• Don't want to see ads? Install an adblocker like uBlock Origin or use a Europe-based privacy-friendly browser like Vivaldi or Mullvad.

Religion Biblical Texts: Explication and Discussion

It's good to see that you are looking into it sabro, and you did bring up a number of points that are important and correct. There was no punctuation in the Koine Greek and Hebrew, as well as other languages in that sphere. That does not mean, however, that context was indistinguishable, or that one could read a sentence just any ole way they wanted. Grammer was very much intact as was syntax. Spelling was very much intact, as was small and capitol letters (except in Hebrew and other Semitic languages). I hope you are not trying to argue that putting those communications into direct quotation marks by those who have published those works, such as the Bible copy that you yourself use, were wrong in their linguistical, editorial decisions to do so based on a sound understanding of what the language and author's intent called for.

It is a very certain thing that these had been written with the intention to be relaying to the audience, what had been said. For that reason, we find the likes of the opening of Luke and the claim of truthfulness in the Gospel according to John's troupe, isn't it? You are correct in saying that the events are usually similar (in # 6 and #7 they are very much so) but the events alone are not quite as emphasized by Christian teachers as the words. And there is always this 'picking and choosing' thing (a preacher focusing on one account without given notice of its possibly not being true to the word, and the overlooking of the original reading--I mean the real reason for anyone to have written anything down in the first place. That only one or two of the writers of the Gospel of John had been a direct witness to most of the scenes contained in the narratives, is also often left out of the formula.

So when I use the term 'historical error' I am using it, I am firstly using it in the operative mode as highlighted in the second paragraph of my very first post on this thread--as a test of 'superintendence without error'--and then in acknowledgement of working premises #2 and 4. The basis is that if we consider none of the dialogs presented to be exact replicas of a true historical event (and saying something is a historial event) but rather just approximates, the conclusion would, I reason, have to be that there was not any single author for that information. If we were to consider one from among the three or four to be historically accurate--truthful--then those that varied would be inaccurate--untruthful. (Again, it is important to keep in mind that each individual document is exactly claiming that 'this happened; that this person said these words) In such a setting, it would be impossible to state which one reflected true history, and which one didn't, as well.

I can understand the point you are getting at; that simply the human inability to recall the exact details of what happened in every case, or just how somebody said something at a particular time, and to whom, is natural, yet that the general outline of events and actions usually agree. It just reasons out to me, that if we were to take this position, we would have to honestly admit at the same time, that we cannot know all the details so we cannot show that those that we do have are real--only the generalzations. This is not what Christiantiy at large has done. Christianity at large abides by the direct quotation understanding--the man preaching says that Jesus said these words, rather than this writer claims that Jesus had said these words, and it might be true in intent of communication, but not true in actual words spoken.

So, when I say that one scene has a count of historical error, I am saying that because somewhere among all the information there is a duality that the flow of time and nature do not allow. Even if we were to just take the claims, it would be so. If one writer's claim is against another's, one of the two claims cannot be true history, simply because that writer is claiming that it was like this, whereas the other is claiming it was like this (as opposed to that where that refers to the earlier writer's claim) There may be a little more reasoning on this, but now...

I would love to hear, in detail, just how it is that you would not exactly call these different claims to know, historically inaccurate.

Pararousia, I must admit, you do come along with some good jokes and funny lines from time to time--I can appreciate the 'dark' in the humour as well.

I put that there for information; there are likely quite a few who do not know what the real man's name was, and so I transliterated it for them. Of course you know what it means to 'transliterate', right? And yeah, English is bad about that, huh? I mean we say 'France' for 'Frans', 'Go' for 'Goxh', 'Florence' for 'Florencia' and 'Jesus' for 'Y/Jeshua (Jeshua). . .terrible, isn't it. I couldn't understand how you got that title though. But anyway, you highlighted a good thing, the English language messes up a lot of original pronouns.
 
