Is the Bible made up from the Imagination of Man?

The Bible is quite different from any other religious writing. It has been written over a period of 1,600 years by over 40 different authors - a fact that sets it apart from other religious books. It is the best selling book of all time and has transformed the lives of millions of people. But has the Bible simply been invented from the mind of man? Let's consider this possibility.

It is interesting to note that religious writings from other major world religions which claim to be divinely inspired, have indeed been written by, or based upon, the teaching of one person. You would probably agree that it is easy for one person to invent a concept and for that concept to be reasonably consistent throughout, for the author only has his own imagination to contend with. But imagine the problems that would arise when dealing with 40 different authors!

Consider for a moment, asking 40 different people to write a book about God - what do you suppose that God would look like? You would probably get 40 different gods because each of those authors would have their own idea of the kind of god they want to invent. It is far easier for one man to write consistently on such a topic than several different authors, as conflicting ideas and concepts would be sure to arise.

Yet this is one of the pieces of evidence that points to the Bible being truly authentic as the Word of God. The Bible has over 40 authors, most of whom lived at different times in history, from different social backgrounds, yet all of them have written consistently about the character, nature, purposes and plans of God.

This was no fluke or mere coincidence, for logically speaking how could 40 different authors (many of whom had never met each other) come up with a God whose character and purposes have not changed over such a vast period of time? Surely this would only be possible if the information came from one source. What might that source be? The source must have come from God Himself, who alone is unchanging year after year, decade after decade, generation after generation.

Some people might say that one author simply copied the ideas from their predecessor, but if that were the case then surely flaws would begin to appear very early on. For example, apparently avid followers of TV soap operas can tell when there is a new scriptwriter because the scriptwriter inevitably ends up changing the character in the soap ever so slightly. This is because they have their own ideas to bring to that character. A television documentary featuring the actor who plays the 'East Enders' character 'Dirty Den' highlights this very point. In the interview he said that originally his character was quite a pleasant chap, but then some new scriptwriters came in, who happened to be women. Den said that from this point on his character began to be 'nasty' because the scriptwriters were taking their worst experiences of men and incorporating them into his TV soap character. So, by changing the scriptwriter you inevitably change in some way the character they are inventing!

Yet this fact from fictitious characters of soap operas is certainly not reflected in the Bible. So, what was it that enabled 40 authors over a period of 1,600 years to write so consistently about the character and purposes of God? The only plausible explanation is that God Himself was influencing those human writers.

Scripture testifies that the Bible is not a man-made idea dreamt up to give us a cosy feeling that we are not alone in the universe, as some sceptics have tried to claim: rather it is a book given to us by an eternally unchanging God who has chosen to reveal himself to us.

There is of course another unique feature of the Bible which again sets it apart from other religious writings and that is its predictive element. In other words the foretelling of an event long before it actually happens. This is known as the prophetic element of scripture. There are many examples of prophecy in the Bible most of which surround the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It has been estimated that the probability of all the 61 major prophecies of the coming Messiah being met in one man is the equivalent to a 1000,000,000,000,000,000 to 1 chance! Just to give you an idea of how vast that is, the probability of a person winning the National Lottery is only a 14,000,000 to 1 chance. Pretty slim, you would have to agree! The prophetic accuracy of the Bible is therefore yet another evidence pointing to its source being the transcendent God.

'Ok' you say, but humans wrote the Bible none the less, so it is still written by man isn't it? Yes, in a way it is, but God did not use these men like typewriters. In other words He did not by-pass their human characters and personalities but rather God knew exactly how those human personalities would write. Here's how it works:

Imagine a stained-glass window that depicts a beautiful country scene in bright colours. Do you think the creator of that picture had an idea as to what he wanted the finished product to look like? Of course he did. The artist knew that a blue piece of glass would produce the right effect as it was struck by sunlight to create the image of water in the finished picture. He also knew that sunlight reflecting through green glass would produce a green field. The same sunlight was hitting the different colours of glass, but producing exactly the right image at the other end. In a similar way the different writers of the Bible are like those different colours of glass, each one with their own unique qualities and personalities. God, by means of His Holy Spirit, touched those different writers hearts (like the coloured pieces of glass being struck by sunlight) in order to produce exactly the image that he wanted at the other end, namely the Bible.

There are many other convincing examples of evidence that shows that the Bible is not just a dreamt up story from the mind of a man. These include it's historicity with regards to the origins of the Jewish people. The numerous amounts of archaeological evidence which support its historical claims and the impact that the Word of God has had upon millions of Christians throughout history. These too are evidences that testify to its authenticity.

Why not read it for yourself and ask the living God to impact your life as you read His word?

Further Reading and Research

• John Blanchard, Is God Past His Sell By Date? (Evangelical Press 2002)
• Josh McDowell, Evidence that demand a verdict (Alpha 1998).
• Josh McDowell, More than a carpenter (Kingsway 1995).
• Bill Bright, A man without equal (Scripture Union 1988).
• FF.Bruce The New Testament Documents IVP Kirsten Birkett, Unnatural enemies (St Matthias Press 1997).
• Sir John Houghton, The search for God (Lion 1995).
• Phillip E. Johnson, Testing Darwinism (IVP 1997).
• Michael Poole, A guide to science and belief (Lion 1994).
• David Wilkinson, God, the big bang and Stephen Hawking (Monarch 1997).
• John Blanchard, Does God believe in Atheists? (Evangelical Press 2000)
• Ernest Lucas Can we believe Genesis today? (IVP 2001)
• Stephen Gaukroger, It makes sense (Scripture Union 1988)