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THE BIBLE

Welcome to. THE BIBLE. UNDER FIRE. An Special Sunday service of the Metro Cavite Christian Church with Rolan D. Monje. THE BIBLE. UNDER FIRE. Can the Bible survive the attacks?. Attacks on the Bible. Not relevant! Not coherent! Not complete! Not accurate! Not understandable!.

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THE BIBLE

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  1. Welcome to THE BIBLE UNDER FIRE An Special Sunday service of the Metro Cavite Christian Church with Rolan D. Monje

  2. THE BIBLE UNDER FIRE Can the Bible survive the attacks?

  3. Attacks on the Bible • Not relevant! • Not coherent! • Not complete! • Not accurate! • Not understandable!

  4. Some Bible attackers • Expert skeptics • Uninformed skeptics • Fiction enthusiasts • Wide readers • Ordinary readers

  5. Examples from History • The Deist movement (1700’s) • The Rationalist movement (1750’s) • The Existentialist movement (1850’s) • The Postmodern movement (1950’s)

  6. A question of evidence • Everyone will have to make a personal judgment on the Bible • Before you make a judgment, you need to look at all the facts

  7. People vs the Bible Attempts to attack the Bible backfire on the people who start them. Instead of the Bible losing credibility, it’s the other way around; people’s motives, faults, and inconsistencies get exposed.

  8. Bible Controversy #1 “New Age Teachings”

  9. New Age’s growing influence On the New Age movement… Dr. Carl A. Raschke, a professor of religious studies at the University of Denver says it is "the most powerful social force in the world today."

  10. Characteristics of New Age Teachings • Pantheism – everything is God • Relativism – what works for you is good; only what feels good is true • Mysticism – abnormal use of the mind, occult references, relic/symbol worship

  11. New Age Teachings on God • Benjamin Crème: "In a sense there is no such thing as God, God does not exist. And in another sense, there is nothing else but God, only God exists....All is god. And because all is god, there is no God.”

  12. New Age Teachings on Jesus • Alice Bailey, highly regarded New Age teacher: …through the constant return … to the school of life on earth, there to undergo the perfection process of which He (Jesus) was the outstanding example.

  13. New Age Teachings on Jesus • Jaime Licauco speaks on "The Other Meaning of Christ's Birth": …that Christ's birth represents God's becoming man, is only half of the story. … the same story also represents the possibility of man's becoming God… For why should God descend to the level of man except to lift him up, and to show that he, too, can become God?

  14. Is New Age really “new”? 1970’s – TM, Scientology 1980’s – Unified Theory 1990’s – “Conversations with God” by NDWalsch, etc. But these have common elements and concepts from as early as 600BC!

  15. Conclusion – New Age Teachings • Not really ‘new’! Re-hash of Hinduism, Buddhism, mysticism, paganism, etc. • Ranges from strange to superstitious • Focus on feeling over obedience • Goes vs the Bible, and vs God as he is presented in the Bible

  16. Bible Controversy #2 The Gospel of Judas

  17. What is the Gospel of Judas? • Historical background • 3rd /4th century doc • Coptic language

  18. What is the Gospel of Judas? Judas, who is portrayed as ‘greater’ than the other apostles, was commissioned by Jesus to be the instrumental hero towards the ultimate goal: for (the true) Jesus to be ‘released’ from his mortal body

  19. The Gospel of Judas & Gnosticism • Gnosticism: from ‘gnosis’; hybrid philosophical and religious system of belief; emphases - ‘the all’, ‘flesh is evil’, ‘elite knowledge’ • Vocabulary & theology  Gnostic leanings • Nag Hammadi documents (largely Gnostic) • Related text: Gospel of Thomas

  20. Problems with Gospel of Judas • Influence of Gnostic philosophy • Late time of writing; at least 3 generations from the writing of the other gospels • Removed from Jesus’ lifetime • Cryptic, non-orthodox teaching • Not accepted by the early church

  21. Rejection of false gospels

  22. What the Paul writes vs Gnostics • Col 2:8,21,23 …no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy….These are all destined to perish with use… Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

  23. The Gospel of Judas-Conclusions • Represents a later reaction (like other Gnostic writings) on the original and earlier teaching of the apostles • Presents vocabulary and theology different from NT • Does not shed any light on our historical understanding of Jesus and the NT

  24. Bible Controversy #3 Dan Brown’s “Da Vinci Code”

  25. Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code • A novel • A suspenseful, thought-provoking plot • Includes an intro: “FACT:…All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.” • A novel nonetheless • Category (per printer): Fiction

