THE CROSS NEWSLETTER
August 2025
| ACCURACY OF GOD’S WORD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT(PART 1 of 4) Investigating the accuracy of God’s written word may seem unnecessary to most. However, in just one sentence in the Mormon (LDS) Articles of Faith the whole Bible’s accuracy is called into question. Article 8 of the Articles of Faith states, ‘We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God’.This brief one sentence statement calls the complete Bible into question. Only those who have studied Hebrew and Greek may speak to this. Further, it questions the reliability of the transmission process from the original writing to current time. During the next four months the process of transmission and reliability will be discussed. Guest writer, Lori Lauber, is supplying a studied evaluation of the accuracy of God’s word in the Old Testament. Documentation for this investigation is from Josh McDowell’s scholarly work, The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict, Volumes 1 and 2. Gary Keating, General Manager PART 1 How many of you have had to get a new cell phone and had all your data transferred from your old phone to your new phone? I’ve had two new phones over the past 10 years, and it really hasn’t been a big deal because the tech person at the cell phone store knew what they were doing. In fact, it doesn’t really matter how many new phones we may have over our entire lifetime, so long as the phone numbers, photos, and text message histories are moved from our old phone to the new phone correctly, right? In other words, it’s not the phone that we’re concerned with- – -it’s the accurate data we’re after. Today, we’re going to discuss the Old Testament and why we can fully trust in the fact that it is reliable not only as a collection of historical data, but it is in fact, the very words of God as He originally intended them to be given to mankind. Let’s just get one piece of information out in the open and address it head on. We do not have the original “autograph” manuscripts for either the Old or New Testaments, due to the perishable nature of the materials that were used to create the writings. But I’d like to present a perspective for you to consider. Although we don’t have the original manuscripts, we do have excellent reasons to believe we have the original words that God gave to His faithful prophets thousands of years ago. This reality is what I want to focus on. It’s just like the cell phone. We’re not concerned with how many phones we’ve had in the past- – -we just want to make sure that the data has been transferred accurately. Likewise, with regards to the Old Testament, we’re not concerned with how many manuscripts there have been in the past. What truly matters is that the written text has been accurately preserved over time. We’re looking for the original words, not the materials the words were written on.I’d like to present, as someone might do in a court of law, what is a solid case supporting the idea that we can trust, well beyond a reasonable doubt, that what we have in our Old Testament books is what God originally inspired the writers to communicate to us.Let’s start with a little background information. You may have heard the books of the Bible referred to as the “canon” of scripture. The word means a rule by which something is judged, or a rod by which something is measured. This is significant, because it’s not just that the Bible is true, or that it is one of many truths. The Bible is the standard of truth by which we measure everything that comes after it that claims to be true. God has given us the Bible for our guidance and protection.39 books in the Old Testament, written over approximately 1,000 years (1,400 BC to roughly 400 BC). Jews count the Hebrew Bible as 22 books because they are grouped differently.Three categories of books in the Old Testament:The book of the Law, the first five books, also called the Torah in Hebrew, the Pentateuch in English.The Prophets.The Writings. Contrary to popular belief, the Old Testament was not orally transmitted over thousands of years. This was not a ‘telephone game’! When the Holy Spirit moved His prophets to receive His Word, the text was received and written down right away, and guarded in the Tabernacle, then later, guarded in the first Temple. The following information from six of the Old Testament writers is evidence of the Godly process used to save His Word for us today. MosesDeuteronomy 31:24 “Moses finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end.”Deuteronomy 31:26 “Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God. There it will remain as a witness against you.” JoshuaJoshua 34:26 “And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the LORD.”Samuel1 Samuel 10:25 “Samuel explained to the people the rights and duties of kingship. He wrote them down on a scroll and deposited it before the LORD. Then Samuel dismissed the people to go to their own homes.”JeremiahJeremiah 30:2 “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Write all the words which I have spoken to you in a book.”IsaiahIsaiah 30:8 “Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness.”DanielDaniel mentions having a copy of Moses and the Prophets, as well as scrolls written by Jeremiah.Daniel 9:2 “in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.”Daniel used Jeremiah’s writings from only 70 years earlier, and he called them Scriptures. By reading God’s prophecy written down by Jeremiah, Daniel was able to see that the 70-year captivity was coming to an end. Therefore, Daniel prayed to God, asking Him to set the Israelites free, and that prophecy was fulfilled. These Bible verses directly refute the false claim that the Old Testament is unreliable because it was created over thousands of years by man’s ancient oral tradition. Rather, it is clear that there was an organic adoption, or canonization, of Scripture at the time the words were given by God. This month Lori’s evaluation for the accuracy of the Old Testament has looked at the internal evidence, that is, the evidence found within the Biblical text, itself. Next month Lori will be sharing how the Jewish community has regarded the Scripture over many centuries. If this subject is of special interest to you, purchase a copy of Josh McDowell’s book sited at the first of this article. Gary Keating |
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