What an outstanding book dealing with the hot button topic: Is the Bible trustworthy and reliable? Dr. Bill Mounce does an outstanding job taking hard to understand verses of the Bible and making them clear to the average reader. This book is great for skeptics of religion and their holy books, those who are cynical toward religion in general and the casual believer who’s always had questions about scripture. This book will also speak to practicing Christians who need to strengthen their confidence in divine providence. This is one of the best treatments of scriptural apologetics currently available and one of my personal top three treatments on the authority and reliability of the Bible. Thanks Dr. Mounce!

https://www.amazon.com/Why-Trust-Bible-Answers-Questions/dp/0310109949/

By way of f𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞: 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐚 volunteer 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫, "𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐈 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞" 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦 𝐃. 𝐌𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐙𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞. In return for my becoming a member of the Launch Team, I received a free pre-published electronic copy of the book to read and review. There was no monetary compensation for my review.

Why I Trust the Bible. A great tool for those Christians doubting the Bible, for those who want to answer questions doubting the veracity of the Bible, and for non-Christians who have doubts and are looking for answers. It is good for those who have an interest in the history of the Bible, and for those who want to know why some books are in the Bible and why others are left out. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this excellent work and you will too. I highly recommend it. 5 Stars PLUS!
Dr. Mounce tackles tough questions with clarity. He’s not afraid to ask TOUGH QUESTIONS (and YOU shouldn’t either), and gives thoughtful answers that anyone interested can clearly understand.
Dr. Mounce has answered many lingering questions I had about contradictions in the Bible and confronts them head on.
Below I give a synopsis or each chapter WITHOUT any Spoiler Alerts needed.
Preface:
Points made include: 1-We can no longer assume people trust their Bible and believe what is says about itself. 2-Western Culture has shifted away from its Judeo-Christian heritage. 3-Popular media has launched an attack on the believability of Scripture that many churchgoers have serious questions about the Bible listing many of their attacks
The author makes the point that if people don’t ask these questions, they will never be convinced that the bible is true and trustworthy. So, he invites us to ask these questions and for us to not be afraid to do so.
He has provided additional resources to help with the study.

Ch 1. The Historical Jesus
Who is Jesus? Some say He is mythical-but Mounce goes through convincing proofs that Jesus actually lived, including non-Biblical and non-Christian sources such as Jewish, Greek, and Roman historians
He also delves into the oral tradition and how at that time this was a highly accurate way to communicate and record events and people and explains what social memory is.
He summarized the first chapter with fourteen things that we know about Jesus from non-biblical sources to be true.

Ch 2 Jesus of the Gospels
Mounce starts out with the typical challenge: We don’t know who wrote the Gospels? He goes through the differences between the Jesus of History vs the Christ of Faith.
He discusses the authorship of the gospels and the considerable proofs available.
He also goes into why other books were rejected and not part of the canon.
Finally, the author talks about the Jesus of faith, and how certain arguments exist that the Church made up Jesus, and why they are wrong.
Ch 3. Contradictions: Are there contradictions in the Gospels?
The challenge is: How can we trust the Bible if it contradicts science or if it contradicts itself? Mounce looks at how apparent contradictions in the Gospels can be solved through correct interpretation and an understanding of how the Gospels were compiled.
Mounce asks, do you really believe that the Bible is true, that is contains the words of God breathed out of God’s mouth, as 2 Timothy 3:16 says? Today, there is a general sense in the evangelical church that certain questions should not be asked, that it is irreverent to do so. But nothing could be further from the truth. If you don’t ask the question for yourself and think through the issues for yourself, you’ll never be truly convinced the Bible is true. And more importantly, you won’t rely on it when you need it the most.
So, he asks tough questions with thoughtful answers that will strengthen your faith in the Bible and in God.
Ch. 4 Digging Deeper into Apparent Contradictions
The book & movie The DaVinci Code started a movement attacking the Bible with supposed contradictions. Here, Mounce goes much deeper into these apparent contradictions. He explains that little contradictions stem from the fact that Jesus spoke in Aramaic and the Gospels are written in Greek.
There are other apparent contradictions are more difficult to deal with. Dr Mounce goes into these with clarity and understanding.
He also discusses the belief in miracles and two opposing views.

Ch. 5 The Canon: Canonicity: Why We Have the Books We Do
Firstly, he dispels that Emperor Constantine had anything to do with the Canon.
He then discusses the tests of authorship, orthodoxy, and catholicity (universality-the church as a whole, not to be confused with the Catholic religion).

