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Series Code: AU
Program Code: AU000092S
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00:01 - Have you ever wished that you really had a good chance
00:03 to develop your understanding of the Bible a little more? 00:06 Today, we're gonna start a special series 00:09 that we hope will be designed 00:10 to help you do, well, exactly that. 00:12 So if you've got a Bible somewhere in your house, 00:14 you might want to go and get it 00:16 because, well, it's just about time 00:18 to kick off today's all important episode of "Authentic." 00:22 [bright music] 00:42 You've probably noticed that the real star of the show 00:44 is not a person, but a book. 00:46 And if you've been following along, you've noticed 00:48 that what I usually do before the show is over 00:51 is to challenge you to go and read this book. 00:53 And by that I don't mean read books about the Bible, 00:56 but actually sit down and read the Bible itself. 01:00 Because sadly in the 21st century, 01:01 we have a lot of people who think they know 01:04 what the Bible says, but when you ask them a few questions, 01:07 you find out they've never actually read it. 01:10 And to that end, I was thinking that maybe sometimes 01:13 this show could actually become a little bit 01:14 of a Bible course, because after all the people 01:17 who produced this show, 01:20 the good folks at the Voice of Prophecy also happened 01:23 to run the world's biggest 01:24 and oldest correspondence Bible school. 01:26 And if that's news to you, you should probably know 01:29 that our Discover Bible School is mostly free, 01:33 at least for you. 01:34 Now, it's not actually free because we invest millions 01:37 to make sure it remains one of the best Bible courses 01:40 in the world. 01:42 We believe so strongly in the value of this book 01:45 that we don't want people to actually have to pay 01:47 to just learn about it. 01:49 So for well over 80 years, 01:51 our Bible School has been made possible thanks 01:53 to the generous help of donors. 01:56 So if you've never looked at our Bible school, 01:59 you might want to head on over to biblestudies.com 02:01 and have a gander at what we've got. 02:04 Honestly, I think it'll blow your mind 02:06 because it will give you all the tools you need 02:08 to really understand the Bible for yourself. 02:11 And if English isn't your first or strongest language, 02:14 I think you'll be pleasantly surprised to find out 02:17 that we've got material in dozens of languages. 02:20 And when I say it's free, I actually mean that. 02:24 But if you've already been studying your Bible for years, 02:28 or you've taken advantage of our courses already, 02:30 maybe consider paying it forward and help me 02:33 to keep it going for everybody else. 02:35 And how could you do that? 02:37 Well, if you've been enjoying this program, 02:39 or even using some of our Bible materials, 02:41 maybe do me a huge favor and go to voiceofprophecy.com 02:45 and just click on the bright orange button 02:48 that says donate up near the top of the page. 02:51 And that would help us continue providing this stuff 02:53 to the whole planet. 02:55 As a bonus, when you get there, 02:57 you can watch all of the "Authentic" episodes 02:59 in one convenient place, and I mean all of them. 03:02 And if you are so inclined to help, let me say thank you 03:05 because well, we don't have anybody underwriting 03:08 this ministry and we've been operating by faith since 1929. 03:12 We've been going now for nearly 100 years thanks to the help 03:16 of generous donors. 03:18 But enough about that because now it's time 03:20 to start our study. 03:22 And today I wanna start examining the Bible itself, 03:25 who wrote it, why they wrote it, what it is, 03:28 where it comes from, and why you can trust it, 03:31 and then a whole lot more. 03:33 And of course that's not gonna happen in 30 minutes 03:35 because it's way too big of a topic. 03:38 But maybe let's start in the ancient world 03:40 of the Mesopotamians where the opening chapters 03:43 of Genesis take place. 03:45 The word Mesopotamia is a Greek term, 03:47 and it just means between the rivers, 03:49 and it's a reference to the Tigris and Euphrates, 03:53 which are two of the four rivers you find 03:54 in the second chapter of Genesis. 