Don't know how I managed to live the last 36 years of my Christian life not knowing all these things! :D :D :D :relief:
 
Good for you !! I've met enough that didn't know, to really cause concern--that's because in far too many cases, people don't take the time to check out the history, they only read a copy of the Bible in their mother tongue--being English, for our discussion.

:cool:
 
That's just it, Marsy, an individual DOESN'T have to know the history, the original languages or these other things for the Spirit of God to move their hearts and give them the faith to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ! It's a Gift! Thank God!
 
I agree with the fourth paragraph of post #41 of this thread.

To answer the questions posed in paragraphs 5 and 6 allow me to borrow the jogger analogy. A pair of joggers passes three people. Each notes the time they passed which is different relative to their place along the path. Since the joggers are moving at different rates, the interval between the joggers changes. Since the last observer is also moving, only one jogger ever passes that person. Each observer also has a different focus and perception of reality, and would notice a different set of details and tell the story slightly differently. The resulting three tales would differ in the order of joggers, the time they passed, possibly how many passed, and at what rate they passed. That would not make any of the observers stories historically inaccurate, provided each was reasonably plausible within the frame we are given.
 
Mars Man, I think you have made a good case that there are minor differences (yes, errors) between the accounts. In my mind, that invalidates the doctrine of inerrancy. I came to that conclusion more than 30 years ago.

The biggest error, I believe, is in the doctrine of inerrancy itself. It is not in the Bible. It is a man-made doctrine, which I think was largely developed after academics began criticizing the text a few hundred years ago. Textual criticism was met with an extreme view on inspiration and inerrancy.

I think the real situation is different. God revealed Himself through His prophets and Jesus Christ. These prophets and people who walked with Jesus wrote down what happened. They used sources. The documents were checked and commented on by others who walked with Jesus. The documents determined to be reliable for learning about God were accepted by the early church and placed in the canon -- essentially a list of books that are accepted for reading and studying by the church and viewed to have authority. There are several canons, some with more books and some with fewer. In the shortest and the longest canons, the story of God revealing Himself is sufficiently consistent and sufficiently clear. That story is that God created us and loves us and desires that we choose to serve Him. Jesus Christ came from God to atone for the sins of man and offers us the free gift of salvation through belief in Him.

It is a tragedy, and an unintended consequence of the position of inerrancy, when a person chooses to turn away from faith in God because there are errors in the Bible. I saw the errors in the Bible and I saw that the Bible did not claim to be error-free, and I came to the conclusion that a recognition of these errors need not change one's faith. Faith in the inerrancy of the Bible is not required for faith in God.

When I tell my friends who believe in inerrancy this, they sometimes recoil and say "if we can't believe it is error free how can we trust anything it says?" I answer, "From what else to we require perfection before we give it any credibility?" If something had to be perfect before we would participate in it, we would avoid school, newspapers, government, marriage, and chocolate cake.
 
God uses human language to communicate with us. He knows the limitation of any human language. He knows it is not perfect as He also knows that we humans are not perfect .

I have a thought or two for that reason. I think God wanted the Bible not to be "perfect being". If it is, the Bible will be like God. Imagine a person who worships a book. The Book yet has some "perfection" in terms of teaching us. Such as the law of love. I do not think anyone can deny the purity and truthfulness of it. I think non-Christians can even agree on this truth. "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

In my opinion, I think God calculated this risk already. Remember Jesus said that He would tell things in parables? Why did He choose such a way to teach us? I don't want to lead this issue as it is not suitable for the thread, but as long as He created us with the free will, He could not set a situation where we have no choice. Regardless of seemingly "non-sense" sometimes we find in the Bible, God wants us to "choose" to believe and trust His Word. It is like that sometimes. How can I do that?
Because I know the truth that I don't have the eyes to see the future or know the things beyond what my brain comprehends, but God does see and know all as He is the Almighty.
 
studyonline said:
God uses human language to communicate with us. He knows the limitation of any human language. He knows it is not perfect as He also knows that we humans are not perfect .

