Proving By Evidence, The New Testament Is A Historical, Eyewitness Narrative Of True Events—See New Testament Apologetics At Amazon

“First, however, I must deal with the matter of Jesus, the so-called savior, who not long ago taught new doctrines and was thought to be a son of God. This savior, I shall attempt to show, deceived many and caused them to accept a form of belief harmful to the well-being of mankind.” —248 AD, Celsus, Early Opponent of Christianity, On the True Doctrine: A Discourse Against the Christians

If you have ever had a discussion or debate with an atheist, you know that they often present very challenging assertions. I have engaged with atheists in more than one thousand debates over the last five decades.1 In every exchange where a challenge to the reliability of the New Testament has been presented, it is by the same claims that have been repeated over and over again since the first and second centuries. None of the modern attempts at impeaching the reliability of the New Testament by modern atheist scholars is different from those first asserted by atheists at the beginning of Christianity.

The first real debate over the reliability of the New Testament began in 248 AD. Greek atheist philosopher, Celsus, attempted to impeach the reliability of the New Testament texts by a massive effort called Logos Alēthēs. Origen became the first Christian Apologist, who successfully impeached all of the false assertions presented by Celsus, in hundreds of written documents known as Contra Celsum.2

Origen lived in Alexandria, Egypt, and penned more than 2,000 treatises concerning many branches of theology. Origen focused on textual criticism, biblical exegesis and hermeneutics, homiletics, and even cosmology. Today, Origen is known as “the greatest genius the early Christian church has ever produced.”3

The assertions that atheists make today concerning the New Testament were all impeached by Origen in 248 AD. There are no new significant claims made against the extant manuscripts of the New Testament today, that have not been thoroughly invalidated nearly eighteen centuries before and every century since.

The reason atheists continue to pass this false information from person to person is that they either don’t know these assertions are false or they don’t care to know.

The chief purveyors of this false information are atheist New Testament scholars. Modern atheists peruse these false statements on leading atheist websites and from their published books. Without investigating whether the information cited on these sites is accurate, atheists use these false and incorrect statements in their debates with people who are believers in Jesus and the New Testament.

Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence

We have extraordinary evidence for the existence of God in the arrival of Jesus on earth. The men who saw Jesus with their eyes and heard Him with their ears recorded His words and actions. Jesus claimed to be Yahweh, the Eternal God who created all that exists. Jesus proved He is God by over 40 miracles only possible by God, 9 of these miracles display extreme control over the physical laws.

When they killed Jesus for claiming to be God, He raised Himself from the dead. Jesus was seen alive over a period of 40 days, by at least 514 eyewitnesses. Their testimony has remained in the historical record for almost 2,000 years.

No one has ever proven the men who said they saw Jesus with their eyes, were lying. Over 5 million Christians were executed by 10 Roman Emperors, over a period of 250 years, because they refused to renounce the historical written testimony of the men who saw Jesus alive.

Now that’s extraordinary evidence!

The evidence you will find in this book is the reason I stopped being an atheist 49 years ago. When we conduct an unbiased forensic examination of the historical manuscript evidence that exists for the New Testament, we can have only one conclusion: The men who wrote the New Testament cite in 396 citations, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus as a historical fact that they personally witnessed.4

When I have challenged atheists to cite the supporting evidence that their sources provide to impeach the eyewitness testimony of the New Testament, I never hear from them again. The reason is simple: a majority of atheists do not realize that the books of leading atheist scholars, do not have evidence to prove the men who specifically say they saw Jesus with their own eyes, are lying.

Atheist scholars who have PhDs expect their readers to accept their opinions because of their credentials. One of the important facts you will learn in this book is the reality that a Ph.D. does not mean a person is an expert in biblical exegesis. This fact is where many Christians become confused. Most people assume that an advanced degree enables expertise in a particular field of study. Concerning the Bible this is not necessarily true.

What if the person who has achieved a Ph.D., doesn’t believe God exists, or the Bible is true? Would you rely on an atheist to give you truthful and accurate information about God and the Bible? The world’s leading New Testament scholar, today, is Bart Ehrman—an atheist.

According to God, who is the author of the Bible, only a person who has been born again by the Spirit of God is capable of knowing the depth of the scriptures. Jesus said that unless and until a person has turned from their sins and believes in Jesus as their Savior, they cannot be born again, they cannot understand the Kingdom of God:

John 3:3-8: “Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot understand the Kingdom of God.”

Hebrew scholar, Paul, said that only by being born again by the Spirit, can any person understand the things of the Spirit:

1 Corinthians 2:10-14: “But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us…But people who aren’t born again by the Spirit can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who have the Spirit can understand what the Spirit means.”

It is the Spirit of God that gives us the ability to know and understand the Bible, not an academic degree. The Bible is not literature from this world. The Bible claims that its words and principles come from the Eternal God who communicated what He wanted written in the Bible. God spoke these texts to faithful men and women who recorded these words for every generation. God controlled what was included, and protected these words for us through every generation.

