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I have heard many arguments and debates on the authenticity of bible. But everyone involved was just putting forward his or her own opinions/suggestions. I would like to know a little more about this topic. Could anyone provide me with valid historical, doctrinal... evidences on the same (Bible as a stack of say, 66 books)?

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This is a bit broad.. What, in particular are you looking for? Are you looking for info on inspiration? christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/9946/… Evidence that what we have today hasn't been significantly altered? christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/9934/… Something else? – David Stratton Feb 12 at 5:11
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Questions tagged Biblical-reliability: christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/… – David Stratton Feb 12 at 5:19
i would like to know the authenticity of bible as a stack of fixed number of books (say 66) – Jobin T Philip Feb 12 at 5:29
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Well, they're all originally individual works/books. As stated, this question is akin to asking, what's the authenticity of the library? Can you phrase your question as though The Bible is actually a small library of focused works? If it helps, it's a small library of works believed to be inspired by and aggregated under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. – svidgen Feb 12 at 5:43
Speaking of the individual books, yes, they are all authentic. But the stack of 66 books is a different issue. – Mawia Feb 12 at 9:23
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closed as not a real question by David Stratton, DJClayworth, Bruce Alderman, Andrew, MaskedPlant Feb 12 at 19:35

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

1 Answer

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There is a saying that if you need a book to answer a question, the question is too broad. In this case, the following book Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell is your book.

Briefly, this work of apologetics is pretty well recommended by many Christian churches. There are several chapters on the authenticity of the Bible.

McDowell has many, many arguments about the authenticity of the Bible, but perhaps the most compelling for me is the sheer number of early manuscripts, when compared against say, Homer, Virgil, or Shakespeare.

As to whether or not the 66 (or 73) books together are "the Bible" (meaning that it represents the full reading list), search this site for 'canon' and 'canonization.' There are already several questions that address how the various books came to be in the Bible.'

Specifically, I would recommend:

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