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Evidence for why we know the New Testament writers told the truth.

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Oh, I've got it!
A million little pieces!

Terrible things said about the author. The whole book was about his flaws, it did contain SOME factual content, but was not entirely fact. When it came out that it was untrue, it made Oprah cry.
 
I've read my NIV Study Bible through exactly once, annotations included, and have frequently gone back to reference parts I felt were relevant. I've also technically read most (but not all) of the KJV if you add up the Bible study class I took in my Lutheran elementary school, assorted stories I used to like, and sporadic research on the SAB website.

Someone should start a poll on this, even if it's been done before. I'd do it myself, but I'm lazy.
 
I've read what you would call the Old Testament in the original Hebrew more than a dozen times from beginning to end. I've read the New Testament once, but in English. (I don't know classic Greek.)
 
And some might say that's the greatest evidence of all for the truth of the Bible.

Some might say that, sure.

And fred_carr might say the same thing about Dianetics.

It's the skeptics that dissect every verse.

Really? It's the skeptics who run Bible Studies, and organize Vacation Bible Schools? I better tell my Christian friends...they thought they were giving their kids a good Biblical education, little did they know they were just sending them to Skeptical Propaganda Seminars.
 
I've read what you would call the Old Testament in the original Hebrew more than a dozen times from beginning to end. I've read the New Testament once, but in English. (I don't know classic Greek.)

Nitpick: New Testament was originally written in Hellenistic Greek, which in many ways is a different language from classical. Simpler. I recently started studying it; give it a try.
 
Nitpick: New Testament was originally written in Hellenistic Greek, which in many ways is a different language from classical. Simpler. I recently started studying it; give it a try.

I can barely recognize the letters on fraternity houses, so I think I'm going to have to stick to translations :)
 
And if you agree the writers didn't make up the words of Jesus than it would be reasonable to conclude that the writers (2 of which, Matthew and John, were eyewitnesses) didn't make up their account of the resurrection.

Evidence for the bolded bit?

Well here is some of the evidence that the eyewitness Matthew was the likely author of the Gospel of Matthew.

From the site "Gospel of Matthew"

1.2.2. There are other early sources that also claim that Matthew wrote a gospel in Hebrew or Aramaic.

A. Irenaeus (130-200) (Adv. Haer. 3.1.1; also quoted by Eusebius, H.E. 5.8.2): "Now Matthew brought forth among the Hebrews a written gospel in their language, while Peter and Paul were preaching in Rome and founding the church." By “Hebrews” Irenaeus probably meant Palestinian Jews. The language that Jews in Palestine would have spoken was Aramaic, although many Jews had a literary knowledge of Hebrew.

B. Origen (185-254) (as quoted by Eusebius, H.E. 6. 25.3-4) asserts, "Among the four Gospels, which are the only indisputable ones in the Church of God under heaven, I have learned by tradition that the first was written by Matthew, who was once a tax collector, but afterwards an apostle of Jesus Christ, and it was prepared for the converts from Judaism, and published in the Hebrew [or Aramaic] language."

C. There is a tradition cited by Eusebius, alleged to have originated with a man named Pantaenos (died c. 190), who was associated with the church in Alexandria, that there once existed a Gospel of Matthew written “in Hebrew letters” (H.E. 5.10.1-4): “One of these was Pantaenos, and it is said that he went to the Indians, and the tradition is that he found there among some of those there who had known Christ the Gospel of Matthew had preceded his coming; for Bartholomew, one of the apostles, had preached to them and had left the writing of Matthew in Hebrew letters, which was preserved until the time mentioned” (see H.E. 3.24.5-6). According to Jerome, Pantaenos brought back a copy of this Hebrew version of Matthew to Alexandria (De vir. ill. 36).

D. Eusebius reports the view current in his time is that Matthew's gospel was based on his preaching to Palestinian Jews, whose first language no doubt would have been Aramaic. Naturally, Matthew's gospel would have been written in Aramaic. He writes, "For Matthew, who had at first preached to the Hebrews, when he was about to go to other peoples, committed his Gospel to writing in his native tongue, and thus compensated those whom he was obliged to leave for the loss of his presence" (H.E. 3.24.6).

E. Jerome (342-420) more than once asserts that Matthew wrote his gospel in Hebrew, and says that it is not known with certainty who translated it into Greek. He even claims that the original Hebrew gospel can be found in the library at Caesarea (De vir. ill. 3; see Ad Damas. 20; Ad Hedib. 4). Jerome sometimes refers to this Hebrew Gospel of Matthew in order to clarify the meaning of the Greek text.

F. In describing the Jewish Christian sect known as the Nazarenes, Epiphanius (315-403) writes, "They have the Gospel according to Matthew quite complete in Hebrew, for this Gospel is certainly still preserved among them as it was first written, in Hebrew letters" (Panarion 29.9.4). It seems that he is referring to the same Hebrew version of Matthew known to Jerome.

http://www.abu.nb.ca/Courses/NTIntro/Matt.htm

And if the Gospel is true it really doesn't matter who wrote it. I've already pointed out 5 of the 10 reasons given in the Geisler book as to why we should believe that the NT authors told the truth.

I'll get to the Gospel of the eyewitness John as time permits.
 
Well here is some of the evidence that the eyewitness Matthew was the likely author of the Gospel of Matthew.
Blah, blah, blah, he said this, she said that.
Notice not a single contemporary writer. We have more "selected" opinions of individuals who lives centuries after the gospels were written and AFTER the Jesus myths was already developed.

And if the Gospel is true it really doesn't matter who wrote it. I've already pointed out 5 of the 10 reasons given in the Geisler book as to why we should believe that the NT authors told the truth.
Again, so what?
They told the truth...and why is this relevant to whether they knew the actual truth?
 
And if the Gospel is true it really doesn't matter who wrote it.
So you admit that Matthew didn't write it?
I've already pointed out 5 of the 10 reasons given in the Geisler book as to why we should believe that the NT authors told the truth.
Actually you provided 5 examples of Geisler making horribly bad arguments.
 
Why else would you bother saying it doesn't matter who wrote it after you attempted to claim who wrote it?

Anyone with a high school degree should be able to answer that question if they actually think about it? Sometimes I think you just say stuff because you can't bear to have a point I make go unanswered, and you'll say almost anything to counteract it.
 
Anyone with a high school degree should be able to answer that question if they actually think about it? Sometimes I think you just say stuff because you can't bear to have a point I make go unanswered, and you'll say almost anything to counteract it.

You mean you don't have a high school degree?
 
You mean you don't have a high school degree?

I'm not going to insult yours or the rest of the people's intelligence in here by even responding to joobz' why else would you say it statement.

I stand by my statement, in post 335.
 
Well here is some of the evidence that the eyewitness Matthew was the likely author of the Gospel of Matthew....
Well here is some of the evidence that the eyewitness Matthew was not the likely author of the Gospel of Matthew....

The Gospel of Matthew is anonymous: there is no internal, direct evidence for authorship. Sometime early in the second-century the Gospel of Matthew was designated as such.
The authorship of the Gospel of Matthew is something of a puzzle. It is unlikely that the canonical Matthew represents a straightforward translation of an original Aramaic or Hebrew version composed by the apostle Matthew.

The Gospel of Matthew could not have been written before Mark (mid-60's).

The link providing the above should be familiar as you provided it.
 
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