How do we know that the Bible's prophecies have not been changed to reflect what has already happened? Couldn't they have been changed 500 years ago or so, to match what actually happened? In other words, how do we know that the Bible is true and can be trusted?
The answer is actually "Yes", the Bible could have been changed years ago. So what we need in order to show that the Bible has not been changed is a "Time Capsule" of some sort, written before Jesus was here, which contains these same prophecies.
In the years 1947-1949 such a "Time Capsule" was found. Very old scrolls, written over 125 years before Jesus was on this earth were discovered in caves located close to the Dead Sea. These scrolls are commonly known today as the "Dead Sea Scrolls". And the writing on these scrolls could not have been changed recently because the scrolls are extremely brittle. In fact, many of these actually fell apart when they were opened.
All of the book of Isaiah was discovered and translated. (The book of Isaiah contains many prophecies that point directly to Jesus.)
The conclusion is that our Bible is 98½ percent textually pure. Through all the copying of the Biblical manuscripts of the entire Bible, only 1½% has any question about it. Nothing in all of the ancient writings of the entire world approaches the accuracy of the biblical documents. The 1½ percent that is in question does not affect doctrine. The areas in question are called variants and they consist mainly in variations of wording and spelling. (As an example, in one chapter of 166 words, only one 3-letter word is in question and it does not make a significant difference to the meaning of the text.)
These ancient scrolls prove that the prophecies written in our Bibles are the same as what was written over 2,000 years ago.
In summary, these scrolls prove that the prophecies in our Bible have not been changed and can be trusted. And in turn, these prophecies prove that every detail in the Bible is accurate, even the stories that seem odd. Stories like the donkey that talked, or 5,000+ people being fed by just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, and a Man who walked on water are all stories that are true. We can trust our Bibles, even when we do not completely understand everything it says.
(Click here for more information about the Dead Sea Scrolls. See also Professor Peter Stoner's comments and proof.)
Would you like more evidence that the Bible is accurate and can be trusted? Here are links to 2 unrelated websites containing information that may be very helpful:
Additional evidence of the Bible's accuracy can be found in the Red Sea (see the Bible story in Exodus 14): http://users.netconnect.com.au/~leedas/redsea.html
Even more evidence of the Bible's accuracy can be found at the location of the former cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1-28): http://www.arkdiscovery.com/sodom_&_gomorrah.htm
Special Link: Bibleinfo.com (Ask a specific Bible question for a direct-from-the-Bible answer, or just search their list of common Bible questions. Either way, this is a very helpful website.)
