Posted on 08/23/2017 4:23:00 AM PDT by Raymond Pamintuan
The New Testament (NT) is the foundational religious text for over 2.2 billion people and is completely unique in one sense: It is the world's only unedited, frameless, correlative anthology.
Over a period of 50 years, at least nine authors wrote 27 books containing no less than 55 major doctrines and 180 doctrinal concepts centered on one figure – Jesus Christ. Somehow, when these doctrines are grouped, whether they refer to the Pre-Mortal Jesus, Human Jesus, Resurrected Jesus, and Glorified Jesus, a single, coherent cosmology appears:
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
Wonderful Gem!
Thanks for Posting.
Did this author forget the Council of Nicaea?
The New Testament (and Old Testament) is the divinely inspired Word of God; God Himself is its author.
What about it? The first council of Nicaea was formed to deal with the heresy of Arianism not with establishing a NT canon.
While that may be true, those present at Nicaea did in fact sort through the gospels and cull those agreed to be unacceptable.
That is editing
Raymond, thank you for posting this. Nice to have this first thing in the morning.
Captain, The Council of Nicaea met in 325 AD long after Peter, Paul, et. al. had written their letters/gospels. Which I believe is the point in this article.
Maybe you are thinking of the Council of Jerusalem? If so, that was more about the rules of the Church, not the nature of Christ.
"cull" what? Agreed by who? What was the official statement of the counsel with regard to these "culled" gospels?
a really interesting apologetic. never seen anything like it...but of the type that explains how life actually lived (ie, real world stuff) explains the Bible. Awesome.
bfl
While that may be true, those present at Nicaea did in fact sort through the gospels and cull those agreed to be unacceptable.
That is editing
“Actually the NT is a rewrite of the OT. Not much new information in it. Just an updated edition.”
Not by a long shot.
“Actually the NT is a rewrite of the OT. Not much new information in it. Just an updated edition.”
Ping to myself to follow the discussion.
Naw...That was determined by a bunch of Africans down there in Africa; Tunisia; Carthage, around 400 A.D...Over 350 years after Jesus was Crucified on the Cross...
The Jewish and Christian religions and scriptures were WELL established in the World by the time the Catholic religion decided to muck up the scriptures...
In the Old Testament (Covenant), God promised a New Covenant where He would "Forgive our wickedness and recognize our sins no more". That was prophesy about Jesus coming to allow us a personal relationship with Him (God) and to pay the death penalty for our sins. How is that only an "update" of the Old Testament?
It may help to know that the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is ultimately about Jesus Christ.
The central message of the Old Testament is that Jesus is coming.
The central message of the Gospels is that Jesus has come.
The central message of the rest of the New Testament is that Jesus is coming again.
This is beside the point since there is a difference between selecting books for inclusion or exclusion into a canon and rewriting books that became part of a canon.
While there were many books floating around in the second to the fourth centuries that purported to be authentic, the formation of the NT canon was finalized by 382 AD. The criteria they used was whether the book was recognized by the early church to have been written by a known church leader. They did not modify the books that were included in the NT to make them say the same thing that the others did.
What this author points out is, for whatever reason, the 180 doctrinal concepts of the 27 books within the NT canon creates a single, coherent picture when you group them to whether they refer to the Pre-Mortal Jesus, the Human Jesus, the Resurrected Jesus, or the Glorified Jesus. He says this is an IMPOSSIBLE accomplishment because it makes a correlative anthology without using a common editor and using a common frame.
He provides a way for anyone to test this claim - just have multiple people draw parts of a picture on multiple pieces of paper without telling them what to write or have them collaborate with one another (no frame), and do not modify their drawings to make them fit together. After they finish, move them around like jigsaw puzzle pieces and see if they make a single, coherent image. Since it is impossible for multiple people to read one another’s minds to produce perfectly harmonious perspectives, it is a guarantee they will never make a single picture.
Do you realize what this means? It means for the FIRST TIME in two thousand years, Christians finally have the evidence we need to empirically validate our faith in Jesus Christ.
It means any Christian can now provide evidence that is irrefutable that the Christian message is true.
The author’s bio on PJ MEdia https://pjmedia.com/columnist/edward-k-watson/ states he’s an expert on correlative anthologies which allowed him to observe the NT is also a correlative anthology. He points out in his article that this aspect of the NT is empirical evidence that can be tested.
What this means is for the first time in two thousand years, we can provide tangible evidence for our faith in Jesus Christ. This changes everything and allows us to
go back on the offensive in preaching the Gospel.
I’m truly sorry you think this but it is blatantly untrue. The New Testament is completely different from the OT. This is most visible in its soteriological cosmology (the OT doesn’t have one—it does not say what happens after death) and by having hundreds of doctrinal concepts centered on just one person, Jesus Christ.
“the OT doesn’t have one—it does not say what happens after death”
Yes it does:
Ecc 9:5
For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
Ecc 9:10
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
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