But languages have evolved enormously since the antiquity. The total vocabulary of modern languages has increased several-fold compared to ancient ones. There are more nuances (especially in a hybrid language like English), and grammar is also completely different (Anglo-Saxon, Latin, etc. all had declensions and lacked articles, while English, French, Italian, etc. don't). What's more, each language has unique expressions untranslatable in (most) other languages, and different connotations linked to each word, that also changed with time and even place (connotation in British and American English aren't always the same). So are you suggesting that god knew very well about these differences between languages, and that ancient languages were going to evolve in a completely different way, and yet god decided to transmit his message only in Hebrew or Arameic, i.e. languages that were not even widespread or related to other languages, instead of choosing to send in message in different languages, and resend it when languages evolved with time ?

So, was his aim to confuse humanity so that they would eventually disagree so much on the intepretation of the Holy Bible that they would split into hundreds of Christian denominations and fight with each others as they did in the 16th and 17th centuries (or even nowadays) ? So, either god didn't know (in which case he is not omnipotent), or his purpose was to trick humanity and see humans killing each others over linguistics.

Humans may not be perfect, but they have the capacity to evolve and get closer to perfection. I believe that if god has decided to make human start from such a primitive state and watch them struggle to improve, it is also somewhat sadistic. He gave us the capacity to improve, yet did not create us with a level of knowledge or language good enough to avoid major misunderstanding leading to misery over several millenia. It's all good and nice to say that the purpose is justly for humans to improve, but a human life is relatively short (life expectancy 2000 years ago was around 27 years old), and it is societies and languages that evolved (after many centuries), not so much individuals. So go and tell slaves of the antiquity that they should be grateful to god because some of their descendants after 50 generations finally have a relatively comfortable life. They didn't have that chance, because of god's decision. That is discrimination.

Then, why would god give his message so late in human history ? There have been homo sapiens for over 100,000 years, and civilisations and writing for over 5000 years. But Jesus only came to enlighten the poor humans 2000 years ago. Why sacrificing previous generations ? Why also choose to send his message only in Israel (or the Roman Empire), When china was more populous and as developed at the time ? If god was really almighty, why not send several messengers all around the world, so that no humans are left behind in the ignorance of god and his will ? Again, that is discrimination (and on a seriously large scale, if we could the thousands of generations that have never been able to know about god and the bible).

How do you reconcile that with god being loving, omniscient and omnipotent ?
 
The Christian idea of God is only widespread due to the expansion of Europe. Without the French, British, Spanish and Portugese Empires, along with smaller European colonies the spread of religion might be different. What would our world have been like if the Chinese had spread out across the world before Europe? Buddhism would be the main faith. There would have been no 'revelation' from God because the Buddhist faith so different from Christianity (correct me here if you think I'm wrong).
The Christian faith and its God was forced upon the rest of the world by missionaries backed by powerful armies, a little like the Islamic expansion in the 7th and 8th centuries. If this is your Gods way of bringing love and peace to the world then I agree with Maciamo about your God. What makes the faith of the tribes of the Americas less worthy than yours? I found Kim Stanley Robinsons Book "The Years of Rice and Salt" a good alterantive history book. What happens when the world was explored and dominated by the Chinese and Muslims.
 
studyonline said:
I don't want to lead this issue as it is not suitable for the thread, but as long as He created us with the free will, He could not set a situation where we have no choice. Regardless of seemingly "non-sense" sometimes we find in the Bible, God wants us to "choose" to believe and trust His Word. It is like that sometimes.
am i the one who finds this sentence self-contradictory and my logic just fails me? Or...
 
Overcomer said:
A Christian is a person who is in a relationship with God in the person of Jesus Christ through the infilling of the Holy Spirit. I sometimes see atheists referring to themselves as ex-Christians. It's easy to see that they are defining a Christian as someone who attends a church and gives some intellectual credence to what is being said. In other words, they were nominal Christians, not true Christians and they really don't know what it really means to be a Christian.

