Confidence in the Bible, conclusion

I find that our last few studies of prophecy have been fascinating; some people find archaeology even more riveting. Did you know that there has not been an archaeological dig that has ever contradicted a Biblical story or event?
We can't conclude our study without mentioning archaeological proofs for the Bible.

Dr. Nelson Glueck's pioneering work in the field of biblical archaeology resulted in the finding of over 1500 ancient sites. He was considered the greatest modern authority of Israeli archaeology. He once said:

 "No archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of .... findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries."

Sounds like when archaeologists want to know where to dig, they use the Bible as their map!
We'll look at several discoveries that give us "ammo" when we are talking with folks who want to poke holes in our faith and call the Bible a collection of myths.....
First, there is an area that has been excavated in Syria which is the site of the ancient town of Ebla. back in 1974, over 17,000 tablets were unearthed that told a distinct tale of the city. The people there were merchants and traders, and they exchanged textiles and metals with people as far north as present-day Turkey, and as far east as present-day Iran. An export they were noted for was a cloth of scarlet and gold -- it seemed to differ very little from the brocades still made in Syria today.  The palace whose library contained most of these tablets burned around 2300 BC, and the fire actually baked and preserved the tablets!
Critics have argued for years that Moses invented all the Genesis accounts and that the people of Old Testament times were far too primitive to record documents with precise details. However, the Ebla tablets predate the Old Testament, and they confirm names and locations that are mentioned in it!
The folks who have described Abraham's victory over the Mesopotamian kings as fictitious and scoffed at the five cities "of the Plain" as mythical, are proven wrong by the tablets; the tablets mention all five of the cities by name.
(If anyone would like to dig deeper in these areas, there are lots of resources: Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell, Ebla Tablets by Clifford Wilson, and many articles regarding the "Cyrus Cylinder," which we will touch on soon.)

If we look at evidence from archaeology over the years, there has been little help to the skeptics, and much help to Bible believers!
For instance, the fall of Samaria that is detailed in II Kings is listed on the palace walls of the ancient palace of Sargon II in present-day Iraq. The campaign of the Assyrians, led by Sennacherib against Judah (also in II Kings) is recorded on the Taylor Prism, found in Ninevah many years ago.
Nahum and Zephaniah prophesied the fall of Ninevah in II Kings, and the city's fall is recorded on the Tablet of Nabopolasar, now in the British Museum.  Jerusalem's fall to Nebuchadnezzar is recorded in the Babylonian Chronicles, and the captivity of Jehoiachin (king of Judah) in Babylon is recorded in the Ration Records found about 1899.
Finally, the Cyrus Cylinder that was discovered in the ruins of Babylon (in present-day Iraq) in 1879, has been translated to show the fall of Babylon that we read about in Daniel 5, and the freeing of captives that we read about in the book of Ezra.

We also have discoveries that provide evidence for New Testament events . . . as an example, in 1963, a tablet was found during a restoration of the amphitheater in Caesarea. The table had the name "Pontius Pilate" inscribed upon it. Why is that important? Because until that discovery, the name Pilate was only found in the New Testament and a few other secular historical sources -- so this was proof of the man, and provides evidence for the mock trial of Christ that we read in the Gospels.

All of these non-biblical sources and archaeological discoveries support details about history noted in our Bible, and they help us to see with even more certainty that the Bible writers were concerned with accuracy, not just writing down their personal views.
The Bible is more than a history book, though. It's the record of God's desire to reach into our sinful hearts, change them, and bring us into an abundant and joyful relationship with Him. He will transform us, and also transform our lives. We'll look into those concepts next week!