2 Timothy 3:16: “All Scripture is inspired by God…”

2 Peter 1:20-21: “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

Atheist and Progressive scholars do not have the benefit of the Spirit because they have not been born again as Jesus described in John chapter 3. Paul later explained in his letter to the Corinthian church, that only people who have been born again and have the Holy Spirit living in them, are capable of understanding the deep principles of the Bible.

God prohibits atheists and critics from understanding the Bible in its depth. The unsaved are only capable of understanding the basics of the Bible: the need for sincere repentance from sins, and the complete reliance upon Jesus for our salvation. These truths will be fully explained in subsequent chapters of this book.

Critics and unbelievers who have academic degrees in biblical studies, don’t believe that only believers can understand the Bible. Critics believe that the Bible is nothing more than ancient literature that can be evaluated and understood by the same methods secular scholars have used for hundreds of years. They are wrong. The Bible cannot be known or understood by any secular method.

God only reveals Himself to people who are diligently seeking Him—people who accept that God exists, and they seek to know Him through the Bible that He gave us. The books of the Bible are the method that God chose to reveal Himself to the world. It is the only sure way that we can know God and what He requires.

The Old Testament states that God can only be known and understood by the diligent and sincere seeker:

Deuteronomy 4:29: “But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Jeremiah 29:13-14: “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD.”

In the New Testament, we find that knowledge of God comes only to people who admit that God exists and then sincerely seek Him.

Hebrews 11:6: “It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.”

The average reader assumes that a scholar with a Ph.D. is an expert regarding the subjects they write about. What if this person doesn’t believe God exists? How could the opinions of an atheist be helpful to us in knowing the God of the Bible? In simpler terms, would you trust a medical doctor, if you discover they don’t believe in medicine?

The fundamental requirement for anyone who claims to be an expert in the Bible is that they believe God exists. It is not possible to be unbiased in your conclusions about the Old and New Testaments if you don’t believe they are true before you begin your examination.

Our Premise Determines The Outcome

If we begin with the idea that God does not exist, then this premise will affect our examination of evidence. We must also begin our examination of the New Testament with the presumption that what is written is true. When an examiner uses the presumption that the subject is lying, the test will always be self-refuting. The presumption that a person is always lying, while performing any examination for truth, is pointless, since the conclusion is already made before the examination has begun.5

The first rule in achieving an unbiased outcome in the forensic examination of historical texts is the assumption that all documents that come from known sources and were used by those who held the documents in their custody for long periods of history—believing them to be true—are entitled to the presumption of truthfulness.

A fundamental basis in determining reliability for all ancient documents that assert eyewitness testimony is that every document should be assumed trustworthy unless it can be shown unreliable through the burden of proof.

Unless we assume a general presumption of truth in every testimony, we will never be capable of determining whether anything is true. The only effective method that allows a professional examiner to determine truthful testimony is the presumption of truth at the onset.6

The fact that the Bible claims a supernatural, transcendent source, is proven by its structure and accuracy in prophetic fulfillment. In 2012 I published a four-thousand-page treatise that documents the historical accuracy of the 400 Messianic Prophecies Jesus fulfilled. 7The fulfillment of over 400 Messianic Prophecies, documented in the New Testament, reveals a one hundred percent record of accuracy. This feat of proficiency would not be possible unless God was the author of the Bible. The source, proficiency, and accuracy of the Bible define its authorship as transcendent time, space, and matter. This is the reason the Bible cannot be understood by transient human standards.

This is a fundamental difference between scholarship applicable to secular texts, and the scholarship necessary to evaluate the texts of the Bible. A person does not need to believe that a secular work of literature from antiquity is true, in order to scrutinize its texts. Concerning the New Testament, the texts themselves state that unless a person has been born again by the Spirit of God, and the Holy Spirit resides in these persons, it is impossible to understand the deep meaning of the scriptures.8

It is not necessary to obtain a Ph.D. to have the capacity to rightly divide the scriptures of the Bible and make valid conclusions.9 With the Holy Spirit and decades of personal study—through the use of proper methods of exegesis and hermeneutical procedures—any person can become a biblical scholar. This is predicated upon whether they have first been born again by the Spirit and have the Holy Spirit living in them.10

It is the Holy Spirit that gives us the ability to understand the Bible, not an advanced degree. Any person who does not have the Holy Spirit living in them cannot understand the deep principles of the Old and New Testament scriptures. These immeasurable truths are only revealed to those who have the Holy Spirit living in them after they have experienced a new spiritual birth. Jesus said in John 3: “You must be born again.”

Just before Jesus was crucified, risen, and returned to heaven, He promised His disciples that after He departed He would send the Holy Spirit to live in every believer and bring to their remembrance all things concerning Him:

John 14:26: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”

Every person who is born again and has the Holy Spirit living in them can become a true scholar in the scriptures, by decades of study and diligence. An academic scholar can be made in 4-6 years; a true Biblical scholar may take 10-20 years to obtain genuine proficiency.

In Matthew chapter 13:11-16, and John chapter 3:5-6, Jesus said that any person who does not sincerely believe He is God and the only Savior of the world cannot possibly understand the texts of the New Testament.11

Matthew 13:11: Jesus replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not.”

