Question 5: Can we find any reference to Moshiach in contemporaneous secular writers?

Answer:

Yes!!! There are references to Moshiach in connection with believers, by several historians. Tacitus, who was praetor under Domitian in A. D. 88, only 58 years after the Crucifixion, refers to Moshiach (Annal XV144). Pliny the younger, who was tribune in Syria about the same time, also refers to him (Epistle X: 97). There are also references in Lucian, who lived about the middle of the second century. He states explicitly the fact of Moshiach having been crucified. Suetonius and Eusebius also refer to Moshiach. Besides these evidences, there was the persecution of the believers under Nero, which is recorded by all historians. Nero died A. D. 68, only thirty-eight years after the Crucifixion. It is therefore clear that there were many believers before that time. How could the sect have come into existence without a founder? If you saw an oak growing in a place where there was no tree fifty years before, you would suspect that someone had planted an acorn there and if four men told you how, when and by whom it was planted, you would be prepared to believe them. So, there is good reason for believing the Gospel narratives, when you read in secular history of the existence of the Church fifty years after the Crucifixion. Their stories are a credible explanation of a well-established fact.

Question 4: What are the proofs of Bible Authenticity?

Answer:

"Can we prove the authenticity of the Bible by outside evidence" is a frequent question. The authenticity of the Bible is being proved by the old records on monuments, by tablets recently deciphered and by discoveries in Bible lands. That is if by authenticity you mean its historical truth. As to inspiration, the best evidence is its effects. The man who loves the Bible and tries to conduct his life according to its precepts is a better man for the effort The Bible reading nation advances in the best line of civilization, caring for its poor and afflicted and becoming in all ways better. Another evidence of its being inspired is the revelation it gives a man of himself, holding a mirror to his gaze by which he recognizes himself. Evidence is its survival. No book was ever more violently attacked, no book was ever more misused, yet it has outlived the attacks of foes and the faults of friends and is read today more widely than ever. These are a few of the reasons for believing it came from YHVH.

Question 3: What is higher criticism?

Answer:

The ordinary study or criticism is directed to finding out the meaning of the passages, their correct translation and their significance and bearing on doctrines. The higher critics go above and back of all that, applying to the books of the Bible the same tests and methods of examination as are applied to other ancient books. They try to find out who were really the authors of the books and when they were written and whether any changes have been made in them since they were written. This latter question they try to solve by a close examination of the text. When they find, for example, such an expression as "There was no king in Israel in those days" (Judges 17:6), they conclude that that sentence was inserted as explanatory, by someone who edited the book after the contemporaneous historian had finished it. Or to take an example of a different kind: There is a statement in Psalm 51:16 that YHVH desires not sacrifice, while in the nineteenth verse it is said that he will be pleased with sacrifice. The explanation the higher critics give is that probably the latter verse was added later, by some priest who did not wish the people to cease bringing sacrifices. The best scholars of the present day believe that many of the conclusions reached by the higher critics are erroneous and that others are mere guesses for which there is not sufficient evidence.

Question 2: How can I know the Bible is inspired?

Answer:

Even in this day, when the number of believers has multiplied from a mere handful to one-fourth of the entire population of the globe, there are people who doubt the inspiration of the Bible. At different times during the last twenty centuries assaults have been made against the Sacred Book, which Gladstone termed the "Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture," but without avail. It has a firmer hold on the hearts of men than in any previous age. Mr. Moody, the great American evangelist, was once asked whether he regarded the Bible as inspired and his answer was brief and to the point: "I know the Bible is inspired," he said, "because it inspires me!" There are countless thousands who will echo this answer and whose lives have been transformed by the same inspiration. Not only the great religious scholars, but the masters of secular literature regard the Bible as unapproachable in its high standard of expression, its magnificent imagery, the transcendent nobility of its rhetoric, the authority with which it appeals to the hearts of men, the universality of its application and the power it exercises over the souls of men. It bears within itself the evidence of inspiration and wherever it is known and read and its precepts followed, its influence is uplifting and inspiring. The theory of inspiration does not exclude but rather implies, human agency, however. "Holy men of YHVH spake as they were moved by Ruach HaKodesh." (2 Peter 1:21).

The most frequently asked questions about Scriptures.

Question 1: Who wrote the various Books of the Bible?

Answer:

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy --- Moses (scholarly opinions differ here, but so far no thoroughly convincing arguments have been advanced to disprove the Mosaic authorship of large portions of these books) /// Joshua --- Joshua (also ascribed to Phineas, Eleazar, Samuel and Jeremiah) /// Judges --- ascribed by Jewish tradition to Samuel /// Ruth --- unknown /// I and II Samuel --- unknown (probably the work of Samuel, Nathan and others) /// I and II Kings --- unknown /// I and II Chronicles --- probably Ezra /// Ezra --- probably Ezra /// Nehemiah --- Nehemiah /// Esther --- probably Mordecai or Ezra /// Job --- uncertain (has been attributed to Moses or Job) /// the Psalms --- David, Moses and others /// Proverbs --- Solomon and others /// Ecclesiastes --- formerly ascribed to Solomon, now thought by many to belong to a later period /// Song of Solomon --- Solomon /// Isaiah --- Isaiah /// Jeremiah --- Jeremiah /// Lamentations --- Jeremiah /// the remaining books of the Old Testament were written by the prophets whose names they bear, with the probable exception of Jonah /// Matthew --- Matthew /// Mark --- Mark /// Luke /// Luke /// John --- John /// Acts --- Luke /// Romans to Philemon --- Paul /// Hebrews --- unknown (has been ascribed to Paul, Luke, Apollos, Barnabas) /// James --- James /// I and II Peter --- Peter /// I, II and III John --- John /// Revelation --- John.

"Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge."

Pr 14

Thought for Today; Thursday January 02

The ability to choose between right and wrong is within reach of us all. And remember, when you choose right, there will be peace and where there is peace, there is YHVH Elohiym.

on Chavah Messianic Radio https://messianicradio.com/?song=songs/9679-A