Restitutio

Apologetics 12: New Testament Trustworthiness For the New Testament we can employ several of the same lines of reasoning as the Old Testament, though there are a couple more to consider like internal evidence and messianic prophecies that help bolster the case. Furthermore, many people’s lives have been changed by reading and believing the words of the New Testament. No other book has such a legacy for radical life transformation. If you would like to take this class for credit, please contact the Atlanta Bible College so you can register and do the necessary work for a grade. Notes: Reason #1: Archeology Supports the Bible Handout from Skeptics Search for God pages 227 to 234 Handout from Case for Christ pages 92-99 Building Belief, pages 145-146 In Defense of the Bible ed. by Cowan and Wilder pages 236-239 Reason #2: Unflattering Honesty Consider the heroes of faith and their recorded failures: If they made it up, why would they paint themselves so true to life (moles and all)? Peter’s denials (Matthew 26.69-74) Paul’s persecution of the church (Acts 8.1-3) All of this is evidence that the Bible is legitimate—it honestly chronicles what happened. And if we can trust it when people would be inclined to change it for the sake of embarrassment, we can certainly trust it on matters such as the kingdom and the crucifixion/resurrection of Christ. Reason #3: Changed Lives There is an old story about an atheist who challenged a Christian to a debate. The Christian responded, if you can provide me with one person who has been delivered from alcoholism, drug addictions, sexual perversion, violence, or another significant vice by atheism then I will debate you. And I will bring a dozen who have drastically changed as a direct result of their belief in the Bible. Reason #4: Preservation Antiochus Epiphanes tried to destroy the Hebrew bible and Jewish practices The Roman Emperor Diocletian, following an edict in ad 303, attempted to destroy every New Testament 25 years after Diocletian, the next emperor, Constantine, paid for 50 more bibles to be copied Voltaire (18th century) predicted within a hundred years the bible would be gone, but 50 years after he died, the Geneva Bible Society used his house and printing press to produce many more bibles Today the bible is available in more languages than any other book (over 500) This reason alone does not prove the bible is true, but it coheres with the idea.  In other words, if the bible were from God, we would expect he would have his hand on it to preserve it throughout the centuries Reason #5: Internal Evidence What sort of books are the Gospels? What did the writers think they were doing? Luke 1.1-4; 2 Peter 1.16; 1 Corinthians 15.6 they claim to have reported historical facts accurately Reason #6: Messianic Prophesies Ralph Muncaster has calculated the odds of 118 non-messianic historical prophecies being true to be 1 chance in 10118. Thus it is more likely that the Bible is true than this pen will hit the floor when I drop it! In other words, to not believe in the Bible is more suicidal than to jump off a cliff and think that the law of gravity will not take effect! Promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:3, 18:18, 22:18) (Acts 3:25-26) Prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-19) (Acts 3:22-23, John 1:43-49, 6:13-14) Raised from the dead (Psalm 16:10) (Acts 13:33-37

With this episode we are beginning a series on overcoming objections to Christianity.  To start with we want to address the criticism often leveled at bible-believing Christians today that our perspective on salvation is too narrow-minded and exclusive.  Who are we to say that all the other religions are wrong?  In order to tackle this issue, we begin with the words of Jesus himself who said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14.6).  If we remain committed to scripture then the question is not, “Is Christ the only way to salvation?” but “How is that fair?”  What about the old lady in Fiji who never got a chance to hear about Jesus?  Listen in as we explore five answers to this important question. Notes and Links: For a masterful presentation concerning Christian exclusiveness, check out Tim Keller’s lecture at Berkley. See also Podcast 51: Pluralism, Post-Modernism, Relativism, and Truth Episodes in this series on Overcoming Objections to Christianity: Is Jesus the Only Way to God? Christians Are Hypocrites Why Does God Allow Suffering? The Bible Is Too Antiquated Christianity Is Lame Intro music: “Protofunk” by Kevin MacLeod.  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.  