Paul affirms Jesus’ teaching that only those already in a personal relationship with Him, are permitted to understand the depth of scripture:

1 Corinthians 2:10-14 “People who aren’t born again by the Spirit can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who have been born of the Spirit can understand what the Spirit means.”

Only persons who are born again by the Spirit of God, after turning from their sins, can receive the Holy Spirit.12 Only the Holy Spirit imparts knowledge and understanding regarding the Bible.13

It is impossible for an atheist or non-believing individual to have the capacity of genuine biblical scholarship. The unbeliever lacks the power necessary to understand the scriptures that come only through the Holy Spirit. Of course, atheists adamantly disagree with this principle, because they don’t believe in the existence of the Holy Spirit.

The Publications of Atheist Scholars

In his book: “How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee,” New York Times Best Selling Author, Bart Ehrman, says the following about the New Testament:

“To begin with, (The Gospels) are not written by eyewitnesses…But in fact the books were written anonymously—the authors never identify themselves…”14

In chapter 3 of this book, “New Testament Apologetics,” you will see the evidence that fully impeaches Ehrman’s posit that non-eyewitnesses wrote the New Testament.

In chapter 5 of this book, I will present evidence to you that proves the Gospels were not written anonymously.

How did atheist New Testament scholar, Bart Ehrman, become the world’s leading authority concerning what Jesus said and did? He claimed to be a former Evangelical Christian who became an Atheist after he gained a Ph.D. in biblical studies.

The very idea that this could be true—propelled Ehrman to celebrity status before the atheist community. I have been told hundreds of times that Bart Ehrman said the New Testament is a fabrication, written by men who never saw Jesus, late in the first century.

When I ask those who say they have read Ehrman’s books that make these claims, where he presents the evidence to prove these things are true, I never hear from these persons again. Do you know why? I have also read Ehrman’s books. I have them in my library. I purchased them for a dollar at a used bookstore. No one who has read his books wants them anymore. Intelligent persons realize after they read Ehrman that what he publishes are simply his opinions as an atheist. Not exactly a reliable source.

Ehrman doesn’t include evidence that proves his assertion that the Gospels were not written by eyewitnesses. And he cannot prove the 260 chapters of the New Testament were written late in the first century. If you just read the New Testament for yourself you will quickly learn that the writers did see Jesus, and they were writing their testimony while they were still with Jesus. There are 203 eyewitness statements in the New Testament. Among these are the following:

• Peter: 1 Peter 1:16: “We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes.”
• John: 1 John 1:1: “We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands.”
• James, Paul, all the Apostles: 1 Corinthians 15:7: “Then Jesus was seen alive by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him.”
• Mary Magdalene: John 20:18: “Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!”

The entire New Testament was written as a historical eyewitness narrative of truthful events concerning Jesus.

When Atheists Are New Testament Scholars

Unfortunately, a majority of people who read best-selling books by New Testament scholars, don’t realize they are atheists. A few years ago I became aware that all of the false information that was being posted online regarding the unreliability of the New Testament was from people who had obtained their information from atheist and progressive New Testament scholars.

This reality was one of the reasons that I published my book, “The Ruse of Atheist New Testament Scholars.” Many Christians don’t understand that the comments they are reading in these books come from persons who don’t believe God exists and they have an agenda to cause people to give up their faith in Jesus and the Bible.

The greater concern is from people who say they were once a follower of Jesus but now no longer believe. These persons often cite atheist and progressive scholars as the source of their deconversion. In this book, we will examine what Jesus said about people who make these claims of former belief—in light of what God knew about them in eternity. In the last chapter of this book, we will test these claims of former faith, with what God said about genuine salvation.

I have frequently received criticism from Christians regarding my statements that an atheist cannot be a genuine biblical scholar. I have been told that it is wrong for me or any other person to question the faith of people.

I don’t know if a person is really saved, and I don’t think that it is my place to question the sincerity of people. What I am concerned about are the false claims that people make concerning the reliability of the New Testament. These statements I do challenge and demand evidence to prove what is alleged.

Atheist Professors Teaching The Bible

Unlike schools of the Bible during the long history of the Christian church, students today are taught by atheist and progressive professors.

Students are indoctrinated into an atheist worldview during their first months at seminary, and by the end of the second year, many former evangelical Christian students have lost their faith. I have had numerous debates with these former Christians over the past five decades.

These former believers, now atheists, are well entrenched in their atheism and come equipped with many of the false ideas about the New Testament that they learned during their brief tenure at seminary.

Even when presented with evidence that impeaches the false principles they learned from atheist professors, most former believers are unwilling to consider that what they formerly learned was not accurate.

About one out of ten who cease believing in Jesus can be convinced that what they were taught about the New Testament, was wrong. The majority of young people who are moved away from Christ by atheists and progressive professors, never come back to Christ or believe again that the New Testament is true.

In confronting atheists concerning the many assertions they make against the testimony of Jesus found in the New Testament, I have discovered that they are the least educated persons regarding the true facts of the New Testament. All that modern atheists know about the New Testament is what they have learned from leading atheist New Testament scholars in the books and essays they publish.

