Bible Answers 4 Today's Youth Challenge Booklet #2 AMAZING DISCOVERIES OF THE BIBLE

AMAZING DISCOVERIES OF THE BIBLE amaze\[e]-'māz\ vb 1. Bewilder, Perplex                                2. To fill with wonder Check out these AMAZING things!!! [omit]   The Duck Billed Platypus is the animal kingdom's greatest puzzle!!   It has been called the "most wonderful of all living animals".   It has a leathery beak, but it is not a bird!   It has the traits of a mammal (warm-blooded and it nurses its young) but yet it lays eggs instead of giving birth! George Blanda played for 4 teams (Chicago Bears, Baltimore Colts, Houston Oilers, and Oakland Raiders during his nearly 3 decade, record-breaking National Football League career!   This IRONMAN holds the record for most games played (340) and most seasons played (26)!!!   That's a lot of bruises!!!          The BIBLE is full of AMAZING things too!!   In this AMAZING Challenge Booklet, we are going to look at 3 AMAZING things about the BIBLE: It is an AMAZING Book of Scientific Details! It is an AMAZING Book of Pinpoint Predictions! It is an AMAZING Book because it Reveals God to Us! Now sit back and enjoy the AMAZING world of the BIBLE!! 2 - 1

THE BIBLE IS AN AMAZING BOOK OF SCIENTIFIC DETAILS THE SETTING 9:00 PM -- July 19, 400 A.D. Two neighbors discussing the cosmic things of life       Edimus, have you ever wondered how many stars there are?    Not really, Porfus. Well, I have.   I would guess there are 861 stars.    Actually, you can't count them. What?   Who says?    God does. . .in the BIBLE: [ "...and tell the stars,                                                if thou be able to number them..." Genesis 15:5 ] You're crazy! Next thing you'll be telling me is that the world is round.    It is. What?    It says so right here: [ "It is he that sitteth upon                                     the circle of the earth..." Isaiah 40:22 ] But it can't be, you IDIOT!   If it was round, it would roll off the turtle's back!    It's not riding on a turtle. WHAT?   Where did you get that . . .Wait!   Let me guess. . .the BIBLE, right?    Yep!   God's Word says: "...[GOD] hangeth the earth upon nothing."   Job 26:7           [tfy2-2b.jpg] Edimus!   YOU'RE NUTS!   One day scientists are going to prove your book is wrong.   When they do, I'm going to laugh!   What do you think of that?    I think God will have the last laugh! 2 - 2

God has always had the [tfy2-3a.jpg] last laugh!!! God has known about things long before man discovered them.   Look at these examples: n Matthew Fountains Maury is called "The Path Finder of The Seas."    This American is the father of today's oceanography and is responsible for the establishment of Annapolis Academy.    One day while Matthew Maury was sick in bed, his oldest son was reading to him from the BIBLE and came to this verse:         "...whatsoever passeth through the PATHS OF THE SEAS."   Psalm 8:8 Maury then said, "If the Word of God says there are paths in the sea, they must be there, and I am going to find them."   Within a few years he had charted the sea lanes and currents! WHO KNEW FIRST -- GOD OR MAN ? * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * n Christopher Columbus testified that it was the book of Isaiah    that prompted his trip in 1492.   He later wrote: "In the name of the most Holy Trinity who inspired me with the Idea and afterwards made it perfectly clear to me that I could go to the Indies from Spain by traveling the ocean westwardly" Perhaps he was reading the BIBLE where it mentions: "It is he that sitteth upon the CIRCLE of the earth..." Isaiah 40:22 During Columbus' time, others thought the Earth was flat.   The BIBLE had said it was round.           WHO KNEW FIRST -- GOD OR MAN? 2 - 3

