W. Dawson, the distinguished scientist, said, "The order o-f creation as stated in Genesis is faultless in the light of modern science."

Some misinformed people say the Bible teaches that God created the heavens and the earth 6,000 years ago. It says no such thing. It does say, "IN THE BEGINNING God created the heavens and the earth;" and that may have been millions of years ago. The second verse of Genesis 1, "And the earth became without form and void," etc., refers to a time long after the original creation spoken of in the first verse. The rest of Genesis 1 teaches the steps in the process of RE-CREATING THE WORLD AND MAKING IT HABITABLE FOR MAN.

The Bible does teach that MAN was created about 6 to 8 thousand years ago; and there is no historical proof to the contrary. The only thing that conflicts with that teaching is man's unscientific, unprovable, absurd theory

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of Evolution. Man's authentic dated history (ascertained dates) does not go back further than 6,000 years,

29. THE BIBLE TEACHES THE ONLY RATIONAL PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE: Man's Origin and Destiny and the Purpose of his Creation; the Origin and Destiny of Evil, and Reason and Cure for Sin

With majestic simplicity the Bible reveals to us that •"God CREATED man in His own image" (Gen. 1:26). lit further reveals that man was created to serve God, enjoy Him, and glorify Him forever. What higher philosophy of life than that—the divine origin, and intended divine end, for man? Man alone is able to frustrate the benevolent purposes of his Creator when he deliberately chooses sin and refuses to submit to His plan of blessing.

As to the presence of evil in the world, man either denies it, tries to explain it away, or worships it (to protect himself from it). The Bible teaches that evil emanates originally from a created intelligence, a free moral agent, that once was perfect but introduced evil into the Universe by starting a rebellion against God—a rebellion inspired by pride and envy (See Isa. 14; Ezek. 28). The name of this being is Satan, or the Devil. In the end, all evil will be subjugated and segregated, and God will create a NEW universe in which dwelleth absolute righteousness (Rev. 21 and 22). The universe is ruled by a faithful God who punishes sin and rewards faith and obedience. The vicarious suffering of Christ on the cross is God's remedy for man's sin. Those who repent and trust Christ are saved from sin and its consequences. "Christ died for our sins . . . and rose again." (1 Cor. 15:3,4).

All man's philosophies are dismal failures. Frederick Nietzsche taught that "might is right" and plunged civil-

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ization into the catastrophe of the World War; the Epicurean philosophy of "eat, drink, and be merry" makes beasts of men; the Stoic philosophy makes cruel, unfeeling monsters out of men; the Marxian philosophy of socialism and "collectivism" rules God out, makes "religion the opium of the people" and ends in a selfish, degrading materialism. But the Bible, when accepted, lifts and ennobles man, and makes him altruistic and Christ-like.

"The Bible is the one Book," says Ruskin, "to which anyone can go with life's great questions to find God's answer."

ONLY GOD could have made the revelations, about man and evil and the origin and destiny of things, found in the Bible!

30. ARCHEOLOGY BEARS FAITHFUL TESTIMONY TO THE INFINITESIMAL ACCURACY OF THE BIBLE

Professor G. W. Wright has said, "All history is fragmentary. Each particular fact is the center of an infinite complex of circumstances. No man has intelligence enough to insert a suppositious fact into circumstances not belonging to it, and make it fit exactly. This only Infinite Intelligence could do. A successful forgery, therefore, is impossible if only we have a sufficient number of the original circumstances with which to compare it." This principle is what makes it possible to discover literary forgeries claiming to be history. Very little cross examination is necessary to reveal the historical truthfulness or falsity of a book.

Eager bloodhounds of truth have tested the Bible, on thousands of points, by the findings of Archeology—recently unearthed monuments, tablets, tombs, manuscripts,

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papyri and inscriptions and the Bible has been abundantly vindicated!

The late Dr. Melvin G. Kyle, one of the greatest archeologists, said, "There has never been found anything that discredits statements of facts in the Bible." And here is the amazing thing: almost the entire list of names, places and events of the Bible have been corroborated by the findings of archeology! (Kyle.)

