Is there enough evidence to believe that the Bible is reliable? Yes. First, we have textual criticism. This is a tool that allows historians to compare all the existing copies of the Bible to one another. It is virtually proven that what was originally written is still what we have today. Second, the Bible was written in oral cultures. This means people preserved their stories through community story-telling, not the written word. Modern biblical research has shown that oral cultures preserve rich and detailed history for decades. The book “Jesus and the Eye Witnesses” by Richard Bauckham is an amazing resource on this. 3 more types of writing in the Bible An epistle is a letter written by an apostle to Christians to encourage, instruct, correct, and guide them. We read epistles by looking for the occasion, which is the reason why the apostle decided to write the letter. An eye-witness account is a reporting of conversations and events. The 4 gospels are made up of eye-witness accounts. They are full of direct quotes and rich detail because they are personal stories about real interactions with Jesus Christ. Typology describes people and events in the Old Testament that directly point to the Person and work of Jesus Christ. For example, Moses and David are a “type” of Christ – they point to Jesus. Typology is powerful because it illustrates how the Gospel works through a concrete story. Sample Questions for GCs: #1: What is the occasion for Jude’s epistle? Read verses 20-23 in Jude’s epistle. How do his words instruct, encourage, correct, or guide you? #2: Read the eye-witness account in Mark 4:35-41. Name one thing this teaches you about who Jesus is. #3: On Sunday we looked at one typology in the Old Testament: the bronze snake. To find healing, the people only had to trust God enough to look away from themselves and to look up at the snake. Now apply this to Jesus. What does it look like to look away from ourselves and instead to look at Jesus to find our healing?