In this book, I will impeach the primary assertions of atheists concerning the premise that the New Testament is not a truthful and reliable narrative.

Untruths Easily Impeached By Evidence

Every idea that is postulated by atheists today is easily impeached by evidence that proves the New Testament is truthful and accurate and is a reliable narrative written by the men who saw and heard Jesus. These men immediately recorded the events we find in our modern New Testament, and they distributed these texts just as Jesus commanded—to “the ends of the earth.”

Acts 1:8 (Jesus commanded His disciples:) “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Does anyone really think that Jesus came into the world to die for all sins, perform over 40 miracles that had never been seen on earth before, be crucified in paying for the sins of the world, and raised from the dead, only to call illiterate men who were incapable of recording what they saw?

When Jesus met two of His disciples on the Road to Emmaus, He told them that everything He had said and done, was a fulfillment of all that Moses, David, and all the Prophets had predicted. Jesus said that these writers from the Old Testament predicted that everything He said and did, would be recorded in a written testimony so the whole world would know about the salvation God was offering every person:

Luke 24:44-48: “Then Jesus said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And Jesus said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ You are witnesses of all these things.”

It is incredible that this single paragraph fully impeaches a majority of the false assertions made by atheist New Testament scholar, Bart Ehrman.

This is the method of Apologetics that I believe is most effective in overcoming every objection to God and the Bible. When we present the historical accuracy, immense surviving manuscript evidence, and the clear testimony of the men who were with Jesus, this becomes an insurmountable wall of evidence that cannot be overcome.

In 32 AD, Jesus was crucified and risen from the dead. He told His disciples in Acts 1:8: “And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Eyewitnesses saw and heard Jesus, and they wrote their testimony about Him immediately after these events took place. These men began to distribute these testimonies all over Asia. From Asia, just 24 years after Jesus rose from the dead, these letters were sent to the known world, and by 56 AD, Paul could proclaim in his introduction to Romans that news of Jesus had spread “all over the world.”

Romans 1:8 “Let me say first that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith in him is being talked about all over the world.

We have in our possession today 24,593 extant manuscript copies of the New Testament, found in places from all over the world, written in 14 languages. When Jesus told His disciples to write and take their testimony “to the ends of the earth,” this is exactly what they did.15

These surviving manuscripts of the New Testament prove the Gospels were written early in the first century and distributed all over the world. It is by showing people the evidence of these eyewitness testimonies about Jesus that we prove the existence of God. It is by demonstrating that the New Testament is a reliable, truthful, accurate narrative of what Jesus said and did while on earth, that any person can place their trust in Him and have eternal life.

This book contains 21 of the primary arguments that atheists, progressives, and critics present to refute the existence of God, the Bible, and the Historical narratives about Jesus in the New Testament.

In the 24 chapters of this book, we will examine the evidence that exists to impeach these primary assertions leveled against the New Testament. The following 21 arguments in chapters 3-23 are the most often stated objections you will hear from critics against the New Testament. Each of these arguments is met with an apologia (defense) that proves what is written about Jesus in the New Testament is the best and most visible evidence for the existence of God and the reliability of the Bible.

First, the chapter name and number, followed by a brief synopsis of each chapter. Chapters 3-23 are the section of this book that is focused on impeaching the 21 primary arguments made by atheists and critics of God and the Bible today.

Chapter 1: A Different Kind of Apologetics

Today apologetics is focused on winning arguments. Although these debates often make for a great show, they seldom accomplish salvation.

The focus of this book is on my 50 years as an Apologist, and learning the most useful method to prove the facts of Jesus and the Bible. The New Testament exists as a historical, eyewitness narrative of the true events that prove Jesus is God and the only Savior of the world.

We see how important this subject is by reading the books and essays of leading atheist and progressive scholars. It is the reliability of the New Testament that critics attack, and it is the reliability of these narratives that have the greatest evidence.

We will focus on giving an excellent apologetic concerning the practical usage of New Testament reliability. When we learn these atheist tactics and how to defend against their false assertions—by presenting historical eyewitness accounts—not only do we win arguments, we persuade people to be saved.

Chapter 2: The errors of modern New Testament Criticism

This chapter exposes the methods and means that atheists and progressive critics of the Bible use to try and impeach the truth concerning Jesus. We will examine what critics say, and how the texts of the New Testament impeach their false assertions.

Understanding how critics of Jesus and the New Testament think about these texts, is crucial to our understanding and ability to present an effective apologetic to defend the truth.

Chapter 3: The New Testament was written by eyewitnesses

The idea that men who never saw Jesus wrote the New Testament, is perhaps, the easiest argument to impeach. The actual texts of the New Testament contain 203 statements by the writers in which they say they are eyewitnesses and saw all of the things they have recorded for us.

This evidence is presented throughout this book.

Chapter 4: The Synoptic Gospels were written early in the first century

In many of the books written by atheist New Testament scholars, these critics assert the idea that men who never saw Jesus fabricated the narratives about Him in the New Testament. The failure of this assertion is that no evidence exists anywhere to prove the New Testament was written late in the first century. Essentially, critics made up this claim and they repeat it over and over again in their publications and websites.