Apologetics 11: New Testament Transmission With the New Testament we can’t argue for a reliable transmission on the basis of meticulous Hebrew scribes. More often, especially early on, the Christian scribes focused more on quantity than quality so they could get the word out as quickly as possible. However, the sheer number of manuscripts that survived and the relatively early date of several ensure that we can employ a range of strategies to recover the original text with 99.5% accuracy. In fact, when we compare the New Testament to other ancient literature it is almost embarrassing how much better it is than the others. If you would like to take this class for credit, please contact the Atlanta Bible College so you can register and do the necessary work for a grade. Notes: How To Determine Reliable Transmission Two factors that need to be tested to prove reliability number of copies time span between extant copy and autograph extant means the existing copy autograph means what was originally written A Wealth of Manuscripts extant means currently in existence Uncial manuscripts all-capital Greek letters 306 manuscripts dating to as early as the third century (200’s ad) Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus (both date to around ad350 about 250 years between the completion of the NT and the first full copies of it Minuscule Cursive writing emerged in ad 800 2,856 manuscripts Lectionaries Contain NT Scripture in the sequence that it was to be read in the early churches at appropriate times of the year 2,403 manuscripts Total Greek Manuscripts = 306 + 2856 + 2403 = 5,565 currently (according to Bruce Metzger) Also there are ancient translations Approximately 10,000 copies of the Latin Vulgate 9,300 copies in Ethiopic, Syriac, and Aramaic. Grand Total = over 24,000 manuscripts critical editions NA28  \ all modern translations for the NT are based on one of these UBS4 / Stephanus[1] (KJV was translated from Stephanus) see footnote and next page originated from Erasmus’ 1516 critical edition and complutensian polyglot of 1522 based on 20 to 25 mss, mostly medieval 8th c. or later notable differences Comma Johanneum two later additions that still appear in our Bibles are Adulteress woman and long ending of Mark resources Bruce Metzger’s A Textual Commentary of the Greek New Testament NET Bible Translations major strategies formal equivalence (word for word) dynamic equivalence (thought for thought) translations using outdated Greek manuscripts KJV, NKJV, YLT, ASV, Amplified range of Bibles from most literal to least NASB HCSB ESV NRSV NET NAB NJB NIV NCB GNB CEV NLT Living Message Time Between Autograph and Extant Manuscript see chart on pp. 142-143 in Building Belief The John Rylands papyri manuscript found in Egypt, which is a small portion of the Gospel of John, is dated from ad 117-138. This means that we have a manuscript within nearly 30 years of the autograph. (Only 30 years between Gospel of John and P52 – John Ryland’s Papyrus) Variants between Manuscripts If we

What do you believe about holiness?  Do you view it as an impossible ideal?  Slogans like “I’m not perfect, just forgiven” and “I don’t want to be holier than thou” show how uncomfortable we are with this whole subject.  Even so, God calls us to be holy as he is holy.  We cannot ignore or dismiss such a calling.  There must be some way to live up to his ideals.  In this episode, Keith Daniel, the revival preacher and evangelist from South Africa, brings a convicting and much needed message about holiness.   Notes and Links: Other Restitutio podcasts with Keith Daniel Find more Keith Daniel sermons at Sermon Index To get more information about Winter Teen Camp in RI (Dec 28-30, 2016), visit http://livingfaithri.org/events/wtc For our young adult retreat, Revive, held in CT (Jan 6-8, 2017), visit http://lhim.org/register/?id=205 Intro music: “District Four” by Kevin MacLeod.  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.  

