Reviews by Hubie Goode: Chronological Bible

The Daily Bible
Chronological Edition

Well, Happy New Year everyone! I'm looking forward to a brand new year full of blessing and I wish the same for all of you as well. Let's start it off with an exercise in daily Bible reading, spending time in God's word and keeping him in front of us. This is the Daily Bible put in chronological order, or the order in which things happened (as best as can be expected). I started this last year and was very blessed by the way this issue was done.

The compiler, F. LaGard Smith, has put together a Bible you may have never seen put together quite like this before and I found it to be a great way to go through the word. I highly recommend it. However, it starts now, with the beginning of the year so you had best get cracking on getting your issue. I don't have much more to say on this other than that it is one of the best Bibles I have ever read. Get one for yourself!

Happy New Year, Hubie

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Historicity of the Old Testament Part 5

 

Historicity 

of the Old Testament

part 5

One of the things discussed in my post about the Historicity of the NEW TESTAMENT was the continuing witness of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper by early Christians as having been a linchpin to which scripture was accepted by these churches as being authentic when copies of scripture were presented to them years after the initial events. These two ordinances were established by Christ himself and then adopted by new believers as they became part of new churches and then spread out into the surrounding society. Had this not been the case, the New Testament, which describes the establishment of the ordinances, would never have been received as genuine in the first years of the church. They would have instead been rejected out right as false, due to the fact that the establishment was already in force and also had been relayed as being from other sources, and not Christ himself; if indeed these ordinances were in force at all. And if they had not even existed, then the rejection of scripture would have been even more of a non-event. But that is NOT what happened.

The Passover ceremony reflects in many ways the same sort of witness when it comes to the Old Testament. Higher critics attribute these books to other writers and priests hundreds of years after the life of Moses. The implication flatly stating that Moses existence is in dispute.

The book of Exodus describes in great detail the directions of God concerning the Passover celebration and its yearly observance. It delineates the events of the first Passover and Israel’s miraculous delivery from Egypt, which is commanded to be remembered by the children of Israel every year.

But suppose NONE of this had really happened. In supposed fact, let’s say a group of priests who lived about 700 A.D. got together to promote a formalized system of worship they had created in order to solidify their control over the populace of its day. They then developed a body of religious literature, with the help of various sources, in particular cementing their own position of religious power.  They then attributed the authority of scripture to the writing of Moses for the “name dropper” effect of credibility.

But, this would have been immediately rejected by those for whom the writing was intended as soon as the Passover feast was presented, for such a thing had NEVER been established, and the people would have known how phony the whole thing was. The response of course, would be that the documents which ordered the Passover observance had been lost in antiquity and therefore the feast was unfortunately forgotten with time. Many hard headed Israelites would have been reticent to ignore this decree as the documents describe an expensive and demanding priestly rule and restriction. They would have demanded firm proof of the authorship of Moses before ever coming under the “totalitarian” demands of scripture. Kings and rulers would have been especially dismissive as the books relay a rule by God over the people and not my a monarchy, as the governmental structure of the nation. The priests presenting these papers to the people would have been condemning themselves as the documents describe the necessity of the priesthood as the keepers of the religious institutions of Israel and were therefore no longer trustworthy.

The documents also describe the creation of other institutions such as, the Tabernacle, perpetual offerings, annual feasts and also the Levitical priesthood themselves. In fact, the priesthood was NOT to own land, as their inheritance comes from God, and this would have put a crimp in the power mongers for sure. None of these could have been instituted on the basis of rediscovery of ancient text, as they often punish the presenters themselves.

But let’s say that all these institutions had sprung up on their own with no help from Moses. Then the priesthood itself decided to crystallize them all with the creation of scriptures. In real life, effects require causes, and believability asserts that it is more likely that Moses delivered these decrees to the nation of Israel than it is that such “anit-egocentric” writing was easily accepted as truth. Due to the nature of the story line involved, the facts of the story are central to the existence of Israel itself, and therefore the institutions would have to have happened, and or been written about, but in any case established, immediately after the formation of the nation. 

However if the histories really took place, if Moses was actually the great leader and lawgiver that scripture indicates, then the institution of the Passover and the other articles of practice would never have been accepted by the people unless they corresponded with what they already knew to be true without great evidential proof of Moses’ authorship.

The writers could have been the most clever deceivers and charlatans ever known to mankind. They somehow made it all up! The creation, Earth’s history, the moving lives of the patriarchs, thrilling stories of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and then wandering in the desert for forty years, everyone dying in the desert and never seeing the promised land, the Ten Commandments and their impossible moral code which only points toward mankind’s complete inability to place himself in good standing before God. For thousands of years now, the world has been duped!

It is higher critics who have really been exposed here. Can anyone who reasons in such a way really be an honest man? Our neighbor’s true nature is plain to see for each of us and any tome which was “made up” that does not speak to the ego of man in some way, but instead to his pathetic fallen existence before God, would have been long forgotten.