Put simply, you can sit in a chicken coop, cluck like a chicken and eat chicken feed, but that doesn't make you a chicken. By the same token, you can sit in a church, listen to the sermons and sing the hymns, but that doesn't make you a Christian!

I'm wondering if this doesn't describe you, Mars Man. Can you honestly say you were ever in a relationship with Jesus Christ? If not, you were never a Christian.
I used to be a Christian until I was about 12. Now I'm probably an atheist. I still have a 'relationship' with Jesus. I have one too with Akhenaten, Socrates, and various other historical figures who I have studied and who I admire. My 'relationships' with them tell me that they were men who are long dead, but who live forever because of their legacies.
Overcomer said:
Quite frankly, if a person is in a relationship with Jesus Christ, he can't suddenly say he no longer believes Jesus exists any more than he can be in a relationship with his brother and suddenly say that he doesn't believe his brother exists any more. Do you see what I mean? That's just crazy!.
You're assuming that an atheist would say Jesus didn't exist, which is not necessarily so. Conversely, a person who used to be a Christian can come to believe that Jesus never existed with no contradiction. It is perfectly possible to have a relationship with someone who doesn't exist. Anyone who's ever read a good, character-driven novel will tell you this.
 
It seems to me a Muslim would say a person was never a true Muslim if they departed from the faith for Christianity. Or a Hindu might say the same.

Anectdotal evidence of 'truth' isn't enough in the days of many religions, as a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, and others of other faiths would all give anecdotal faith of just how their faith helped them.

Neither does prophecy help us either, as few would claim to ever know which of the twenty interpretations is correct, or could even know if the prophecies will be fulfilled.

Scriptures are read different ways, and a fundamentalists reading and a liberal Christians reading will be very different. Scriptures themselves need reason to come to a closer understanding of the truth. A fundamentalist who cries God's hatred of gays lacks a certain amount of reason. We must define love then!

So then, reason and philosophy are needed in determining the truth, and the truth we are trying to discover is the truth of love and happiness. After all, why would you want to go to heaven if it were a place of misery!

Christianity must stand up to reason, or it cannot be taken as truth!
 
I would like to agree with the more modern ecumenical smorgasboard type religion thing-- I find it very attractive to want to disregard everything I don't like about my system and my God-- repackage and remarket the Big Kahuna like some second chance rock idol.

But unfortunately Christianity doesn't work that way... or at least it shouldn't. Although it has changed over time, and there is some lattitude of interpretation-- there is a core of orthodoxy that doesn't really change. The bible is not like the US Constitution- you shouldn't amend it whenever you feel like it. Unfortunately you are stuck with what you have. God is who He is. The Bible is what it is. It is sort of an all or nothing dichotomy. Ultimately you have the basic gospel tale of salvation and redemption. As humans living in the modern era you can choose to respond or reject, (but not to adapt.) (And of course this is an Armenianist statement. Calvanists would say you are either predetermined to be elected or not.)

The challenge is not to change the text into what I want it to say, or to change God into who I want Him to be... The challenge is to hold true to what the text says- to let it change ourselves to fit the character of God.
 
Not jet-lag, but busy-lag. . . that' what it is; and when I get back on the forum, POP there's a lot of interesting input added !! It's great !! It's always nice to hear what folks are thinking.

Firstly, to get back with sabro. (hope all's well with you today)
O.k., let me run back through it so as to echo your example through my understanding--for verification. There is some running path, or road, or such, and there are two, and only two runners, running along that same path. Along the way, there are three bystanders or observers. Correct? Now as each of the runners runs by a bystander, that bystander takes a time splice--ie checks the time that is on the 24 hour clock rather than a split from a stop watch on how long it has been since the start of the race. In this type of act, it is of course irrelavent where each of the three bystanders are at, along that path--it is enough to simply say they check the time when each runner passes. (and if the runners are side by side, or one immediately in front of the other, the time would basically be the same, because a stop watch is not being used.)