  26. Cracking the code… • Impossibility of the storyline • Misrepresentation of organizations

  27. Cracking the code… • Wrong information on art history Art historian Denise Budd, Columbia University: There is no real evidence at all that Leonardo da Vinci was a member of the Priory of Sion or any other secret organization. The documents that Dan Brown relied upon…appear to be 20th century forgeries…

  28. Cracking the code… • Wrong information on art history Art historian Diane Cappadona of Georgetown University: [On Brown’s supposition that the ‘John’ character in the Last Supper is really Mary] It nicely fits with feminist theology...However, that doesn’t make it true…No, I do not believe that there is a woman in the Last Supper and I do not believe in any way that it is Mary Magdalene.

  29. Cracking the code…

  30. Cracking the code… • Dan Brown guilty of ‘stealing ideas?’

  31. Dan Brown’s intro “FACT:…All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.” documents

  32. Claim #1 regarding documents • Ch 55, p.251: “The Bible as we know it today, was collated by the pagan Roman Emperor Constantine the great…” p.254 “…Constantine commissioned and financed a new Bible…”

  33. Did Constantine collate the Bible? • New Testament books were written by 100 AD, and were in circulation already by that time • Constantine (and the Council of Nicaea, 325 AD) came 200 years later, and had nothing to do with ‘choosing’ which books of the Bible would be included in the Canon • Constantine commissioned the ‘copying’ of Bibles, meaning there was already a Bible to be copied!

  34. Dan, get your facts straight! NT & Bible Compiled OT Compiled 380AD 325AD OT Completed Nicaea, Constantine 180AD 90AD 30AD NT 85% Compiled 400BC 2200BC NT Completed

  35. Claim #2 regarding documents Ch 55, p.254: “Some of the gospels that Constantine attempted to eradicate managed to survive. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1950’s hidden in a cave…And of course, the Coptic scrolls in 1945 at Nag Hammadi…these documents speak of Christ’s ministry in very human terms.”

  36. Do the Dead Sea Scrolls teach that Jesus was merely human?

  37. The Dead Sea Scrolls • Contains OT books • Contains Jewish tractates • Contains various Jewish writings • Don’t talk about Jesus at all!

  38. Comments on DVC • Bart Ehrman, University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill): There is no evidence that Jesus was ever married, let alone married to Mary Magdalene.

  39. Comments on DVC • James Robinson, Claremont Graduate School, on the Da Vinci hubbub: We are a Jesus-haunted culture that’s biblically illiterate.

  40. Comments on DVC Skeptic Magazine (atheist magazine), on Dan Brown’s research: “In matters of historical analysis, it is not possible to be more wrong than this.”

  41. Truths, Half-truths, Lies • Mk 3:22 By the prince of demons he is driving out demons. he is driving out demons by the prince of demons

  42. Problems with Da Vinci Code in the area of ‘documents’ only • Erroneous statements on the gospels • Confusion regarding early writings and later reflections • Misunderstanding of the role of church councils • Inaccurate assessment of Constantine’s role in 4th cen Christianity

  43. Da Binchee hu? • Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519)

  44. Da Binchee hu? • Renaissance painter, architect, engineer, mathematician, scientist and philosopher • He lived in the 15th century, 1400 years after Christ! • When did Da Vinci become an authority in religious truth? • Will you base your faith on this man?

  45. Conclusion on the DVC • Dan Brown’s assertions on the roots of Christianity are not just disturbing, but erroneous, his fallacy-laden arguments stemming from extremely poor research, personal bias, or both.

  46. Recommended Reading On evidences/apologetics “Evidence that Demands a Verdict” by Josh MacDowell On Bible text history “The Canon Debate” by Lee MacDonald On Church history “Church History in Plain Language” by Bruce Shelley More to be posted at www.addtoyourlearning.com

  47. The Bible Under Fire Attempts to attack the Bible backfire on the people who start them. Instead of the Bible losing credibility, it’s the other way around; people’s motives, faults, and inconsistencies get exposed.

  48. If you will just read the Bible… You will find out… That it’s a GREAT BOOK!

  49. What’s so great about the Bible? 1. Unbelievable Unity • Around 40 authors, 3 languages, 3 continents • Written in a span of about 1500 years in very different contexts • Coherent, singleness of thought

  50. What’s so great about the Bible? 2. Amazing Accuracy • Contains factual information which corresponds with reality • Contains incidental information which corresponds with truthful account

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