The Old and New Testament stand! The testimony of the Passover. The unanimous acceptance of scripture by the early Christian church and their Jewish counterparts. The careful studies of Bible scholars. The penetrating discoveries of scientific archeology. The impact of the Old Testament on all of world history. The testimony of Christ himself.  All these thing unite in a message that the Old Testament, and in fact the Bible itself, is undeniably true.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Historicity of the Old Testament Part 2

Historicity 

of the 

Old Testament

part 2

Present Old Testament scriptures consist of 39 books, and there is little doubt that these books are one and the same as books that were accepted by the Jewish peoples of Christ’s day as the inspired word of Holy Scripture. These books were not only accepted by the early Christian’s as the authentic article, but the concept was also supported by many other venues, namely; Josephus, the Jewish Historian, various statements in the Talmud, and numerous references in the New Testament. I do realize that there are doctored and decorated college professors all over America who will tell you that Josephus was wholly unreliable, but those people are usually secular and not inclined to support evidence that would interfere with their world view, and the world view that they would have their hundreds of young, impressionable students believe. People are rarely committed to the truth.

Josephus

Whether or not all these sources were mistaken in their support for the veracity of scripture, is fodder for another blog at another time. At the time however, this was indeed the belief , by both Christians of the early church and also their Jewish adversaries. Most importantly to the early Christians, this was the Jewish Bible, accepted by Jesus Christ.

Division of the books went as follows: The Law of Moses, or the Torah; The books of the Prophets, including historical books; “Writings” of the other books, poetical writings of which the Psalms is a great part. Christ even mentioned this division when he spoke of prophecies devoted to himself in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.

Canonization of books usually comes from self authentication. They were acknowledged by the people of God as the Word of God by the witness of the Holy Spirit right from the beginning, this witness also included the authoritative character of the writings. Despite what many will tell you, it is the authoritative character and witness of the Spirit that leads to the selection of canonized books, not some council of church fathers who wanted to control society.

How could the scriptural writings have become so universally accepted over hundreds of years if indeed they were not authentic? If Moses didn’t write the books of Moses, and Isaiah was only one of several who wrote the book of Isaiah, if Daniel was not the author of the book of Daniel, then how did such opinions become the regular belief of the people who used them? 

There is little doubt that the books we have today are the same books that were used by Christ and his followers in his day, and also the Jewish scribes of the first century. However, can we say that the original text was transmitted to them in the original form as was the intent and meaning? One must keep in mind that if we possessed no support for the Old Testament from the New Testament, then we could have NONE of the Old Testament. 

Textural criticism, or the “lower criticism” is the science by which we attempt to judge the veracity of original scripture. I have already posted a blog here about the veracity of the New Testament, in all its glorified correctness, and work from the position that indeed we as mankind do have the authentic New Testament. 

For the Old Testament text, we are limited to the Masoretic text, the Septuagint version, the Latin Vulgate, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Syriac version, and also the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is the Masoretic text that is considered authoritative by both Christian and Jew  in our day. The Masoretes were a group of Jewish scribes who around 500 A. D. developed an official text from the various texts that had come down to them over time. In the margin of this text they recorded all the variant readings of the texts that had “come across their desks” in the exercise of this cumulative work. There are only about 1200 in number, less than one per page of the Hebrew Bible. 

Masoretic

Transmission of the Masoretic text, prior to 1526 A.D., the date of the first printing of the Hebrew Bible, consisted of about 1,000 manuscripts. The oldest is dated 916 A. D., and of those available to us, there are scant differences between them. Due to such a large amount of scriptural copies being around 96% consistent with each other, we can have good confidence in the final product that comes from their compilation. 

Originally the text of the Old Testament consisted only of consonants. Vowels were considered understood by the reader. The present Hebrew Bible has something called “vowel points”, which guide the reader in the use of which vowels go with which consonants.  These were added by Jewish scholars around 700 A. D. , and if indeed they proved to have incorrect judgement as to their usage, due to textural criticism, then they would indeed have to be adjusted. 

Septuagint

As a back up check on the Masoretic text, the Septuagint is the next link in the chain. The name Septuagint comes from the seventy scribes who compiled the text in about 280 B. C.. These scribes translated the Hebrew text into Greek for use by the diaspora, the Jews cast into dispersion who would become the lost tribes of Israel. It is highly likely that the Greek version was used by the Christians of the early church. 

Latin Vulgate

The Latin Vulgate was translated by Jerome    from Hebrew and Greek into Latin about 400 A. D. . The Syriac version was translated  from Hebrew about 200 A. D. . The Samaritan Pentateuch, written by those who do not accept the rest of the Old Testament, had been handed down independently of the Jewish family line since the time of Nehemiah, about 400 B. C. 

(I realize that the A. D. and B. C. designations are to be written differently as A. D. 200 and 400 B. C., but this is MY blog.)

