Nicholas1024
Smash Lord
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2009
- Messages
- 1,075
Alright, time for me to give the evidence behind what I believe (as it relates to the debate I've been having in the Intellectual design thread and I didn't want to derail it.) Here goes.
Theorem:
The God of the Bible exists.
Outline of Proof:
1) Show that the new testament when written accurately reflected the events of the time.
2) Show that the new testament has been reliably passed down to us since it was originally written.
3) Show that Jesus fills the profile of the Son of God.
4) Show that Jesus did indeed die on that cross, and was raised from the dead.
Proof of claim 1):
First off, it's important to note that the gospels were anonymous. However, the uniform testimony of the early church is that the gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke, were indeed written by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, (it was simply not in dispute) and the vast majority of the testimony points to the gospel of John being written by the disciple of the same name. Also, for the first three it is unlikely anyone would lie about being the supposed author: Mark and Luke weren't even members of the twelve, and Matthew was a hated tax collector . So, the four gospels were indeed written by people closely connected to the events. (Matthew and John were disciples, Mark was an associate of Peter, whilst Luke was an associate of Paul.)
Now, the dating for the four gospels (even in very liberal circles) is Mark around 70 AD, Matthew and Luke around 80 AD, and John around 90 AD. (The reason for this dating is that there is a portion of John's gospel dated from 100 - 150 AD that was found way down in Egypt, far away from where the gospels were originally composed.) However, that's still within the lifetime of plenty of eyewitnesses of Jesus's life. If false teachings had been going around, they'd have been blasted. Also, these datings aren't that late by historical standards.
The earliest biographies of Alexander the Great weren't written until over 400 years after Alexander's death, yet most historians consider them trustworthy. So, if Alexander's story can remain intact for centuries, it's quite reasonable to assume that Jesus's could remain intact for a mere 60 years or so.
2) through 4) I'll tackle later (not sure if I'll do it in this topic or another), but this is enough for a start.
(Sidenote: A lot of this information comes from "A Case for Christ", which got it from Christian professors who know what they're talking about. So I'm not just making stuff up here.)
Theorem:
The God of the Bible exists.
Outline of Proof:
1) Show that the new testament when written accurately reflected the events of the time.
2) Show that the new testament has been reliably passed down to us since it was originally written.
3) Show that Jesus fills the profile of the Son of God.
4) Show that Jesus did indeed die on that cross, and was raised from the dead.
Proof of claim 1):
First off, it's important to note that the gospels were anonymous. However, the uniform testimony of the early church is that the gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke, were indeed written by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, (it was simply not in dispute) and the vast majority of the testimony points to the gospel of John being written by the disciple of the same name. Also, for the first three it is unlikely anyone would lie about being the supposed author: Mark and Luke weren't even members of the twelve, and Matthew was a hated tax collector . So, the four gospels were indeed written by people closely connected to the events. (Matthew and John were disciples, Mark was an associate of Peter, whilst Luke was an associate of Paul.)
Now, the dating for the four gospels (even in very liberal circles) is Mark around 70 AD, Matthew and Luke around 80 AD, and John around 90 AD. (The reason for this dating is that there is a portion of John's gospel dated from 100 - 150 AD that was found way down in Egypt, far away from where the gospels were originally composed.) However, that's still within the lifetime of plenty of eyewitnesses of Jesus's life. If false teachings had been going around, they'd have been blasted. Also, these datings aren't that late by historical standards.
The earliest biographies of Alexander the Great weren't written until over 400 years after Alexander's death, yet most historians consider them trustworthy. So, if Alexander's story can remain intact for centuries, it's quite reasonable to assume that Jesus's could remain intact for a mere 60 years or so.
2) through 4) I'll tackle later (not sure if I'll do it in this topic or another), but this is enough for a start.
(Sidenote: A lot of this information comes from "A Case for Christ", which got it from Christian professors who know what they're talking about. So I'm not just making stuff up here.)