CELEBRATING

30YEARSOF DISCOVERY MAGAZINE

IN THIS ISSUE:THE HARMONY OF THE BIBLE

SCRIPTURE AND SCIENCE FOR KIDS

HUMANLY IMPOSSIBLE

PROOFS OF INSPIRATION

VOLUME 31:12 DECEMBER 2020

DIFFERENT YET UNITED

INSP

IRAT

ION IT SHOULD BE ACCURATE ABOUT EVERYTHING: “IS CHOCOLATE GOOD OR BAD FOR YOU? IS COW’S MILK HARMFUL OR HELPFUL? IS IT OKAY TO EAT

LARGE AMOUNTS OF PORK? AND WHAT ABOUT SUGAR?"

YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN A VERY

CHALLENGING TASK:

As if the job does not sound difficult enough, the publishers also inform you that the chosen authors

of the book have a lot of differ-ences. Several writers are from the U.S., but some are also from Canada, Mexico, and

Brazil. Most speak English, but some speak Spanish, and two speak Portuguese. There are a number of cultural differences among the writers, including their diets. And only a few of the chosen authors know that much about nutrition. To top it all off, there is no financial gain for working on such a difficult project. No one will get a paycheck. Everything is being done for the good of humanity.

CLICK QR code to watch a video about the Bible's Perfectly Consistent Criticism.

HUMANLY IMPOSSIBLE!Could such a perfect, flawless health and nutri-

tion book ever really be written? The answer is a big “NO.” In fact, no one expects such perfec-

tion from a manmade book. There are simply too many things that man does not know and too

many things that people (even medical doctors and scientists) disagree about for such a health

and nutrition book ever to be published.

DID YOU KNOW THAT THE BIBLE WAS PENNED BY ABOUT 40 DIFFER-ENT HUMAN WRITERS? AND THESE MEN DID NOT ALL LIVE AT THE SAME TIME. MOSES LIVED AROUND 1,500 B.C., ISAIAH AROUND 700 B.C., MALACHI AROUND 400 B.C., AND THE NEW TES-TAMENT WRITERS WROTE FROM ABOUT A.D. 50-100.

THAT’S RIGHT! THE BIBLE WRITERS PENNED SCRIP-TURE OVER A PERIOD OF ABOUT 1,600 YEARS!

THINK ALSO ABOUT THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF WRITING IN THE BIBLE. MOSES WROTE A GREAT AMOUNT OF HISTORY AND LAW IN THE FIRST FIVE BOOKS. MANY OF THE TEACHINGS AND PROPHECIES IN THE LAST 17 BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT ARE IN THE FORM OF HEBREW POETRY. THE NEW TESTAMENT IS MADE UP OF A LOT OF LETTERS THAT WERE WRITTEN TO DIFFERENT PEOPLE, IN VARIOUS PLACES, FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSES.

HELP WRITE A 1,000-PAGE BOOK ON HUMAN HEALTH AND NUTRITION WITH

39 OTHER PEOPLE. THE PUBLISHERS OF THE BOOK WOULD LIKE FOR IT TO BECOME THE BEST, MOST TRUSTED,

AND COMPLETE BOOK IN THE WORLD ON “EATING HEALTHY.”

The book needs to be perfectly consistent (without contra-dictions), as well as in harmony with all scientific facts (whether known or currently unknown!). The publishers want to print a resource that can stand up to all manner of inspection. They want a book that will stand the test of

time and be helpful to people for the next 2,000 years (if Jesus has not returned by then).

BIG DIFFERENCES AMONG THE BIBLE WRITERS

The Bible writers were also very different—people from many backgrounds, cultures,

and education systems. Moses “was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts 7:22), as he grew up as the

adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter. Amos was a “sheepbreeder and a tender of sycamore fruit” from the town of Tekoa in Judah (Amos 7:14; 1:1).

Nehemiah was the butler to a foreign king in the Persian city of Shushan. Solomon was the son of Israel’s most famous king (David). Luke was a doctor, Matthew a tax collector, Paul a highly educated Jew, and Peter

and John were fishermen with little formal education.

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THE TRIAL OF THE APOSTLE PAUL

PERFECT UNITY DESPITE THE DIFFERENCESDESPITE ALL OF THE DIFFERENT WRITERS, TIME PERIODS, PLACES, CULTURES, LANGUAGES,

AUDIENCES, STYLES, AND PURPOSES, THE BIBLE WRITERS DID WHAT IS HUMANLY IMPOSSIBLE: THEY WROTE IN PERFECT HARMONY WITH ONE ANOTHER! THEY DID NOT

CONTRADICT EACH OTHER, NOR ANY KNOWN FACT. THEIR WRITING HAS STOOD THE TEST OF TIME. AS ISAIAH WROTE 2,700 YEARS AGO,

UNITY OF OVERALL THEME

CLICK QR code to watch a

video about ELDERS AND BIBLICAL UNITY.

