Question of the Week 9 - Wasn't much of the "historical evidence" for Christianity simply manufactured by Christians? (04/03/2003)
(http://www.pfm.org/Content/ContentGroups/BreakPoint/Columns/ Worldview_for_Parents/200311/Question_of_the_Week9.htm)

The BreakPoint answer is: Because some of the places mentioned in the Bible might have been found by archeologists such evidence was not manufactured by Christians.

The problem of course is not so much the places but the people and their stories. The course of events described in the Old Testament are marked by direct intervention in the lives of the Jews. Floods devastate the earth. A flood protects the fleeing Jews from Egypt. Cities are destroyed by God’s will. As these myths are compared to myths among contemporary cultures, a different meaning can be assigned to the events. If similar events are marked by other cultures then those events were natural events, not events driven by God to affect the Jews.

The New Testament is embroiled in controversy, whether Jesus was really born to be King of the Jews. If he had that distinguished stature then his teachings to the Jews would have been in that context, much more noble than that of a carpenter’s son. Also recent discoveries involving a Gospel by Mary Magdalen indicate that Jesus might have been married, perhaps even having children. Television documentaries such as on CNN in December 2004 describe how this Mary was the closest disciple of Jesus.

The early Church leaders sought to diminish the stature of Mary Magdalen. There must have been reasons for this attempt to change the Biblical record. If Jesus were really the King of the Jews and he had this Mary as his wife then his life must be interpreted in that new context. Even if there are archeological finds that may or may not relate to places mentioned in the New Testament, they do not validate the interpretations of the mythical stories involved with those places.

Other BreakPoint commentaries on similar subjects:

Question of the Week 3 - Isn't the Bible like other ancient books, filled with myth and superstition?

Question of the Week 18 - What proves Jesus is God?

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created - Dec. 2004
last change - 12/30/2004