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

[Mojo]

Jesus also said there would come false prophets who would deceive many.

Do you have any evidence that he wasn't one of them?

 

[Craig4]

Doc, how would anything you've just provided prove that the natural laws have or can be suspended. Until you prove an entity exists that can waive the Laws of Thermodynamics you're wasting your effort. This is non-negotiable. The authors claim to have seen the dead fish multiple to feed the multitudes. Prove this is possible.

 

[Cactus Wren]

Jesus also said there would come false prophets who would deceive many.

So you're saying your a false prophet?

DOC hasn't deceived anybody.

 

[Garrette]

I am tempted to suspect that DOC is avoiding hard questions, particularly the one which has taken various forms from multiple posters. I will state my own version here:

How do you tell false prophets from true prophets?

I can think of three ways DOC will respond to this.

1. Not at all. (I don't think this is likely)

2. By linking to previous posts that don't answer the question (also unlikely)

3. By stating that one tells the false from the true by comparing what is said with what is said in the NT. Then he will try to explain how to do that comparison, but it will boil down to being subjective in the sense that if it isn't DOC's version of Christianity then it's false. He will of course deny that this is what he is saying.

I predict #3. And I predict it will happen on the morning of 9 December, US Eastern time.

 

[RoboTimbo]

DOC hasn't deceived anybody.

With one exception.

 

[bikerdruid]

DOC hasn't deceived anybody.

With one exception.

....spot on....
amazing...over 16,000 posts and only one poster believes that doc is not deceitful.

 

[Lothian]

....spot on....
amazing...over 16,000 posts and only one poster believes that doc is not deceitful.

There is a difference between being deceitful and managing to deceive someone.

 

[Mojo]

I see you've deleted the "false Egyptian prophet" from your list of "historical personages" mentioned in the NT. Good job.

Well, according to the gospels Jesus spent time there as a child...

 

[tsig]

Jesus also said there would come false prophets who would deceive many.

How do we know that you're not one of those false prophets?

 

[Agatha]

So then you already knew that relatively unknown people like

Annas, Aretas, Bernice (wife of Agrippa II), Drusilla wife of Felix, Erastus, Felix, Gallio, Gamaliel Archilaus, Herodias’s Daughter Salome, Lysanias, Porcius, Festus, and Sergius Paulos,

are all included in the NT and they are all mentioned by non-Christian sources also (as was shown in post 16856).

DOC, unlike you, most of the sceptics posting on this thread have read the bible cover to cover more than once. We know what's in it.

Because of historical evidence like this, the NT doesn't sound like a legend to me, it sounds like stone cold history.

Apart from being a classic argument from incredulity/ignorance, this has been addressed several times. You've been shown that historical fiction existed 2000 years ago. You've been shown that if your argument were to be correct, then Harry Potter is real; Rose deWitt Bukater sailed on the Titanic; Robin of Loxley pranced about Sherwood Forest wearing green tights; and Chaereas and Callirhoe were real people.

 

[Helen]

and Chaereas and Callirhoe were real people.

Well, of course they were real. Nobody wrote fiction in those days, didn't you know? They didn't have any paper to write it on!

 

[Filippo Lippi]

Well, according to the gospels Jesus spent time there as a child...

With his flea.

 

[Elizabeth I]

With his flea.

I see what you did there!

 

[amb]

Jesus also said there would come false prophets who would deceive many.

He also said you can tell a true prophet by his deeds and accuracy in prophesying. He himself told his disciples that most who stood there would not taste death until the son of man returned in great glory on the clouds of heaven. So, where is he. 2000 years later that prophesy has still to be fulfilled, and his flock are now nothing but dust.

 

[Wolrab]

Originally Posted by DOC
Jesus also said there would come false prophets who would deceive many.

It was a misprint. It was supposed to be profits. Bernie Madoff, Amway, Enron. The end is nigh!

 

[Garrette]

He also said you can tell a true prophet by his deeds and accuracy in prophesying. He himself told his disciples that most who stood there would not taste death until the son of man returned in great glory on the clouds of heaven. So, where is he. 2000 years later that prophesy has still to be fulfilled, and his flock are now nothing but dust.

Highlighting is mine.

If that's the case, Mohammed was a true prophet.

And so was Joseph Smith.

 

[DOC]

I see you've deleted the "false Egyptian prophet" from your list of "historical personages" mentioned in the NT. Good job.

Actually I didn't from my first post on this issue. The latest post on this issue I only included many relatively unknown people. If you want to include the false Egyptian prophet to that list, fine. And for the record the false Egyptian prophet was also mentioned by Josephus according to Geisler's book.

 

[Garrette]

Hmmm. My prediction is apparently wrong. DOC has chosen simply to ignore the question regarding how he knows which prophets are true and which are false.

 

[carlitos]

Hmmm. My prediction is apparently wrong. DOC has chosen simply to ignore the question regarding how he knows which prophets are true and which are false.

Quoting for DOC just in case he's ignoring you and not just the question.

 

[DOC]

Doc,
We accept many truths in the New Testament...

...What we don;t accept is the magic. Water to wine, Walking on water, Resurrection, Virgin birth etc.

But I assume you believe if God exists miracles are possible.

You have provided zero evidence that the supernatural parts are true...

....but I am willing to look again. Rather than asking me to look up posts or pointing back to posts that have many claims in them can you simply give again one piece of evidence you have presented. Just one.

Sure, the empty tomb of a famous person who was followed by thousands of people, and a body of that famous person that has not been found in 2000 years. The empty tomb and a body of a famous person that has not been found in 2000 years is not proof of a resurrection but it is certainly some evidence for a resurrection.

And we have historical evidence for an empty tomb. A person that has been called a great historian (Luke) regarding non-supernatural events has reported Christ existed, preached to multitudes, was crucified, and his tomb was empty. And Geisler's book reports around 75% of scholars (liberal to conservative) believe the tomb was empty.

Also, gospel writer Matthew reports that the story by the Jews that the body was stolen "has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day". (Matt. 28: 11-15)

Here is what the book cited in post #1 says (on page 283) about this verse.

"That means Matthew's readers (and certainly the Jews themselves) would know whether or not he (Matthew) was telling the truth. If Matthew were making up the empty tomb story, why would he give his readers such an easy way to expose his lies? The only plausible explanation is that the tomb must really have been empty, and the Jewish enemies of Christianitiy must really have been circulating that specific explanation for the empty tomb."

But there are problems with the stolen body theory.

1) as Geisler points out, how would the sleeping Roman guards know the body was stolen.

Other problems with that theory are pointed out in this link along with other evidence for the resurrection.

http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/josh2.html