Although there are variations in all of these writings, the variations themselves are not so important as to make any major changes in the final product. The differences often lose out to a vote of the texts themselves as only one or two may have a variation and therefore would not be included in the final text. 

There are also numerous other books that refer to and also include the writings of the Old Testament. These books include, Jubilees, Ecclesiasticus, Josephus and Philo, the Talmud, the Zadokite fragments (Zadok being the priest of Solomon), the Targums, and also many quotes included in the New Testament.

All these sources show us that what we have today as the Old Testament is also what has been around as far back as any direct evidence can take us. I am willing to bet you have never heard an atheist tell you that.

Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls also threw its hat in the ring so to speak in supporting the veracity of scripture. Discovered in 1945, these documents are dated from the time of Christ and beyond, and are actually the oldest pen to paper manuscripts of ANY scripture to date. 

Many scrolls have been found, and in one scroll or another, the entire text of the Old Testament has been found. All of these agree to such a convincing degree with the Masoretic text, that any variations have been deemed trivialities. 

There is, therefore, no reasonable doubt that the text we have of the Old Testament is practically identical with the text in use several centuries before Christ, extending back to the time when the last books were originally written. Scribes who copied the manuscripts were known to have taken great pains to ensure the correctness of their copies. Many numerical devices were used counting letters and gematria (numerical equivalents) in the various books as cross checking devices. These scribes were men who not only believed God, but loved God, and were not those who were seeking public conquest and social power for themselves or their “King”. They were doing Holy work for the Kingdom of God, and it was their calling.

It is historically significant, that the veracity of the Old Testament scripture, being based upon such unheard of fanatical consistency, is alone in its superior existence in comparison to any other ancient writing from the same era or beyond. If the ancient writings of ANYTHING can be relied upon, it is the scripture of the Old Testament.

I’ll discuss the arguments of so called “higher criticism” in the next segment.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Historicity of the Old Testament

Historicity of the Old Testament

part 1

Lives of the great persons of the Old Testament span almost 2000 years. The Hebrew people emerged from a wandering nomadism and into a proud national identity. They went from slaves and nuisances to the Egyptian empire while under Moses’ leadership to close allies with Egypt under the leadership of Solomon and then beyond. Though technology took centuries to develop in comparison with our own time, ideas and customs developed with mounting alacrity over the course of time. During those two millennia of Old Testament life, many important changes happened in the way that these people lived their everyday existence. Each era of the Old Testament had its own individual influence on the people involved and also on the development of the nation as a whole. There are huge differences in the mental framework of the Jewish nation of Jacob’s nomadic times and those of the latter day who lived during the Maccabeus’ day.

Due to the Bible’s development over a period of many centuries, it makes certain assumptions that were shared by the people of the time when a certain passage was written. As an example, marriage customs of the Patriarchs were not familiar to later Jewish people. The Patriarchs themselves may have been confused by such customs as “heaven” and “hell”. Seeing the people of the Bible in real historical settings brings their words and actions to life in a more meaningful way. Historical study by the individual is the death of the atheist agenda. Archeologists, historians, linguists, theologians and scientists have done great works in order to enable us to see these things more clearly. The Bible itself tells the story of these people incomparably better than any book about the Bible, but to the modern day reader, raised on an educational system hijacked by the atheist agenda, many of the details may seem mysterious and unclear, not to mention down right irrelevant. One must place the people of the Bible in their historical settings as revealed by modern scholarly revelation and study in order to fully understand the Bible’s meaning and relevance to the people of its day, and also like wise to our own day. Abraham is the first of the historical figures of the Bible who can be placed in an historical setting. Some scholars place his birth at almost 2,000 years before the birth of Jesus, and as a result almost 4,000 years before our time today. Those who appear before Abraham: Adam, Eve, Cain, Able, Noah and others, are more difficult to place with an historical landmark because the Bible itself gives us no real clue as to when they lived. Abraham brings us the details of place, custom and events that enable historians to approximate a date of inception. 

Then, moving on from Abraham to Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses, more and more historical facts appear that insert these men into particular times and places. By the time the reader of scripture gets to the books of Judges and Kings, the pace of reading slows considerably due to the overwhelming influence of details provided that give datable events and people, and this continues right up to the end of the Old Testament. The long and short of it is this, that the men who recorded the events of the life of Israel believed they were recording the acts of God. Thus for the people of those days and also for our day, Holy Scripture is literally the book of the acts of God, a holy record of his dealings with mankind. In the Bible historical events are seen as expressing the Lord’s will and purpose, therefore to believe the history in the Bible is also to confess one’s faith. History was important to Biblical man because it not only recorded the past, but indicated the direction of the future, namely, the Kingdom of God. 

This belief in the relationship between religion and history had its roots in the captivity Israel experienced in Egypt around the middle of the second millennium B. C. To the Hebrews as well as the Egyptians, it appeared that the gods only had an interest in the masters and not the slaves. They recalled the promise of God to Abraham of land running over with milk and honey, and then under Moses’ leadership their liberation from Egyptian oppression. With the subsequent covenant at Mount Sinai and then the conquest of Canaan, the achievement of David’s Kingdom seemed to be the fulfillment of the Lord’s power and purpose.

