Quote:
Posted by Common Sense
(Post 558591)
nothing can prove that the Bible is 100% facts. A bunch of overwhelming evidence, true, but the Bible can't be proved to be 100% facts.
|
Sure, but let's take a look at probability for a moment..
- Being struck by lightning in a year = 7 x 105 or 1 in 700,000
- Being killed by lightning in a year = 2 x 106 or 1 in 2,000,000
- Becoming president = 1 x 107 or 1 in 10,000,000
- A meteorite landing on your house = 1.8 x 1014 or 1 in 180,000,000,000,000
- You will eventually die = 1 in 1
Now, let's look at the probability studies conducted by Dr. Peter Stoner, author of Science Speaks. He states that if the chance of one thing happening is "1 in M", and the chance of another independent thing happening is "1 in N", then the chance that they shall both happen is "1 in M x N", as it pertains to fulfillment of Biblical prophecies.
The Bible is full of prophecies, either events that have happened or events that will happen in the future. Dr. Stoner looks at the probability that one man, Jesus Christ, could have fulfilled even 8 of the 300 prophecies that pertain to Him in the Bible. Let's look at these eight prophecies from the Old Testament pertaining to Christ, their fulfillment by Christ in the New Testament, the probability of one man fulfilling each prophecy, and the sum of one man fulfilling all eight prophecies. Keep in mind, the time span between the prophecies of the Old Testament and the New Testament fulfillment is hundreds, even thousands of years. I will not point out the supernatural ones, just basic ones like the location that Jesus was born..
http://i.gyazo.com/a4b174ac120720ffb01fc348b13eff80.png
To answer the question what is the probability of one man fulfilling all eight prophecies, the principal of probability is applied. Therefore, multiplying all eight probabilities together (1 times 2.8 x 105 x 103 x 102 x 103 x 103 x 105 x 103 x 104) gives us 2.8 x 1028, or for simplicity sake 1 x 1028 or 1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. Given this and the time span between the writings of the Old Testament and the fulfillment by Christ in the New Testament, the prophecies were either given to the prophets by God, or the prophets just wrote them down as they thought they should be. With Christ fulfilling all eight prophecies, what are the odds the prophets were just guessing? By using the modern science of probability in reference to just eight of these prophecies, the chance that any man might have lived to fulfill all eight prophecies is one in 100 trillion!
To illustrate this point: If we take 100 trillion silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas, they would be two feet deep. Now we mark one of these silver dollars and thoroughly stir the whole mass--all over the state. Now blindfold a man and let him travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick only one silver dollar.
So, in conclusion when looking at the Bible mathematically, there is more convincing evidence towards the Bible, then there is with evolution, or any other religion.