Building our confidence in our Bible

Let's dig in again, today, in our studies of how prophecies have been accurately fulfilled - bolstering our faith in our Bible!
Our first example will be another from the Old Testament, but unlike Monday's post, we will look at the words of Ezekiel this time. Take a moment and read these verses:

In the eleventh month of the twelfth year, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, ‘Aha! The gate to the nations is broken, and its doors have swung open to me; now that she lies in ruins I will prosper,’3 therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, Tyre, and I will bring many nations against you, like the sea casting up its waves. 4 They will destroy the walls of Tyre and pull down her towers; I will scrape away her rubble and make her a bare rock. 5 Out in the sea she will become a place to spread fishnets, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord. She will become plunder for the nations, 6 and her settlements on the mainland will be ravaged by the sword. Then they will know that I am the Lord.7 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: From the north I am going to bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings,with horses and chariots, with horsemen and a great army. 8 He will ravage your settlements on the mainland with the sword; he will set up siege works against you, build a ramp up to your walls and raise his shields against you. 9 He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and demolish your towers with his weapons. 10 His horses will be so many that they will cover you with dust. Your walls will tremble at the noise of the warhorses, wagons and chariots when he enters your gates as men enter a city whose walls have been broken through. 11 The hooves of his horses will trample all your streets; he will kill your people with the sword, and your strong pillars will fall to the ground. 12 They will plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise; they will break down your walls and demolish your fine houses and throw your stones, timber and rubble into the sea. 13 I will put an end to your noisy songs, and the music of your harps will be heard no more. 14 I will make you a bare rock, and you will become a place to spread fishnets. You will never be rebuilt, for I the Lord have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord. (Ezekiel 26:1-14)

Wow! Pretty precise, right? Ezekiel predicted that Nebuchadnezzar (the king of Babylon) would destroy the city. He also said that ole Nebby would not be the only one to fight the city of Tyre; many nations would come up against it. He said the city itself would be scraped clean and level, and it would look like a bare rock. Then he foretold that the stones and timbers would be cast into the sea.
Why cast the stuff into the sea? To stop the people from rebuilding?
Hold your horses, and we'll get to that!
Ezekiel then predicted that the region would become a place only good for spreading out fishermen's nets, and that the city would never again be rebuilt to its former glory.
Let's take this one step at a time . . . secular history has recorded that each one of these prophecies has come true. Tyre was a coastal city that had an unusual layout: in addition to the inland city, there was an island about three-fourths of a mile offshore.
Nebuchadnezzar besieged the mainland city way back in 586 BC, but it was a hollow victory when he prevailed. His spies must not have done a very good job of preparing him, because once he conquered the city, he was quite surprised to find the inhabitants had moved to the island!
This situation lasted for over two hundred years, and then Alexander the Great came along. He conquered the city, but it wasn't easy! To get to the island, he literally had his army scrape clean the inland city of all stones, timbers, and dirt, and toss them all into the sea -- to make a land bridge to the island. Now, you might think Ezekiel's batting average was slipping, because even with all that, all that Alexander was able to do was damage the city severely. He didn't prevail.
Here's the thing: It was 1600 years later that the Muslims thoroughly crushed Tyre. In 1291 AD, they completely destroyed it, and the city has never regained its position of wealth and power in the region.

Hard to imagine that Ezekiel could look 1900 years into the future, right? But he did, and he saw the bustling, prosperous city of Tyre as it is today, a bald rock where fishermen gather to open their nets. Modern travelers will see a very small colony of fishermen where a thriving city once stood.

Let's look at prophecies in the Old Testament that pointed to our Savior. There are well over one hundred such prophecies about Him in the Old Testament. Some are referring to His birth; some are about His ministry, His teachings, and His lineage; some are about how He would die and what would transpire then.
Jesus even confirmed for us that the prophecies were about Him:

You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, (John 5:39)

First, our Savior was foretold to be born of a woman; and not just of a woman, but born of a virgin:

"And I will put enmity    between you and the woman,    and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,    and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

When the wise men traveled and appeared before Herod, trying to find out where Jesus was born, the scribes pointed to the prophecy of Micah:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,    though you are small among the clans of Judah,out of you will come for me    one who will be ruler over Israel,whose origins are from of old,    from ancient times.” (Micah 5:2)

There were multiple prophecies of the lineage of Jesus Christ. You can study these verses to see: Genesis 12:3, Genesis 17:19, Genesis 49:10.  The flight to Egypt and the massacre of children due to the jealous rage of King Herod were predicted in Hosea and in Jeremiah:

“When Israel was a child, I loved him,    and out of Egypt I called my son. (Hosea 11:1)

This is what the Lord says:“A voice is heard in Ramah,    mourning and great weeping,Rachel weeping for her children    and refusing to be comforted,
    because they are no more.” (Jeremiah 31:15)

There are prophecies of how the Messiah would be preceded by a prophet messenger, praised by children, and how He would be betrayed, spat upon, and despised. There are descriptions of His crucifixion long before the style of execution was even known.
In the book Science Speaks, the authors discuss the improbability of one person fulfilling only eight of the prophecies that Jesus' life, death, and resurrection fulfilled:

The chance of this happening, they say, is 1 in 10¹⁷ power. Stoner gives an illustration that helps visualize the magnitude of such odds:
Suppose that we take 10¹⁷ silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote using their own wisdom.