UNITY OF HISTORYWHEN DISHONEST PEOPLE ARE AFRAID

THAT OTHERS WILL CHECK ON THEIR STORIES TO SEE IF THEY ARE TRUE, LIARS WILL OFTEN BE VERY VAGUE

ABOUT WHERE THEY HAVE BEEN, WHO THEY WERE WITH, AND WHAT THEY

WERE DOING. UNLIKE SNEAKY LIARS, THE BIBLE WRITERS DID NOT ATTEMPT TO SAVE

THEMSELVES FROM INSPECTION OF OTHERS BY BEING UNCLEAR ABOUT PEOPLE, PLACES, AND EVENTS IN THE PAST. THROUGHOUT THE BIBLE, THE WRITERS NOTED

SPECIFIC PEOPLE IN SPECIFIC CITIES AT SPECIFIC TIMES DOING SPECIFIC THINGS. FROM SARGON OF

ASSYRIA CONQURING THE CITY OF ASHDOD IN ISAIAH’S DAY (ISAIAH 20:1) TO THE APOSTLE PAUL STANDING BEFORE FIRST-

CENTURY RULERS LIKE FELIX, FESTUS, AND HEROD AGRIPPA (ACTS 24-26), THE BIBLE WRITERS WERE SPECIFIC—AND SPOT ON! THEY NEVER CONTRADICTED EACH OTHER, NOR

ANY KNOWN HISTORICAL FACT.

ONE CENTRAL THEME RUNS THROUGHOUT THE BIBLE—GOD’S PLAN OF SALVATION THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. FROM THE FIRST PROPHECY OF THE COMING SAVIOR IN GENESIS 3:15 TO THE BOOK OF MALACHI, THE OLD TESTAMENT TELLS US THROUGH PROMISES, PROPHECIES, AND WORD PICTURES THAT “THE SAVIOR IS COMING.” THEN, ABOUT 400 YEARS AFTER THE CLOSE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, THE FIRST FOUR BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT (MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE, AND JOHN) WERE WRITTEN TO TESTIFY TO THE TRUTH THAT, INDEED, “JESUS, THE SAVIOR, CAME.” ACTS-REVELATION TESTIFY TO THE FACT THAT “JESUS WILL COME AGAIN,” AND, IN LIGHT OF SUCH A DAY, GOD CALLS ALL PEOPLE TO HUMBLE THEMSELVES AND PUT THEIR COMPLETE TRUST IN JESUS, SUBMITTING TO HIS WILL AND NOT OUR OWN (1 PETER 5:5-7).

“THE GRASS WITH-ERS, THE FLOWER FADES, BUT THE WORD OF OUR GOD STANDS FOREVER” (40:8).

UNITY OF GOD’S INSTRUCTIONSThe Bible writers dealt with all manner of things that God desires for mankind to

know and do. Amazingly, whatever instruc-tions they gave about

whatever subject matter, they were

always in perfect har-mony with what the

other Bible writers wrote. Consider two

examples:

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ACTIVITY

ACTIVITY

PAGEPAGE

True or False

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Match, Find, and Circle

CAIN AND ABEL

WANT MORE? CLICK THE

QR CODE TO FILL IN THE

BLANKS WITH SCRIPTURE.

1. ___ People often write perfect books with perfect knowledge and accuracy.

2. ___ The Bible is reliable in all its teachings.

3. ___ The Bible writers were contradictory in their dis-approval of murder.

4. ___ The Bible writers were flawless in their disapprov-al of lying.

5. ___ When dishonest people are afraid that others will check on their stories to see if they are true, liars will often be very vague.

6. ___ The central theme of the Bible is about how to have the most fun in life.

7. ___ The Bible indicates that Luke was a tax collector.

8. ___ God is truth, and His followers are to be truthful, regardless of the situation.

A. MOSESB. NEHEMIAHC. POETRYD. FORTYE. GENESIS

F. MATTHEWG. SIXTEEN HUNDREDH. LETTERSI. AMOS

VALUE OF HUMAN LIFEHUMAN LIFE WAS PRECIOUS IN ADAM’S

TIME, WHICH IS WHY IT WAS SINFUL FOR CAIN TO MURDER HIS BROTHER

ABEL (GENESIS 4). MURDER WAS ALSO WRONG IN THE TIMES OF NOAH (GEN-ESIS 9:6), MOSES (EXODUS 20:13), DAVID (2 SAMUEL 11-12), ISAIAH (ISAIAH 1:15,21), AND THE APOSTLES (REVELATION 21:8)—

PERIODS OF TIME SPANNING SOME 4,000 YEARS! THE BIBLE WRITERS WERE PERFECTLY CONSISTENT IN THEIR DISAPPROVAL OF MURDER. NOT ALL KILL-

ING IS MURDER (SINCE SOMETIMES DEATH IS ACCIDENTAL, AND SOMETIMES IT IS FOR PUNISH-MENT PURPOSES—GENESIS 9:6; ROMANS 13:1-4). BUT MURDER

HAS ALWAYS BEEN WRONG, AND THE BIBLE IS PERFECTLY CONSIS-

TENT ON THIS SUBJECT.

