Again, these are my words in context.
I think I am trying to get across to you the exact same concept but you aren’t listening to a word I am saying or your eyes are just bad (very bad). By no means does this one scholar’s book or opinion diminish the truthfulness and expertise of the next biblical scholar who might disagree with some of his findings. I said it from the very beginning, ....Christian scholars have varying perceptions that often times conflict with each other.... I never said nothing was trustworthy. I just said based upon my research it all depends on the source/information you choose to trust on an individual basis. You are free to pick and choose whose opinion you value over another.
You must be a very short man bc everything I am saying continues to fly straight over your head. I am saying we all – whether scholars or laymen, whether Christian or secular, whether black or white, etc – are just offering an opinion on this philosophical issue (even Dr. Habermas) bc based on my personal research so many (too many, in fact) experts agree that a lot of the physical evidence is inconclusive. Again, you are free to do with my opinion what you wish. How can I stop you? Why would I care? At the moment, your rationality and your arguments have shaped up to be one of the weakest I’ve ever come across in a long time.
Absolute about what? Being ignorant? They are more absolute in their lack of understanding for sure. Such as: if we have constant dependence on Him and His leadings and not the scholastic arguments of our own brains (check quote in sig), He will continue to guide us. And you are doing nothing but preaching heresy bc my protestant KJV/NIV Bible says so. And none of the books of the Bible were edited whatsoever...even though the Catholic bible proves the exact opposite. Biblical scholars, on the other hand, are far more absolute in their understanding overall – period. Therefore, I would rather glean wisdom from them over anything or anyone else.
I am in seminary. I am learning all of these things from a conservative Christian college and a conservative Christian textbook which I posted images of in a previous thread. Biblical scholars don’t react irrationally or fly off at the handle anytime you go to speak. Wonder why? Maybe it is bc they actually put the time in to do the research first before they speak. And the bible says, "12Words from the mouth of a wise man are gracious, while the lips of a fool consume him; 13the beginning of his talking is folly and the end of it is wicked madness. (Ecclesiastes 10:12) I think scholars are the ones to be commended (after all, they are considered the authority figure in this field) and not the other way around. In the words of Shakespeare, “thou protest too much” and it reveals nothing more than inferior intellect, whereas there is an air of civility and mutual respect amongst biblical scholars. There's no accusatory inquisition or empty threats of expulsion simply bc one expresses a difference in opinion.
Which one is it? Was there a set of standards to determine which books belonged in the canon or was it purely discovered? These statements make no sense. They are contradictory. Regardless, all of google would disagree with the former. How was the canon formed (aka determined)?
I knew this is what you were saying but I may have worded it wrong and I didn’t feel like causing further confusion by going back and forth so I asked you to elaborate on it. This is stuff I will eventually get to in seminary but so many questions come to mind after reading that article. First, this entire discussion has been on the entire bible, not just the New Testament. Secondly, don’t you think there’s one huge misstep in the Aunt Sally example that this author didn’t take into account? Here is the critical question: Do you think Aunt Sally can accurately reconstruct her original recipe? Of course she could. The person who originally wrote the recipe is alive and cogent and can probably recall most of it from memory without needing to look at another copy. We don’t have that luxury when it comes to century-old manuscripts. Thirdly, I personally have never questioned the deity or existence of Jesus Christ during this discussion or in RL. Fourth, from what I googled, there are just as many skeptics of text reliability as with everything else I’ve mentioned earlier.
Lastly, how does this preclude personal interpretation on an individual/philosophical level? Short answer: it doesn’t. People will continue to pick and choose exactly what they want to believe. Again, that’s another point I’ve been making this entire time. Here’s Islam’s stance on NT Textual Criticism and you agreed that everyone has a right to their own opinion. That link states: Throughout the book Parker argues that texts changed (and perhaps were even penned originally by the evangelists in such a way as to deviate from the oral tradition) in order to accommodate new situations by church communities. Even the link you provided constantly reiterated the fact that there were well over hundreds of thousands of fragmented bits of text which were discovered over centuries of time which scholars used to piece the bible together, again, over centuries of time.
This article goes onto state : Textual reliability and number of manuscripts does not mean that the Bible is reliable historically. No one is arguing that textual reliability = historical reliability. But as noted at the beginning, one cannot suggest that the history recorded by a text is accurate unless the text itself is accurately recorded.
Food for thought, if this method is so reliable how come within the Christian community alone, we can’t even pin down Christ’s birthday? But many scholars believe that the reference to 25 December is a late correction of the date actually stated by the author (31). The author's date may be preserved in a single manuscript which curiously contradicts itself by giving two dates: both 25 December and 2 April (32). For two reasons, it is likely that 2 April is the original reading.
Long story short, since we are all thousands of years removed from the actual events themselves, no one can say for sure what actually did or did not take place. I’ve been saying that from the very beginning. All and all this was a good talk. However, after this post, I will be out of pocket for the next few days bc I have tests to study for and papers to write for school. Hope everyone enjoys their holiday. God bless.
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