Was there really a flood? And was it just a "local" flood?

The really short: yes to the first and no to the second.

A world-wide flood really happened according to the Bible.

Some say that just a local flood occurred, but then the promise that God wouldn't do the same again (hence the covenant reminder of a rainbow) wouldn't be true because there have been many localised floods causing widespread death since then.

Rather than try to twist the interpretation (or worse the scripture) in a complicated manner to match a localised flooding for Noah, why not just take the plain understanding of a worldwide flood?

"12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” " - Genesis 9:12-16 NIV

Objections to the Bible as an Authoritative Source of Information

I didn't have the opportunity to speak to a group this week but the presentation audio was still recorded for those interested.  Download here (right click to save).  The specific objections addressed were:

• Why would God use the Bible to communicate to us instead of speaking directly?
• How can we trust the Bible if it was written so long ago?
• How can we trust the Bible if it has come to us through so many translations?
• What about all the different versions of the Bible?
• And then a brief look at how we got the Bible that we have today.

What is Good Evidence for Believing that the Bible is True

This is the third session in the series. I could've added the subtitle: "Testing any Religion or Writing Claimed to be Holy". Download the talk here (right-click to save). There is one pause in proceedings where I duck away to check that a fight isn't happening - lots of ruckus outside the classroom at that moment. There wasn't a fight but it was a day of many distractions and interruptions which always seems to happen when something eternally significant is about to occur... A rough outline is below:

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Introduction

• Where we’ve come from (Session 1 - truth, Session 2 - evidence for the existence of God - OKLAHOMA related to natural disasters and a result of the fall - from last weeks discussion)
• This week (Session 3 - why believe the bible or any religious text?) and how it follows on from previous (taking you through the classic apologetic process for defending the Christian faith, i.e. how to have the discussion, does God exist? Is the bible true? - the way I’m presenting it will hopefully give you tools to critique all religions and truth claims.
• Any religion that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny isn’t worth following, including Christianity, but you can’t judge a faith group by the hypocrites who don’t follow the teachings - you have to look at the teachings to see if they are good or not.
• Will be focusing on the bible, and the teachings from the bible, since that’s my area of expertise - I’ve explored the reasons people don’t believe the bible and have decided that they aren’t good reasons

Main - ways of critiquing any text to see if it’s true

• Internal consistency
• 1st, what is the bible?
• 66 books
• 40 authors
• 1500 years
• Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic
• We have vast quantities of manuscripts in the original languages
• Despite the diversity of author, the consistent message comes through from them all to build a cohesive whole. Cohesive = consistent
• OBJECTION: Isn’t the bible full of contradictions?
• Usually people who say this can’t name one
• When we identify actual contradictions, they are usually resolved easily through a proper understanding of the context. Some are a little harder to resolve but can reasonably be cleared 
• I’ve looked at over 100 supposed contradictions because I wanted to see what those on the other side said... Visit www.carm.org and search for 'bible difficulties'
• OBJECTION: Doesn’t God change though? From commanding war and genocide in the Old Testament to becoming focused on love in the New Testament. And what about all the laws?
• Context is important.
• God’s plan for history has different stages and purposes for His people in those stages
• OT deals mainly with Israel and preparing the world for the coming Saviour who was from Israel - NT is the fulfilment of those preparations
• Progressive revelation of certain mysteries, e.g. salvation by grace through faith (and not through keeping the law), Gentiles can be saved too (not just Jews) - these things were not as clear in the OT as in the NT
• Rules separated Israel from pagan nations
• GENOCIDE - God also destroyed the entire world with a flood. Is it wrong for the Creator to do what he wants with His creation? The rules which apply to us don’t necessarily apply to God. The main rule is that God is the ultimate Judge and he has the power of life and death which we don’t.
• Does the Bible truly describe reality? (External Consistency)
• The wisdom in the Bible is extraordinary
• Proverbs and other scriptures detailing timeless truths of cause and effect dealing with complex human nature
• Wise vs foolish people
• the rewards of diligence
• that even good people can suffer
• that even bad people can see undeserved reward (rains on the just and the unjust alike)
• that the way to overcome evil is through love, e.g. bless your enemies so they are shamed into being good.
• Human nature and motivations accurately described? 
• Capacity for great works of good and astounding deeds of evil
• Even our good is tainted (nobody is perfect also means that nothing we do is perfectly good)
• What about miracles? (have to admit the possibility if God exists so shouldn’t be a problem)
• What about science? (Creation vs Evolution)
• “weight” of evidence when there are arguments in favour of each side - leans which way
• Assumptions and presuppositions
• Biases
• Archaeological Evidence
• Even secular archaeologists use the bible to help them discover new digs of the ancient world
• Prophecy - predictions of future events
• Psalm 22 describes the crucifiction of Christ 1000 years before Jesus was crucified
• OBJECTION - could these prophecies been written after the events?
• No - Hebrew OT translated into Greek during 2nd Century before Jesus
• People watching the events didn’t even realise that prophecy was being fulfilled until later.
• The founders of a religion can give us a lot of insight into the validity
• compare Jesus with Muhammad and the origin of the Koran
• Compare Jesus with Joseph Smith and the origin of the book of mormon
• Compare Jesus with Buddah, Krishna, and whoever else you want and I think you will find someone quite different in their teaching and their life.

