Posted on 03/11/2014 6:32:04 PM PDT by NKP_Vet
Among Catholics and atheists, is easy to exchange convinced assertions: “The gospels are 100% God’s holy Word and every bit is historically accurate!” or “The gospels are fairy tales!” However there is a discipline called “Biblical scholarship” in which scholars do some very interesting work determining just which parts of the gospels they think are reliable and which they think are not. Their conclusions are, of course, debated. That’s what scholars do. Their work is fascinating and it is worth taking some time to look at just a smidgen of their methodology and conclusions.
Bible scholars are most interested in trying to determine whether the original gospels record eyewitness accounts, and whether those original versions have been transmitted accurately. To do this scholars consider several factors: 1) authorship and date of composition, 2) intention and genre, 3) gospel sources and oral tradition, 4) textual criticism, 5) historical authenticity of specific sayings and narrative events.
One of the difficult aspects for modern people to understand is just what kind of document the gospels are. Everyone can admit that they are not written as purely historical documents, but neither are they simply fabulous fables, myths, or fairy tales. In continuity with the Old Testament, and consistent with their Jewish origins, we have documents which are presented as history and have plenty of historically verifiable details, but which also have supernatural and otherworldly elements to them
(Excerpt) Read more at strangenotions.com ...
19. Holy Mother Church has firmly and with absolute constancy held, and continues to hold, that the four Gospels just named, whose historical character the Church unhesitatingly asserts, faithfully hand on what Jesus Christ, while living among men, really did and taught for their eternal salvation until the day He was taken up into heaven (see Acts 1:1). Indeed, after the Ascension of the Lord the Apostles handed on to their hearers what He had said and done. This they did with that clearer understanding which they enjoyed after they had been instructed by the glorious events of Christ's life and taught by the light of the Spirit of truth. The sacred authors wrote the four Gospels, selecting some things from the many which had been handed on by word of mouth or in writing, reducing some of them to a synthesis, explaining some things in view of the situation of their churches and preserving the form of proclamation but always in such fashion that they told us the honest truth about Jesus. For their intention in writing was that either from their own memory and recollections, or from the witness of those who "themselves from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word" we might know "the truth" concerning those matters about which we have been instructed (see Luke 1:2-4).
Faith comes to mind.
They are the truth as when you follow their teachings in your life they set you free to know and experience Jesus and our Father.
When the map leads you to the treasure it is the truth.
Well, those writings have led thousands and thousands to a knowledge of the Truth: that one particular Jew known as Jesus The Christ is The Lord and Most Graceful Savior of households who believe in Him from the deserved consequences of eternal condemnation in Hell.). That’s got to carry some “historical” weight.
They’re not. They’re pseudepigraphic and they’re not history — they’re inspirational works pitched to specific audiences.
They’re based on the oral tradition, which tends to be a long game of telephone, as it gets distorted through being passed along from one source to another.
And they have scribal errors, some accidental and often incidental, but some both deliberate and significant.
Are the New Testament Gospels Reliable?
Dr. Hoselton shows historical data that is less than a generation old that affirms the reliability of the first hand accounts of the life of Jesus.
http://columbia-mo.ucg.org/sermon/are-new-testament-gospels-reliable
The Gospels are different because the writers were different, and they had different purposes in writing things down.
Mark — short and to the point
Matthew — writing for the Jews with a lot of quotes from the Old Testament
Luke — an orderly account with several stories not in other Gospels
John — lived the longest and basically wrote theology along with the history.
Except for the fact the entire Bible meshes together to become the greatest story ever told. Its all true and the Books themselves are deeper then any rabbit hole with more truth and mystery then 10 million scribes with unlimited imaginations could ever hope to write.
Our lord Jesus Christ did not give us books filled with lies and errors. He gave us his word which is he himself.
I am sorry that you do not see or hear the Word but I pray that you do someday soon
That’s because the Gospels were specifically written with an awareness of the prophecies, in order to make them conform to those prophecies. They were put together by human writers who were propagandizing on behalf of the new religion.
The Gospels and the rest of the Bible are specifically intended to influence people, and to do so, they made the story consistent.
Scribes making deliberate changes (not scribal errors, the equivalent of transcribing a small h as a small n) would deliberately make the story consistent. That is why scholars believe that those elements that are the most different are probably close to the originals.
That’s why the books are filled with prophecies from a God who knows the future. Man cant predict, let alone set up the future to match his writings.
Theory from hell, that is.
Amen! The words of Scripture are the very words of Almighty God and the word of God is powerful.
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:12,13)
There is far more historical evidence pointing to the veracity of the gospels than pretty much any other historical event until fairly recently.
The gospels are not distorted -- the oldest manuscripts and the newest are in agreement. Pick up any NIV and you will see every so-called discrepancy between manuscripts magnified to the fullest extent possible. And you will be underwhelmed.
“This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and who has written these things; and we know that his testimony is true. But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” ~ John 21:20-25
Then you choose to ignore all the manuscript evidence for the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Before 1947 (the year the dead sea scrolls were found)the oldest Hebrew manuscript dated to about 915AD. When the dead sea scrolls were found, a complete scroll of the book of Isaiah was found. Once they got it unrolled and dated it to about 125BC they compared what the 915AD manuscript said with what the 125BC scroll said. Except for punctuation and the spelling of names/places, the 125BC scroll said exactly what the 915AD manuscript said, that is over a 1000year spread between the two. That is only one of the many books of the OT that they have confirmed that say then what it says now
The New Testament has about 25,000 pieces of manuscript evidence, some dated to 35 to 50AD. Most of the people who saw and heard Jesus when He was alive would have corrected any errors. If every new testament bible were lost today, it could be completely rewritten from the manuscripts we now have. If we were to loose the manuscripts, the entire new testament could be re-written by the quotes from the early church fathers, except for 11 verses.
When Simon Greenleaf applied the law of evidence to the four gospels, (which he did to disprove them) he determined that they were admissible in a court of law as factual, eye witness evidence to the events they describe. Mr Greenleaf also became a believer in Jesus Christ because of his investigation and the overwhelming evidence he encountered.
The claims you make are unfounded, as well as the so called scholars who have been blinded by their much learning.
Try to find another book that was written over 1400 years, by 40 different writers and ensure that the book they write has a unified message from beginning to end. I will save you some time, you won’t find one.
The message of the bible is that God has redeemed man from the fall in the Garden of Eden and that Jesus is that way, THE only way to be saved from condemnation of death.
2 Tim 3:16-17 says that All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Peter 1:21, For no prophesy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
John 3:16-17, For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that who ever believes in Him will not die but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but rather that the world through Him might be saved.
That is what you need to know.
There are literally hundreds of sects in the world, each with its own bizarre "holy writings" (e.g., the Koran, the Book of Mormon, the Tibetan Book of the Dead), about which you could make the same claim.
The fact that a "book" has followers does not in any way confirm the truth of that "book."
Regards,
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.