Along centuries of history there has been much controversy surrounding the Bible. People have died protecting it as the Word of God. Others have burned it and tried their best to destroy it.

Have you ever thought and/or actually written down what is the most important reason you believe the Bible to be the Word of God?

The Book of Psalms refers again and again to the Word of God with praise:

"And the words of The Lord are flawless, like silver refined in the furnace of clay, purified seven times." - Psalm 12:6
"Your Word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens." - Psalm 119:89
"How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your Word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." - Psalm 119:9-11

There are many people however who create a divide between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The New Testament was not written during Jesus' lifetime so all His references to Scripture reference the Old Testament as recognized by the Jews of His time.

Some have even said that the Scriptures recognized by Jesus are not the same anymore, that over time they have changed or have been erroneously copied by scribes.

The 1947 discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls put that theory to rest.
Among the Dead Sea scrolls are almost 900 texts that include fragments from just about every book of the Old Testament with the exception of Esther.
When the scholars compared these texts with the Old Testament as we have it, they discovered that less than 5% differences existed between these and the Old Testament as written in your Bible. Most of these differences are indeed typos but there are no doctrinal differences at all giving us a high degree of probability that the OT as we have it is the same Scripture that Jesus studied and recognized as God's Word.

The scrolls themselves date from between 200BC to AD68 and belonged to a Jewish sect called the Essenes. Some believe that John the Baptist might have been a member of this group.

These writings are also valuable because they give us an insight into the culture in which Jesus lived, helping us better understand some of the things He said.

In our Quest to find the Truth, we found that the Truth is that there is a Creator and only from Him could absolute Truth be learned. The Bible stands the test of time as the word of this Creator with the Old Testament pointing the way to the events of the New Testament which point the way to YHWH.

We will continue to explore the different facts about this Book and its teachings.

Feel free to do it on your own as well by going to the following resources:

http://www.biblearcheology.org
http://www.bib-arch.org
http://www.allaboutarcheology.org
http://www.leestrobel.com
http://www.josh.org
http://www.biblegateway.com
http://www.bibleplaces.com
http://www.biblica.com/bibles/faq
http://www.logos.com