The internal texts of the New Testament make it clear that Jesus told these men to write their testimony immediately. History presents us with surviving manuscript evidence from all over the world that proves the original New Testament autographs were written early in the first century.

Chapter 5: The Gospels were not written anonymously

The claim that a literary work of antiquity is of no value, nor can it be trusted, simply because the author may not have placed their name on the document, is without merit.

There are hundreds of secular works from antiquity that do not have the author’s name—while being considered absolutely reliable.

I will present evidence in this book that we do know who the writers are and, if they did omit their names, this is forensic evidence of honest men who sought the glory of Jesus and not themselves.

Chapter 6: Paul saw the risen Jesus with his own eyes

There are 10 citations in the New Testament where Paul and others say that he saw the risen Jesus with his own eyes.

Beyond the New Testament manuscript, evidence that proves Paul saw the risen Jesus, secular history, and the Talmud also record that Paul was one of the eyewitnesses that Jesus chose to write and tell the world what he had seen and heard.

Chapter 7: The New Testament is not filled with contradictions

You will learn in this book, that what atheists assert as a contradiction is merely their misunderstanding of what constitutes a genuine contradiction. This book presents evidence that proves that there are no contradictions in the New Testament.

First, you will learn what constitutes a genuine contradiction and how the writers of the New Testament, in their statements, never wrote a single sentence that conflicts with any of the other writers.

Second, you will see how critics twist the scriptures to make them seem to be contradictions when the clear reading of the texts demonstrates that no contradictions exist.

Chapter 8: Contemporaneous, Secular Evidence for Jesus

Whenever I hear an atheist state that we do not find any evidence for Jesus outside the New Testament, I wonder how much of history these critics have studied.

The historical records of antiquity present us with over 136 extra-biblical citations for Jesus. These noninterested third-party records describe Jesus as crucified, risen from the dead, and turning the governments of the Romans and Jews into disarray.

Chapter 9: Have the texts of the New Testament have been changed?

Critics who seek to malign the integrity of the New Testament texts, often use the term “textual variant.” When we examine the texts that are alleged as textual variants by critics, we find that none of these variants changes the meaning of what is being said. The following are two of the examples you will find in chapter 9 of this book, where we will examine all the textual variants from the Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew 1:18

• Christ Jesus/
• Jesus Christ

Matthew 1:21

• Then she will bring forth to you a son/
• Then she will bring forth a son

It is clear that reversing the order of Christ Jesus to Jesus Christ does nothing to the reliability of the texts. This is what critics use to assert that the New Testament is not reliable because, they say, the texts have been changed.

Every allegation of an altered or abused text for the New Testament, which asserts that these changes render the narrative about Jesus unreliable, is clearly a ruse.

There is not a single place in the New Testament where these alleged texts are changed in any way that would impugn or alter the original narrative about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

Chapter 10: The New Testament is without error

When atheist New Testament scholars say that the New Testament is “filled with errors,” what they mean is that a single word misspelled in several thousand manuscripts counts as several thousand errors.

Other alleged errors have to do with multiple writers describing the same event, while including details the other writers did not state. If four people are at the scene of an accident and they later write their recollection of the event, each of the four witnesses will remember different details. This is forensic evidence of truthful written testimony. In chapter 10 of this book, we will examine these alleged errors and discover that it is the critics of the New Testament who have made errors, not the writers of the narratives about Jesus.

Chapter 11: The New Testament as a valid historical narrative

One of the frequent claims that many atheists make concerning the four Gospels is the idea that the narratives about Jesus in the New Testament are not historical, but merely myths.

Many years ago in my research and writing about the New Testament, I conducted an intensive examination in higher and lower literary criticism for the 27 books of the New Testament.

When these forensic methods are used to test the historical reliability of the New Testament, we find that these texts meet and exceed every requirement established to validate events of antiquity as truthful, genuine, and historical.

In chapter 11 of this book, we will use these methods and demonstrate that what these men record about Jesus—meets the requirements used to validate all other literary works that have been classified as historical.

Chapter 12: Did Jesus claim to be God?

The first area of attack from critics of Jesus in the New Testament comes from many sources. Members of Islam, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Bahai Faith, and atheists, assert that Jesus never claimed to be God.

This occurs primarily because readers are looking for the words, “I am God,” from Jesus in the New Testament. In the mind of the Jews of the first century, anyone who claimed to be God would be quickly rejected. To prove that Jesus is God, He must do this in a manner that the Jews would understand.

The basis of the Jewish nation from its beginning, was the Word of God. To be understood as the Messiah, Jesus would have to demonstrate that the Old Testament predicted a Messiah who is Yahweh and He fulfilled all the Messianic Prophecies required to be recognized as the Messiah.

Jesus did this on several occasions, none more clear than His dissertation before the leaders of Israel—relating the Messianic Psalm of David, Psalms 110, to Himself. In this discussion, Jesus clarified what David wrote, and demonstrated that the Messiah is both God’s Son and the son of David.