03:57 Now in reality, the area we now call Mesopotamia, 04:00 is it bigger than that patch of ground between 04:03 the two rivers. 04:04 And it kind of reaches from Turkey up in the northwest 04:07 all the way down to the Persian Gulf in the Southeast. 04:10 And it's widely recognized as the birthplace 04:13 of human civilization. 04:15 Way back when in nearly prehistoric times, 04:17 the region was populated by people we call the Sumerians. 04:22 And the Sumerians were not so much a distinct race of people 04:25 as they were a group of people 04:26 who were joined together by a common language, 04:29 which of course would be the Sumerian language. 04:32 That's the language we find on a lot 04:34 of the ancient clay tablets that we find in the ground. 04:38 Now, if you take a peek at Genesis chapter 10, 04:41 you'll find a passage 04:42 that some people call the table of nations. 04:45 And that's because it describes the places 04:47 the descendants of Noah decided to settle. 04:49 And at one point, Noah's great grandson, 04:52 a man the Bible calls Nimrod established a number 04:56 of really important population centers. 04:59 Here's what it says in Genesis 10:10, 05:01 "The beginning of his kingdom was Babel," 05:04 and of course that would be the location 05:06 of the Tower of Babel and the city 05:08 that eventually becomes Babylon the Great. 05:11 It continues, Erech, Accad, and Calneh 05:15 in the land of Shinar." 05:17 Now that word Shinar is probably a cognate for Sumer 05:21 as in the land of the Sumerians. 05:24 Verse 11, "From that land, he went into Assyria 05:27 and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah 05:30 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah, 05:33 that is the great city." 05:37 These were really resourceful and inventive people. 05:40 And you'll notice that some of the cities mentioned here 05:43 are still on the map today. 05:46 Babylon, of course is pretty much just a pile 05:48 of ruins not too far from the modern city of Baghdad. 05:51 And Nineveh of course, is famous because that's where Jonah, 05:55 the reluctant prophet was supposed to go and preach. 05:59 And the ruins of Nineveh are right by modern day Mosul 06:02 in Iraq. 06:03 Then we have the city of Akkad 06:05 which was home to a Semitic tribe known as the Acadians. 06:08 And today we're not exactly sure where that was, 06:11 but it's still a really important place 06:13 because once the Semitic tribe started to dominate 06:17 the region, the Acadian language took off like wildfire. 06:21 And because it was a Semitic language, 06:24 that means it's closely related to Hebrew. 06:27 Actually, later on in the same passage, 06:29 you'll meet a guy named Eber who was the father 06:31 of the Hebrew people, which is the Semitic tribe 06:34 that most of us recognize. 06:36 The reason we call these people Semitic 06:39 is because they're the descendants of Noah's son, Shem. 06:42 So they're actually Shemites, today we just say Semites. 06:47 The Semites would include the Assyrians, 06:49 the later Babylonians, the Canaanites, the Assyrians, 06:52 the Elamites, the Venetians, and of course the Hebrews. 06:56 Today we use the word anti-Semite 06:59 to describe people who don't like Jews, but in fact, 07:02 the Semites are a much broader collection of tribes. 07:06 In fact, when some people say that some of the Arabs 07:08 in the Middle East are anti-Semitic, 07:10 well that's a bit ironic 07:12 because the Arabs are actually also Semitic. 07:16 Another city mentioned in Genesis 10 is Erech, 07:18 which is the ancient city of Uruk. 07:21 And according to the clay tablets we discovered in the ruins 07:24 of Nineveh back in the middle of the 19th century, 07:27 Uruk was once governed by a brutal dictator named Gilgamesh. 07:32 You've probably heard of the Gilgamesh tablets. 07:36 Now, some people believe 07:38 that Gilgamesh was actually the biblical Nimrod, 07:40 and the reason the Bible calls him Nimrod 07:43 instead of Gilgamesh is because the Israelites 07:46 didn't want mention his name out loud. 07:47 They wanted to not give him any airtime 07:49 because he was so evil. 07:52 The word Nimrod just means rebel, 07:54 and it's kind of like the great dictator, 07:57 that old Charlie Chaplin film about Hitler. 08:00 At the time, there was no need to mention Hitler's name 08:02 because everybody knew what Charlie Chaplin 08:05 was talking about. 