Finishing

• We’ve looked at some evidences that the Bible is trustworthy (restate several)
• I believe that other religious texts don’t hold up to the same level of scrutiny, but you’re welcome to test that for yourselves.
• I especially want to challenge you to look in the bible for yourselves, if you are truly concerned for discovering the truth (or not) of the best-selling book of all time.

But what about aliens? Did God make aliens?

So you think that the massive size of the universe, combined with the multitude of stars which presents a high likelihood of many, many habitable planets for humans, means that there must be life "out there"? Over 100 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy and over 100 billion galaxies in the Universe seems like good odds for aliens existing!

I think it is unlikely that there are aliens, or if there are it is no concern of ours.

Here are a few points to consider:

1. The Bible is silent on this issue - beings from other parts of the universe are not mentioned (though beings from outside the universe - angels - are!). This means that they might exist, but it means that they might not. You can't make a call either way from the bible.
2. If they don't exist, how do we reconcile the massive "waste" of space that the universe and all that is in it appears to be? The Bible says that "The heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalm 19) so perhaps He intends to show something of His nature and power through such a display of almost endless creation. The incredible order and beauty tell us that there is an intelligent and artistic mind behind all of existence, and the sheer energy required to form all of the mass in the universe (consider E=mc^2) speaks of a vast and powerful God. I think that a lifeless universe (Earth excepted) has more than enough purpose to satisfy.
3. But the Bible is still silent on this issue! Yes, but that indicates that, even if aliens exist, we are unlikely to ever encounter them. The lack of instructions in how to deal with them (if they did arrive) means that God doesn't expect us to meet them. And if you know anything about the extraordinary vastness of space, you know that it would take many, many lifetimes to ever get anywhere for any being that could travel across those vast and empty chasms between worlds. The speed of light is a fundamental limit, and there is no known way to break that, though I guess it might be possible in the future which leaves a tiny glimmer of hope for alien enthusiasts. However...
4. Most alien enthusiasts are actually alien crazies (no offence intended, but that's how the type of person I'm about to describe comes across). So focused on the "certainty" of the existence of aliens because it gives them a sort of hope and meaning. Something is bigger in the world than their mundane problems and daily struggles. Those who have had "visitations" are usually those who have experimented with the occult (knowingly or unknowingly), and are likely to have experienced some sort of demonic (dark angelic) encounter and have mistaken it for an alien abduction or similar. Demons aim to deceive in any case, so don't feel too bad if this is you... 
5. If aliens did exist, they would be fallen sinful beings, as a part of a fallen creation, who are subject to God's laws. If God has revealed Himself to them with special revelation (like the Bible) it will show that He has the same character and focus for those who he created. His merciful nature, but also his desire for justice, will be wherever He is. And God is everywhere in His vast Creation. If aliens exist, they will have to face God at The Judgement to give account for their life's deeds. And if they don't have a saviour to take the punishment for their sins, as we have in Jesus Christ, then they will take their punishment for eternity in Hell too.

So, if you are a Christian, I'm sorry but I think you shouldn't spend much time pondering aliens as an exciting possibility. You should consider carefully whether aliens are an idol which distract you from God's glory.

If you are not a Christian, you can go on believing in aliens if you so desire. However, now you know that there is an answer to this issue from the Bible, i.e. God doesn't want us worrying about the possible existence of aliens because even if they exist it probably doesn't matter.

Is it enough to just listen to the bible?

Yes and no. I love to frustrate people with such an answer!

Yes, if you take it very slowly and discuss the details with a group over an extended period of time. Even better is if you listen to an expert (preacher/teacher) explaining the sense of the text you have just listened to. This is how it was done in the book of Nehemiah

"...the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. 8 They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading." - Nehemiah 8:7-8

And no, because there is too much detail in most of the bible for you to pick up through listening, even just careful listening.

But again, yes, because you can get the main ideas pretty easily from listening, especially if you have the Spirit helping you to understand.

Whatever you do, listen or read, don't take your daily bread lightly.  Consider how you do everything and do it deliberately, with care, with love, and with the most glory to God in mind.

Why does evidence matter when the Bible is only a book of faith?

Is it "only" a book of faith?  What happens when the Bible is no longer a historically reliable account (in the parts that it claims to be)?

