The Bible—An Oriental Book
Contrary to popular belief, the Bible is not a product of the civilization of the West, nor does it glorify that civilization. Almost the entire Bible was written in Oriental countries. The men who wrote it down were all Orientals. One thousand years before Buddha, in 1513 B.C.E., Moses, who lived in the Middle East, was inspired by God to write the first book of the Bible, called Genesis. From this beginning, the Bible follows one harmonious theme right through to its final book of Revelation. The Bible was completed in 98 C.E., about 600 years after Buddha. Did you know that the Bible is made up of 66 different books? Yes, the Bible is a library in itself!
Thus, over a period of 1,600 years from Moses' time on, some 40 men shared in writing the harmonious record of the Bible. They testify that their writings were inspired by a power far higher than mortal man. The Christian apostle Paul wrote: "All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness."* (2 Timothy 3:16) And the apostle Peter explained: "No prophecy of Scripture springs from any private interpretation. For prophecy was at no time brought by man's will, but men spoke from God as they were borne along by holy spirit."—2 Peter 1:20, 21; 2 Samuel 23:2; Luke 1:70.
Most remarkable, too, is the way the Bible has come down to this day. For thousands of years, until the invention of printing about 500 years ago, copies of the Bible had to be made by hand. No other literary work of ancient times was so diligently copied and recopied. It was copied over and over again, but always with great care. The copyists made only a few minor errors, and a comparison of these has established the original text inspired by God. A leading authority on Bible manuscripts, Sir Frederic Kenyon, says: "The last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed." Today, there are still in existence about 16,000 handwritten copies of the Bible or parts of it, some even surviving from the second century before Christ. Moreover, accurate translations have been made from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages in which the Bible was originally written into nearly all the languages of the earth.
Some have tried to discredit the Bible by saying it is inaccurate. However, in recent years archaeologists have dug into the ruins of ancient cities in Bible lands and have found inscriptions and other evidence proving conclusively that the persons and places mentioned even in the oldest Bible records actually existed. They have unearthed much evidence pointing to a global deluge, which the Bible says took place more than 4,000 years ago, in Noah's day. On this point, Prince Mikasa, a well-known archaeologist, stated: "Was there really a Flood? . . . The fact that the flood actually took place has been convincingly proved."#
* Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations in this publication are from the modern-language New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, 1984 edition.
# Monarchs and Tombs and Peoples—The Dawn of the Orient, page 25.
 
Copyright © 2006 Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved.
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