I will present you with conclusive evidence, that Jesus made it a primary point in all four of the Gospels to teach the world that He is Yahweh-God from the Old Testament.

Chapter 13: Were the disciples of Jesus illiterate?

The idea that Jesus chose men to be His witnesses who were illiterate and unable to write and record what they saw, is preposterous.

The texts of the New Testament present us with tremendous evidence that these men were not only capable of writing and recording what they saw and heard but in many instances, some were scholars.

In Peters’s dissertation of Jesus as the Messiah in Acts 2-4, he recites 25 Old Testament references to the Messiah, and correctly applies them to Jesus.

The certainty that the men who saw Jesus—wrote what they saw, is also confirmed by the Old Testament prophets. These men recorded that when the Messiah arrives on earth, the men who see and hear Him will record their testimony for the world.

We will travel through the scriptures together and explore the predictions of the Old Testament where the men who see the Messiah will write a testimony about Him. Then we we will examine the texts in the New Testament where this prophecy was fulfilled.

Chapter 14: Is there historical evidence for Jesus’ Resurrection?

Very early in my education concerning the New Testament manuscript evidence, I began to hear the unfounded assertion that there is no confirmation of Jesus’ resurrection outside the New Testament.

First, the New Testament is a historical record compiled by the men who saw and heard Jesus. A reasonable person should conclude that historical documentation of events serves as evidence for these events.

Second, you will discover in this book that the resurrection of Jesus was one of the most widely documented and recorded events in all of antiquity. Even the secular records of the Romans and the Jews record Jesus in Israel, crucified and risen from the dead. Although neither the Romans nor the Jews believed Jesus rose from the dead, their extant records of His resurrection remain in their archives.

Chapter 15: Did the Gospel writers copy each other?

If you study the comments made by critics of the Bible, you very quickly learn that those who claim to be scholars, often don’t know what the biblical texts say.

When we carefully examine the texts that are asserted as copied, we find that the writers of the Synoptic Gospels cite many of the same events, while including details the others do not include. This becomes important forensic evidence that impeaches the idea that they simply copied each other.

There is adequate unanimity between these witnesses to demonstrate corroboration, but sufficient variation in their details and particular differences in the accounts to eliminate the certainty of collaboration.

In other words, there is evidence in the texts that the writers of the Gospels corroborated with each other the true accounts of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. There is also tremendous evidence that they did not collaborate or fabricate their narratives based solely on what the other writers recorded.

In chapter 15 you will see how the Synoptic Gospels tell the same story of Jesus, while the individual writers include, or exclude, specific details that others do not record. This is critical evidence that the four Gospels are all independent narratives by four different writers, who all saw the same events.

Chapter 16: Does scholarly consensus validate texts?

Critics of the Bible frequently claim that there is general agreement or a “consensus” among scholars, that a particular part of the New Testament is not true. When we examine who these scholars are we find that they are men and women who began their examination of the Bible with the idea that it was not true. Beginning with conclusions based on their cognitive bias against God and the Bible, atheists and progressive scholars write criticism against the reliability of the New Testament texts.

Only about twenty percent of all New Testament scholars are atheists or progressives who don’t believe the Bible is all true. The other eighty percent are scholars who affirm God as the author, and all of the Bible as accurate and reliable.

When you speak with an atheist or progressive who argues the reliability of the New Testament, they will often give you the impression that the entire community of scholars believes that the New Testament is not reliable. This is not true. It is only a small minority of atheist and progressive scholars who hold these views of unreliability. You will see a list of these persons in chapter 16.

Chapter 17: Is eyewitness testimony reliable?

The assertion that testimony given by eyewitnesses is not reliable, originates from a false assumption spread by the atheist community. Atheists pass this false information to each other, and they repeat it anytime eyewitness testimony is stated for the narratives about Jesus.

In matters of criminal law, eyewitness testimony is not considered reliable. However, in matters of historical events, the testimony of an eyewitness is one of the highest levels of confirmation for literary historical events. We will examine this subject in detail in chapter 17 of this book.

Chapter 18. Examining Bart Ehrman as a reliable scholar

In chapter 18 of this book, I will provide you with numerous pieces of evidence that demonstrate that atheist New Testament scholar, Bart Ehrman, has made numerous critical errors in his books and publications, regarding the New Testament.

Chapter 19: The Errors of Old Testament Criticism

One of the tactics used by atheists and critics of the New Testament is the assertion that the Pentateuch was not written by Moses. The method employed to try and prove this idea is true is twofold:

First, the writing style of the first five books of the Bible, allegedly indicates that more than one person penned these texts.

Second, the conjecture that there was no known alphabet in existence at the time Moses is alleged to have written these texts.

This book presents the historical and archeological evidence that impeaches these two assertions, referred to as “The Documentary Hypothesis.”

Chapter 20: Are there discrepancies in the Bible?

In this book, I will show you several examples of actual statements made by modern atheist and progressive New Testament scholars, who assert that a consensus of modern scholars has determined the texts written about Jesus were fabricated.

