THE BIBLE CAN BE TRUSTED

Have you ever watched television shows such as Law & Order, Castle, Criminal Minds, Bones, etc.?  If you have, at one viewing or another, you have watched law enforcement officers discuss eye-witness accounts of an event where every witness made identical statements about what they saw take place.  The interviewers are quick to point out that there is a problem; they immediately realize that their testimonies are "rehearsed"; that there is a conspiracy among the witnesses to cover up the fact that they, themselves, were somehow involved in the crime.  "Scripted testimony" is always false!  No two people would use the exact same words to describe what they observed.  The same is true of the Bible. 

There are four Gospel accounts of the life of Christ.  Using what is called a "harmony of the Gospels," we can compare what each writer either witnessed, or what they were told by witnesses who were with Jesus at the event they describe.  Matthew and John were disciples who travelled with Jesus, and yet, only John was present on "the mount of transfiguration."  And yet, irony of ironies, John's Gospel does not mention the event, but Matthew, Mark, and Luke do (Mt. 17:1; Mk. 9:2; Lk. 9:28)!  Luke is the only Gospel that states what he records is from the testimonies of eye-witnesses (Lk. 1:1-4).  Obviously, Matthew was told by one or more of the three who experienced it, and since Mark was a companion of the Apostle Paul, and is mentioned in Acts 15, the chapter which describes the Church Council in Jerusalem.  It is unclear where Mark learned of the events in the life of Christ.

Some scoffers like to point out the variations in Bible accounts of events, saying the differences proves the Bible is not true.  Here is but one example of how the Gospels differ: 

Matthew 27:37 - "And set up over His head His accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS."
Mark 15-26 - "And the superscription of His accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS."
Luke 23:38 - "And a superscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS."
John 19:19-22 - "And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross.  And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.  This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.  Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that He said, I am King of the Jews.  Pilate answered, What I have written I have written."

There are two satisfactory explanations for these differences:  1) the writers got their information from different, but reliable, sources; or 2) the Holy Spirit knows that if their accounts were exactly the same, the "spiritual detectives" would discount them as scripted.  In the case of the four versions of the inscription posted above the head of the Lord, the wording is different because there were three languages used.  Translations from one language to another is never exact.  Nevertheless, I would point out that all four versions have the same message:  the Man on the cross was accused of claiming to be "THE KING OF THE JEWS!"  Also notice the John's account states that Jesus claimed to be "THE KING OF THE JEWS!"   Even in John's version, note that the words "JESUS OF NAZARETH" are not included in the protest by the Jewish leaders.

Bottom line:  all of the accounts state that the Man was called "THE KING OF THE JEWS!"  That exact phrase appears in all four of the Gospels, a total of thirteen times.  Jesus is the King of the Jews, but more importantly, He is Creator (Jn. 1:1-3), Savior (Lk. 2:11), Lord (Rom. 10:9), and God (Jn. 1:14; 1 Tim. 3:16)!