Their faith also made Israel look closely at the world through a different lens than any other nation on Earth. They were forced to look at the world in light of their beliefs and relationship to an outside authority, and when they did not do this, the prophets reminded them of their place and position. Personal and national desires all too often conflicted with that  religious authority and therefore the prophets were often unpopular. But despite it all, Israel endured even their own self destructive proclivities. One need only study the phenomenon of Israeli holidays that stretch out over the centuries and contain major events in the nations history, to the day, to see that something historically unnatural in comparison to the rest of the world has always been in existence concerning the nation of Israel.  Historical events that mark great victories and great defeats are land marked throughout the story of the Israeli nation, and many of those victories or defeats are repeated on the exact same day of the Jewish calendar even though hundreds of years may pass in the interim. There is no other nation on Earth which has this unique historical footprint.

Originally the history of the early days, was handed down in memory from generation to generation and expressed in songs and verse. When writing was first attained, no doubt the recording of these early days was one of the premier events initialized. By the time King Solomon came along, the sacred texts were being copied and stored for posterity on a regular basis. These texts were the first five books of the Old Testament, the “Pentateuch”. Throughout the next 800 years of Biblical history additional books were added until the Old testament was ruled closed by religious leaders in the second century B. C.

We’ll look more at the cannon and reliability of Old Testament scripture in the next segment.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Historicity of the New Testament Part 7

Historicity of 

the New Testament

part 7

Other amazing demonstrations of validity of the New Testament rendering of Christ are also revealed in the historical vindication of statements made by Christ himself.

In John 18, Jesus identifies himself as the “light of the world.” This seems on the surface as megalomania gone awry. If someone said that today, they would be ushered to the funny farm post haste, especially if they were a world leader or someone with position and power. Jesus, however, was nothing at the time except a lowly carpenter with a rag tag crew of followers.

Yet this insane assertion, made either by the carpenter’s son himself or perhaps by the writer for the fictional character he was creating, has been remarkably fulfilled for two thousand years as  directed prophesy. The world’s greatest paintings, most beautiful music and literature have all been influenced by the person of Jesus Christ.

Think about the man who lived by the pool for 38 years while people came and went for healing of their bodies. Every time the waters would stir, someone would beat him to it. He believed he could not get himself there to be healed. Where was the Peace Corps? Where was the Christian Children’s fund? Can you think of ANY historically recorded charity from the past, even in the Roman Empire, who made an impact for the poor and down trodden? Where is the “Mother Teresa” of the past? They don’t exist.

Most of the world’s Hospitals, great educational institutions and charitable organizations have been created in His name. This is also true of social reforms such as the abolition of slavery. There have been millions over the last two centuries who have found that following Jesus affords them the opportunity to receive the light of life.

Realistically, instead of the ravings of some ego maniac, or philosophizing fictional character, the words of Christ have been proven, by historical revelation, to have been the sanest and truest words ever spoken.

Christ also says, “Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but not one word, not one stroke of a pen of my word shall ever pass away.” Who would he be to think that an obscure carpenter’s son, from some despised nation with only a few close allies who really knew him, would have anything to say that wold interest the entire world? We’d tell him to get a life.

And yet, for two thousand years, his words have NOT passed away. They have been heard and read and loved by more people in more nations all over the world than any other person who has ever lived.

As I have said, the Romans had no charities, and condemned criminals where slowly tortured to death on a cross for crimes against the state. Jesus told his followers that he too would be killed in this way. This certainly doesn’t bring anyone a vision of something to be looked forward to. In fact just the opposite is true, this kind of death was best not to be witnessed at all and quickly forgotten.

Christ told his followers that if he be lifted up on the cross, that he would draw all men to himself. Sure enough, grave yards are full of crosses over tombs all over the world. People from every walk of life, every nation, every level of education, every age, every level of wealth, have been drawn to the cross. Who could have predicted such a thing within human reason??? But there it is, littered across the landscape of history all over the world.

Jesus also said; “Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” This is an impossible claim that also has been fulfilled in history. That a group of followers lead by an ignorant and impulsive fisherman (Peter), would be perpetuated and multiplied despite opposition and intense persecution  from all sides, is a pipe dream at best. Even more ridiculous is the notion that this church would be built upon Peter’s belief the Jesus was the Son of God.  But the dream continues even to this day.

Jesus also predicted that knowledge of him would reach the “ends of the Earth”. This too would seem a lunatic’s rhetoric given the times and impossibility of the notion during that time. But today, tech developments have seen to it that this same Word from an obscure carpenter are heard all over the known world, and still this continues.

Amazingly, there is nothing that has been said in Christ’s name that has NOT come true. Some things have yet to manifest, but there is NO record of something having failed.