Now if one of the runners had on a blue shirt, and the other one had on a red shirt, there would probably be no contradiction among reports by the bystanders as to the basic colors. If the runner wearing the blue shirt had been in the lead all the way, and had smiled and flashed a peace sign at each of the bystanders, whereas the other red shirt clad runner had not, then each of the bystanders would have joined in by saying something like, "Yeah, that runner in the blue shirt, who was in the lead, smiled and flashed a peace sign at me too !" when any one of the other bystanders may have mentioned that humorous story. In these type things there would be no need to appeal to the differences in mental make-up and capability.


As it turned out, that third party standing by the path, happened to be moving (in the same direction of the runners--I assume) and so only one runner passed that person. But what about the knowledge of there being another runner? How can there be any noticing of 'rate' without knowing the former information with which to calculate a 'rate'? And, as I had pointed in my answer to Overcomer--who may very possibly have only been a one-time comer, rather than a bonifide Jref member, if you know what I mean--if there had been two bystanders standing side by side, within hearing distance of any runner, and the runner had spoken to them or even just towards one of them, and yet they could not agree on what had been said, one of them, at least, would be incorrect in their understanding of what was said, and to that degree, lacking in knowing what had taken place historically.

But even above all that, we would be required, in that example, as was the case with Overcomer's example, to show which model that mimics in the NT. (and OT too, for that matter) That's were we can come to understand, that in the NT we are largely dealing with pure historical errors. There was a historical event--someone speaking, or doing something--and there were claims to know what (for now, mostly, words spoken) happened, and they cannot all be true, so there is error, and it is historical in nature.

03Cobra, I appreciate your input there, as well as studyonline's too. There is still outstanding error which greatly diminishes the claims of overall biblical historical accuracy, even to the point of the god model contained therein. Well, I would like to apologize for not being able just to point that right out, here, in some many words, because it is just impossible. For that very reason, I mentioned before, that I will refrain from breaking cadence. It will take time and detail to reach the conclusiong which I spent some 10 years in reaching after having caught a glimpse of error, like you, 03Cobra, while I was yet a practicing Christian--one who like yourself, even witnessed to others, trying to get them to come to know Jesus. We cannot do that in even five or six posts, so we should make an effort to suspend conclusion at the moment.

Now one statement you made was in error, however. That the 'documents were checked and commented on by others who walked with Jesus' is incorrect. Another point brought up about being 'determined to be reliable' is logically questionable--since you would have to be talking about those who put the codexes together, and they would only have the knowledge contained in those writings in their brains, and would only have been adhereing to their already present understanding, which is what those writings were. The rest I will leave for now, because it has a lot to do with the above paragraph's point.

Studyonline, I wish you could show on the 'Christianity: Conceptions/Misconceptions' thread--unless it is explaining the text--just how it is that you know that. Just where it is that that information came from, such as alpha wave or through meditation, or whathaveyou.

I enjoyed reading all these posts. There were a number of very good points that I would suggest need to be thought about carefully, to really undestand. I just don't have to time, now, though. . .sorry about that. I guess, only the one about the 'reading'. The only realistic reading is the reading as the original audience would have read it, as the original writer would have wanted them to understand it, at that very point in time. Only having fully attempting this --and largely it is possible--can the validity of what is being communicated be tested against the passage of time and increment of human knowledge. Then, a person can read it any ole way they want to. . .nonsensical as it may be to do so, and interpret and apply it in any ole way they want to, be it untrue, even. To make the falseness of such activity available to public attention, is still behind.

I hope all you are fine and healthy. I've gotta go outside and do more work on the shed. I'll be back on line tomorrow afternoon. See you !! :-)
 
sabro said:
I would like to agree with the more modern ecumenical smorgasboard type religion thing-- I find it very attractive to want to disregard everything I don't like about my system and my God-- repackage and remarket the Big Kahuna like some second chance rock idol.

But unfortunately Christianity doesn't work that way... or at least it shouldn't. Although it has changed over time, and there is some lattitude of interpretation-- there is a core of orthodoxy that doesn't really change. The bible is not like the US Constitution- you shouldn't amend it whenever you feel like it.

