Can we trust that the Bible is true?

Though written in several genres and three languages by approximately 40 authors with various backgrounds, writing styles, and purposes, the Bible maintains a consistent message without contradicting itself. At Answers in Genesis—the parent ministry of Answers magazine—our statement of faith declares, “The 66 books of the Bible are the written Word of God. The Bible is divinely inspired and inerrant throughout. Its assertions are factually true in all the original autographs.” Those are bold claims, but how can we be so confident?

Some people claim that the Bible is riddled with errors. Their charges against Scripture generally center on scientific and historical matters, such as the age of the earth, the origin of man, and the evidence for the flood and other major events described in the Bible.

We cannot use the scientific method to prove whether certain conversations took place, such as God instructing Noah to build an ark. Nor can we use it to demonstrate whether a historical event resulted in a spiritual truth, such as Jesus’ death on the cross paying for our sins.

But while we can’t examine all the Bible’s details by scientific or historical inquiry, we can investigate plenty of evidence that corroborates biblical details.

Archaeologists have located scores of buried cities located precisely where the Bible describes. Excavations have also uncovered an abundance of evidence for events and individuals mentioned in the Bible. For example, several seals (or bullae) belonging to King Hezekiah have been found, and in the past decade, another one was unearthed just 10 feet (3 m) from a seal that may well have belonged to the prophet Isaiah, one of the king’s advisors. Furthermore, consistent with the biblical accounts, ancient war records from Assyria detail Sennacherib’s conquest of Judean cities and cryptically imply his unsuccessful siege of Jerusalem. Critics challenge the historicity of certain biblical accounts, but their arguments are often silenced by new finds.

Scientific evidence for the Genesis creation and flood accounts abound within other disciplines as well. Astronomical research on short-period comets in the solar system yields data consistent with the biblical timeline. Because they break down relatively fast, these comets cannot survive for millions, let alone billions, of years, as evolutionists imagine.

The biblical flood account is corroborated by geological evidence around the globe. The violently eroded rock surface called the “Great Unconformity,” caused by the initial rising of the floodwaters to cover the pre-flood land, is found across every continent. And only above this “Great Unconformity” do we find all the rapidly buried and preserved graveyards of megascopic fossilized animals and plants, representing the destruction of all pre-flood animals and plants outside the ark, as described in the biblical account. We find also the same rock layers spanning several continents, indicating that they were deposited on a global scale at the same time.

Anthropological investigations among ancient cultures have revealed hundreds of flood legends sharing an uncanny number of details with the biblical record. Similar legends correspond with the Bible’s account of man’s creation and fall and of Babel.

Biological research, particularly in the field of genetics, has shown that one “kind” of animal (such as the dog kind or cat kind) can never be transformed into another kind of animal over time because it does not possess any mechanism to acquire the necessary new genetic information to evolve into another kind. This observation that one kind does not change into a different kind and that variation is only produced within a kind matches Genesis 1, which repeatedly states that God made the animals as distinct kinds, to reproduce “after their kind.”

Paleontologists have uncovered dinosaur remains containing soft tissue and blood cells, which could not exist in fossils that are millions of years old, as evolutionists assume. But these finds are consistent with the biblical account of those bones being buried thousands of years ago during the flood.

In addition to evidence from scientific disciplines, the Bible is filled with unique proofs of being inspired by the Holy Spirit. Hundreds of detailed prophecies were written centuries before the events they accurately described. For example, just as the Old Testament foretold, the Messiah Jesus was born of a virgin (Isaiah:7:14Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
See All...) in Bethlehem (Micah:5:2But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
See All...), as a descendant of Abraham (Genesis 12:1–3), Isaac (Genesis 17:19), and Jacob (Genesis 28:14). He was betrayed by a friend (Psalm:41:9Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.
See All...) for 30 pieces of silver that were used to purchase the potter’s field (Zechariah:11:13And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
See All...). Then he was mocked and ridiculed, pierced in his hands and feet, and lots were cast for his clothing (Psalm:22:7All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
See All..., 16, 18). He died (Daniel:9:26And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
See All...) as a sacrifice for our sins and was buried in a rich man’s tomb (Isaiah:53:8He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
See All...–10). After a short time in the grave, he lived again (Psalm:16:10For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
See All...; Isaiah:53:10Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
See All...).

In addition, the central events described in Scripture—the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ—have as strong historical support as any event in ancient history.

https://answersingenesis.org/is-the-bible-true/can-we-trust-bible-true/