The Bible is a collection of writings by men inspired by God. It was written by about 40 men over a period of about 1500 years, between roughly 1450 BC and 85 AD. The first 3/4 of it was written 400 or more years before Jesus came to earth. This the Jewish Bible, the same writings as the Protestant Old Testament. Protestant Christians organize its writings into 66 "books" (like chapters).
It contains an accurate history of what God has revealed by a number of methods: eye witness history, God speaking directly to men (like Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Paul, and many prophets), by angels, by miracles, and by dreams and visions. It's contents are confirmed by archeology, prophecies that have come true, history, and certain things touching on science, geology and genetics. See
Educate7.com.
for how genetics shows that we are created, not evolved.
The Bible tells us what God has done, will do, and commanded us to do. The books consist of history, prophets, Psalms (songs), wisdom Proverbs, eye witness accounts of Jesus (His teaching, miracles, crucifixion and resurrection), letters, and the final end times Revelation. The oldest nearly complete Christian bibles are Codex Sinaiticus (found in Egypt) and Codex Vaticanus. They are both written Greek, the international language of commerce in ancient times. They were compiled about 300 years after Christ's death by collecting older preexisting individual documents.
The 1940's discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls was a gold mine. It included tiny fragments of nearly all the books in the Old Testament (Jewish Bible) and a nearly complete copy of the book of Isaiah. Isaiah was a prophet who lived about 700 years before Jesus. This copy was dated to 125 B.C. (before Jesus). Isaiah is the sixth longest of 66 books in the Bible. There are no significant differences between its text and more recent copies. Those who claim the Bible has been changed are incorrect.
Isaiah gives us many predictions of the future. Chapter 53 has repeated specific prophecies of one who would come and die for our sins and live again. Isaiah's prophecies about Jesus dying to pay the ransom for our sins and rising from the dead were fulfilled 700 years after Isaiah wrote them when Jesus was crucified, buried, and then rose from the dead three days later. This happened about 33 A.D. (You can have your sins forgiven - Jesus paid for them.) The Bible records eyewitness accounts of Jesus' very public death, and His burial and resurrection in its books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Shortly after rising from the dead Jesus appeared to hundreds and is still appearing to people today. The Roman-Jewish historian Josephus, writing in the same century as Jesus, also records Jesus' crucifixion, resurrection, and miraculous works.
Furthermore, the first 3/4 of the Christian Bible, called the Old Testament, is the same writings as the Jewish (Hebrew) Bible. Christians arange the texts differently, but it is the same writings. (The Catholic Bible includes some extra books the Protestants do not include; they are not convinced that those books are fully inspired.)
The Hebrew bible was all completed about 400 years before Jesus was born. It was translated into Greek by Jews working between 132 and 280 years before Christ was born. They did this to help the Greek speaking Jews that were living in Egypt and other areas. This translation is called the Septuagint. This alternate translation was done long before Christians existed. Christians could not have controlled these parallel versions that existed in probably hundreds of Jewish places of worship in many different countries. The meaning of the text of the Septuagint agrees well with the meaning of the currently used Old Testament texts. This is another evidence that Bible texts have remained essentially unchanged.
There are many different translations of the original texts into English. Some translations take more liberty in paraphrasing than others. There are some minor differences in the original texts. These minor differences are almost all a short phrase that appears in some ancient manuscripts, but not in others. A good study Bible, such as many New King James bibles, gives the alternate readings if source texts differ. But these differences are minor and in no way change the message of the Bible.
The Bible includes both miracles and prophecies, historical events verified by archeology, how men obeyed or disobeyed God, and the consequences. It is not a self serving book. Though the authors were all Jewish, except one (Luke), it often describes when the Jews disobeyed God, and less often when they did well.