Ezekiel 11:19
I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.

One need only read of the outlandish human rights tragedies that are common place in the Old Testament to see that indeed something else has happened to mankind since the life of Christ  graced the Earth.

Just a few outrageous examples, or at least ones WE would call outrageous: Samson has a first wife whom he at first likes, then she gives him trouble. He has her burned as a result, or set on fire, if you will. Jezebel is a woman who seeks power where there is none for her, she is killed, and her body thrown to the dogs. All they find left of her is her hands and her head. A king has 70 sons, or  princes, and when he is disposed, all the sons are killed, then beheaded, and the skulls are separated into two bags and brought to the gates of the city and placed into two piles at the doors. These were probably kids, too. When Joshua was told to invade the land of Canaan, he was told to slaughter even the women and children, and then burn everything.

Ask yourself a question: If God the Father told YOU to run down helpless women and children with a sword and slaughter them, could you do it? Joshua was obedient of course, but had no problem with it. This is the way the world was. People back then knew no human rights, no social reforms, no charity. Yet today, our answer to God would probably be “No, I won’t slaughter children, even for greater reasons God may have.” Because, you know, Jesus would never ask you to do that. The world of that day also did not have the Holy Spirit raining down on them. Today you have a heart of flesh that those people did not know of, they only knew a heart of stone and had to be dealt with accordingly.

Ezekiel 11:19
I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.

Where did you get that heart of flesh?

All these things we have reviewed have no rational explanation if Jesus was not who He said he was, God come in the Flesh. You can’t get away with the assertion that the writers exaggerated his claims or miss quoted him. The writers were not idiots, they would have been shocked by the lunatic fringe rhetoric they were hearing, and they would have softened things up a bit to make Jesus’ words more acceptable. The claims have been fulfilled, whether Jesus said them or not. You can’t charge the now dead writer’s with manufacturing the fulfillments. If Christianity were false, and incorrectly represented as is claimed by many all over the world, then this is a greater miracle than if we were just reviewing the Words of Christ and the resulting truths of reality that follow, all on thier own.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Historicity of the New Testament Part 6

Historicity of 
the New Testament


part 6

In the other parts of this post we have seen that the New Testament writings are indeed authentic, written around the middle of the first century by men who were intelligent, stable and sincere in what they wrote about. They had full access to the facts that they were reporting and they were firmly convinced that the one about whom they wrote was God in the flesh. His words were uniquely perfect, the first time, and he performed mighty miracles, not the least of which was his victory over death by his own bodily resurrection. 

Now if none of this were true, then the only other explanation that fits is that Jesus himself was a great deceiver who so baffled them with bull that they believed he was perfect in word and deed. He also fooled them into believing he had walked on water, gave sight to the blind and raised Lazarus from the dead. He then concocted the “Passover plot” and fooled them into thinking he had been crucified, buried and then rose again from the dead. Then, outdoing David Copperfield’s best work, he rose from Earth into heaven. 

This is, of course, absurd on so many levels. If such great deceptions are really the way things happened, then Jesus is even MORE marvelous than what the disciples reported of him. Make no bones about it, if we are talking about deception here, then Christ was indeed the greatest charlatan and deceiver in all history. 

The truth is however, that even those who refuse to acknowledge his deity report him to have been one of the greatest teachers, by word and deed that the world has ever known. The “paper trail” that Christ has left us has been the greatest force for good that the world has ever known. Unless his character is exactly what is reported in the New Testament, then there is no way to find truth in this world. Life is devoid of meaning and God is truly dead if scripture is all a big put on. 

Christian churches everywhere practice two important ceremonies. These are the ordinance of baptism and the remembrance of the Last Supper. Baptism being a part of Christ’s integral great commission which is conferred upon all new believers, and the Lord’s Supper commemorates his sacrificial death. 

Down through the ages the churches have always practiced these two instructions. The New Testament authorizes this. These two have a particular witness of their own, not shared by other events recorded in the New Testament. These two practices actually come BEFORE the writing down of the New Testament, and are recorded historically, mostly due to the fact that Christ himself initiated their practice. 

Let’s just say for instance you and I are the church at Phillipi, the Philippians, if you will. This church existed for about 20 years after its founding before it began to receive epistles from Paul, and it would be another ten years before it received a copy of one of the Gospels. 

During this time it was guided by the teachings of its founder, and also by other teachers that God had sent their way as those who would feed his sheep. These teachings included baptism and also the remembrance of the Last Supper. Philip would have of course stressed the importance of following these decrees and then when they received epistles and then Gospels, they would have become even more resolute in their faith. 

However, let’s say that this was NOT the case, they had NOT been lead all this time to observe these two ordinances by the leadership of the church. Suddenly, they receive the Gospel of Matthew, or Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. Their response would of course be to perceive the Gospel and epistle as fake and a fraud and reject them right out. These two ceremonies would NOT have been known ahead of time as something that had been established by Christ himself, and therefore would have appeared as fiction writing ever since. 