Now, let's compare that the psychics of today, or to the people who want to say that they know the exact date the world will end. Or to other religious figures who have perhaps managed a few good guesses, but still have made other prophecies that have never come true....

The Bible is the only book that can claim and verify a 100% accuracy rate. The reason?
That's simple -- it's the only book from God.
We'll conclude our study tomorrow.

What are we listening to today?

We've been studying pretty hard lately, and missed our Friday Slowdown music posts a couple of times. I think those are refreshing, as a way for us to pause and reflect - I generally try to find something that "goes with" our studies, if possible.

I believe that singing and making melody in our heart to the Lord is an integral part of our day. It gives us a chance to de-stress, and it focuses our thoughts on Him, instead of on our problems, our pains, or our circumstances.

Let's pause today and reflect on His goodness . . . His mercy . . . His all-encompassing love for us.

We may find that the rest of our day goes much better!

It's important to make sure we are listening to some good "stuff" each day! Whether it's musical or a sermon or podcast, let's put some inspiring "stuff" in our ears!

I heard this song recently and wanted to share. It's a jubilant, energetic song that will have us thinking on heavenly things!

Enjoy!

Confidence instead of "blind faith"

We're continuing our study from last week; we are looking at reasons that, as my grandma used to say, "You can hang your hat on," -- good, solid reasons why we can vouch for the Bible as truth. We can be confident, and not be accused of having "blind faith."

For the next two studies, we will focus on prophecy. There are a lot of prophetic words in the Bible, and this is one thing we can say: the Bible only contains accurate prophecies of God's will. Unbelievers may question this, but we can stand our ground.
Let's look closer . . .
If you think about it, we live in a world of self-proclaimed prophets. It's usually short term, but you can see it everywhere. Some people check the newspaper daily for a psychic reading or a horoscope. Some eagerly tear open the fortune cookie to read the slip of paper inside. We listen to the prognosticators to figure out whether we need an umbrella each day - personally, if they say it will be sunny, I grab my raincoat! Many people listen to the "talking heads" that discuss the economy and the business climate; they hang on every word about stocks and bonds, and where those commodities will be going -- up or down.
But there are big differences in Bible prophecies.
First, they came true centuries later. Not tomorrow. Not next week or next year.
Secondly, the prophets were extremely specific. They were not vague or generic, like a fortune cookie that says "you will meet someone who brings you happiness" or "good fortune is coming your way."
Another difference was that the prophets that we read of in our Bible exalted God. Their announcements and teachings about Him were accurate and brought glory and reverence to God in their listeners. So-called psychics today tend to exalt themselves, and make money off gullible people who are searching for guidance in their lives. Most of the prophets lived low-key, even poverty-level lives, and in the New Testament, Paul was often working at a trade to support himself. He may have collected money for others, but he didn't collect for himself and then live a lavish lifestyle.
Lastly, the Bible prophets had a 100% accuracy rate.
Seriously.
Look:

You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed. (Deuteronomy 18:21-22)