It predicted the Jews would be scattered to all the nations of the earth, persecuted, and return to Israel in the last days before their Messiah (Christ) returns. "Messiah" is Hebrew for "anointed". "Christ" is Greek for "anointed". Historically, the Jews were scattered in 70 A.D. when they rebelled against the Romans. The Jews only got their land back 2,000 years later in 1948. In World War II Hitler tried to exterminate all Jews, killing 6 million. After this, the United Nations gave them part of their historic homeland. In May 1948, when Israel proclaimed nationhood, they were immediately attacked by the surrounding five Arab (muslim) nations. The U.N. had offered a two state solution. The Jews accepted that, but the Arabs rejected that. What is going on in Israel now is fulfilling Bible prophecy.
God promised Abraham, Abraham's son Isaac, and Isaac's son Israel (also called Jacob), that one day all the land of Canaan (Israel) would be posessed by their descendants - the Jews. That is what is developing now. Israel's enemies will come close to killing the Jews, but in the end their Messiah (Jesus Christ) will rescue them from their enemies. If you are an enemy of Israel, you are an enemy of God.
Israel's ongoing attacks against the Palestians and Hamas and Hezbollah are motivated by self defense. Hamas and Hezbollah have repeatably initiated attacks against Israel, hid weapons in schools, under hospitals, etc. If they were not consistently attacking Israel, there would be peace. Israel's governing body is the Knesset. There are elected Muslims in the Knesset. There is a Muslim prayer room in the Knesset. The problem is not peaceful Muslims, it is Muslims like Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran whose stated purpose is to "wipe Israel off the map". In fact certain Muslim countries do not even show Israel as a nation on their maps. They deny Israel's right to exist and initiate attacks on Israel. This is all fulfilling Bible prophecy.
There will be fighting over Jerusalem, just at the Bible prophesies - see Zechariah chapter 12. Jerusalem is mentioned by name over 600 times in the Old Testament (Jewish scriptures) and over 100 times in the Christian New Testament, but never by name in the Quran. Who does it belong to?
The Jews built their first temple in Jerusalem about 957 years before Jesus. Aftet that was destroyed about 586 B.C. by Nebuchadnezzar, a second was built that existed at the time of Jesus. That was destroyed in 70 A.D. That is why the holy place in Jerusalem is called the "Temple Mount". Muhammad was not born until about 570 years after Jesus. Currently the Muslim Dome of the Rock shrine and the Al Asqua mosque are located on the Temple Mount. The Bible (see Ezekiel chapters 40-48) predicts there will be another Jewish temple. Certain Jews are planning to build a temple. There will be trouble. Rest assured, God knows all this and has told us in advance so we can trust in Him.
No other book remotely compares with the Bible's over 1,000 predictions of the future. That is one way we know it is inspired by God. Sadly, one of Jesus' predictions is that many people will falsely represent Him. Fake Christians. Many deceived churches. Church leaders who are focused on money. Churches that disobey God's commands in the Bible. (There are still some genuine churches and leaders. They are a minority. ) The Bible says in the last days (now), just before the coming judgment of a sinful world, many Christians will fall away from the truth. In the US there has been an ongoing falling away from God in the last 70 years. Who would make predictions about his followers like that? Highly unlikely. But Jesus did. Remarkable, accurate, sad, but true.
The Bible predicts the future, including your future. It says at the time of the end, when God brings his wrath on against the ungodly, sexually immoral, violent people of the earth:
No one will be able to buy or sell without a certain mark on his/her right hand or forehead. We are close to that cashless society that has never been possible until now.
Half the earth's population will die. Some will die by having their eyes and flesh melt while they are standing on their feet. Instantly. The neutron bombs we have now will do that. They never existed until now.
But a God fearing minority will escape the judgment, because God will take them to heaven before the decreed judgment. Will you be among them?
The Bible predicts:
Eternal life if you please your Creator with a holy life lived by faith in Him, eternal damnation if you reject/ignore Him. Why not start seeking God today? Read the Bible, pray, obey, and seek godly counsel. Whatever people tell you, test it against the Bible. Many churches have poor teaching and disobey God. Start with the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, etc.