Authenticity of any writings about Christ could never have been accepted at all by any church from the beginning, and we would never have known the Bible we know today. There is no other way to have documented the practice of these two ordinances except as they are described in the New Testament. The churches would never have been persuaded to begin practicing these two ordinances by books or teachers who told them they had already been practicing them since the days of Christ, if in fact they knew that was not so. Therefore, the ordinances WERE established by Christ himself, and the New Testament writings which tell about them are indeed authentic. 

But what about the demonstration of truth in history itself? More on this in part 7. Oo! Seven! I like that number. ;-)

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Historicity of the New Testament Part 5

Historicity of 

the New Testament

Part 5

When we consider the things that we have already covered, then the authenticity and the authorship of the New Testament can be considered firmly established. General accuracy can also be established as well as their internal consistency as confirmed by linguistic and archeological studies. This CAN and HAS been done by intelligent and considered studies.

Skeptics and those who choose to be atheists have however, sought to escape the impact of these studies by charging the writers with fraud, and the text with muddy antiquity, that is to say, they have thrown their hands up in surrender as to any truth being retained based solely on the number of years that have past since the writer’s inception. Their contention is that the writers were interested in being the leaders of some new religious and/or political movement and they conspired to create a type of “Superman” who would fulfill the Savior and Messiah position that was promised for hundreds of years by their ancestral writings. As representatives, the main proponents would then exercise authority and power of the one they supported.

Such a supposition, however, belongs to the school of straw grasping and pandering to those with the weakest intellectual ability to direct for themselves any cognitive investigations independent of so called “outside expertise”. 

Let’s take a look at discrediting these notions.

1) The conspiracy involves such a large number of people, of such diverse backgrounds, that a collusion on the part of all concerned is not even remotely possible. There were at the least eight different writers involved, not to mention a great deal of associated colleagues, and these wrote and lived at widely scattered times and places over a period of about 1500 years. (Considering all texts, not just the New Testament.) Watergate WAS a conspiracy, and look how quickly the whole thing fell apart.

2) Evidences of collusion are noticeably absent in the writings. Each writer gives his own independent witness, writing from his own perspective. On the surface, they often appear to contradict each other, and these contradictions are resolved by close study and cross examination of the testimonies. Many would point to this a evidence of irrelevance, but one cannot find the truth in these testimonies without following the course of rigourous testimonial investigation. To simply pass a casual judgement is to treat the subject with less than it requires and will ultimately say more about the investigatior’s own desire to know the truth than it does about the truth contained within the various testimonies themselves. 

3) Rather than containing their writings to generalities or perhaps only to individual experiences, a practice that would sufficiently evade long term investigation, the records instead team with public events and dates and places well known by the world at the time. 

4) An honest and candid reading of the New Testament texts does not lead one to fraudulent conclusions. The very atmosphere of the writings is drenched in the sincerity of the writers. If any of the writings are merely a wicked deception, then they are the texts of the greatest con men ever born to Earth. Con men who were eventually executed, almost to the man, for what they knew was really a lie, or perhaps as a result of their own mental instability, despite the absence of insanity that mad men usually display. Quite the feat to accomplish for what appears on the humanistic surface to have been all in vain. 

5) This willingness for the authors to suffer and die for what they knew is crowning proof. For they killed no one in some public outrage against the machine, but charged forward for the betterment of mankind itself while causing no harm, only to find martyrdom at the end of their ministries. John, of course, outlived them all, as was hinted at in the very scripture words of Christ himself, but he too found exile, if not martyrdom at the end of his life. Men die for unworthy causes that are a lie all the time, Nazi Germany being a prime example, but none of those men would have admitted they they knew it was all a lie. Those that did, either extracted themselves or they fought the cause. Unstable people fighting for a cause have an unfortunate habit of taking innocents with them in their drive to prove or defend their cause. It simply is not realistically possible, nor logically possible, that all these men would have sacrificed their lives, both the life itself and also their one and only voyage of life upon this Earth, for some grand illusion. 

The writers of the New Testament were sincere, intelligent men, firmly convinced of what they wrote. But were they just wrong? Were they victims of mass delusion? Were they unstable, easily convinced of their own emotional perceptions? Were they the biggest suckers since the audiences of P.T. Barnum?  Were miracles that they reported about simply a mass hallucination or mass suggestion? Were their minds just playing tricks on them?

One has to consider that the events were:

1) In the open. Crowds of people often surrounded them, and only a few miracles were done in hidden privacy. The feeding of the five thousand is reported in all four Gospels. 

2) Reported in a great variety of times and places, by many different people of diverse backgrounds. Mass delusion is never reported in this way.

3) Written up by men not regularly associated with hallucinations or a lack of credibility. Paul was a highly educated Levite, with a careful and  articulate mind. His writings bear this out. Luke was a physician and detail oriented historian. Matthew was a politician and tax assessor. James was the leader of the early church in Jerusalem. 

