Can the Bible be trusted? Have the Bible texts been corrupted? How do we know Jesus of Nazareth really existed? These are valid questions. The answer can be found through a process called textual criticism.

Textual criticism is a series of three tests historians use to discern whether or not an historical document is reliable.

Test 1. The date the documents were written, their origin, and the condition of the manuscripts.

The following are all historical documents accepted by historians as irrefutable history.

Work	Date Written	Earliest Copy	Time Span Since First Written	Number of Copies
Herodutus	488-482 BC	AD 900	1,300 years	8
Thucydides	460-400 BC	AD 900	1,300 years	8
Tacitus	AD 100	AD 1100	1,000 years	20
Caesar's Galic wars	58-50 BC	AD 900	950 years	9
Livy's Roman History	59 BC - AD 17	AD 900	900 years	20

No serious scholar or historian doubts the authenticity of the above historical accounts despite the large time gap and relatively few manuscripts. Using the same standard, let us lool at the New Testament.

Work	Date Written	Earliest Copy	Time Span Since First Written	Number of Copies
The New Testament	AD40-100	AD 130 Fragments AD 350 Full Manuscripts	300 years	5,000 + Greek 10,000 Latin 9,300 Others Total 24,300

The evidence of the reliability of the New Testament as an historical account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth and the early Christian Church when compared to other historical documents us unapproachable. In addition both Jewish and Roman historians wrote about Jesus of Nazareth. The Issue is, who is Jesus of Nazareth.

He had a body, got tired and hungry like us all. He experienced learning, working, obeying and the various emotions we all have.

That He would one day judge every human being for the life they have lived....Mathew 25:31-32

C.S.Lewis a famous author wrote, "A man who was just a man and said the sort of things that jesus said wouldn't be a great moral teacher, he'd be either a lunatic - on a level with a man who say's he's a poached egg - or else he'd be the devil of hell. You must make your choice, Jesus was who He said He was, or a liar or much more."

He fulfilled many Old Testament prophecies, many of which He had no human control over such as the

No, the Romans were experts in death. They made sure Jesus was dead by thrusting a spear in His side.

No, the tomb was guarded by Roman soldiers who fled at the appearance of angelic beings who stepped through the door from another dimension.

No, because if they had when the disciples of Jesus claimed He was alive the Romans would have produced His body to prove them wrong.

550+ people saw Jesus on 11 different occasions over a six week period after His death and resurrection.

The Christian Church grew rapidly and the followers of Christ increased.

People today, experience the same Jesus when their lives are touched by His power.

The New Testament is a reliable historical document. It teaches us the history of Christ.

Through it Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, calls you to come to Him, to follow Him, to receive Him as Lord. Jesus of Nazareth is either a madman, thought he was God, but wasn't.

Or, Jesus of Nazareth is a badman, knew He wasn't God and was out to con people.

Or, Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, God come to us as a human being, one of us, a man, to teach us how to know Him and follow Him.

The choice is ours to make as human beings. The choice is yours to make.