Beyond the Weekend: What's the Difference
In What’s the Difference, Guest Speaker John Dickson helps us gain an understanding of the religious beliefs of those around us, while also developing a greater appreciation for Christianity. This series touches specifically on Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Atheism and Religious Pluralism. We see that we need to treat other belief systems fairly, all while holding onto the uniqueness of Jesus’ work on the cross.
Week 1 Verses: Revelations 21:1–5
Week 2 Verses: Romans 3:22b–25a
Week 3 Verses: Acts 17:28-31
The New Testament
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16
Read: 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Listen: 2 Timothy 3
TODAY'S MESSAGE
The Islamic scripture, the Qur’an, mentions previous scripture, including many parts of the Christian Bible. However, most Muslims believe the New Testament has been corrupted and can't be trusted.
This is a major difference between Christianity and Islam. For Christians, there are at least three historical reasons to trust the New Testament.
The reliability of the eyewitness testimony. Much of the Bible is composed of eyewitness accounts. For example, the book of Acts contains eyewitness testimony to events from the early church. The names, events, and places described have proven to be extremely accurate descriptions of the first-century Roman world.
The timeliness of the accounts of Jesus after his death. In historical perspectives, the New Testament was written relatively soon after Jesus lived. Muhammad’s first biography isn’t until 175 years after his life. For Alexander the Great, we don’t have biographical information until after 120 years. Yet we have material from 20–40 years after Jesus’ life. Jesus’ biographies were written while his contemporaries were still alive.
The manuscript support. The New Testament has more manuscript support than any other ancient writing. For instance, there are seven copies of Plato, the earliest dated to over a thousand years after it was written. One of the most famous ancient world writings is Homer’s Iliad. The earliest copies we have are from 500 years after it was written with only 643 manuscripts. The earliest copy of the New Testament is from less than a hundred years after it was written. There are over 5,500 manuscripts.
IN YOUR CHAIR TIME TODAY
Spend some time thanking God for his revealed word. Through the Bible, we learn about God and the truth about ourselves. What a gift! Consider how you can spend more time in God’s Word regularly.
Download a printable PDF of the BTW week here.
