The question is intriguing given the “fact” that so many have been brainwashed into believing that the Bible has been so badly compromised that is it only good for the equally brainwashed faithful.
So, we have two groups who are pointing their fingers at each other and arguing that the other group is brainwashed over the Bible.
Both cannot be right, and only one can be wrong.
Is the Bible about facts or is it purely fiction? How do we decide?
From the Christian perspective, there is really only one event that settles the matter, as the whole Christian faith is predicated upon it.
That event is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul concluded as much when he wrote,
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied (1 Cor 15:12-19).
The Bible states, unequivocally, that Jesus died on a cross and three days later was resurrected, and that the Jews did all they could to excuse what happened.
Although some secularists and atheists have attempted to discount the historicity of the resurrection, they, like the Jews in Jesus’ day, have failed miserably in their effort.
They have never been able to convincingly explain what happened to Jesus’ body, much less have any of them been able to explain why any of Jesus’ disciples would have engaged in lying or misrepresentation, especially when such would have cost those same disciples their very lives—many of whom died martyr’s deaths anyway.
Hence, we are left with the “facts” surrounding the resurrection of Jesus versus all the lies, distortions, and misrepresentations propagated by those who have desperately attempted to eradicate it from the annals of history as some sort of myth.
Jesus came forth from the tomb, was seen by his disciples, along with 500 other Christians, and then his half-brother James and some other apostles, and finally later, the apostle Paul.
There is no legitimate reason to reject the biblical testimony to the contrary.