When you reduce these parts of the Bible down to a few general metaphorical ideas, you establish a way of interpreting scripture.  If you then apply that way of interpreting scripture in essential areas (like the historical crucifixion), you end up doing away with everything that matters about Christianity.  In short, you are calling the Bible a lie.  Joel S. Baden does this, I think without realising, in this article.

Let me make this really clear.  If you cast doubt upon one historical account, e.g. the waters parting for Israel, then you also cast doubt upon another, and Jesus no longer really rose again.

The apostle Paul has this to say about this situation:

"...if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins..." 

- 1Corinthians 15:17

Why believe the Bible? Archaeology

Not just stories.  Real people, real events, real places, real physical evidence left behind.

Thousands of years later, discoveries continue to take place that confirm aspects of the narrative.

Is this alone enough to convince someone to have faith?  No way, and there are many who believe in the bible as a guide in their archaeological treasure hunts that show this by not believing the gospel.  This does, however, add to the bigger picture that builds evidence, authenticity, and leads to greater trust in the bible.

Some useful links for further exploration (vague pun intended!)
http://carm.org/archaeological-evidence-verifying-biblical-cities
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_and_history
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_archaeology
http://amazingdiscoveries.org/S-deception_archaeology_Bible_Cyrus.html

Why believe the Bible? Fulfilled Prophecy

An account of the crucifixion of Christ was written hundreds of years before he was born.  The account of that event, of fulfilled prophecy, is recorded in the four gospels.

How do we know that prophecy was really written before Christ?  In the second century BC the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek.  This was a big enough deal that this is recorded outside of the Bible itself.

If this is true, then we only have to establish whether Jesus, through the crucifixion, deliberately set out to fulfill this prophecy, or whether the gospels set out to copy it.  Neither of these options makes sense when you understand that a crucified Messiah was not what anyone was expecting.  All of the Jewish leaders, and even Jesus's close disciples, expected the Messiah to take power from the gentile nations and return ruling power and land to the Jews as God's people.

This is only one of many prophecies that were fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.

Try reading Psalm 22 (written 1000 years before Christ) and picking out the parts that were also in the gospel accounts.  If you get stuck, start at verses 16 to 18.

Why Believe the Bible? Internal Consistency

Remember that the Bible is really a collection of smaller books and letters written by around 40 different authors.  These were written over a period of about 1500 years.

The only way that such a span of writing could maintain internal consistency is by being a supernaturally guided production.  Every author was moved by the Spirit to write what was written.  As such, the whole Bible makes sense with every other part of the Bible.  When it doesn't seem to match up, it usually means the reader has missed something.

Some claim that there are too many contradictions in the Bible for it to be supernatural.  If only they would take the time to understand the fullness of the context in which their "contradiction" was written.  Then they might see their objection melt away.

Introduction to Bible Difficulties and Bible Contradictions 
(follow the links on the left to find how specific contradictions are resolved at www.carm.org)

Why Trust the Bible? Manuscripts

If you have a lot of early copies of some documents, and those copies match up with each other, you can know with a lot of certainty what the original documents said.

Put it this way: We have less than 700 copies of Homer's Iliad and they were from an era about 400 years after he first wrote this famous work.  This is considered good in historical literature, but the New Testament is far better.

The New Testament of the Bible has over 5000 manuscripts that were from less than 100 years of the originals.

Check out the table from carm.org for more info on this.

This puts to an end any foolish notion that the manuscripts of the New Testament were corrupted (as Islam claims).  To ensure this corruption you would have had to gather up all of these 5000+ documents and change them.  If you missed just one it would be obvious what had happened.

Why Trust the Bible? Wisdom

Because of the wisdom contained within, we should trust the Bible.

Nowhere else can you find wise words to cover every aspect of life's challenges that you might find.  Nowhere else is there a complete system to explain everything that you might need to know about anything (and that actually makes sense).  

Unfortunately, not everyone has eyes to see or ears to hear.  Fools despise wisdom.  How do you respond to the pearls below?

Pearls from the Bible:
Blessed is the man (and woman) who takes no advice from wicked people (Psalm 1:1)
Men can "sharpen" each other (proverbs 27:17) [two of similar minds/character reinforcing]
It is nothing special to love those who love you back.  Even a bad person does that.  Instead, love those who hate you (Matthew 5:43-46)
Man has an innate sense of eternity and morality (Ecclesiastes 3:11, Romans 2:15)

Why the God of the Bible?

One god is simpler than many.  That leaves Christianity, Judaism, and Islam as the only major world religions of one God (mono-theism).

Judaism and Christianity both start at the Bible which makes that a book worth checking out (even Islam allows for a bit of the Bible).  Judaism believes the Old Testament up to the time of Jesus and Christianity believes both the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The Koran of Islam came on the scene pretty late (7th century) and does not compare well with the Bible.  Muhammad, the prophet of Islam who brought the Koran, is also a bit of a disreputable character.