Apologetics 10: Old Testament Trustworthiness Last time we looked as reasons to believe the Jewish scribes reliably transmitted the Old Testament so that what we have today is what they actually wrote. This time you’ll learn five main reasons why we believe the Hebrew bible is true: (1) archaeology, (2) medical insights, (3) unflattering honesty, (4) predictive prophecy, and (5) martyrdom. Although some of these are stronger than others, cumulatively they establish the veracity of scripture quite convincingly. If you would like to take this class for credit, please contact the Atlanta Bible College so you can register and do the necessary work for a grade. Notes: Five reasons to believe the bible is true: archeology medical insights brutal honesty predictive prophecy martyrdom Reason #1: Archeology Supports the Bible Archeology is a soft science based on hard evidence. The clay pot is hard evidence but when it is dated and what it means are based on interpretation. The longer that archeology exists the more detail we get on antiquity Why would the author take the time to report so many things accurately and then make up a story in between? Many times when Israel had conflict with other nations we can look in the secular history and find corroborative evidence of the event Sennacherib’s Prism chart on pp. 140-141 in Building Belief Reason #2: Miraculous Medical Accuracy Leviticus continues incredible medical insights far ahead of its time http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=13&article=2024&topic=102 8th day circumcision http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=13&article=1118 Reason #3: Brutal Honesty If they made it up, why would they paint themselves so true to life (moles and all)? Consider the heroes of faith and their recorded failures: Noah gets drunk (Genesis 9.20-24) Abraham is deceptive about Sarah (Genesis 12.19; 20.5) Moses disobeys and speaks presumptuously (Numbers 20.7-12) David’s sin with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11.1-27) Reason #4: Predictive Prophesy Prophecy is an objectively testable criterion that could prove the bible true or false. Objective is true no matter who believes it; Subjective is true depending on how it is perceived. Amazingly, the bible repeatedly predicts historical events before they happen! This is the strongest argument for the bible being true because it is testable. The bible is made falsifiable by predictive prophecy. Some allege that it is easy to predict the future. Try predicting the weather, stock market, gambling, lottery ticket (and don’t forget that if you are wrong once, then you are stoned to death!) Nostradamus made extremely vague prophecies. For more information on what he prophesied and how it has to be twisted in order to fit modern events see EvangelicalOutreach.org/nostradamus.htm “Jeane Dixon’s supposed “prediction” about John F. Kennedy’s election and assassination. In reality, her prediction in Parade magazine in 1956 said that “a Democrat” would win the election and would “die in office.” This was far less specific than predicting “John F. Kennedy would be assassinated,” as some later retold the “prophecy.” Just how amazing was this prediction?” Let’s figure out the odds here: Dem

Kegan Chandler joins me once again to talk about the history of theology.  If you haven’t yet heard his story, check out Interview 8: A Restorationist Finds the God of Jesus.  In this episode, I ask Chandler about his book, The God of Jesus in Light of Christian Dogma.  If you are at all interested in the history of ideas that influenced what Christians in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries believed about Jesus, this show is for you.  Chandler address the how Plato’s Greek philosophy influenced Christian theologians as well as how the Gnostics not only anticipated much trinitarian language, but also how they influenced “orthodox” theology.  After exposing the pagan influnences on the development of the Trinity, Chandler goes on to offer a better way of reading the New Testament–through the lens of second temple Judaism.  Instead of reading later ideas into scripture, why not read it in light of the Hebrew bible and contemporary Jewish literature, like the Dead Sea scrolls.     Notes and Links: Review Kegan Chandler’s The God of Jesus in Light of Christian Dogma: The Recovery of New Testament Theology on Amazon. Chandler’s websites include: thegodofjesus.com and burieddeepblog.wordpress.com R. P. C. Hanson wrote the definitive history of 4th century doctrinal development in his The Search for a Christian Doctrine of God. Richard Rubenstein wrote a much shorter, easier history of Trinity history in his When Jesus Became God. Intro music: “District Four” by Kevin MacLeod.  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