SCAN QR code to watch a video on GOD'S AMAZING FAIRNESS.

TRUTH AND LIESTHE BIBLE WRITERS WERE ALSO IN PERFECT HARMONY IN THEIR

PRAISING OF TRUTH AND DISAPPROVAL OF LYING. AROUND 1,450 B.C., MOSES WROTE:

“YOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST YOUR NEIGHBOR” (EXODUS 20:16).

ABOUT 500 YEARS LATER, SOLOMON NOTED HOW

“LYING LIPS ARE AN ABOMINATION TO THE LORD, BUT THOSE WHO DEAL TRUTHFULLY ARE HIS DELIGHT”

(PROVERBS 12:22).

CONTINUED on page 96

AND THEN ABOUT 1,000 YEARS AFTER SOLOMON, PAUL REMINDED THE EPHESIANS:

“PUTTING AWAY LYING, ‘LET EACH ONE SPEAK TRUTH WITH HIS NEIGHBOR’” (EPHESIANS 4:25).

FROM BEGINNING TO END, THE BIBLE WRITERS’ MESSAGE ABOUT TRUTH IS PERFECTLY CONSISTENT: GOD IS TRUTH

(JOHN 14:6) AND HIS FOLLOWERS ARE TO BE TRUTHFUL, RE-GARDLESS OF THE SITUATION.

1. ___ About this many men wrote the Bible

2. ___ Number of years during which the Bible was written

3. ___ A prophet who was a sheepbreeder

4. ___ These make up a lot of the New Testament

5. ___ Wrote the first five books of the Bible

6. ___ Served a Persian king in the city of Shushan

7. ___ A tax collector, apostle, and Bible writer

8. ___ Form of writing often found in the last 17 books of the Old Testament

9. ___ The first prophecy of a Savior is found in this book

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APOLOGETICS PRESS, INC.230 Landmark Drive

Montgomery, AL 36117(800) 234-8558 (Orders)

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Editor: Kyle Butt, M.Div.Associate Editor: Eric Lyons, M.Min.

Layout and Design: Rob Baker, M.Ed.

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ANSWERS

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to Discovery, 230 Landmark Drive, Montgomery, AL 36117; USPS# 23370

APOLOGETICS PRESS, INC.230 Landmark Drive

Montgomery, AL 36117(800) 234-8558 (Orders)

(334) 272-8558DiscoveryMagazine.com

© 2020 Apologetics Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Editor: Kyle Butt, M.Div.Associate Editor: Eric Lyons, M.Min.

Layout and Design: Rob Baker, M.Ed.

Periodicals Postage PAID

Yearly Subscription Fees in U.S. Funds Only • United States of America: Individual rate: $14 each • Bulk rate (at least 5 to same address): $12 each.Club rate (at least 10 to different addresses paid together): $12.50 each

ANSWERS

Discovery is published monthly by Apologetics Press, Inc., 230 Landmark Drive, Montgomery, AL 36117. Application to Mail at Periodicals Postage Prices is Pending at Montgomery, AL. POSTMASTER: Send address changes

to Discovery, 230 Landmark Drive, Montgomery, AL 36117; USPS# 23370

MATCH, FIND, AND CIRCLE: 1. D (Forty); 2. G (1,600); 3. I (Amos); 4. H (Letters); 5. A (Moses); 6. B (Nehemiah); 7. F (Matthew); 8. C (Poetry); 9. E (Genesis). TRUE OR FALSE: 1-F; 2-T; 3-F; 4-T; 5-T; 6-F; 7-F; 8-T. FILL IN THE BLANKS: 1. God, possible; 2. word, forever; 3. Scripture, inspiration.

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ONLY GOD COULD GIVE US THE BIBLE

AS WE DISCUSSED AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS DISCOVERY ISSUE, IT IS HUMANLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR SO MANY VERY DIFFERENT WRITERS TO PEN A PERFECTLY CONSISTENT BOOK. YET, THE BIBLE

WRITERS DID JUST THAT. THEY WROTE IN PERFECT HARMONY WITH ONE ANOTHER AND WITH EVERY

KNOWN FACT OF THE UNIVERSE.

HOW COULD THEY DO THE HUMANLY IMPOS-SIBLE? THE ANSWER IS

SIMPLE (AND YET AMAZ-ING!): THEY WERE IN-

FORMED AND GUIDED BY THE ALL-KNOWING, ALL-

POWERFUL GOD.

“WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE

POSSIBLE” (MATTHEW 19:26).

“ALL SCRIPTURE IS GIVEN BY

INSPIRATION OF GOD”

(2 TIMOTHY 3:16).

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