So this is a really rough draft, there are still a couple of paragraphs I am going to add, and the conclusion needs to be fleshed out, unfortunately I didn't have as much time to work on this as I would have hoped, but I guess that's life.

The Word of God

As it stands to date, the Bible (collectively the Hebrew Old Testament and the Christian New Testament) is one of the most incredible historical documents we have available to us. Its texts date as far back as 4000bc, with little or no change occurring within that time period. The information presented within it is incredibly ahead of its times, placing it as one of the most historically advanced books ever written in science, law, and human nature. This book is not only a source of insight into the human condition, but also into the nature of God. However, there are many who would attempt to discredit it, attempting to falsify the material and undercut its importance in societies past, present, and future. In Chapter Four of John Stuart Mill’s Book, On Liberty Mill writes “Human beings owe to each other help to distinguish the better from the worse, and encouragement to choose the former and avoid the latter” (Mill 86). It is the responsibility of humans to encourage wisdom and knowledge in each other and to help correct foolishness, so long as it is not to the cost of liberty. When dealing with a document like the Bible, we must look at it objectively, and not through a biased perspective; seeking to find truth above our own beliefs. The Bible stands as a consistent source of information, giving us reliable insight into every aspect of our humanity, and those who would discredit it do so not based on evidence, but on a predisposed inclination against it.

A presupposition refers to any belief or idea that is presumed to be true outside of a given issue. A good definition is to prematurely arrive at a conclusion prior to an examination of an issue. If a smoker wants to continue smoking without feeling bad, he might disbelieve any information that smoking is bad by undercutting the source. Instead of looking at the information from a rational perspective, he will only pay attention to evidence that allows him to smoke guilt free, while ignoring anything that would interfere with his habit. He presupposes that smoking isn’t unhealthy, and any information that says otherwise is not paid any attention to. This is an example of a presupposition; arriving at a conclusion before an examination of evidence is completed. Presuppositions play an enormous role in people’s view of the Bible, especially concerning its literary and historical credibility.

One of the most common presuppositions in scholarly circles is Anti-Supernaturalism “for our purposes we will define anti-supernaturalism as disbelief either in God’s existence or His intervention in the natural order of the universe” (McDowell 5). Anti-supernaturalism is purported to be based on rationalism and scientific investigation, however the belief lends itself to be anti-scientific by concluding what is and what is not possible prior to an investigation. Those opposed to supernaturalism discredit miraculous events simply because they perceive miracles as impossible. When dealing with the bible then, there is a great deal that they will throw out the window without any investigation, because they do not find what is being said to be credible. This presupposition bears a great deal on how we view the Bible and what conclusions we make from it.

Along with Anti-supernaturalism, there are other preconceived oppositions against the Bible’s credibility. While these vary in form and argument, the purpose is the same; to discredit or disprove the historical accuracy of the Biblical Texts. Some of the presuppositions include denying the time frame in which the Bible was said to be written, denying the authorship of the texts, and presuming that the documents have gone through mass amounts of revision over the years, making the documents we have today unlike the original texts. One such example is the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament), critics claim that it is impossible for Moses to have written these books because writing was virtually unknown in his day. However, this conclusion is based only on what we are able to uncover and interpret from this particular time period (around 1500bc). A conclusion was reached, that writing was not common during this era, and then information is interpreted based on this conclusion. Instead of adapting the conclusion to fit the evidence, the evidence is made to fit the conclusion. This is the kind of reasoning that lends men to disbelieve the Bible, but the reasoning is irrational and circular, arguing towards a particular motive instead of truth.

The Bible stands today as being historically credible, providing information that is undeniably accurate. Even the miraculous events offer no initial justification to be disputed without cause, and simply require a logical examination of the circumstances. Most people come to the Bible with presuppositions of it and criticize, not because it is flawed, but because the message portrayed requires them to change their lives, which is something they are unwilling to do.