TimCallahan
Philosopher
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2009
- Messages
- 6,293
It occurred to me that a test of the historicity of the Christian Scriptures that might be worth asking Chirstians on this forum to explain is to be found in Acts 2:1-6:
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
While I'm aware that historical records can be lost, such as any Roman legal document substantiating the Crucifixion, I'm curious that no other ancient source mentioned the miracle of Pentecost.
An even more egregious lapse can be found in the Qur'an, Surah Al-Qamar (Surah 54, Q 54:1):
The Hour draws near; the moon is split in two.
To be fair, many Muslims consider this to be a prophecy of a sign of the end of the world. However, accompanying the Qur'an is a large body of Islamic legend. One of these narratives asserts that, at the command of the Prophet, the moon was split in two, then fused again. Although a number of Muslim websites are claiming that a certain long lunar rille is evidence of this, the rille in question hardly girdles the moon. More to the point, where is there any record among those kept by the Chinese, among others, of this remarkable astronomical event?
Of course, there's no evidence for, among other things, the destruction of the 185,000 man Assyrian force under Sennacherib besieging Jerusalem in 701 BCE (2 Kings 19:35).
The phenomenon that intrigues me here is the persistence of belief in documents readily falsified by history.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
While I'm aware that historical records can be lost, such as any Roman legal document substantiating the Crucifixion, I'm curious that no other ancient source mentioned the miracle of Pentecost.
An even more egregious lapse can be found in the Qur'an, Surah Al-Qamar (Surah 54, Q 54:1):
The Hour draws near; the moon is split in two.
To be fair, many Muslims consider this to be a prophecy of a sign of the end of the world. However, accompanying the Qur'an is a large body of Islamic legend. One of these narratives asserts that, at the command of the Prophet, the moon was split in two, then fused again. Although a number of Muslim websites are claiming that a certain long lunar rille is evidence of this, the rille in question hardly girdles the moon. More to the point, where is there any record among those kept by the Chinese, among others, of this remarkable astronomical event?
Of course, there's no evidence for, among other things, the destruction of the 185,000 man Assyrian force under Sennacherib besieging Jerusalem in 701 BCE (2 Kings 19:35).
The phenomenon that intrigues me here is the persistence of belief in documents readily falsified by history.