One of the claims made by these modern critical scholars is the idea that eighty-five percent of all that Jesus is alleged to have said in the New Testament, He never said. Of course, this claim is merely the opinion of scholars who don’t believe the New Testament is true in the first place.

I will show you how historical literary evidence that is available today, proves that everything written about Jesus in the New Testament, is true.

Chapter 21: The Evidence for God

One of the reasons that I wrote this book, and several others during my career, is to demonstrate by evidence that God does exist.

One of the primary proofs for the existence of God is the testimony of the men who saw and heard Jesus and recorded that He claimed to be God—then performed miracles only possible by God.

A secondary proof for the existence of God is found in our universe. In this book, I will take you through the science of the universe which proves that a Being created all that exists, not happenstance or a natural process.

Chapter 22: The science of the universe

In proving the existence of God we have three different sources that present evidence that settles the question of His existence. In this chapter, we will examine these three sources.

Thirty years ago I ventured into a parallel study of Cosmology, from a biblical view—along with my continued education in Apologetics. I learned very quickly that our universe was not possible by a natural or accidental process.

In chapter 22 we will examine the scientific evidence that proves God is the only viable source for the universe. The processes that were required at the beginning of our universe, required forethought, engineering, extreme control, and precision of timing. None of these attributes that we find in the early universe were possible by a natural process. A thinking Being with immense knowledge was the only source that could achieve the universe we live in. This chapter proves that only the God of the Bible was capable of creating our universe.

Chapter 23: The Problem of Evil and Suffering

For many people, the problem of evil in the world—with the immense suffering we see—is enough to cause doubts that God could exist. How could a God of love allow the evil we see present in our world? If He has the power to stop evil and end suffering, why, if He exists, hasn’t He interveined?

These and several other issues are explored and answered in chapter 23. There are good answers to these important questions. In this book, we will learn how to answer critics with a sound apologetic.

Chapter 24: False claims of belief in Jesus

At no other time in human history has there been such a large number of people who claim to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus—yet display so little of the character that Christ showed the world.

Jesus described this phenomenon just before He was crucified, rose from the dead, and returned to heaven. In the Parables, and through practical teaching, Jesus presented us with wisdom on how we can interact with these people, and what the root cause of their unbelief is.

The conclusions of New Testament Criticism are determinative: The narratives about Jesus are truthful, accurate, and reliable

By the conclusion of this book, the preceding 24 chapters that prove New Testament reliability, will bring these issues into focus and allow a defense by any Christian.

This is the primary directive of this book; to take you through the evidence that exists in the historical record, to validate the eyewitness testimony about Jesus.

Since everything written about Jesus in the New Testament is true, God is proven to exist by the arrival of Jesus. The cause of all evil, sickness, and suffering, is the absence of Christ in the life of people, and the entrance of sin into our world.

Jesus came from heaven. He took the body of a man and lived a perfect and sinless life. Jesus presented His perfect and eternal life, as the payment for all sins. Anyone who is sincerely sorry for their sins and wants the forgiveness of their sins that Jesus died to give us—can have it today.

As a student of Apologetics myself for nearly 50 years, I believe the evidence found in this book, answers these two primary questions: (1) Does God exist? (2) If He exists, how do we explain the problem of evil and suffering?

The New Testament is the most beautifully written, most honestly recorded, most relevant narrative, in all the history of the world. Everything written in these 27 letters is all true, and the evidence I will present to you in this book is sufficient to convince any honest and reasonable person that what has been recorded and preserved for us in the historical record, can be trusted.

God promised the world a Savior in the texts of the Old Testament. Jesus came into the world and fulfilled all that the prophets predicted. His life, death, and resurrection are recorded for us in the texts of the New Testament. All that the prophets wrote about the Messiah, Jesus has fulfilled. There is forgiveness of all sins, and eternal life for everyone who repents and trusts in Jesus for all of their life.

See: “New Testament Apologetics,” At Amazon, Kindle Version and Paperback

NOTES:

1 The actual number of debates may well be into the thousands. I wanted to give a conservative number so that I would not be thought of as exaggerating the truth.

46 years of debates, at 10 per month, times 12 months, equals, 120 debates in a month. Multiply this by 46 years, and we have 5,520 debates. Taking into account that I often have 4 or 5 debates in a single day, but sometimes have no debates in a day, and the fact that I do not debate consistently every year, the estimate of “more than one thousand debates,” is a conservative estimate.

2 In 248 A.D. Origen successfully confirmed the miracles of Jesus, His claim to be God, and His resurrection—against pagan philosopher, Celsus.(1)

In Origen’s defense of Jesus, called Contra Celsum, this early Christian apologist refuted all of the same criticisms being brought by Bart Ehrman and the Jesus Seminar participants today. Over 1,750 years ago, Origen refuted the ideas that Jesus was not capable of miracles, He didn’t claim to be God, and His resurrection never happened.

