Posted on 07/06/2006 10:14:26 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
Authenticity of Purported Memoirs of Thomas the Disciple Under Fierce Attack
NEW YORK - In yet another bold display of investigative journalism, CBS News has used anchorman Dan Rather and its 60 Minutes program to break a story about a document discovery they say disproves the Biblical account of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
"The documents we're about to show you are sure to turn the world of Christianity on its proverbial ear," Rather told the audience at the top of the 60 Minutes report. "I want to assure our viewers that we have done everything humanly possible to ensure the authenticity of these documents, and CBS News is thoroughly convinced that they are indeed the real deal."
CBS went on to show images of what they say are entries from diary-like memoirs written in the days after the crucifixion of Christ by Thomas, one of Christ's 12 disciples. The documents were provided to CBS News by an anonymous source.
The entry most damning to the Biblical resurrection story, according to CBS, is one that appears to have been written by Thomas at the end of the day on Sunday, April 12th, 0033?exactly one week after what would have been the very first Easter Sunday. That entry begins with the sentence, "Not much exciting happened today." The "today" referred to, if the documents are to be believed, would have been the day Thomas (known to most Christians as "Doubting Thomas") met a resurrected Christ and felt the nail holes in His hands and the wound in His side.
"These documents certainly seem to be irreconcilable with the traditional Christian beliefs about the resurrection of Christ," Rather said in his report. "It's almost impossible to believe that Thomas would not have made mention of seeing the Risen Christ in his personal diary."
But what many Christians and others are finding impossible to believe is the authenticity of the so-called Thomas diaries. Arthur Gray, lead writer for the popular bigbibleblog.com, has raised a number of issues he says cast a powerful shadow of doubt on the legitimacy of the claims of CBS News.
"When you look at the images CBS released, a number of problems just immediately jump right off the parchment," Gray told THO. "First of all, the kind of quill that was used in these so-called memoirs was not in common use until at least 40 A.D. Secondly, the sentence structures used throughout these documents has never been seen in any piece of writing dated before the middle ages."
Gray and his fellow bloggers aren't the only ones skeptical about the CBS report.
"Dan Rather and CBS News seem determined to attack our way of life in any way they can," said Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. "First, they launch a completely phony attack on President Bush's infallible military service, and now they're trying to tell me that Jesus never rose from the dead. Well, I have four eyewitnesses who say something different. You may have heard of them: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John."
Despite doubts being raised by Mohler, bigbibleblog.com and other Internet sites, experts interviewed for the 60 Minutes piece are sticking to their claims that the memoirs are the genuine article.
"Please, like someone is really gonna make something like this up," said Marcus Borg ? a fellow with the Jesus Seminar and the star expert witness for the CBS report. "Trust me, I know how touchy Christians can become when you mess with the claims of their precious Bible, but that does nothing to change the devastating evidence found in these memoirs."
Rather is also sticking by his report in the face of the emerging controversy.
"It's never going to be a comfortable ride when you embark on the uncompromising path to truth," Rather said in a statement. "When I tell you that we have thoroughly researched the legitimacy of these documents, I mean what I say. Just look at them. The dates check out. All names are spelled correctly. What more do you want?"
That's KJV English!
Next week CBS
will be running excerpts from
the USB drive
Jesus used to save
His blog! That will raise eyebrows!
Yowie! I can't wait!
Very clever.
That is clearly a forgery.
How do I know? If authentic it would have been written in King James English....
I can hardly wait for Septemebr 2007!
Full story at 11.
Now back to "Survivor-Fiji".
OMG where were Freepers around this time is this joke Alex LOL!
That post is a very poor witness.
St. Thomas wrote in modern day English???
Analyze the paper. I bet it was supplied by Kinkos.
Somebody on Fox yesterday made the statement “The only man to live without sin has been dead for 2000 years”, and I wanted to say I beg your pardon.
Because it contains a vulgarity?
You jest.
An enormous number or posts on this forum are entirely devoid of charity and are intended to do nothing more than insult and belittle. Yours foremost among them.
Glass houses.
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