From: PASAlist@aol.com
Date: Tue Oct 29 2002 - 15:10:06 EST
Iain wrote,
<< Therefore, instead of this continual chipping away at the bits of the
bible that contradict our scientific knowledge, I would prefer to see
some more solid debate on why we believe Jesus Christ was real. >>
The actual historical existence of Jesus is a question only raised by very
biased and/or ignorant people. The arguments adduced against it are pitiful.
A while back Michael Roberts submitted a piece which illustrated the kind of
foolishness that such critics employ:
"I trust you all knew that Darwin never existed. Though this is little known
it becomes very clear indeed for a careful study of his alleged life. A good
starting point is his supposed Autobiography which was only published in
its supposed complete version in 1959 some 77 years after his supposed
death.
There are several parts of this "Autobiography" which are simply false and
contradicted by manuscript notes found in Cambridge Univ Library which are
reckoned to be by Darwin.
In his Autobiography Darwin describes the visit he made to Wales in 1831.
There two points where the Autobiography is proven to be wrong. First he
claimed to have spent many hours in Cwm Idwal with Adam Sedgwick looking for
fossils. But the notes of D and S shew that if they went there they went on
different days. Secondly D claimed to have walked from Capel Curig to
Barmouth in a straight line using a compass. That route would be totally
exhausting and if one looks at D's notes for this route he went in a zig-zag
route.
D returned to Wales in 1842 to look for glaciation and wrote that "it was
the last time I was ever strong enough to climb mountains." However his mss
notes show that he didn't climb one mountain and never walked more than 3-4
miles - a feeble effort for a 33 year old.
As for Darwin's so-called notes they cannot be tied in to the places
alleged. At Llanberis he speaks of a steep cliff to the NE, it is a gentle
slope. In Cwm Idwal he describes an enormous boulder and 4 lateral moraines
on the West side of the lake - there are none. At Bwlch Drws Ardudwy he
describes a mountain NE of the col - there isn't one. I can give many
examples.
Further the so-called works of Darwin are clearly derivative from previous
ideas. His geology on the Beagle voyage has many echoes of Lyell's
Principles of Geology and thus applying the rules some use for NT criticism
could not be written by Darwin. In the Origin of Species and other works
there are many unacknowledged references to earlier writers so cannot be by
Darwin.
I put all these arguments to the Darwin Seminar which met last week in
Shrewsbury and we all voted that most of Darwin's works are not authentic
and that he probably did not exist. We also concluded that there was more
probability that Jesus actually lived
Furthermore, many of his statements clearly address the interests of his
later followers and so must have been antedated forgeries. I'm sure the
Darwin Seminar threw those out too."
Now back to my own comments,
The crux historicity-wise is the resurrection (which of course necessarily
implies Christ's historical existence). Paul rests Christianity ultimately
upon that event: 1 Cor 15:17, 19; and it is that event around which the early
preaching of the gospel revolved. From an apologetic point of view, it is
significant that the insistence of the resurrection was first preached in
Jerusalem where Christ's enemies could have gone to the grave if he were
still there; and it is significant that Paul's citations of eyewitnesses in 1
Cor are not adduced just to establish the fact of the resurrection, but the
fact of the resurrection in the face of a Church, that is, Christians not
unbelievers, who because of their Greek mentality were prone to deny the
physical resurrection.
The cross is indeed central to the gospel, but the resurrection (along with
the giving of the Spirit) is the God-given evidence that the gospel has
validity. There is no power in "I go to prepare a place for you" if he stayed
in the grave. Apologetically, the resurrection is what marks Jesus as THE
guide to spiritual truth. And mortality/immortality is at the heart of the
issue. A leader who rises from the dead demands a hearing from anyone
claiming to be serious about seeking spiritual truth.
Now I could go on with the evidences for the resurrection as a historical
fact, but good books have been written which do that better than can be done
here. So, I would recommend:
W. L. Craig's Knowing the Truth about the Resurrection (Servant, 1988) and
Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?, a debate between Antony Flew and Gary Habermas
(Harper and Row, 1987). In the latter book the arguments made can be applied
mutatis mutandis to the existence of Jesus if you really want to deal with
that question. Habermas also wrote, "Resurrection Claims in Non-Christian
Religions," Religious Studies 25 (1989); and you might find L. McKenzie,
Pagan Resurrection Myths and the Resurrection of Jesus interesting.
I would only add that the coming and work of the Spirit are also of the
essence. In the epistemology of Jesus: it is those who are willing to submit
themselves to God, find and do his will who will know if he and Christianity
are true, really of God, etc. (John 7:17.) There is too much reliance on
human reason and idealism/rationalism in much of Evangelicalism. The antidote
to unbelief is not first of all good rational reasons for faith, but the work
of the Spirit making one willing to become as a little child, wait upon and
hear the word of God to you, and then rise and do it. As you fulfill the will
of God in your life, just as when you pray in his will, the Spirit of God
will move in and through you, bringing about fruit that abides. As you know
him and see his works, your faith will grow.
Paul
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