From the beginning, just after Jesus had healed the sick, raised the dead, calmed the sea, and risen Himself from the dead, critics rose up to deny these things had happened. Men like Origen successfully defended these false ideas, with evidence from the near historical record which existed at that time. Origen’s work in 248 A.D. became the most impactful of all early Christian apologetics works.(1)

New Testament scholars today regard Origen’s book that refuted the attacks against Jesus’ deity and resurrection, which are being made once again today, as effectively neutralized as a threat. Over 1,750 years ago, Christianity received “unprecedented academic reputability.”(1)

In Chapter 67 of Origen’s rebuttal of Celsus’ denial of Jesus’ Deity, Contra Celsum, he writes:

“For we assert that the whole habitable world contains evidence of the works of Jesus.”(2)

In Chapter 68, Celsus denied that Jesus was capable of miracles and that He rose from the dead. Origen writes in defense and describes the arguments made by Celsus:

“But after this, Celsus, having a suspicion that the great works performed by Jesus, of which we have named a few out of a great number, would be brought forward to view, affects to grant that those statements may be true which are made regarding His cures, or His resurrection, or the feeding of a multitude with a few loaves, from which many fragments remained over, or those other stories which Celsus thinks the disciples have recorded as of a marvellous nature.”(3)

Using the same text we have today in our New Testament, Origen defines the testimonies of those who saw Jesus perform miracles and risen from the dead as valid testimony. Even at this very early date in history, there were already denials of Jesus’ miracles and resurrection.

(1) Olson, Roger E. (1999), The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition & Reform, Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, ISBN 978-0-8308-1505-0, Page 101.

(2) Origen. The Complete Works of Origen (8 Books): Cross-Linked to the Bible (Kindle Location 6339). Amazon.com. Kindle Edition.

(3) Origen. The Complete Works of Origen (8 Books): Cross-Linked to the Bible (Kindle Locations 6344-6347). Amazon.com. Kindle Edition.

3 McGuckin, John Anthony (2004). “The Life of Origen (ca. 186–255)”. In McGuckin, John Anthony (ed.). The Westminster Handbook to Origen. The Westminster handbooks to Christian theology. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. page. 13. ISBN 9780664224721

4 See the essay by the same author: “The Historical Documentation For Jesus’ Death And Resurrection: 396 Citations,” at the following link:

https://robertcliftonrobinson.com/2018/10/02/the-historical-documentation-for-jesus-death-and-resurrection/

5 Professor of history, Louis Gottschalk,  Understanding History, p.89.

6  1. For an excellent treatment of the legal aspects of testing the trustworthiness of witnesses and the application of this testing to the New Testament, see John Warwick Montgomery Human Rights and Human Dignity (Grand Rapids: Zondervan,1986), pp.139–50.

2. Van A. Harvey surely errs when he says that it is required of a modern historian that he adopt a standpoint of methodological skepticism. See The Historian and the Believer (New York: Macmillan, 1966), 26.

3. For a general theory of evidence based on a prima facie burden of proof for skepticism, see Roderick Chisholm, “A Version of Foundationalism”, Studies in Epistemology, ed. Peter A. French et al., Midwest Studies in Philosophy, Vol.5 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,1980), pp. 543–64.

7 “The Prophecies of the Messiah,” by Robert Clifton Robinson, 2012, Teach The Word Publishing, Inc. Amazon Kindle Version

8 1 Corinthians 2:13-14: When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.

9 2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Strong’s Greek: g3718. (Divide) ὀρθοτομέω orthotomeō; from a compound of 3717 and the base of 5114, to make a straight cut, i.e. (figuratively) to dissect (expound) correctly (the divine message): — rightly divide.

10 Exegesis: the critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially of scripture: specifically the task of biblical exegesis, dividing the scriptures out of each book of the Bible, and assembling them together in a coherent and cohesive manner.

Hermeneutics: The the branch of knowledge that deals with interpretation of the Bible or literary texts, by specific rules and procedures.

An example of these procedures is the “Principle of First Mentioned.” If we want to know the correct meaning of a particular word or phrase, we must go back to the first place in the Bible where this word or phrase is mentioned. If we want to know the correct meaning of love, we go to Genesis 22, where love is first detailed, the love of a Father for His only Son.

The first place the term, Son of Man, is mentioned, is in Daniel 7:13. Daniel writes in Aramaic, that the Son of Man, will be “Bar enas,” God. When Jesus calls Himself the Son of Man, He is saying that He is the Messiah Daniel predicted, God in human flesh.

11 Matthew chapter 13: 11-16, John chapter 3:5-6, Galatians 3:5, 14, John 14:26, Romans 8:14.

1 Corinthians 2:10-14 “But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. 11 No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. 12 And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

13 When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. 14 But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.

12 Romans 8:9, 14

13 1 Corinthians 2:10-14 “But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. 11 No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. 12 And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

13 When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. 14 But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.

14 Ehrman, Bart D.. How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee (pp. 89-90). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

15 Acts 1:8 Jesus said: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Revelation 1:11 Jesus said: “Write in a book everything you see, and send it to the seven churches in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

It was not possible to obey Jesus and reach the entire world, without writing and sending their testimony. These men did not have modern methods of transportation, they had only the ability to send a written testimony.

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