Sir William Ramsay, famous Oxford scholar, was con-Averted from the critical view to the conservative view of the Bible by his own archeological research work. He says, "I set out to look for truth on the borderland where Greece and Asia meet, and I found it there . . . the words of Luke stand the keenest scrutiny and the hardest treatment." And again, he said, "The longer I study the New Testament, the more convinced I become of its absolute trustworthiness . . . Christianity is the religion of truth; it is founded on truth, absolute and perfect truth."

Dear sirs, the very stones, unearthed by diligent archeologists, are crying out in defense of God's Word!

31. THE REMARKABLE, ACCURATE CHRONOLOGY OF THE BIBLE PROVES ITS INSPIRATION

In his scholarly book, "The Corning Prince," Sir Robert Anderson presents amazing proof of the accuracy of the prophetic chronology in Daniel's prophecy in Dan. 9:24-27. Here is a part of the passage: "Seventy weeks (sevens of years) are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city . . . Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks." Sir Anderson says, commenting on this passage; In March, 445 B. C., the Persian

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ruler Artaxerxes Longimanus issued the decree to rebuild Jerusalem. The prophecy states that from this commandment (445 B.C.) to "Messiah the Prince" shall be 69 "weeks" ("seven weeks and threescore and two> weeks"). A "week" here means seven years; the 69 "weeks" would make 483 prophetic years; (a prophetic-year, the "year" used in the Bible, is 360 days—the-mean, between a lunar year of 355 days and the solar-year of 365 days).

Appealing to the Astronomer Royal of Great Britain; Sir Robert Anderson found the date of the Jewish New Year of that year to be March 14. Taking the Triumphal" Entry of Christ into Jerusalem as the event that best sat satisfies the words, "Messiah the Prince," which was on; Sunday, April 6, 32 A. D., he found that the interval: between—from March 14, 445 B.C. to April 6, 32 A.D. contained exactly, and to the very day, 173,880 days, or seven times 69 prophetic years of 360 days each, the first 69 weeks of Daniel's prophecy of "Seventy Weeks."

The only possible explanation for this chronological and prophetic wonder is GOD WROTE THE BOOK'!

32. ITS TEACHINGS ABOUT THE PERSON AND CHARACTER OF GOD PROVE IT TO BE GOD'S REVELATION OF HIMSELF

Man, left to his own bent, turns to idolatry and polytheism, as may be seen in every heathen land today. While all surrounding nations worshipped idols, and gods many, Israel was taught the Unity and essential Spirit-Being of God.

The Bible further reveals God as being a Trinity in Unity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19); this is a conception of Deity entirely contrary to the natural

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conclusions of man, as may be seen by the fact that today, the very nation that, gave us the Bible, rejects that teaching.

The Sovereignty of God (Romans 9), His Omnipresence (Psalm 138:6-10), the fact that He is Spirit and yet has a form (John 4:24; Phil. 2:6), are conceptions of Deity that did not originate in the mind of man. He is presented in Scripture as All-powerful, All-wise, absolutely Just, infinitely Loving, Eternal and Unchangeable —the only true conception of God ever presented to the human race. All literature everywhere fails to any where near approach the Bible revelation of the Person and Character of God. Hence we are forced to this dual conclusion: God must have written the Book; and if it be argued that the Bible is not God's Word, then we are forced to the conclusion that God is unknown and unknowable.

33. THE TEACHINGS OF THE BIBLE ABOUT MAN PROVE IT TO BE OF DIVINE ORIGIN

The Bible, like Christ, "knows what is in man!" (John 2:25.) Many a man, in reading the Bible, has come to the same conclusion that the Chinese did, as expressed in his words, "He that made this Book made me!" If man had written the Bible, he would have exalted himself more than Romans 3:10-23 does, and he would never have told on himself, how easily he had been victimized by the devil (Gen. 3:1-6). Man would not care to condemn a portion of the race to hell because of sin and unbelief (Matt. 25:41) and he would not dare to lift a portion of the race, the repentant and believing, to eternal partnership in the very glory of God Himself. (1 John 3:1, 2.)

The doctrine of the creation of man in God's image,

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