Apologetics 9: Old Testament Transmission What reasons do we have for believing the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) was reliable transmitted from antiquity to today? This lecture provides four arguments: (1) Jewish scribes were competent, (2) people memorized large portions of the text, (3) the consequences for false prophecy, and (4) the Dead Sea Scrolls function as a time capsule. The Old Testament is excellently preserved, especially in comparison to other ancient texts. If you would like to take this class for credit, please contact the Atlanta Bible College so you can register and do the necessary work for a grade. Notes: Introduction Circular reasoning: Why do you believe that there is a God->the Bible says so->How do you know that the Bible is true?->God wrote it This is the fundamental question of Christianity: “Anyone who knows the content of the Bible knows that its reliability is the single most important question in the history of humanity.” (Can You Trust the Bible by Ralph Muncaster, p. 4) Remember 1Peter 3.15 Question:=>Too many translations, how do you know which is right? The Bible was written in Greek, translated to Aramaic then to Latin then to German and then to English. Answer:=>We have more than 5,000 manuscripts extant today and there are several million people who speak the original language. We do not depend on a translation. (Pass around the Hebrew and Greek Bibles) a. OT written in Hebrew b. NT written in Greek OT Manuscript Tradition manuscripts (hand written) Hebrew Aleppo Codex (a.d. 920) Leningrad Codex (a.d. 1009) Dead Sea Scrolls (250 b.c. to a.d. 70) early translations Aramaic Targum (5th c. a.d.) Samaritan Samaritan Pentateuch (11th c. a.d.) Syriac Peshitta (5th c. a.d.) Greek Septuagint (fragments from 2nd c. bc, complete from 4th c. a.d.) Theodotion, Aquilla, Symachus (before 3rd c.) (extant?) Coptic Crosby-Schoyen Codex (3/4th c. a.d.) Latin Codex Amiatinus (5th c. a.d.) critical editions Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia based mostly on Leningrad Codex but with variants from other sources as well last updated1997 Biblia Hebraica Quinta incorporates Dead Sea Scrolls 20 volumes partially published since 2004, to be completed in 2015 Oxford Hebrew Bible Project extensive critical edition underway at Berkeley, California Scribal Argument Only master scrolls were used for duplication Scribes were highly trained (noble profession) Held in training until age 30 Ceremonial washing before copying Scripture Any time the name of God was written a sanctification prayer was said. (6,824 times in the NASB) Memorization was a problem so they visually confirmed the letters one by one Each letter was counted and compared to master Each word was counted and compared to master The middle letter in each scroll was located and compared to the master If there is one mistake, the scroll was discarded Scrolls are buried ceremonial when they wear out Memorization argument Object Lesson: driving laws What do you do when school bus stops and you are driving towards it? What do you do at a stop sign? Yield sign? Green, yellow, & red lights? What do you do at a four way stop? What is the cell phone law? Why do you have all of t

Kegan Chandler grew up as a bible-believing Christian in Texas.  His grandfather, Pat E. Harrell, was a leader within Church of Christ who founded their Restoration Quarterly publication.  As a result of his grandparents’ and parents’ passion for God, Chandler grew up in a family steeped in bible study and theological reflection.  One day the Mormon’s came knocking and Chandler, the consummate apologist and champion of orthodoxy, licked his lips at the chance to set them straight.  However, in the course of that conversation, one of the missionaries asked Chandler, “Well, who do you say that Jesus is?”  Strangely enough, this one question caught him off guard.  The young man wasn’t asking, “Who do your parents, your pastor, or your seminary say that Jesus is?” but “Who do you say that Jesus is?”  The intensely personal nature of this question started Chandler on a quest to firm up his orthodox answer, which eventually led to a complete reconsideration of his beliefs about God, Jesus, and the spirit.  Over the course of several years, he came to see the bible from a more Hebrew perspective.  After intense bible study and a thorough investigation into church history, he discovered the God of Jesus.  Here is his story. Notes and Links: The conference we met at was Restoration Fellowship’s Theological Conference.  Next year the date for this weekend is May 18-21, 2017. For “the Protestant burden” see Jason David BeDuhn’s book, Truth in Translation. Chandler referenced my presentation, “Five Major Problems with the Trinity.” (This video now has over 33,000 views.) Chandler’s book, The God of Jesus, is now available on amazon. Chandler’s websites include The God of Jesus and Buried Deep For J. Dan Gill, visit the 21st Century Reformation website as well as his voluminous youtube channel. For Anthony Buzzard, visit the Restoration Fellowship site or watch his videos on youtube. Intro music: “District Four” by Kevin MacLeod.  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