4) Accepted by great numbers of people who, due to the intense persecution of their faith, would have been highly motivated to make every effort to make sure the claims of the early Apostles about the person of Christ were accurate. If the Apostles had been nothing more than deluded fanatics, you and I would have never been sitting here discussing this today. When everyone died, that would have been the end of it. 

So what about the character of Christ himself?  Was he the greatest deceiver ever known?  More in Part 6.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Historicity of the New Testament Part 4

Historicity of 

the New Testament

Once it has been established that the writings of the New Testament are authentic historical documents, written by contemporaries and often eye-witnesses of the events described therein, we can then examine the persons and events with confidence so that the real nature and purpose can be ascertained. This is not the time for examination of elusive theological or philosophical questions, but the point of inquiry that deals with facts determined by objective investigation.

At this point, divine inspiration is a question for another time. The concern at this point is rather, whether or not the New Testament presents Christ as divine in origin and essence, or perhaps instead, as truly and only human.

If we find in the writings that he is indeed shown  to be deity, then there are a few options that need to be considered. Was this all just a big plot? Were the writers involved in a long term subterfuge to enable themselves to be leaders in some new religious movement? Or were they under the influence of some mass delusion? Did they think Christ was God only because they needed and wanted to believe and were experiencing a kind of group mental aphasia? If they were deceived, did Christ intentionally deceive them? Or perhaps he too was under a deception, either by the persuasion of others or from his own suffering at the hands of some mental illness that we can only guess about. We can study these possibilities within the writings themselves, once they have been found to be verified with authentic dates and authorship. Therefore, armed with intelligence and not just blind hope, we can decide objectively whether or not Jesus Christ truly is the Son of God and the only way to salvation, as Christians believe. 

It is, of course, not possible to free oneself from  subjective factors on an issue like this. Even though we may be able to prove that all the witnesses to stated events agree on the ground floor concept behind the deity of Christ, one can still choose on his own initiative not to believe it. And ultimately, even with glaring evidences on both sides of this kind of issue, it is always a final decision for the person as to whom they are going to believe.

To any argument, a further question or objection can always be devised, if a person is clever enough, and there are many clever ones out there. Even though we can back an objector into a corner from which there is no escape, the person can always become emotional and avoid the issue anyhow, or perhaps delay a decision until further thought can be applied. They can also take a kind of refuge and satisfaction in the position of many who do not believe also, or perhaps simply stand on an issue of relevance. On the other hand, if you are a person who is interested in solid Christian evidence on this subject, there is plenty to go around for everyone who will lend an ear. 

So let’s get started next time in part 5.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Historicity of the New Testament Part 3

Historicity of 

the New Testament

Part 3

Authenticity of the events of the New Testament have been verified by the close examination of the internal consistencies of the writings and also by external investigations into the history and archaeology of the time. The books often make claims concerning their own authorship and it is a bit presumptuous of critics to deny these claims due solely to their own position against the supernatural. Paul, for instance, always begins his letters with his own name, and each epistle contains many incidental allusions which support this claim. William Pauley’s : Horae Paulinea, is an example of a classic book that has taken great pains to correlate the many incidental occurrences which prove Paul to be the author of his own writings. 

Likewise such studies on the writings of Peter and John and others, also prove those authors to be the actual writers. Epistle events often tie in with earlier historical records of the lives of these men as recorded in the Gospels and Acts. Peter’s experience at the Mount of Transfiguration and Paul’s stoning at Lystra, are two excellent examples of this sort of connection among Biblical books. Linguistic evidence also matches author with writing, as is evident in the writings of John. The Gospel of John, the epistles and Revelation all have the same striking vocabulary use which points to John as author.

Archaeological evidence also plays a huge part in solidifying the confirmation of New testament authorship. The book of Acts is a big influence on this avenue of discovery as it deals with the spread of the Gospel in the first 30 years after the Resurrection of Christ. It mentions places, customs, events and times of the Roman, Greek and Jewish worlds of the day. If the book were a compilation of uncertain traditions brought together long after the actual events, or even if, let’s say, Luke was a sloppy writer, there would be an abundance of factual mistakes in the book. 

The opposite is so incredibly true that archeologists have found themselves amazed as to Luke’s specificity in his writings. Archaeologist, Sir William Ramsey, who has done extensive research into the historic plausibility of the Gospels has been quoted as saying: “Luke is an historian of the first rank; not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy, he is possessed of the true historic sense... In short, this author should be placed among the very greatest of historians.”

1 William Ramsey, The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953) p. 80

Not to be missed is the fact that this same author, Luke, is also the major contributor of the fullest account of the virgin birth and resurrection of Christ.

The other books of the New Testament do not lend themselves as readily to archaeological investigations as does the book of Acts, however, descriptions of Jerusalem, Judea and Sumeria, and also references to customs and political situations, are frequently confirmed by scientific and historical research. There is in fact, NO statement in the New Testament that has been unequivocally refuted by the studies of history or science, even after all this time. This fact in and of itself, is darn near amazing.

