April 4, 2010- Easter Sunday...He lives!!

A shorter class due to Easter services, we veered away from Case for Christ to talk about other world religions.

There are five major world religions that account for 80% of the world population.

The 3 Abrahamic religions:

• Christianity
• Judaism
• Islam

Plus:

• Hinduism
• Buddhism

Many times, any sect that includes a 'Jesus element' is included under Christianity (i.e. Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Gnosticism). Although Jesus is an element of Islam (as a prophet, not the Savior), it is counted separated.

An excellent quick-reference chart can be found here.

Breakdown of major religions by percent of population:

Next Week: Chapter 5 Case for Christ

March 28, 2010- Chapter 4 finished

Quick review of Josephus and his importance in corroborating the events of the Gospels.


Chapter 4 Continued

Other writings from the time also corroborate some of the events in the Gospels. Written from a strictly secular point of view and as historical documentation, the writings naturally paint of different point of view from those closest to and following Jesus, but they do in fact reinforce certain events of the time surrounding Christ.

• Tacitus- First century Roman historian

Mentions Christ in Annals

• Pliny the Younger- Governor of Bithynia

Tortured/killed Christians to get them to renounce their faith

Highly concerned about his legacy, so he was thorough about documentation

• Thallus- Reference to darkness at the time of the crucifixion

The Role of Ignatius

• Ignatius was the third Bishop of Antioch, the first Gentile Christian community (Peter was the first Bishop)
• Antioch is the principle city of Syria and third largest in Roman Empire
• Condemned to die in the Roman Colosseum, he writes 7 letters on the road to Rome
• Was alleged to be a student of John the Apostle
• Known to have taught the deity of Christ
• Died for his beliefs by being feed to lions as a spectacle in the Colosseum (108A.D.)
• His letters are pivotal in the development of the Catholic theology

March 21, 2010- Chapter 4 Corroborating Evidence

Before class started, Derek presented an opportunity for the class to participate in the GO10 Walk for the World event to raise money for international missions. The Go10 Walk will cover 2,500 miles and come through Hawkins County on the trek in June. He challenged our class to form two 4-person teams to each take a 10-mile segment of the walk. For more information, see the website at this link: http://www.go10walk.com/

Chapter 4- Corroborating Evidence

Strobel begins his third interview by talking with Dr. Edwin Yamauchi, a professor at Miami University in Ohio.

• What is corroborating evidence? Example of the movie Vantage Point was used.
• Strobel recalls the story of Chicago hitman Aleman convicted by corroborating witnesses.
• Corroborate defined

Importance of Josephus

• Noted for writing The Antiquities of the Jews (93 A.D.)
• Jewish historian turned Roman historian after Rome conquered
• Mentions death of James in his writings
• Jesus names in Testimonium Flavianum
• Some scholars believe certain parts of the Testimonium were interpolations

Next week: Chapter 4 continued

March 14, 2010- Chapter 3 finished

The most often used challenge by nonbelievers to the validity of Christianity is the reliability of the Bible. Nonbelievers will hastily point out that the Bible is written by men who by the very Scriptures are deemed fallible. Often, they also point out numerous books of importance were left out of the canon.

Taking an apologetic point of view, Christians would be unable to counterpoint with our belief in the fact God's hand was guiding the writings and canonizing of today's Bible. A more objective point of reference could be used for someone to understand the rigorous standards undertaken during the canonical process.

Chapter 3- Canon Criteria

• Dr. Metzger points out three criteria were used to determine what books were authoritative by the early church:
• Apostolic Authority- the book must have been written by an apostle or by someone closely associated with an apostle. For the Gospels, Matthew and John were disciples, Mark was close to Peter, and Luke was with Paul.
• Conformity to the Rule of Faith-was the book congruent with basis Christian tradition that the church consider normative
• Continuous Acceptance- did the book of continuous acceptance by the church in large
• Good reference site for more detailed information: On the Formation of the New Testament Canon

The Problem with Gnostic Gospels

• Gnostic belief recognizes a Supreme Being but believe He is imperfect. Movement started before Christ's birth.
• Most Gnostic Gospels (teachings on Jesus) weren't written until after the 2nd Century or much later.
• Popularized in last decade by Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code and popular movies based on the series along with Stigmata (1999).
• Gospel of Thomas is probably most disputed for being left out of the canon, but the authorship has long been in question, and the text were lost for hundreds of years before resurfacing in 1898. There are a number of controversial versus including a reference that Jesus stated Mary would be converted to a man in order to gain heaven, a concept completely rejected by the early church.

Additional Information

Steevie ask a questions about what Mormons actually believe. I found a good website that lays it out pretty straight forward. Click Here

Next week- Chapter 4 The Corroborating Evidence

March 7, 2010- Chapter 3

After a week off and missing a post for February 21, we'll get back into a more regular routine as we continue on through Lee Strobel's book.

Quick Review

• Remember we are concentrating on the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
• As we continue an Apologist approach to our study and talk less on the faith aspect of Christianity, don't lose focus on how important faith is for a Christian (I keep reminding you this for a reason).

Chapter 3- Interview with Dr. Bruce Metzger

• I encourage each of you to check out the Wiki bio for Dr. Metzger. He is considered a very authoritative source on the New Testament on the canonization of the Bible.
• The question is posed that if no original copies of the Gospels still exist, have the original text been derogated from being copied numerous times?
• Dr. Metzger argues that the multiplicity of available manuscripts, some dating as far back as the 3rd Century, greatly deters the potential for derogation of the original text over time. The Gospels have been copied from an archive of over 5,000 Greek manuscripts and close to 20,000 manuscripts translated into other languages.
• The version of the New Testament that became canon and we use today has been reconciled from these numerous sources virtually eliminating any margin for error in the context of the writings.
• If a single source were used to copy, the chance of error would be greatly increased, but the size of the archives pertaining to sequential copies of the Bible being translated make scholars confident in the Books historical accuracy.

Other works from the period

• Annals of Imperial Rome by Tacitus (entry Tacitus on Christ) carried from a single manuscript
• The Jewish War by Josephus from 9 Greek manuscripts
• The Iliad by Homer from 650 Greek manuscripts (think the movie Troy for you anti-literary types....tsk, tsk)
• The Bible is by far the most prolific ancient writing known today

Next week we will finish Chapter 3 and focus on the canonization process of the Bible.