Apologetics 8: More Evidence for the Resurrection Because secular historians don’t accept the inspiration of the bible, they don’t trust the Gospels as reliable witnesses about Jesus. Consequently, they’ve come up with various “criteria of authenticity” to sift the sayings and deeds recorded in the Gospels into historical and mythical categories. Last time we saw how Jesus’ resurrection still passes with flying colors when employing such a skeptical approach. This time we’ll discuss another historical consideration under the able guidance of N. T. Wright. He enumerates seven mutations within Judaism that cry out for an explanation. In the end, history seems to have a hole in it about the size and shape of an actual resurrection. The most plausible explanation is that God really did intervene in the middle of history and perform a miracle. If you would like to take this class for credit, please contact the Atlanta Bible College so you can register and do the necessary work for a grade. Notes: Criteria secular historians use to determine authenticity: multiple attestation: the more independent witnesses the better dissimilarity: if something is dissimilar from Jewish historical context and later Christian tradition it is more likely to be historical embarrassment: if something would have been embarrassing it is more likely to be historical (i.e. disciples not getting what Jesus is saying, Peter cutting ear off, aramaisms: sayings that align with Aramaic: “straining out the gnat (galma) and swallowing a camel (gamla)” coherence to Jewish context coherence to early Christian tradition coherence with other authentic material anachronism Two indisputable facts about Jesus (according to Paula Fredriksen) Jesus died by crucifixion attested by Paul, Gospels, Tacitus, Josephus Romans were involved w/ his death None of Jesus’ followers were crucified with Jesus pulls in the opposite direction Jesus as apocalypticist (Ehrman, Fredriksen, Sanders, etc.) Fredriksen, “w/o apocalyptic framework a conviction of resurrection is incoherent” N.T. Wright has articulated seven mutations from the Jewish understanding of resurrection in the early Christian communities which cry out for an explanation. It turns out that the explanation of the missing event which would make sense of these mutations takes the exact shape of a grave-emptying bodily resurrection. His seven mutations are as follows: Though the early Christians came from a variety of backgrounds there was virtually no spectrum of belief about what resurrection meant to the early Christians. In Judaism there were quite a few different views, that of the Pharisees, that of the Sadducees, that of Philo, and so on. However, the Christians leave no room for speculation as to what resurrection means and what it looks like. Resurrection has moved from a peripheral idea to the central focus of the early Christian community. The word “resurrection” appears 43x in NT as opposed to none in the OT. In Judaism it is often rather vague regarding what sort of body the resurrected will possess but in Christianity there is unanimous agreement that the body will be a transformed physical body which will use up the matter of the old body though it will itself also possess new properties. The Christians saw The Resurrection as having been split into (at least) two stages—first Messiah is raised and then the rest at his return. The resurrection means that God’s future (the resurrection is always seen in the OT as an end times event) has arrived early in the person of Jesus. This means that now his followers are i

This election cycle American political discourse has sunk to a new low.  Rather than presenting facts and offering persuasive arguments based on policies, we’ve seen a whole slew of false claims and personal attacks.  The exchanges between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have been so caustic and shameful that when I discovered my ten year-old was watching one of the presidential debates with his mom, I immediately ushered him out of the room, muttering that such language and behavior was inappropriate for him to see.  (He had weaseled his way in to watch it on the excuse that he couldn’t sleep.)  What does it say about the way politics works itself out on national TV that I felt horrified that my son was exposed to such bickering and animosity among those who are vying for the highest and noblest governmental office in the land? I could deal with all of this, but what I can’t handle is the fact that Christians don’t seem to carry themselves any differently than their worldly counterparts.  Social media channels and email boxes overflow with vitriol and exaggeration as each side shouts ever louder, trying to drown out the sound of the other.  In this episode of off script, we offer some suggestions on how to think and behave when engaging in political discourse as Christians.  We begin by discussing an episode of Ira Glass’ This American Life podcast episode “Seriously?” in which he addressed how misinformation and lies dominate political conversations.  Listen to the first 20 minutes to hear the part we discuss.  Also, we engaged with Justin Brierly’s Unbelievable? podcast episode “Should Christians vote for Trump?” where Republican John Zmirak and Democrat Christina Rees discuss what Christians should do.  For Zmirak’s “dead moose” comment, skip to 18 minutes. Intro music: “Protofunk” by Kevin MacLeod.  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.