n In 1630, Galileo discovered how river water ran into the sea and found its way back to the clouds.   We now know it as the water cycle - evaporation, condensation and rain.   Yet the BIBLE mentioned 2500 years earlier: "All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again."   Ecclesiastes 1:7   WHO KNEW FIRST -- GOD OR MAN?   * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * n Reader's Digest (Nov. 1982) stated that the same elements forming the human body are also found in DIRT. The BIBLE stated the exact same truth 6000 years earlier:   "...God formed man of the DUST of the ground..." Genesis 2:7 WHO KNEW FIRST -- GOD OR MAN? * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * n Blood Letting, the medical procedure of drawing blood from a person to rid them of disease or infection, was practiced through the 18th century.   Many people died from it. Yet, the BIBLE revealed the importance of blood 3000 years before: "For the LIFE of the flesh is in the BLOOD..." Leviticus 17:11 WHO KNEW FIRST -- GOD OR MAN?    God has known from the beginning everything that man has taken years to discover! Doesn't it make sense to just trust God's Word? 2 - 4

(2) THE BIBLE IS AN AMAZING BOOK OF PINPOINT PREDICTIONS    Nobody comes close to matching God's record of predicting the future!    THE ACCURACY OF THE BIBLE IS ITS MOST AMAZING CLAIM!!    God prophesied more than 300 times in the Old Testament about the Saviour who would come.   One man fulfilled ALL of these predictions: JESUS CHRIST.    Jesus even told the religious leaders of His time: "Search the scriptures... they are they which TESTIFY OF ME."   John 5:39    Let's take that same challenge and SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES!!   To show the pinpoint accuracy of the BIBLE, let's examine 8 out of the 300 Old Testament predictions about the Saviour and see how all 8 point to JESUS CHRIST!! (Note: All New Testament references are speaking of Jesus Christ.) Prediction (1) -- THE SAVIOUR WILL BE BORN IN BETHLEHEM. "But thou, BETHLEHEM...out of thee shall he come forth..." Micah 5:2 700 years later --> "...Jesus was born in BETHLEHEM..." Matthew 2:1 Prediction (2) -- THE SAVIOUR WILL BE BORN OF A VIRGIN YOUNG MAIDEN. "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold a VIRGIN SHALL CONCEIVE, and bear a son..." Isaiah 7:14 700 years later "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, BEFORE THEY CAME TOGETHER, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost."   Matthew 1:18 2 - 5

Prediction (3) -- THE SAVIOUR WILL BE REJECTED AS THE SAVIOUR. "He is despised and REJECTED OF MEN..." Isaiah 53:3 700 years later "He came unto his own, and his own RECEIVED HIM NOT."   John 1:11 Prediction (4) -- THE SAVIOUR WILL BE BETRAYED BY A CLOSE FRIEND. "Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath LIFTED UP HIS HEEL AGAINST ME."   Psalm 41:9 1075 years later "But Jesus said unto him, Judas, BETRAYEST thou the son of man with a kiss?" Luke 22:48 Prediction (5) -- THE SAVIOUR WILL BE SOLD FOR 30 SILVER COINS. "So they weighed for my price THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER."   Zechariah 11:12 500 years later "What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER."   Matthew 26:15 2 - 6

Prediction (6) -- THE SAVIOUR WILL BE FALSELY ACCUSED OF CRIMES. "FALSE WITNESSES did rise up; they laid to my charge things I knew not."   Psalm 35:11 1075 years later "And there arose certain, and bear FALSE WITNESS against him."   Mark 14:57 Prediction (7) -- THE SAVIOUR WILL BE BEATEN AND MOCKED. "I gave my back to THE SMITERS, and my cheeks to them that PLUCKED OFF THE HAIR: I hid not my face from SHAME and SPITTING."   Isaiah 50:6 700 years later "Then did they SPIT IN HIS FACE, and buffeted him; and others SMOTE HIM with the palms of their hands."   Matthew 26:67 Prediction (8) -- THE SAVIOUR WILL BE PUT TO DEATH BY CRUCIFIXION. "...the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they PIERCED MY HANDS AND MY FEET."   Psalm 22:16 1000 years later "And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull...AND THEY CRUCIFIED HIM..."   Matthew 27:33,35 2 - 7