No wiggle room there!
Let's take a look at a few prophecies and see for ourselves, OK?
Hmmmm, let's say we are on a tour of New England, seeing the sites that are important to the early days of the colonies, when the longing for independence from England had reached a boiling point, the war had been fought, and the colonies were struggling to come together as one nation.
At one of the historical sites, our guide points to a yellowed, dilapidated document dating back to the year 1800. That piece of paper tells of a man that would hail from a place called Austin, in a region called Texas; the man's name would be George W. Bush, and he would be President of the United States in approximately two hundred years.
I know, I know, right?
Texas wasn't even part of the United States in 1800. How could anyone know a city and town and the name of a man, more than a century before he would be elected President?
Only God can foretell the future!
Through His prophet Isaiah, He foretold the rise of a man named Cyrus, and tells the history yet-to-be of two nations -- Babylon and the Medo-Persian empire. God vividly described (through Isaiah) how He would destroy the kingdom of Babylon through the hands of the Medes and the Persians. This is pretty remarkable, since Cyrus wouldn't even be born (much less assume power) for almost one hundred and fifty years after Isaiah wrote this down! Isaiah also announced that after overthrowing Babylon, Cyrus would actually serve as God's shepherd, and release the Jews from captivity. He would also assist them in returning to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.
Let's look at these amazing verses of prophecy:
Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms,
    the pride and glory of the Babylonians,
will be overthrown by God
    like Sodom and Gomorrah. (Isaiah 13:19)

“This is what the Lord says to his anointed,    to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold ofto subdue nations before him    and to strip kings of their armor,to open doors before him    so that gates will not be shut: I will go before you    and will level the mountains;I will break down gates of bronze    and cut through bars of iron. I will give you hidden treasures,    riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the Lord,    the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
For the sake of Jacob my servant,    of Israel my chosen,I summon you by name    and bestow on you a title of honor,    though you do not acknowledge me. I am the Lord, and there is no other;    apart from me there is no God.
I will strengthen you,    though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun    to the place of its setting
people may know there is none besides me.    I am the Lord, and there is no other.
  I form the light and create darkness,    I bring prosperity and create disaster;
    I, the Lord, do all these things. (Isaiah 45:1-7)

And here's more:

"who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd    and will accomplish all that I please;he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,”    and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.”’ (Isaiah 44:28)

All of these prophecies were made, calling Cyrus by name, almost two hundred years before Cyrus overthrew Babylon.
That's amazing enough, but how about prophecies that were made hundreds of years before Christ, and then have been fulfilled in the 1900's?
Ready?

Do not be afraid, for I am with you;    I will bring your children from the east    and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’    and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’Bring my sons from afar    and my daughters from the ends of the earth— (Isaiah 43:5-6)

 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will save my people from the countries of the east and the west. 8 I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.” (Zechariah 8:7-8)

This was written somewhere in the neighborhood of 700-681 BC, and was fulfilled most completely in the late 1900's. Let me explain, because I didn't know all of this, either! In this passage, Isaiah specifically says that the Jews would return to their homeland from all directions of the compass. When Isaiah was living, the Assyrians had forced many Jews into exile; then the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, scattering the people to virtually every corner of the world.
Many Jews living in the Middle East moved back to Israel by the early 1900's, and in the middle of the 1900's, many thousands of Jews living in Europe and the US (the west) began moving back. From the north? Well, the Soviet Union (now Russia) is north of Israel, and for years they refused to let the Jews there move back to Israel. After years of pressure from other countries, they began allowing them to leave in the 1980's and go back to their homeland.
Ethiopia, in the south, also refused to allow Jews there to leave. But in 1985, a deal was struck between the two countries and in 1991, there were over 14,000 Jews who left Ethiopia for Israel. Isaiah's and Zechariah's prophecies of the Jewish people returning from the east, the west, the north, and the south, were fulfilled.

The Jewish people returned to what was described in the late 1800's as a "wasteland." Isaiah had something to say about that, too:

The Lord will surely comfort Zion    and will look with compassion on all her ruins;
he will make her deserts like Eden,    her wastelands like the garden of the Lord.Joy and gladness will be found in her,    thanksgiving and the sound of singing. (Isaiah 51:3)

These words foreshadow what is happening in the present day in Israel. The Jewish people have been irrigating, cultivating, and using innovative technologies to repurpose and restore much of the land in their country. Many of the swamps have been converted to fertile farmland and water from the Sea of Galilee has been channeled through desert areas. At least two million trees have been planted in the past century, and Israel is blooming again - it is even a food source for many countries besides itself.

Truly, the prophecies that we see in the Bible have been accurately fulfilled. This is a testimony that we can be confident in!
We'll study more on this next time.
Hope you will join us!

