Is The Bible History or Myth?

Is The Bible History or Myth?

The “First Cause” Must: • Have Intelligence –order & design does not come from time + chance • Be as Personal as ourselves – an inanimate object cannot make an animate one Romans 1:19,20

What About God’s Nature? Can tell Little about Character of the Creator by studying His Creation His nature a relevant question IF we want to live in the light of reality

Has God Ever Spoken? • How can you tell what a person is really like unless you hear him speak or see him act? • Do we have a reliable record of what He said? • Forefathers tell us words God has spoken & Deeds He has done

Greek & Latin Myths • Homer – 900 B.C. • “Zeus now addressed the immortals…” • Product of Homer’s Imagination • “The Odyssey” a Novel about imaginary wanderings of Odysseus coming from Troy

Greek & Latin Myths • Myth – Imaginary stories built on a skeleton basis of real military history. • Difference between Myth & History of what actually happened in time and space

Buddhist Scriptures • Cir. 500 B.C. • Authority: the heart of his own personal experience • “He had reached perfection and thought to himself: This is the authentic way… and I have obtained it.”

Buddhist Scriptures • Buddha • No mention of the Creator • Doubtful he believed in a personal, objective Creator • Regarded God as a state to be achieved & experienced

Buddhist Scriptures • Buddha • Stressed Transcendental Meditation – helped to adjust psychologically & physically to imperfect world • Original words of Buddha difficult to separate from comment & myth over 1500 years in 325 volumes

Koran • 610 A.D. Mohammed while asleep or in a trance told to recite the name of his Lord, the Creator • Beginning of revelations to Mohammed – remembered by others and officially collected about 650 A.D.

Koran • Where does he get this information? • Much he read from the Old Testament • Rest, subjective, mystical experiences or “revelations.” • Any way to confirm these actually came from the Creator? • We are at the mercy of subjective experiences

Koran • Is this man unique & likely to have insights ordinary people do not possess? • He disclaimed any power to perform miracles • He was involved in vengeful & sinful incidents • He died like an ordinary man

We Can See That: • Most so-called “holy scriptures” are either creations of imagination, the non-historical accumulations of psychic commentators, or historical accounts of a man’s subjective visions.

Is there “touch & see” evidence of communication by the creator to us creatures?

Is the New Testament History? • YES! • 26-29 A.D. Unique human being lived in Palestine. • His life recorded by eyewitnesses • He died, disappeared from the earth & then came back for more than a month to prove that He had been through death to His Father

Is the New Testament History? • YES! • How Does This Differ from Greek & Hindu Myths or Buddhist & Islamic scriptures? • It is Reliable History, NOT Myth! • How do we know that it’s reliable history?

We Have Eye-Witness Accounts • Peter & John saw Jesus Heal Lepers, the nails pierce His hands; put their fingers into the hole in His side when he arose from the grave • 2 Peter 1:16-18

Do We Just Have Their Word That They Were There? • Not at all! • Acts 26:26 “this thing was not done in a corner” • 1 Corinthians 15:6 “seen by 500 at once” – In 56 A.D. most still alive who saw Him.

Next Generation Recorded Interviews with Them • Papias – 60A.D. Records John’s words about Mark & Peter. • Irenaeus – died 203 A.D. Tells how Polycarp in 154 A.D. described his conversations with John & the rest who had seen the Lord.

We Have Hostile Witnesses • Porphyry – 235-305 A.D. • Celsus c.177 A.D. • Josephus 37-100 A.D. • Pliny the Younger 61-112 A.D. • ALL confirm that the New Testament writers wrote truthfully about the events they observed in the first century

We Have Hostile Witnesses • Tacitus 56-117 “Christ who in the reign of Tiberius suffered punishment under..Pontius Pilate.” • Josephus “Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man for he was a doer of wonderful works”

We Have Hostile Witnesses • Tertullian – 160-225 Caesar held to his opinion he presented to the senate, that events clearly showed the truth of Christ’s divinity & so Caesar went against the senate and protected Christians.

Manuscript Evidence • Myth developed when eye-witnesses & their records die, so new, exaggerated records can be written. • Caesar’s “History of the Gallic War” – 900 years to our earliest extant manuscript – embellished, destroyed original

Manuscript Evidence • Earliest manuscripts closest to original, most accurate reading depends on number of manuscripts • Caesar’s “History of the Gallic War” – only ten manuscripts, earliest dated 1,000 years after Caesar wrote it!

Manuscript Evidence • Plato’s Republic – 400 B.C. Only have 7 Manuscripts – oldest copy 1,200 years later • This same kind of manuscript evidence is accepted as “proof positive” that our present copies of the “classics” are reliable reproductions

Manuscript Evidence • Herodotus’ History based on eight manuscripts – earliest dated 1300 years after he died

Manuscript Evidence • Herodotus’ History based on eight manuscripts – earliest dated 1300 years after he died • Aristotle’s Works – five manuscripts – earliest 1400 years later

Manuscript Evidence • Herodotus’ History based on eight manuscripts – earliest dated 1300 years after he died • Aristotle’s Works – five manuscripts – earliest 1400 years later • Lucretius’ – two manuscripts- earliest 1100 years later

Manuscript Evidence • For The New Testament • Oldest piece of manuscript is not 1400 or 750 years after original autograph • Gospel of John Dated 125 A.D. -35 Years after John Wrote it

Manuscript Evidence • Some of John’s contemporaries would still have been alive when that actual piece of material was being passed from hand to hand

How Many Manuscripts From 125 and 1100 A.D.?

IF the New Testament is not reliable history, then no ancient history can be trusted! IF we say the NT is Myth, History doesn’t exist!

IF Caesar, Plato & Tacitus existed, every detail of Jesus’ Life in the New Testament is TRUE! HE LIVES! HE WILL COME AGAIN TO RECEIVE HIS OWN!

Is The Bible History or Myth?