Now, some people may say...     "It's just coincidence that Jesus Christ fit these 8 predictions." Oh, really? What is the "coincidence" of these 8 prophecies                                  being fulfilled in ONE PERSON?    Mathematician Peter Stoner, in the book Science Speaks, concludes the probability to be 1 in 1017, or 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000!!!! Imagine this. . . Suppose you took 100,000,000,000,000,000 silver dollars and placed them on the surface of Texas, after marking one of them. [The state would be covered 2 feet deep.] If you then blindfolded a man and told him to find the marked silver dollar, what chance would he have? ANSWER The same chance as eight prophecies of the Saviour coming true in any one man. The fact is . . . Jesus not only fulfilled 8 Old Testament prophecies, He fulfilled more than 300!!! Coincidence?   Get real! 2 - 8

(3) THE BIBLE IS AN AMAZING BOOK FOR IT REVEALS GOD TO US     Have you ever wondered what God is like?   He is... "For with God nothing shall be impossible." Luke 1:37 ALL-POWERFUL "Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD."   Jeremiah 23:24 EVERYWHERE "Great is our Lord...his understanding is infinite."   Psalm 147:5 ALL-KNOWING    We have a God who can do anything, be anywhere, and solve any problem.   God obviously has many skills and powers that we don't.   God is perfect, we are imperfect. FBut. . .God does have something in common with us: "God created man in HIS OWN IMAGE..." Genesis 1:27    Human beings were originally created in God's image.   We have the same emotions as God.   God experiences the same feelings that we do.   The BIBLE teaches that God has emotions and feelings just like us: "Thou hast LOVED righteousness and HATED iniquity..." Hebrews 1:9 "...it GRIEVED him at his heart."   Genesis 6:6    Why is this important?   Because God created us in His image, with emotions and feelings, in order to have a personal relationship with us!   Think about it! 2 - 9

So...what do you think of the BIBLE now?   Pretty amazing, huh?   You didn't think a book as old as the BIBLE could be filled with such interesting facts, did you?   The BIBLE, in its own amazing way, proves over and over again that God is both. . . #1 -- Not boring                #2 -- Worthy to be trusted    Now, if God can write a book as accurate and fantastic as the BIBLE, don't you think He can show us how to live this life?   And don't you suppose He knows the way into the next life (Heaven)? BIBLIOGRAPHY New Testament Fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecies   by Abram Kenneth Abraham The Guinness Book of Sports Records   by Gary Krebs Science and the Bible   by Henry M. Morris That Manuscript from Outer Space   by Dr. H.L. Willmington Astronomy and the Bible   by D.B. Deyoung Weather and the Bible   by D.B. Deyoung Evidence That Demands a Verdict   by J. McDowell Animal do the Strangest Things   by Arthur Hornblow The Amazing Book   by Terry Watkins Concise Dictionary of Religious Quotations   edited by William Neil None of These Diseases   by S.I. McMillen, M.D. Holy Bible   King James Version «««««««««« A Sneak Preview ««««««««««««    The BIBLE is filled with facts, life principles, and true stories which make it the most unique and amazing book ever written!!   One of the true stories we find in the BIBLE is the biography of the GREATEST man in the world. . .no, better yet. . .the GREATEST man in the UNIVERSE!!   It is only fitting that we study "The Son of God" Himself - Jesus Christ.   Every one of the sixty-six books of the BIBLE refers to Jesus Christ in some way.   He is the central theme of the entire BIBLE.    In our next lesson we will take a look into the greatest life ever lived, by the greatest person ever to live.   We will see that the BIBLE answers questions such as: * Was Jesus really God in the flesh? * What did He look like? * Was He all-knowing and all-powerful? * Did He know that He was born to die? Q: What is so special about Jesus Christ? A: His life can change yours. Don't miss it!!   Take the Challenge!!! [2 - 10]

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