James MacDonald - God Wrote a Book

GOD WROTE A BOOK

God Wrote a Book

Copyright 2002, 2004 by James MacDonald

Published by Crossway Books
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers
1300 Crescent Street
Wheaton, Illinois 60187

Revised edition published in 2004.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law.

Cover design: David Riley

First printing 2002

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise marked, Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture verses marked ESV are taken from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible:English Standard Version). Copyright 2001 by Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture references marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.

Scripture verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-58134-622-0

Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-1083-0

PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-1082-3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
MacDonald, James, 1960
God wrote a book / James MacDonald.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 13: 978-1-58134-622-0
ISBN 10: 1-58134-622-0
1.BibleEvidences, authority, etc. I. Title.
BS480 .M27 2002
220.1dc21

2002008184

CH 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09
17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5

To Judy Van Kampen, Scott Pierre, and
Karla Van Kampen Pierre,
who have given of themselves generously and tirelessly
to promote and proclaim the book God wrote.
Sola Scriptura

CONTENTS

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.

ISAIAH 40:8

W ow, so youre really going to do it? Youre going to read a book about the Bible and why you should seriously consider what it says. What would your friends say? Why are you doing this? Is it because you have a passionate curiosity about an amazing number of things, and its just time to take a look at the Bible? Maybe you have been feeling an emptiness in your life, something missing, and you respect someone who believes the Bible. Or could it be that a family member has given you this book because that person wants you to have a faith like his or hers? Are you feeling pressure to read this book and doing it out of obligation, or is it something you are choosing to do for yourself?

Well, guess what? It really doesnt matter to me. Im just glad you are where you are, because I believe this could be a major turning point in your life. Something you will look back on for many years as the day when something incredibly exciting and fulfilling began for you.

I simply want to share with you what the Bible is and what it can do for you. Im not asking you to get all emotional and weird. Im not asking you to check your intellect at the door. Quite the contraryIm asking you to engage your mind and consider the evidence for the Bible as a supernatural book.

As for me, Im not sharing from the perspective of a theoretician, and Im not claiming to be objective. Im a satisfied customer, and the material I have written is very convincing to me. But I will try to avoid the kind of high-pressure, hard-sell stuff that we all hate, especially in matters of religion. Instead, I have written in a very personal tone. The English is not formal. Its just the way we would talk if we were sitting on a bench in a park somewhere.

If what I have written is accurate, then there are implications for you, but I will leave that to the end and mostly to you personally. So let me just begin by saying this: God did write a book, and its definitely not this one. However, if you understand and agree with the message of this book, it can be a bridge for you to the greatest book ever written. And that alone makes it worth the two to three hours it will take to read it. Okay?

Lets get at it!

EVIDENCE FOR THE BIBIBLE
YOU SHOULDNT IGNORE

But [Jesus] answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

MATTHEW 4:4

T o most people in our world today the Bible is an ancient book with little practical relevance for life in the twenty-first century. If they have a Bible, it just sits and collects dust with a lot of other books they own and have never seriously read. Like a secret treasure buried in their own backyard, the majority allow this book to sit silently at the back of their consciousness. These people never dream how near they are to incredible wealth. Having talked to people all over the world about this subject, I can tell you that their reasons for ignoring the Bible are surprisingly similar and disturbingly weak. In fact, we recently surveyed 100 people with this request: Name a common reason people give for ignoring the Bible. Here are the top five:

The Bible is just a bunch of stories. Noahs ark? Adam and Eve? Yeah, right! And Superman and Cinderella too, I suppose?

The Bible is filled with contradictions. How can I take a book seriously that doesnt even agree with itself? One guy says this; another guy says that; get your act together, boys!

The Bible is outdated. I dont respect people from 200 years ago; so what could I possibly learn from a book that was written more than 2,000 years ago?

I believe that an individuals faith is a very personal matter; its different for each person. You dont get that from a book. It comes from deep within.

The Bible is not scientific. Its filled with all kinds of inaccuracies that are offensive to the modern intellectual. Only the most naive and simplistic could ever take seriously a book written by a bunch of fishermen or whatever.

Pretty good survey, right? As you can tell, I have been talking to a lot of people about the Bible. Did you see your primary objection on the list? Well... now hear this: NONE of those things is true, and if you keep reading, I believe I can prove it to you. Contrary to popular opinion, there is incredible evidence for the uniqueness and reliability of the Bible. Yes, evidence!

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE

By external evidence, we mean proofs that exist outside the Bible. Some people might say, Using the Bible to prove the Bible is circular reasoning. There is some truth to that. Thats why we are going to examine several proofs outside the Bible to show that its a supernatural book. Then we will get into what the Bible says about itself.

Preeminence Among Literature

First, the Bible is paramount in the world of literature. Even if you dont accept it as Gods book, it is absolutely irrefutable that the Bible stands alone among all other booksby far! Ecclesiastes says that the writing of many books is endless (Ecclesiastes 12:12), but stack up all the books ever writtenancient and modern and the Bible is unsurpassed. In fact, dont even put the Bible on top. It is so far above and beyond any book ever written that it needs to go in a separate pile. It is preeminent. Let me give you some specifics.

1. The Bible is preeminent in its circulation. The Bible has been read by more people in more languages than any other book in human history. The entire Bible is now translated into more than 400 languages, and portions of it have been translated into nearly 2,500 languages. Many of these languages would not even have a written form if Bible translators had not first learned the language, developed a grammar and dictionary for that language, and then translated the Bible into it.