All sacred writings must undergo the test of the quality of their messages. Reading the book of Buddha placed in a Japanese hotel impressed me strongly with the superiority of the message of the Bible. The Hebrew nation has produced many books not included in the Bible that deal with religious subjects and Jewish history. Other than the books included in the Old Testament, these Jewish writings have failed to pass the biblical test of quality of message. Some have failed by claiming false authorship. Others have failed to receive recognition as a part of the Bible because of some lack in the quality of their message. The Bible stands as unique in the quality of its message about God and man.

1. The Quality of Holiness in God.

The Old Testament division of the Bible receives deserved recognition for its unique presentation of standards for righteous character and conduct. These standards continued to demonstrate moral consistency over centuries of Jewish history in type, symbol, sacrificial system, laws, and direct statements.

Though the human Old Testament writers lived in cultures whose many gods exalted sexual promiscuity, violence, deceit, child abuse, degradation of women, these biblical authors presented one God of righteous character who rewarded righteousness and punished iniquity.

This quality alone makes the Old Testament unique among all the religious books that any culture has produced. No other Oriental nation projected the concept of a holy god. The Mespotamians among whom Abraham lived reveled in sexual orgies. The Canaanite tribes worshiped the lust of the bull. The sun and moon gods of Egypt fell short of holiness. Greek philosophy never achieved the ideal of holiness. The gods of Rome only magnified the human lusts for sex and power. Among all mankind no nation or people invented, conceived, or taught that God was holy and righteous except the Hebrews. Of all sacred literature only the Bible teaches the truth of one God who is holy and eternally righteous. The Old Testament remains unique among all sacred or secular literature in its proclamation of the holiness of God.

2. The quality of righteousness in mankind.

The Old Testament raised a unique standard for human character and conduct. Whereas non-biblical religions projected human passions into the character and conduct of their gods, the Old Testament writers called for human character and conduct patterned after the holiness of God: For I am the Lord your God; ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy:... Lev.11:44.

The holiness that the Old Testament required in the human related to every department of life. Not only religious ceremony but personal, family, business, political, and recreational aspects of daily living required conformity to the holiness of God. This unique religious requirement of holiness produced a quality of life that included the rights of women and children, slaves, and properties. The Old Testament writers projected a system of laws and ordinances that would affect all future generations. Many world leaders have expressed the benefits of this revelation. Henry Ward Beecher declared that "the Bible stands alone in human literature in its elevated conception of manhood, in character and conduct." Bacon declared that "There never was found, in any age of the world, ither religion or law that did so highly exalt the public good as the Bible." Coleridge declared that "For more than a thousand years the Bible, collectively taken, has gone hand in hand with civilization, science, law; in short, with the moral and intellectual cultivation of the species, always supporting and often leading the way." While such quotations could be multiplied, these adequately state that this unique concept of holiness in God and man has received wide recognition as factual.

Fair judgment requires a reasonable explanation for the appearance of this unique requirement of holiness in deity and humanity.

Common sense cannot accept the explanation that some accident of heredity or environment developed in all these writers a concept of holiness no other people envisioned.

Common sense cannot accept the explanation that the diverse writers of the Old Testament over such a long time span were distinguished in moral perception above all other humans.

Common sense can accept the explanation that God revealed himself and his righteous requirements to this nation that He had chosen because the Bible is what it claims to be: the Word of God.

Common sense can accept the explanation that this unique quality of righteousness validates the Bible.

Common sense can accept no alternative!

The Common Sense Judgmental Conclusion

These simple facts - size, accuracy, prophecy, quality of message - begin to demonstrate the distinctive in the self-proof which the Bible presents. When the skeptic rejects the believer's testimony of inward assurance, the believer has no external or tangible challenge to the rejection. When the skeptic rejects the scholar's arguments, the scholar has no external or tangible challenge to the rejection. But the Bible proof differs. Though the skeptic may voice his rejection of the Bible, he faces a tangible and physical book that requires a reasonable explanation for unique characteristics. The Bible raises an inescapable factual challenge.

Fair judgment demands that the skeptic must discover some adequate and reasonable explanation for the unique qualities of this book called the Bible.

Common sense cannot accept the explanation that the human writers of the Old Testament accidentally developed this unique belief in righteousness in deity and humanity.

Common sense cannot accept the fiction that the Bible concept is not unique among all sacred literature.

Common sense will accept the explanation that God revealed himself to the writers of the Bible so that this book is what it claims to be: the Word of God.

Fair judgment requires the reasonable explanation that the quality of its message validates the Bible.

Common sense can accept no alternative!

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