The Bible From God or From Man? John Oakes June, 2007

Delos B. McKown: “Christianity is scientifically unsupported and probably insupportable, philosophically suspect at best and disreputable at worst, and historically fraudulent.”

Proposition #1  The Bible is scientifically unsupported and probably insupportible

Papyrus Ebers

The Ebers Papyrus: “To prevent hair from turning gray, anoint it with the blood of a calf which has been boiled in oil or with the fat of a rattlesnake.” “A mixture of six fats, namely those of the horse, the hippopotamus, the crocodile, the cat, the snake and the ibex.... to prevent hair loss.”

Drugs of Choice included:  Lizards blood  Swine’s teeth  Putrid meat  Moisture from Pigs’ ears  Excreta from animals including human beings, donkeys, antelope, dogs, cats and flies

“I will not bring on you any of these diseases...” Exodus 15:26 “Whoever touches the dead body of anyone will be unclean for seven days. He must purify himself with the water on the third and seventh day...take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and furnishings and the people who were there.” Numbers 19

Semelweiss

Vienna, 1847  In maternity wards one out of every six women dies.  Obstetricians ascribe deaths to constipation, fear and poisonous air.

Death Rate falls from 18% to 1%

Thymol (Oil of Hyssop)

“For the generations to come, every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised...” Genesis 17:12 Vitamin K Prothrombrin: a clotting protein.

Clotting Protein Peaks on Day Eight Available Prothrombin

Day Circumcised Number of Hebrew Boys Number of Deaths Abraham’s Experiment

“The snail trailing a moist streak after it as it crawls, and so using up its vitality serves as a remedy for boils.” “The sting of a hornet is healed by the house-fly, crushed and applied to the wound.” “The gnat, feeble creature, taking in food but never secreting it is a specific against the poison of the viper.” An ancient Hebrew medical manuscript.

Proposition #1  The Bible is scientifically unsupported and probably insupportible  Response: Oh really…

Proposition #2  “Christianity is philosophically suspect at best” Delos McKown Socrates

Last Night:  Christian Philosophy (theology) gives a more realistic description of things as they are than materialism or postmodernism.  Materialism denies the existence of truth, morality and value.  Postmodernism says that all truth is relative. No particular world view is preferred.

The Impact of Christian Thinking on the World  Women’s rights  Human rights  Abolition of Slavery  Science was created due to the Christian view of the world

Christian Philosophy/Theology  Realism but not naturalism  Genesis 1:31 The world/creation is good (vs Pythagoreanism, Platonism, neo-Platonism, Gnosticism, etc.)  Genesis 1:1 Defeats pantheism, atheism, dualism, materialism/scientism, humanism, animism, all in one verse. (Hebrews 11:3)

Christian Philosophy (cont.)  Biblical theology solves the dual problems of suffering and evil.  Evil the result of people with free will rebelling against God.  Suffering is not evil. It is from God, but it should be dealt with by compassion.  Nearly all compassionate works in the world are done by Bible believers.

Proposition #3  Christianity is historically fraudulent

Ruins of Hattusha, capital of the Hittites

The Lion Gate in Hattusha

The Five City League, including Sodom and Gomorrah

The Tel Dan Inscription 820 BC 2 Kings 8:28-29

Pilate Inscription Caesarea AD 30

Ziggurat in Ur

Proposition #4  The Bible is full of myths.  This charge is true! The Bible contains true myths.

Myths Common to Nearly All Cultures  Creation myths –Gilgamesh (Akkadian/Sumerian) –Popol Vuh (Mayan) –Sutras (Hindu) etc. –vs. Genesis 1-3  God/man myths –Isis and Osiris –Mithra –Krishna –Eleusian Rites, etc. –vs. Jesus

Proposition #5  The Bible is full of contradictions. –Genesis 7:17 vs Genesis 8:3 –Genesis 37:36 vs Genesis 39:1 –Mathew 27:5 vs Acts 1:18 –John 19:17 vs Mark 15:21-23 –More serious Exodus 20:4-5 vs Ezek 18:19-20

Proposition #6  You cannot trust the Bible because it has been changed.  Oh really….

Excerpt from DVC  “Aha!’ Teabing burst in with enthusiasm. ‘The fundamental irony of Christianity! The Bible, as we know it today, was collated by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great.” (page 251, DVC)

The Rylands Fragment John 18:31-33, 37 AD 125 Manuscript evidence for the canonical gospels

Codex Sinaiticus (350 AD) Codex Vaticanus (350 AD) Alexandrian Codex (350 AD) Codex Bezae (300 AD) Chester Beaty Papyrus (200 AD) John Rylands Papyrus (125 AD)

AuthorDate Oldest Copy IntervalCopies Aristophanes400 BCAD 9001,300 years45 Aristotle340 BCAD 11001,450 years5 Demosthenes300 BCAD 11001,400 years200 Julius Caesar50 BCAD years10 Herodotus435 BCAD 9001,350 years8 Homer800 BCAD years643 Plato360 BCAD 8001,150 years15 Sophocles415 BCAD 10001,400 years7 Thucydides410 BCAD 9001,300 years8 Old Testament 1500 BC – 500 BC 200 BC years 5,000 New Testament AD 50-90AD years8,000 Textual Evidence for Ancient Manuscripts

Church Father Quotes  Ignatius d. AD 115 Quotes from Matthew, John and Luke.  Polycarp, writing to the Philippians in AD 120 quotes from Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, 1,2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1,2 Thessalonians, 1,2 Timothy, Hebrews, 1 Peter, and 1,3 John  Clement of Rome AD 95 or 96 quotes from ten of the twenty-seven New Testament books.  Nearly the entire New Testament can be reconstructed from quotes of the church fathers in the 2 nd and 3 rd centuries.  None of these ever quoted from a Gnostic gospel, ever!

Development of the New Testament Canon  Four gospels circulating and recognized as apostolic by AD 100 or even by AD 90.  A group of letters of Paul circulating together and recognized as apostolic by AD 100  A still fluid, but developing complete list of canonical books by AD 150. (some doubt about Hebrews, 2,3 John, Revelation, 2 Peter, Epistle of Barnabus, Didache).  By AD 200, the New Testament as we know it was canonized by acclamation of the church. (The Muratorian Fragment, AD 175)

Summary  The New Testament canon was selected by consensus of the church in the second century as those books with apostolic authority.  The evidence is conclusive that the Greek New Testament we have is virtually identical to the original writings of the inspired writers.

The Text and Canon of the Old Testament  The Cairo Codex: The former and latter prophets AD 895  The Leningrad Codex: Oldest Hebrew manuscript of the whole Old Testament AD 1008  The Masoretes and the Masoretic Text. These guys were fanatics!  All this changed in 1949 with an Arab child in the hills east of Jerusalem….

Qumran Cave #4

Last Old Testament Book Written Autograph Dead Sea Scrolls Written Oldest Old Testament Manuscript Before Dead Sea Scrolls The Effect of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Conclusions  The Bible is consistent with what we know from science  Biblical philosophy solves the human problem as no human philosophy does  The Bible is the most accurate history of the ancient world we have  The Bible contains “true myths.”  The Bible does not contradict itself. It has an amazing unity  We have a faithfully preserved inspired text

If The Bible is the Word of God We Need to Put it Into Practice  John 12:47-50 The Word will be our judge  James 1:22-25 Put it into practice  John 7:17 It works.  2 Tim 4:1-5 No sentimentality. Eternal life is at stake.