Confidence in the Bible

We're studying the inspiration of the Bible, the transmission of the writings from generation to generation, and the collection of the books and letters into one volume. We asked a rhetorical question: is there anything in the Bible that we can test and prove to be true? We said the answer was yes, that there are historical, mathematical, and scientific truths in it.... today we will continue our study.  (I'm glad you are here and didn't get scared off!)

As far as the historical notes go, the Bible can sometimes be verified by what we can call "extra-Biblical" sources. By that we mean they are ancient sources that are not related to the Bible, the Pentateuch, or Hebrew tradition. Writings, tablets, and such that are clearly from the same time period, but are not related to Jewish writings.
Let me explain why these are so helpful and so important.
If you were on trial in a court of law, unjustly accused of a crime, you would protest and proclaim your innocence, no? And probably you would have some family members who would get up and vouch for you; they would testify in your defense. The jury might look skeptically at these witnesses, though, and entertain the thought that they could be lying to protect you, out of the love and loyalty that they feel for you.
That is why defense lawyers routinely seek out unrelated people, experts in their fields, and people who are disinterested in you as a person, and ask them to testify. Since these people have no personal interest in your story or your innocence, they can "back up" your story and not be accused of trying to protect you.
It's not hard to see why unbelievers might look askance at some of the things they hear or read from the Bible. Some of the events are miraculous, and are hard for them to believe. How about Jonah in the belly of the "great fish" (or whale, as some translate it), the crossing of the Red Sea on dry land, and even the creation of the world in six days?
Other religious and historical writings of the time can be very helpful in increasing our faith in the hard-to-believe stuff . . . perhaps the event that has come under the most fire is the worldwide flood recorded in Genesis, in which all life on earth died except for eight people and all those animals in the ark.
Interestingly, there are many stories in many different cultures about a great flood. Possibly the most famous one is from the Babylonian culture, and is called the Gilgamesh Epic. In this story, the main character is a man who built a huge ship to ride out a coming flood. His boat was a gigantic cube, however, and it would slowly roll in the water! When we compare Noah's ark, which was approximately 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high, we can see this was a stable, sea-worthy vessel.
If there were a worldwide event such as a flood in Noah's time, we could expect that there would be many stories regarding that event in different cultures. The presence of accounts among many people-groups would seem to increase the probability that the event they describe actually occurred. And, even if the details don't match up exactly with the Biblical account, they do at least give us reason to believe that a world-wide flood did happen.

In the New Testament, unbelievers try to poke holes in the accounts (at worst) or to reason things out (at best). Some question whether or not Jesus Christ was the Son of God and our Savior, and some of them question whether or not He existed.
According to the Roman leaders of the time, He did!
Here is an excerpt from the writings of Tacitus, in the "Annals" around 100 AD:

“Hence to suppress the rumor, he falsely charged with the guilt...the persons commonly called Christians, who were hated for their enormities. Christus (or Christ), the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius...” – Tacitus, Annals XV.44

We will talk about some archaeological finds that tie into this when we continue next week. I hope that we have covered some things that will spark thoughtful discussions, and that we can build on these next week when we study again.

Blind faith? Nope. Confidence? Yep!

So far this week, we've looked at the passing of His Word from God to man; we've also looked at the passage of His Word from man to man (copying the books) and today we will look at the collection of the letters and books into our Bible.
A lot of people truly get hung up on this part.
I'm sorry.
I'm not the be-all, end-all for this. But I'm going to try to give you a little information and then hope that your interest will be piqued, and you will study!
This is something that all believers should study a bit, and then make up their own minds how to defend this (apologetics, remember?).

Every so often, when the scandals from celebrities die down and they need something to trumpet on their covers, the supermarket tabloids will plaster a headline like this across the front: "New book of the Bible found!" Or maybe this: "Lost scrolls found - true meanings discovered!"
Sometimes a person may see this and begin to worry about whether or not the Bible they study is really OK. How did the books get put together? Could someone have made a mistake? Others will be mildly curious to read what new light this discovery may shed on "problem" passages of the Word.
So, who did the picking and choosing?
Who said "this book is OK, but we'll leave this one out."
Was it just a question of "if in doubt, throw it out"?