So what does all this imply? What does it all mean for you and me? More on this next time in part 4.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Historicity of the New Testament Part 2

Historicity of 

the New Testament

Part 2

When something big happens, something that has lasting consequences over a long period of time, through many generations, it must have adequate causes. If one takes a look at the span of almost 2,000 years that the history of Christianity has had its effect on mankind, this itself is proof of some major event that had a big impact on the continuing history of mankind.

It matters little what one thinks of the New Testament itself when you also consider that the history of Christianity itself is intricately linked with it. Its very beginnings are the stuff of the New Testament, and the reality of both the existence of Christians and also Jewish peoples and their origins can only be understood in light of the ancient text. No one alive today has ever seen Jesus or the Apostles, and understanding of their existence must come from the information contained within the ancient writings. The same is also true of ANY other figures of history. Who among us has actually witnessed the presence of Aristotle, Ghengis Kahn or even George Washington?

Once we realize this point, we can now see how incredibly strong the evidence is for persons and events referred to in the ancient writings. The amount of available texts that exist for the seminal existence of scripture far out weighs the writings about any other figures of history, before the invention of printing. No one ever casts any doubt on the past historical reality of Julius Caesar, but the written evidence of his existence is dwarfed by the volume of manuscript evidence of Biblical scripture. 

Before the printing press, manuscripts had to be copied by hand. Those that were used frequently wore out and had to be re-copied again and again. The copies of the New Testament that are still around today from those ancient times, are quite numerous, and conspicuously consistent. Some of these copies are on papyrus fragments that date all the way back to the second century. We have today about 5,000 copies of manuscripts of the New Testament in Greek and around 15,000 more in other languages. Nothing in any other historical writing even compares to this. These writings were also done by those who had a deep respect  for and deep belief in the concept that they were handling the actual Word of God. If we can dump the “aliens from outer space built the pyramids“ idea, and give credit to the  development of the human ability, even in ancient Egypt, why not have the same respect for those who were professional scripture copiers, much like the professional pyramid builders.

Sir Frederick G. Kenyon, Director of the British museum, was one of the greatest New Testament scholars of our generation. He did not believe in the infallibility of scripture and its inspired transmission, but after reviewing the manuscripts over a number of years he was quoted as saying:

“...it is reassuring at the end to find the general result of all these discoveries and all this study  is to strengthen the proof of the authenticity of the scriptures, and our conviction that we have in our hands, in substantial integrity, the veritable Word of God.”1

1 The Story of the Bible, (Special U. S. Edition, Grand Rapids: Eardmans company, 1967, p. 133)

True enough there are many individual differences in these 20,000 manuscripts, however the very number of them provides a powerful means of checking and tracing the origin of the variant readings and therefore coming to a conclusion as to the original text. Furthermore, any discrepancies, whether the result of careless copying or by direct manipulation, are usually quite trivial and effect no major points of doctrine. Amazingly, the work of Christ has no existing variation in the available texts, and that includes all 20,000 manuscripts collected from the beginning. Not only do we have a store house of historical writings of the biblical text, but we have several times that number of Christian writings by those of the early church who quoted much of the scriptures we know today. These Apostalic Fathers, who wrote from around 90 AD to 160 AD, had an amazing grasp of the New Testament and its content. In fact, had the New Testament been lost completely, it would have been possible to reconstruct the books merely from the writings of these men. 

Since these men lived in the time just following the era of the original Apostles, and some even over lap, having lived during those times, there can be no doubt that the New Testament that we have today is a strong representative of the books that those men had in their own day. The interval then, between original composition, and the earliest extant evidence becomes practically negligible. The origin point of scriptural writing and its preservation for future mankind becomes an unbroken cord of continual existence, by those with respect and honor towards the initial purpose of scripture. Those without that paradigm, would have to be immensely filled with an unusual kind of hate and revenge for God to place as much energy as would be needed into the falsifying of scripture and still get away with it under the nose of the caretaker throng of history. 

But lets say, for the sake of argument, that considerable changes HAVE taken place within the written text since the original writings. This still does not manage to change the person of Christ himself. The Roman world of the first century was one of education, philosophy and modern civilization, heavily influenced by the Greeks and those whom had been absorbed by Alexander’s conquests. This was not a world of cave men types who lived in a stone age. To believe that the acts and words of Christ himself is a tale of collected myths and editorial additions, as is often stated by so called progressive liberals, is actually naive at best.

Believing that scripture is today in essentially the same form it was from the beginning can be backed by research and investigation, not merely by wishing on a star that it was so. As Biblical archaeologist, William F. Albright states: “ ...every book of the New Testament was written by a Baptized Jew between the forties and eighties of the first century.”2 

2 William F. Albright, Christianity Today, January 18, 1963

But, what about indirect confirmations, you might ask. More on this next time in part 3.