Had a great week, just had to battle with the environment, being outside in the freezing weather, icy winds cutting through my clothes, frostbite snapping at my heels. Not to mention the dangerous life-or-death situations requiring sharp reactions, dodging weapons of mass destruction and being prepared to drop and leopard crawl at a moment’s notice. Don’t worry, I got through it fine. No, not missionary work in Iran or Saudi Arabia, but directing traffic in the car park at our local church (you should see the way some people drive!). Don’t laugh; it can get pretty hair-raising sometimes. But I love it.
Which gets me to today’s topic. How can we believe that the New Testament is real and not some fanciful, overly exaggerated story, much like the one in my introduction (what did you think of my segue there!)? Is there evidence that it is real, or are Christians just going on blind faith? Well, there is no need for blind faith when there is vast amounts of evidence to show the authenticity of the writings. Whole books have been written about this subject. So, buckle up; this is going to be a long blog! Ok, not really, but if I had to list all the evidence for the veracity of the New Testament, it would most certainly be a mammoth read. I plan on delving deeper into this topic in the future, but in the meantime, let me just go through some more popular and reader-friendly ones.
To believe that the New Testament is just a made-up story is to believe the Apostles were liars. To debunk this theory, we need to disprove the Apostles as liars. We are aware that the majority of the New Testament is written by eyewitnesses and their counterparts within 15 to 40 years after the death of Jesus. There is also further evidence we find of non-Christian authors writing about certain historical occurrences aligning with the New Testament. But this does not preclude these authors from possible exaggeration or embellishment. We need to prove that this is not so.
Have you ever heard of the “principle of embarrassment?” It is what we used to call our primary school headmaster. No, just kidding, it is the principle that assumes that any details that would show the author in an embarrassing light are probably true. Most authors would tend to keep out any embarrassing moments that would demean them. Scripture is full of these demeaning moments for the Disciples.
“But they did not understand what He meant and were afraid to ask Him about it” (Mark 9:32 NIV)
Is it just me, or do the Disciples seem as sharp as a marble in this passage?
“But when Jesus turned and looked at His Disciples, He rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” He said” (Mark 8:33 NIV).
Wow, imagine Jesus calling you Satan! Definitely not something I would put in my memoir.
There is quite a lengthy list of these. Perhaps search for them in your bible. It puts a new perspective on the ordinariness of the Disciples.
Do you remember that passage where the Apostles were surrounded by fawning groupies, dishing out shekels, chugging down bottles of Cristal? No, me neither. What we do hear is the Apostles leaving their families and possessions and travelling to follow Jesus and eventually to spread the Gospel.
“Peter said to Him, “We have left all we had to follow you!” (Luke 18:28 NIV).
What did they get in return? Being chased away like stray dogs wherever they went. Yet they continued unabated. If it were a lie, I think personally I would return to my cosy home. But the Disciples persisted, through impoverishment, thirst and hunger. Hardly an attraction for any women, no, I’m afraid the groupies were pretty much absent.
Let us discuss that brood of vipers. How much anger would you feel against the Sanhedrin who persecuted, and finally put your King to death? The Disciples would have felt the same way, but times a hundred. Then why on earth would they write about how the Lord was taken and buried by a member of the Jewish council, Joseph of Arimathea? It would be humiliating to them to have Jesus put in a tomb of a hated Jewish authority. If it were not true, why would they include this in the gospel if it just puts a much-despised member of the Sanhedrin in a flattering light?
Now, what about the New Testament writers suddenly abandoning all that they had believed for so many years? All the covenants and laws that they were obliged to follow at the risk of God’s wrath. Would they really have taken the chance to abandon their faith on a lie? We see thousands doing this, Jews, Priests and even Pharisees. Really, to a made-up story? Some of their old beliefs were so deeply ingrained in them, yet they abandoned them. How would a Jew suddenly stop believing in the Sabbath or give up circumcision and adopt baptism? And what of communion as a remembrance of Christ? Not in the Jewish ballpark, not even close.
A common accusation that we often hear is that the New Testament is not reliable, as we do not have the original texts. But how many original texts of ancient historical documents do we actually have outside of Christianity? Currently, there are 5500 manuscripts of the New Testament in Greek and approximately 25000 copies in other languages, all written before the 16th century. What do we have of other prominent literary works? Aristotle comes in at a low seven copies, Plato beats him slightly at 49 copies, and the winner is Homer’s Iliad at 643 copies. A far cry from the 31000 copies of the New Testament! I do not hear anyone disputing the Aristotle, Plato and Homer copies, yet they will deny the authenticity of the New Testament?
And then we have the coup de grace. For this one, we need to put ourselves in the shoes of the Disciples and the New Testament writers. Think of the horrific deaths of the Disciples and apostles. I can imagine myself sitting in a chair with a lamp shining in my face, punch drunk with some sweaty interrogator telling me “We have ways and means of making you talk,” and then being threatened with an excruciating and painful death. If I knew all I had been spouting was a lie, I can tell you now I would recant in the blink of an eye. Not so for the Apostles. They knew the truth. They knew the promise of everlasting life. They knew who their Lord and Saviour was. They knew they were destined to once again be with Him.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me” (Matt 5:10-11 NIV).
To die for a lie, a fable, or a made-up story would make them the most insane people who have ever walked this planet. Clearly, though, the Apostles were not liars or insane. They proclaimed their faith and belief in the risen Jesus to a seriously antagonistic audience, knowing full well they might suffer and die for their beliefs.
So, look out for the future more in-depth apologetic articles coming soon in the theology section.
