Transcript Is The Bible History or Myth? - Buenaventura church of Christ

The “First Cause” Must:
• Have Intelligence –order
& design does not come
from time + chance
• Be as Personal as
ourselves – an inanimate
object cannot make an
animate one
Romans 1:19,20
What About God’s
Nature?
Can tell Little about
Character of the Creator
by studying His Creation
His nature a relevant
question IF we want to live
in the light of reality
Has God Ever Spoken?
• How can you tell what a person
is really like unless you hear
him speak or see him act?
• Do we have a reliable record of
what He said?
• Forefathers tell us words God
has spoken & Deeds He has done
Greek & Latin Myths
• Homer – 900 B.C.
• “Zeus now addressed the
immortals…”
• Product of Homer’s Imagination
• “The Odyssey” a Novel about
imaginary wanderings of
Odysseus coming from Troy
Greek & Latin Myths
• Myth – Imaginary stories built
on a skeleton basis of real
military history.
• Difference between Myth &
History of what actually
happened in time and space
Buddhist Scriptures
• Cir. 500 B.C.
• Authority: the heart of his own
personal experience
• “He had reached perfection and
thought to himself: This is the
authentic way… and I have
obtained it.”
Buddhist Scriptures
• Buddha
• No mention of the Creator
• Doubtful he believed in a
personal, objective Creator
• Regarded God as a state to be
achieved & experienced
Buddhist Scriptures
• Buddha
• Stressed Transcendental
Meditation – helped to adjust
psychologically & physically to
imperfect world
• Original words of Buddha difficult
to separate from comment & myth
over 1500 years in 325 volumes
Koran
• 610 A.D. Mohammed while
asleep or in a trance told to
recite the name of his Lord, the
Creator
• Beginning of revelations to
Mohammed – remembered by
others and officially collected about
650 A.D.
Koran
• Where does he get this
information?
• Much he read from the Old
Testament
• Rest, subjective, mystical
experiences or “revelations.”
• Any way to confirm these actually
came from the Creator?
• We are at the mercy of subjective
experiences
Koran
• Is this man unique & likely to
have insights ordinary people
do not possess?
• He disclaimed any power to
perform miracles
• He was involved in vengeful &
sinful incidents
• He died like an ordinary man
We Can See That:
• Most so-called “holy
scriptures” are either
creations of imagination, the
non-historical accumulations
of psychic commentators, or
historical accounts of a man’s
subjective visions.
Is there “touch &
see” evidence of
communication
by the creator to
us creatures?
Is the New Testament History?
• YES!
• 26-29 A.D. Unique human being
lived in Palestine.
• His life recorded by eyewitnesses
• He died, disappeared from the
earth & then came back for more
than a month to prove that He had
been through death to His Father
Is the New Testament History?
• YES!
• How Does This Differ from
Greek & Hindu Myths or
Buddhist & Islamic scriptures?
• It is Reliable History, NOT Myth!
• How do we know that it’s
reliable history?
We Have Eye-Witness
Accounts
• Peter & John saw Jesus Heal
Lepers, the nails pierce His
hands; put their fingers into the
hole in His side when he arose
from the grave
• 2 Peter 1:16-18
Do We Just Have Their Word
That They Were There?
• Not at all!
• Acts 26:26 “this thing was not
done in a corner”
• 1 Corinthians 15:6 “seen by 500
at once” – In 56 A.D. most still
alive who saw Him.
Next Generation Recorded
Interviews with Them
• Papias – 60A.D. Records John’s
words about Mark & Peter.
• Irenaeus – died 203 A.D. Tells
how Polycarp in 154 A.D.
described his conversations
with John & the rest who had
seen the Lord.
We Have Hostile Witnesses
•
•
•
•
•
Porphyry – 235-305 A.D.
Celsus c.177 A.D.
Josephus 37-100 A.D.
Pliny the Younger 61-112 A.D.
ALL confirm that the New
Testament writers wrote
truthfully about the events they
observed in the first century
We Have Hostile Witnesses
• Tacitus 56-117 “Christ who in
the reign of Tiberius suffered
punishment under..Pontius
Pilate.”
• Josephus “Jesus, a wise man, if
it be lawful to call him a man
for he was a doer of wonderful
works”
We Have Hostile Witnesses
• Tertullian – 160-225 Caesar
held to his opinion he
presented to the senate, that
events clearly showed the truth
of Christ’s divinity & so Caesar
went against the senate and
protected Christians.
Manuscript Evidence
• Myth developed when eyewitnesses & their records die,
so new, exaggerated records
can be written.
• Caesar’s “History of the Gallic
War” – 900 years to our
earliest extant manuscript –
embellished, destroyed original
Manuscript Evidence
• Earliest manuscripts closest to
original, most accurate reading
depends on number of
manuscripts
• Caesar’s “History of the Gallic
War” – only ten manuscripts,
earliest dated 1,000 years after
Caesar wrote it!
Manuscript Evidence
• Plato’s Republic – 400 B.C.
Only have 7 Manuscripts –
oldest copy 1,200 years later
• This same kind of manuscript
evidence is accepted as “proof
positive” that our present
copies of the “classics” are
reliable reproductions
Manuscript Evidence
• Herodotus’ History based on
eight manuscripts – earliest
dated 1300 years after he died
Manuscript Evidence
• Herodotus’ History based on
eight manuscripts – earliest
dated 1300 years after he died
• Aristotle’s Works – five
manuscripts – earliest 1400
years later
Manuscript Evidence
• Herodotus’ History based on
eight manuscripts – earliest
dated 1300 years after he died
• Aristotle’s Works – five
manuscripts – earliest 1400
years later
• Lucretius’ – two manuscriptsearliest 1100 years later
Manuscript Evidence
• For The New Testament
• Oldest piece of manuscript is
not 1400 or 750 years after
original autograph
• Gospel of John
Dated 125 A.D. -35
Years after John
Wrote it
Manuscript Evidence
• Some of John’s contemporaries
would still have been alive
when that actual piece of
material was being
passed from hand
to hand
How Many Manuscripts
From 125 and 1100 A.D.?
IF the New Testament is
not reliable history, then
no ancient history can be
trusted!
IF we say the NT is Myth,
History doesn’t exist!
IF Caesar, Plato & Tacitus
existed, every detail of
Jesus’ Life in the New
Testament is TRUE!
HE LIVES!
HE WILL COME AGAIN TO
RECEIVE HIS OWN!