| Is the Bible true? Can we trust the texts
| |
| | The disagreements in the 3rd and 4th
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| we read today? Does archaeology confirm
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| | century only centered around a few of the
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| the Bible stories? Much as been written
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| | smaller New Testament books: James, 2
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| about the evidences for historical
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| | Peter, 2&3 John, Jude and Revelation.
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| reliability of the Bible and/or to prove
| |
| | 8. Authorship and dating of the Gospels:
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| that it cannot be trusted. To help you
| |
| | Although technically anonymous, there are
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| find a path through the labyrinth of
| |
| | strong internal and external evidences
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| information, following an overview of the
| |
| | that support the authorship of the
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| 12 most compelling evidences for the
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| | gospels by the names we identify them by
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| historical reliability and truthfulness
| |
| | today. Mark is generally considered to be
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| of the Christian Holy Scriptures:
| |
| | the oldest gospel; even liberal scholars
|
| 1. The Dead Sea Scrolls: These contain
| |
| | will agree on a dating before 70 AD,
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| Old Testament manuscripts from 100 years
| |
| | although more realistic is in the 55-65
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| before the birth of Christ, proving that
| |
| | timeframe. Luke, Mark and Acts are
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| over the centuries the scriptures were
| |
| | generally dated in the 60-80 timeframe.
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| very carefully copied and our current
| |
| | The gospel of John is now universally
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| texts are close to identical to the
| |
| | accepted to be written in the 80-90
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| original texts.
| |
| | period.
|
| 2. The Septuagint: The first translation
| |
| | 9. Authorship and dating of Paul's
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| from the Hebrew Old Testament to the
| |
| | letters: All substantial letters are
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| Greek language, dated from the 285-270 BC
| |
| | universally accepted to be written by the
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| timeframe. The Septuagint proves the
| |
| | apostle Paul in the 49-65 AD timeframe.
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| existence of all the Old books before 300
| |
| | That makes these letters likely the
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| BC.
| |
| | earliest written documents in the New
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| 3. The canon of the Old Testament: The
| |
| | Testament.
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| list of books that now makes up our Old
| |
| | 10. The 'lost' books of the Bible were
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| Testament was never under serious
| |
| | never 'lost': Modern liberal scholars
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| dispute, showing these books were
| |
| | claim recently discovered 'lost' or
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| accepted, and treated as God's word
| |
| | 'deliberately misplaced' gospels that
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| almost immediately after they were
| |
| | claim alternative views on Jesus and His
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| written.
| |
| | teachings. Famous examples are the
|
| 4. Authorship and dating of the Old
| |
| | 'gospel of Thomas', the 'gospel of Judas'
|
| Testament: Although most of the Old
| |
| | and the 'gospel of Mary Magdalene' (one
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| Testament books are technically
| |
| | of the 'sources' for the claims of the Da
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| anonymous, we have strong internal and
| |
| | Vinci code). However evidence shows that
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| external evidences to support the
| |
| | these gospels were not only written
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| traditional authorship and date of
| |
| | generations after the apostles, but also
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| writing for these books.
| |
| | that the preserved texts were subject to
|
| 5. The manuscripts of the New Testament:
| |
| | 'creative editing' (rewriting) by Gnostic
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| The abundance (over 25,000 partial and
| |
| | heretic sources.
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| complete texts) and early dating (the
| |
| | 11. The historical reliability of the
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| earliest papyrus is from 125 AD) of
| |
| | Bible: Archeology and historical analysis
|
| preserved manuscripts of the New
| |
| | again and again show the accuracy of the
|
| Testament shows the reliable preservation
| |
| | events, locations and customs mentioned
|
| of the original texts.
| |
| | in the Bible accounts. Never has anybody
|
| 6. Testimony of the Early Church leaders:
| |
| | been able to disprove any of the
|
| Additionally there exist over 86,000
| |
| | accounts.
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| quotations from the New Testament texts
| |
| | 12. The credibility of the eye-witnesses:
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| in the preserved writings of the leaders
| |
| | The eye-witness accounts to Jesus prove
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| of the Early Christian church, testifying
| |
| | to be honest and factual testimonies. The
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| to the original texts.
| |
| | abundance of (irrelevant) detail,
|
| 7. The canon of the New Testament: The
| |
| | consistency of the accounts, as well as
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| official canon of the New Testament was
| |
| | between the different gospels, lack of
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| agreed upon by 397 AD, however, before
| |
| | exaggeration and confirmations from
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| the year 150 AD, all gospels, Acts and
| |
| | extra-Biblical sources prove their
|
| Paul's epistles were universally accepted
| |
| | credibility.
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| as part of the list of Inspired writings.
| |
| |
|
