If I made up a religion, I would make sure that my scripture
was only written by me. You can’t count on
others to keep a secret when conspiring to invent a story and pass it off as
truth, so if I made up a religion, I would say that “god” spoke only to me
revealing to just me what the “true” religion should be. Christianity is the exact opposite of what I
would do if I were going to make up a story. Christian Scriptures consist of 66 different
books, written by 40 different authors from different backgrounds, education
levels & occupations over a 1500 year time period; all telling the same
story of the creation, fall, and redemption of people through Jesus.
In addition to many authors, the New Testament books read
like eye-witness accounts. In Acts and
the other New Testament books, the written accounts of the miraculous are not
embellished or written with fanfare; they are recorded as history right along
with all the other accounts. New
Testament historical accounts read like eye-witness testimony – including the
recordings of the miracles. J. Warner Wallace, in his book Cold Case Christianity explains that eye-witness accounts
inevitably differ and inconsistencies are expected from one eye-witness account
to the next. It is when witnesses are allowed to compare stories that you then
get one harmonized version of what happened.
There would be a problem if the gospel accounts were all identical; it
is because the gospel accounts vary
that they can be believed. As a homicide
detective for many years, Mr. Wallace makes it clear that the Gospels contain
all the important details that are necessary to conclude that they are reliable
as eye-witness accounts.[1]
If I made up a religion, I would make mine so general and spiritual
that there would be no way for anyone to check out if what I was saying was the
truth. Again, I might just say that “god”
or maybe some angels told only me. Or that I might pretend to spiritually
interpret some ancient writing that no one else could understand. That way I could be the only spokesman and
leader and no one could check out if what I was saying was true. I might even
make it one of my doctrines that my spiritual writings could not be questioned.
Again, this is the opposite of what Christianity does.
The Bible is the most scrutinized book in history; something
the New Testament writers (NTW) would welcome.
They actually challenge readers to check out verifiable facts, even
facts about miracles. Paul very clearly says that if it isn’t reasonable that
Jesus rose from the dead, then you should reject Christianity![2] Paul is not alone in his claim that
Christianity should be tested; many of the biblical authors encourage
investigation and the use of evidence. 1
Thessalonians 5:21 tells us to test everything; 1 Peter 3:15 tells us to give
reasons and make a defense. In Acts 2:14-41 Peter recounts all the physical evidence in his defense of the
risen Christ, while in Acts 17:16-34 Paul is found explaining, proving, and
reasoning. Even Jesus provided tangible, physical evidence to show who he was.[3]
The Bible teaches that we are to use reason, look for proof and test our ideas;
never are we required to believe without evidence! The gospel of John is an
argument with physical evidence,
which ends like this, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the
disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that
you may believe that Jesus is the Christ…”[4]
The entire faith is based on evidence and is rooted in history. Most of the authors, especially Luke,
painstakingly put historical cross-hairs on all their claims by including
specific names of people and places. If
you want a religion that is spiritual and unfalsifiable, then Christianity is
not for you. As Craig Hazen writes, “… Jesus parts company with other religious
people who make untestable spiritual claims.”[5] If
I made up a religion, I would never include historical facts and specific
people that could be researched and checked out!
If I made up a religion, I would make myself or any other
leaders sound very spiritual and perfect!
There is no way I could get anyone to follow me if I was honest about my
faults. This again is the opposite of
what Christianity does!
The NTW included embarrassing details about themselves and
their leaders. If you were making up a
religion and wanted to gain power as a leader, would you include details about
you being dim-witted, uncaring, theologically wrong, a coward, and a
doubter? If you were making up a
religion, would you record that your leader, Jesus, is considered “out of his
mind”, is not believed by his own family, is thought to be a deceiver, is deserted
by many of his followers, makes Jews who had believed and followed him at first
want to stone him, is called a “drunkard”, is called “demon-possessed and a
madman, has his feet wiped with the hair of a prostitute, and is crucified?[6]
None of these things would make people want to follow you. Of course, the only reason you would include
them is if you were recording what actually happened!
What would motivate [the NTW] to lie,
embellish, or exaggerate anyway? What did they possibly have to gain? They only
gained persecution and death for testifying as they did. In other words, the [NTW] had every motive to
deny the New Testament events, not to invent, embellish, or exaggerate them.
Again, it wasn’t as if they needed a new religion! When Jesus arrived, most of
the [NTW] were devout Jews who thought Judaism was the one true religion and
they were God’s chosen people. Something
dramatic must have happened to jolt them out of their dogmatic slumbers into a
new belief system the promised them nothing but earthly trouble.[7]
The NTW had absolutely nothing to gain and everything to
lose. There is nothing in history to support the idea that the NTW thought they
would gain power, prestige, or money as they preached about the resurrected
Christ. No one would make up and continue to teach a lie when perpetuating that
lie would alienate them from their community and result in their torture and
death! Paul was beheaded, Peter was
crucified, James was stoned; eleven out of the 12 disciples were martyred. All
they had to do to save themselves was to recant their story! While many people will die for a lie that
they think is the truth, no one will die for what they know to be a lie! The
only reasonable explanation for all of them persisting is that they were
telling the truth.
If I made up a religion, I would make sure that I was
powerful enough to remain the leader. I
might even get some bodyguards and some soldiers to enforce my religion’s
rules. I certainly wouldn’t tell people
to be peaceful and self-sacrificing and that they are going to suffer because they
follow me!
Now, one can understand why a
religion spreads when it takes over militarily.
But why does a religion spread when its adherents are persecuted,
tortured, and killed during its first 280 years? (Those are not good selling points.) Perhaps
there’s some very reliable testimony about miraculous events that prove the
religion is true. How else can you
explain why scared, scattered, skeptical cowards suddenly become the most
dedicated, self-sacrificing, and peaceful missionary force the world has ever
known?[8]
The writers of the New Testament
documents had nothing to gain and everything to lose. Their writings have all the characteristics
of true eye-witness accounts, they included embarrassing details about
themselves and their leader, and they provided names of specific people and
places in history. Finally, they valued
physical evidence and even encouraged people to check out what they said! It is
therefore reasonable to conclude that they were telling the truth.
In previous blogs I have shown that it is reasonable to
believe that New Testament writings are reliable because they are dated
early, have outside
corroboration, and are accurate
copies of the originals. Since it is
also reasonable to believe that they were telling the truth and not making up a
story, it is more than reasonable to believe that what the New Testament says
is the true.
[1]
J. Warner Wallace, Cold Case Christianity,
David C. Cook, 2013
[2]
1st Corinthians 15: 12-19
[4]
John 20:30-31
[5]
Craig J. Hazen, Five Sacred Crossings,
Harvest House Publishing, 2008, pages 69-70
[6]
Frank Turek and Norman L. Geisler, I
Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be An Atheist, Crossway Books, 2004, pages
275-293
[7]
ibid, page 297
[8]
ibid, page 296
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.