Former fundamentalist 'debunks' Bible

cnn ^ | May 15, 2009

[JoeProBono]

Just so you know, Bart Ehrman says he's not the anti-Christ. Bart Ehrman says most of the New Testament is a forgery but it's still an important body of work. Bart Ehrman says most of the New Testament is a forgery but it's still an important body of work. He says he's not trying to destroy your faith. He's not trying to bash the Bible. And, though his mother no longer talks to him about religion, Ehrman says some of his best friends are Christian. Ehrman, a best-selling author and a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is a biblical sleuth whose investigations make some people very angry. Like the fictional Robert Langdon character played by actor Tom Hanks in the movie "Angels & Demons," he delves into the past to challenge some of Christianity's central claims. In Ehrman's latest book, "Jesus, Interrupted," he concludes: Doctrines such as the divinity of Jesus and heaven and hell are not based on anything Jesus or his earlier followers said. At least 19 of the 27 books in the New Testament are forgeries. Believing the Bible is infallible is not a condition for being a Christian.

[mjp]

Ehrman says he doesn't think the resurrection took place

many are invited but few are chosen

[freemike]

I have a book sitting here on my desk somewhere, (its a mess) The book is "Evidence that Demands a Verdict" by Josh Mcdowell.

Full of historical evidence of the Bible.

But, besides that,, the devil has been trying this crap from the beginning of time. Satan started this in the Garden of Eden. "Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" Gen 3:1.

Did God really say that??? Did He??? Are you sure??? Are you sure it's not a lie?? Sure He's real???

Believe what you want. I believe the Bible. I believe God. I believe Jesus was Who He said He was! I believe in hell and heaven! Choose what you want,, as for me,,, I believe!

[MHGinTN]

What was His supposed blasphemy? ... By His own hearing before the Sanhedrin He claimed He was God. That seems to be washed out of relevance by you, by your secularizing assertion that you are as much God as He was since God is in everything. ... Are you beginning to get the picture of why some of us are rather disturbed with your particular form of denial of Christ’s Deity?

[ColdSteelTalon]

Yeah right and people died to preserve the Gospel and the words of Christ. Including the apostles. I don’t want what your smoking bart.

[Poe White Trash]

Yawn. Spinozist claptrap.

[Two Kids' Dad]

Thanks. They go to church and pray regularly.

(Had a long reply, deleted all but the above)

[MHGinTN]

So send in freepmail ... I’m a thick-skinned old boy.

[Oztrich Boy]

The #1 requirement for all professors of religious studies is that they not be religious.

Also Professors of Criminology should not be criminals

[tajgirvan]

1"IN THE beginning [before all time] was the Word ([Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God [b]Himself.(A) 2He was present originally with God.

3All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being.

4In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men.

5And the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it [put it out or absorbed it or appropriated it, and is unreceptive to it]".

~~John 1:1-5~~

Jesus is God, God is from the Beginning, Jesus Is the Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever! He knows all the languages from the beginning of time! He created them!

[SunkenCiv]

five hardcover editions, same date, showed up in search, four of them available used only. Weird.

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Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don't Know About Them) by Bart D. Ehrman Kindle Edition Audio Download

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[JoeProBono]

Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (Unabridged)by Bart D. Ehrman Narrated by Jason Culp Avg. Customer Rating:
(based on 40 reviews) List Price : $39.99Audible.com Price :$27.99Promotional Price* :$20.99You Save :$7.00

[SunkenCiv]

I linked the hardcover, kindle, and audible editions in my earlier post. The Amazon search is what was talking about. :’)

[onedoug]

Thanks. I’d seen it earlier. No basis for having founded America, eh?

[Friendofgeorge]

Hey I saw him on Larry King Live. He said in his travels around the globe, he has met Hindus that Love God, he has met Muslims that Love God, Yes he said right out, that he does not believe that Christ is the only way to God, I heard him with my own ears.

Also when he was asked if homosexuality was a sin, he could not make himself say it was. He could only say that homosexuality “is not God`s best”.

He waffles on the Christian social issues, abortion etc. Much like Rick Warren who says, “yes I am pro life but” Neither one of them has the guts to come right out and say what they believe. I have no use for either one of them. They really have no right to complain about the Supreme Court, they are complicit with Obama IMHO

[TBP]

What was His supposed blasphemy?

Allegedly, claiming he was God, although when Pilate asks him directly if he's the Messiah, he replies that "that's what they say."

[TBP]

Your argument implies it. If God is unlimited, Infinite, tehn God MUST be everywhere and everywhen.

If God is everywhere and everywhen, then ipso facto it cannot be possible to be separate from God.

If that is so, then the mythology of the New Testamanet story falls apart.

[TBP]

Matthew, Mark, and John weren’t with him?

No, it's been pretty well documented that each of those books was written from 50 to 10-0 years after the fact. This is what Professor Ehrman is referring to when he calls tehm forgeries and frauds -- not that someone made them up, but forgeries by the standards of teh time, wherein they were attributed to people who were supposed eyewitnesses while being written by people half a century to a century after Jesus's time.

[TBP]

He claimed He was God.

Dr. Ernest Holmes points out that there is a difference between "I am God" and "God is me." If God is everywehre, everywhen, then it's impossible to be separate from God.

Furthermore, since we know that "in the beginning" there was God and god alone, the only thing that all that we see could be made of is God-stuff because that's all there is.

You know, I'm reminded of a story told by the writer Ram Dass -- probably apocryphal, but to the point: He tells of going to visit his brotehr in the insane asylum. His brother says, "You know what I don't understand? I tell people I'm God and I'm in this asylum. You tell people you're God and you're the great Ram Dass."

And he replied, "he difference, dear brother, is that I tell them they are too."

Now recall Jesus saying (in Matthew), "You are the Light of the World."

[TBP]

This is forced overinterpretation. There is nothing to suggest that that verse refers in any way to Jesus.

“In the beginnign was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” All it says is that God was (and thus is) all that there was (and thus is) and that God’s Word gave rise to all creation. To interpret the verse the way you do requires a stretch of creative interpretation.

[TBP]

I’d guess Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek and maybe even some Latin if he were a typical citizen of the day.

Jesus was a carpenter's son from Nazareth (out in the country.) he was not exactly a highly educated person (not that he needed to be.) I find it unlikely that he would have spoken four languages -- especially Greek.