Ch. 6 Why Do We Have the Twenty-seven Books in The New Testament?
Mounce give an erudite synopsis of the how and why certain books were including in the New Testament and why others were excluded.

Ch. 7 Textual Criticism
Mounce defines the science of Textural Criticism then explores the issues of the Greek manuscripts, the differences, and whether the differences are significant or not, or if they contain any Biblical Doctrine.

Ch. 8 Digging Deeper into the Textural Criticism
The author discusses in further detail Textural Criticism, text types and their origins and variances.

Ch. 9 Digging Much Deeper into Textural Criticism
Criticizing the Critic: Dr. Mounce explains the impact that powerful author and debater Professor Bart Ehrman has had on Textural Criticism and one by one dispels his arguments. It is a technical chapter, but well worth the effort of reading and understanding the concepts, arguments, and counterarguments.

Ch 10. Translations: Can We Trust Our Translations?
Dr. Mounce discusses the different translations, their variations between each other and the apparent contradictions and their significance.
He explains the five types of translations. He goes into the pros and cons of each with lots of illustrations.

Ch. 11 Translation Theory
Here Mounce explores the decision-making process of translation committees and why translations can be different yet trustworthy.

Ch 12. The Old Testament: Is the Old Testament Believable?
This chapter investigates the Character of God, His Love, His Holiness and how together they clarify His actions: forgiveness and punishment. He addresses and answers how can an All Good, All Loving, All-Powerful God allow suffering. He also addresses the sources of these sufferings.

Ch. 13. The Historicity of the Old Testament.
How did we get the Old Testament? Did people really live hundreds of years? What about Old Testament contradictions? What about the books that are not included? How were women treated in the Old Testament? Excellent review of these topics.
Get this book if you want your faith to grow, you want to give answers to those who doubt your faith, or for those who don’t believe because of these issues. A book you’ll refer to time and time again.

I trusted the Bible long before I opened the pages of this book; however, I have never taken on the challenge of transferring my faith in the holy Scriptures to pen and paper. Mr. William Mounce is uniquely qualified to do so, I am not. His experience as a pastor, mastery of the Greek language, decades of Scripture-based teachings at the university level, and membership on two different Bible translation committees has prepared him well. Now others get to reap the benefit of what he knows, packaged and presented as a thoughtful and long-awaited gift. He states that a student enrolled in a New Testament Survey class that he was teaching contributed to the inspiration and need to write this book.
As Mr. Mounce lays the foundation for why he has placed his trust in the Bible, of necessity he addresses the most common reasons why one may have doubts, and again he is uniquely qualified to do so. His wholistic approach is what is so impressive about his new book. He does not shy away or skirt around the issues, rather, he confronts the most difficult of them head on to provide a very rational but uncommonly good-sense answer. His wealth of both education and experience has prepared him to present this very complex topic in a manner that is palatable and digestible to others, both educated and uneducated alike.
He begins by establishing that Jesus of the gospels, the son of Joseph and Mary, is a real person who can be found in historical documents. He later addresses the gospels of Jesus and the apostle Paul. Here’s an excerpt:

"Jesus was the Messiah who came to bring the kingdom of God into the world through his life, death, and resurrection. Jesus taught how to enter and how to live in his kingdom. This is the message of the gospels. In contrast, Paul had to deal specifically with the Jewish misunderstanding of salvation by faith versus obedience to the law, and much of his letters deal with answers to specific questions from the churches. The contexts are different and the vocabulary they use is different, but their teachings are compatible."

This book is loaded with such succinct and well-stated articulations. Those who have studied the Greek language will also appreciate where he goes deeper and taps into his vast knowledge of the grammar to shed light on specific nuances that bring clarity to the passages under investigation. He addresses several Scriptures where slight differences between them give rise for opponents of the Bible to raise issues of contradiction and he offers a solution that shines a spotlight on contextual harmony that is supported by the church fathers and modern textual criticism.
Mounce explains what the canon is and how the thirty-nine and the twenty-seven books of our Hebrew and Greek Testaments came to contain them. I particularly like his explanation regarding Bible translations and find that this understanding has the potential of pacifying any contentions and divisions that one may hold. For those desiring a deeper study of the many topics covered in this great work, a bibliography accompanies every chapter with in-text notes.
Overall, I find this new book to be just what the doctor ordered and believe that its timeliness is of the Lord. We are living in the last times and Believers need to be equipped with the knowledge of what we believe and why we believe it. This rooting and grounding in one’s faith will greatly contribute to perseverance during seasons (present for many and coming for all) of persecution. So, I see great value in this new book by Mr. Mounce and give it my highest recommendation.