Yes, I agree. That's why I always say that if you don't believe that Adam and Eve were the 2 first humans on earth directly created by god, that the world was made in 7 days, etc. you shouldn't call yourself a Christian. Too many Christians 'cut out' of the Bible what they also don't believe in as a convenient way to avoid criticism from non-Christians.
 
One of those shifts and changes... American Evangelicals tend tend to be very literal in their interpretation-- One Adam, one Eve, 7 literal days. It seems to be a story that was written down after a long oral tradition. If you are a deist and believe the story, it is not literally what happened- it is the account given to Moses by God. I'm not perfectly certain that it was meant to be interpreted quite so literally.
 
Good morning sabro and all !! Hope you kind people are having fair weather and smoothness at the work place. I basically am. :-)

sabro, I would still hope to hear from you on just how it is that you would think that those three accounts which had been discussed on #5 & 6 would not contain historical error. In my post #41, paragraph 6, I had actually been talking about those, rather than a sample model of how a seemingly discrimination or contradiction could arise.

In the simplicity of what those writers had been giving, in that historical flow--each document is a report on what the writer understands, for whatever reason, to have happened. (again this includes what a person says, perhaps it cannot be overstated, to speak to create a historical record just as much as riding a colt into town is)


I know that you may be just as busy as I am these days, so am in no rush, and I know that it's something you may want to think about carefully--I'd say that is very important. I just wanted to point out what I had actually asked for, in the event you had missed it. Talk to you later !!
 
Mars Man wrote to me: "Now one statement you made was in error, however. That the 'documents were checked and commented on by others who walked with Jesus' is incorrect. Another point brought up about being 'determined to be reliable' is logically questionable--since you would have to be talking about those who put the codexes together, and they would only have the knowledge contained in those writings in their brains, and would only have been adhereing to their already present understanding, which is what those writings were. The rest I will leave for now, because it has a lot to do with the above paragraph's point."

When I spoke of the 'checked and commented on' it was that the writings of Paul would have been known to the other apostles, and the Gospels and Acts would have been seen by the apostles. The Gospel of John was later, but it was written by one who had walked with Jesus. I was not speaking of those putting the codexes together. I recognize that there are different canons, some include a few more books and some include a few less. This view also recognizes minor differences in detail don't matter, and they can differ, and those differences do not alter the important messages.

From my perspective, a canon is simply a list of books determined by the church to be appropriate for reading and studying to learn about God.

The good news of Jesus Christ is evident from any of the canons.

sabro, I don't think the creation stories were meant to be taken literally. The seem to be figurative to me, and the point they are making is that God is the creator and He cares deeply for people. It is sin that separates God and man, and Jesus is the one that can bridge the gap.
 
Mars Man- in response to #5, 6 & 41. There are slight differences between the stories and the way that they were told. Either the authors had different takes on the same occurances, or the incidents were differnt incidents. The differences could be due to a slightly different perspective, that the details changed over time due to retelling or rewriting. Or the authors simply wanted to emphasize differnt aspects of that event. It seems rather human. Either way the essential "message" and facts of the story remains unchanged and unchallenged. The details plausible and close enough not to rock the foundations of the faith. This type of variation is common in all types of history and the variance is usually not regarded as "historical inaccuracy."

03cobra- I agree with you.
 
Thanks for the fast responses ! I'm sorry that I may be the one who is slow about getting back in good time.

There of course appears to be a gap in the willingness to see history as just that; what has occured, been done, and said in the past--past being that splice of time upon which further splices accumulate. The words I spoke to my students this morning are as much history as the real historical events and dialog I was presenting to them. The students who didn't come to class may be told by other students, and if any one student makes a mistake in telling the non-comer what I said, that student has not replicated history accurately. That is what I have termed a 'historical error'. I trust that much can be understood, and accepted. Now how that relates to the Gospel Narratives is as follows.

