Why the New Testament is reliable

Ok, so now that I've given some evidence for the accuracy of the Old Testament, I'm going to do the same thing for the New Testament.  So here's some bibliographic evidence, internal evidence, and external evidence.

Bibliographic - There are way more copies of the New Testament than any other ancient manuscript.  There are around 25,000 copies.  The manuscript with the second highest number of copies is Homer's Iliad.  Guess how many copies (it doesn't come even close).  Only 643, compared to the New Testament's 25,000.  The firsts copies are also closer than any other document.  The earliest copy is within 50 yrs, and the earliest complete copy of the New Testament is within 225 years.  Other texts don't have copies for at least 400 years--most are over 1,000 years for the first copy.

Internal - There are no known contradictions.  If something doesn't match up, there has been, so far, an explanation for it.  And, just because it hasn't been explained yet, doesn't mean that it won't be explained eventually.  For example it appears that the accounts of Judas' death as told in Matthew contradicts that of Acts.  Matthew says that Judas hung himself, and Acts says that Judas fell in a field and his body burst open.  Now, the only way that this could happen is if Judas hung himself above a field to fall in to.  Sure enough, the site that is considered to be where Judas died is a field beside a cliff.

External - Many other writers from the time of Christ confirm the truth of the gospels (I had some great quotes from New Evidence that Demands a Verdict--but, I don't have the book with me.)  Josephus is a good example of another writer confirming events in the gospels.  Several times he refers to writings in the New Testament.

Hope that helps.  If you have any questions please leave a comment!

Never surrender!