Nope.
The Old Testament wasn't called that at the time, but the books we now call the Old Testament were accepted and acknowledged long before the birth of Christ. Moses read the "covenant" to the people; Nehemiah did the same; those five books called the Pentateuch were accepted by the religious leaders and by the people. The historian Josephus says that unlike the Greeks (who had a multitude of books and religious writings) the Hebrews had only twenty-two that were justly believed to be divine. Josephus pointed out that five belonged to Moses and contained the Law. He also confirmed that the prophets who came after Moses wrote down what was done in their times - thirteen more books. The remaining four books, he said, contained hymns to God and precepts for the conduct of human life.
Jesus validated the Old Testament as a whole when He said:

 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished."  (Matthew 5:17-18)

In the second century, because most of the books and letters were from eye-witnesses to the life of Christ, most churches came to possess a collection of inspired books - these included the four Gospels, the book of Acts, thirteen of Paul's letters, I Peter, and I John. The other seven books took a bit longer to be generally accepted. We can go into huge discussions of Clement, Polycarp, and Ignatius and the fact that they quoted from all of what we now call our New Testament, but I don't want to spend too much time charging down rabbit holes. (Grin)
I will touch on one other factor that contributed to the perceived NEED for establishing the books: some movements that sprang up in the second century (about 100 AD, so about seventy or so years after Christ's death and resurrection) started confusing things. They led folks to believe that Christ's teachings contradicted YAHWEH's words, and that they were two separate god-figures. At the same time, some writings were put forth by Gnostics that gave "heretofore unknown details" of the childhood of Christ, etc.  There were some that even gave guided tours of heaven and hell, personally conducted by the apostles. Today, these are known as the New Testament apochrypha.

So, as people struggled with these issues, a set of questions began to be used in order to make some sense of things. They knew that it was not up to them to establish a list. It was their job to acknowledge the self-authenticating authority of the books.....let me explain.
First, they asked "was the book written by a prophet or an apostle?"
Next, "did the message tell the truth about God?"
Also, "did the book match revelation that was already accepted?"
Lastly, "did the book have wide acceptance - did God's people in several places validate it?"

Because of this, we see lists drawn up by Eusebius, and by Athanasius. During the 300 AD timeframe, several church "committees" or Synods, gave the nod to all twenty-seven books of the New Testament. I really do want to make the distinction here.....the church didn't decide which books should be included. What they did was to recognize and acknowledge the inspiration and the self-authenticating authority of the books and letters.
Now, sometimes I think that I've explained something, and it makes sense to me. But, as my grandma used to say, I may have instead made it "as clear as mud." So, if there are any questions, please let me know. I'm not guaranteeing that I can answer them, but I can pray and try!
Some people don't like the fact that all of this happened over the course of a couple of hundred years. I actually take comfort in that. I think that safe-guarded the process. We didn't have one person dominating the choices of which books to include, or making things fit that individual's theology. There was no one faction that was in control and said to toss out books. It was a centuries-long process, and I believe that God was guiding it.

Of course, when we get to heaven and can ask all the questions that we want to, we can find out all of this for certain. (Grin) But is there anything in the Bible that we can test and then prove to be the truth?
I'm glad you asked that!
The answer is yes!
The Bible records truth about God and guidelines for living, of course. But there are also scientific, mathematical, and historical truths in it, as well.
Hmmmm, wonder if that is one reason for the recording of all those bits and pieces of information that seem random to us? Like genealogies, and numbers of troops, and things like that?

First, we have what we've talked about before - primary sources. These are the ones most valued by historians and researchers, as they are the accounts from people who were actually there. In the case of the New Testament books (and letters), these were written by folks who had seen Jesus Christ and followed Him in His ministry. Paul met God on the Damascus road, and experienced His power and mercy firsthand. It is these eye-witness accounts and relationships on which we first base our trust in the collection of writings we call the Bible.
Listen to these ringing declarations and you will see what we mean:

But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! 20 As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19-20)

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried,that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. (I Corinthians 15:3-10a)

For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. (II Peter 1:16)

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.  (I John 1:1-3)

These accounts give us details that were acknowledged at the time, and in the years afterward. Many hundreds of people saw the risen Christ, and would have included that in the oral histories that were passed down in families and in churches. Not one or two people. Not several. Hundreds.

Eyewitnesses.
Boy, I can't wait to see Him with my own eyes! Ah, but that's another story......
We'll continue on this track tomorrow.