*Please take mental note, that, for the sake of this development, we are putting source material like 'Q', 'Logia' and 'Didache' (highly possible source and parallel material, esp. 'Didache' (sp?)) aside.*

In the first paragraph under the sub-heading in #12, I had pointed out that 'scholarship and the religious scholars and commentators do agree that at least in the latter portion of the Gospel accounts, chronological order is maintained.' This is the case in the historical accounts that we have been following. It may tempting to interject that these could possibly be additional events of a similar nature, but really, when we carefully notice the wording (and trust me, the original Greek gives a better picture than most English translations because it doesn't have changed-due-to-the-passage-of-time renderings) we cannot help but see that the intention is to tell a story of what happened on the trip up to Jerusalem that last time. If you were to check out the wordings in those parallel accounts in your own copies of the Bible, even, it should bear out the truth in that understanding. I usually start with Luke's account because he made a conscious effort to claim to be accurate in his information.

In Luke that starts off at verse 31 of chapter 18. If we follow the development of that report, it is clear that it is a one line chronological process. In Matthew it starts off form verse 17 or chapter 20, and with a few added conversations, goes in a straight line just like that of Luke's. Mark's 10:32,33 starts off the same story--it is a one line story like all the others, other than John's. The conclusion is realistically clear that from this opening point onward, each synotptic narrative is dealing with the same, one events, in chronological order, in an attempt to report on what was done and said. From what I have learned from various sources, and through my own efforts, there is no room for arguing that this is not the case. Do I have agreement at this point? If not, I would hope that evidence for not reasoning so would be given. There is more to go over in your #59 post, but this much for now--one step at a time.

03Cobra san, I have found no evidence whatsoever that allows us to conclude that those who had actually walked with Jesus has seen Paul's letters to those various congregations and people--Timothy, Titus, Philemon--or the Gospel Narratives. (Only the document attributed to John, compiled by four or so people in all, can claim to have direct witness involvement. [Muratorian Fragment c.170 C.E.]) With the scholarship that I am familiar with, there is no question on the above conclusion, yet in the event that I have missed something, please do present that--of course it would have to be peer-reviewed to a degree. To think that Apollos, Timothy, Luke, or one Mark (not the Mark who was Peter's interpreter who is said to have penned that Gospel) and possibly Demas could have seen some of the letters, or could have helped in the dictation of them, would be fair enough. The conclusion I have learned is that it is most unlikely that any of the original 11 had known about or had seen any of Paul's writings, or that any writing, including the any Gospel Narrative, had been seen or known of by all of the original 11.

The earliest canons were more of a private collection of what was considered Apostolic in nature, or beneficial for public reading, by certain church fathers. It is only natural that those who already knew that material that they were talking about, formed those canons. None of those, of which copies I have seen, take the information contained in those documents to point, but only the works which are accepted in which quarters, and a little information about them. The canon catologes are not studies of the materials. Therefore it would only be logical to say that those who adopted the canons, had no choice but to operate from their perspective of having already accepted certain concepts presented by those same instruments, when chosing the canon. Can you see what I mean? The point of canon collection was to grant authority after the early people had died off, it was to create a body of text from which teaching could continue, without studying the content to verify historicity therein. Most likely there were no codexes until late 2nd century, and yet the preaching had already been around for some 100 years, in one form or another. It was not like they had found the writings cold--if you know what I mean--had read them, and studied them, and then had made a decision through reasoning on that information as to whether the god-model contained in them was realistic.

Maciamo san ! What you had added to the discussion in #55 was right on the money !! That is the truthfulness that I am trying to bang out on this anvil here; what the writer of any sentence most obviously intends in that sentence, is as much a locked-in-time, and thus unchangable event as sitting down and writing that sentence in the first place. When Luke said that Jesus had said, "These things that you (plural* NOTICE, plural second person [for those who may not have caught that yet]) are beholding. . ." the most obvious intent in his mind was to tell his audience, one Theophilus [*NOTICE this was basically a private letter to that guy], that that was what Jesus had said. [Mark has it in singular second person]
 
Back
Top