Thursday 9 June 2016

Is the New Testament Historical?

Some people question the blind acceptance of Christianity - of the New Testament.

The claims mightn't be historical, they say.

The claims may have been made-up to control the masses.

They think they are wiser for questioning it.

And they are right for thinking something ought to be able to be checked out.

But many of these people don't get beyond the question. They remain perpetually in the question-zone. Never get to the point of resolution.

For some, the pendulum swings beyond the question-zone, over to the opposite dogma. They insist that the claims can't be true, even though they haven't proved that it can't be true. Saying something can't be true is itself a dogma which can be questioned and which needs to be resolved, just as much as the dogma that something is true can be questioned and needs to be resolved.

You don't have to stick with something that has been proven wrong - but don't stay in the question-zone! By all means ask the question - but resolve it.

I personally think the only adequate explanation for the existence of the early Christian beliefs and for the rise of the Church, is that Christianity's claims are true both historically and spiritually.

But even if someone else feels the historicity or otherwise of Christianity's claims can't be deduced with physical evidence, is physical evidence the only way of arriving at truth? Some things can't be explained using measurable logic, yet they are true nonetheless.

(Like the existence of matter, and the concept of infinite, for instance. Time, space and matter can't come into existence out of nothing, and can't be infinite, according to Newtonian laws - yet the very 'fact' matter is finite, means that what exists outside of matter [in infinite] must itself be something definable even though we call it a void or a vacuum - because there must be a meeting-point between matter and the end of matter, or between time and the beginning or end of time. It's hard to explain that physically, but spiritually it can instantly be accepted.)

Man is spiritual, and social - not just physical. Hypotheses in the realm of the spiritual and social can be proposed, tested and experienced just as much as hypotheses can in the physical.

The best available physical, historical, spiritual and social evidences can all be weighed together, in order for us to come to our conclusion.

If you are questioning Christianity, do your due diligence to weigh it all up together - but don't stay perpetually in the question zone, or in the cynical zone. Worse, don't forsake one dogma (for a supposed lack of evidence for it) for another dogma (despite just as much lack of proof for that dogma)! Question and by all means test - but come to a conclusion.

All things considered, I know and believe that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life - and no-one comes to the Father but by Him.   

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