08:06 Or maybe it's more like what happens 08:08 at the Feast of Purim when they're reading the book 08:10 of Esther in a synagogue. 08:12 Every time Haman's name is mentioned, 08:14 the kids will make a whole bunch of noise 08:16 to drown that name out because Haman was the arch enemy 08:20 of God's people. 08:21 Now, it's not entirely certain that Gilgamesh was Nimrod, 08:25 but in my opinion, one scholar at the University of Chicago 08:28 built a very convincing case, 08:31 and I'm personally convinced this is true, 08:34 and maybe we'll tackle that on another day 08:36 because right now I really just want to draw your attention 08:38 to the city of Erech or Uruk 08:41 because a lot of scholars are convinced 08:43 that Uruk was the place where writing was invented. 08:47 And of course, if you're gonna study 08:48 the origins of the Bible, that would mean 08:50 that we can partially thank the people of ancient Uruk 08:54 for the Bibles that we still have today. 08:56 And I know it's very strange to think about a world 09:00 that has no writing because we're so used to it. 09:04 We can't imagine being completely illiterate. 09:07 I mean, just think about all the things 09:08 that would suddenly disappear 09:09 if we didn't have the ability to read and write. 09:13 But once upon a time, that was absolutely the case. 09:15 Nobody did any writing of any kind. 09:18 We were an entirely oral civilization, 09:21 and we preserved the really important information 09:24 by memorizing stories and passing them down 09:26 to the next generation. 09:28 And now I've gotta take a really quick break, 09:31 so that the good folks at the Voice of Prophecy can tell you 09:34 about this, I'll be right back. 09:40 - [Narrator] Dragons, beasts, cryptic statues, 09:44 Bible prophecy can be incredibly vivid and confusing. 09:49 If you've ever read Daniel or Revelation 09:51 and come away scratching your head, you are not alone. 09:54 our free Focus on Prophecy guides are designed 09:57 to help you unlock the mysteries of the Bible, 09:59 and deepen your understanding of God's plan 10:02 for you and our world. 10:03 Study online or request them by mail, 10:06 and start bringing prophecy into focus today. 10:10 - A lot of people think of the Bible as a Jewish document, 10:13 which makes some sense because Jesus was Jewish, 10:15 which means He was a member of the tribe of Judah. 10:19 So instinctively we mentally tie the Bible 10:21 to the land of Canaan or the land of Palestine 10:24 as the Romans called it, after the emperor Hadrian evicted 10:28 all the Jews from Jerusalem 10:30 about a hundred years after Christ. 10:33 The region was renamed Palestine in honor 10:35 of the Philistines who lived there before the children 10:38 of Abraham came up from Egypt. 10:41 But of course, the story of the Bible deals 10:42 with a lot more than just the land of Israel, 10:45 we've already seen that the story begins in Mesopotamia. 10:48 In fact, the first 11 chapters of Genesis 10:51 are pretty much all in Mesopotamia. 10:53 Then in Genesis 12, we need Abraham who lives in the city 10:57 of Ur and Caldea and travels west 10:59 to live in the land of promise. 11:01 Shortly after that, the story takes us down 11:03 to the land of Egypt where the children of Jacob lived 11:06 for a while because of a famine. 11:08 Several generations went by and they became slaves. 11:12 So in the Book of Exodus, God delivers them from slavery, 11:15 and returns them to the land of Canaan. 11:18 Much later on, the story returns to Mesopotamia 11:21 because about 600 years before Christ, 11:24 the Babylonians sacked the city of Jerusalem, 11:27 and took a lot of the Jews as captives back to Babylon. 11:30 So in a way, the descendants of Abraham were being returned 11:33 to their ancestral birthplace, back to the region of Caldea. 11:37 And then after 70 years of captivity, 11:40 a Persian general named Cyrus conquered Babylon, 11:43 and the Jews returned home to build the second temple. 11:46 So that means that the Persians get added to the story, 11:49 and after a while, the Greeks, 11:51 or the Macedonians make an appearance as well 11:53 and then the Romans. 11:55 Then in the Christian period in the New Testament, 11:57 the missionary journeys of Paul take 'em up to Turkey, 12:00 and Greece and Rome and probably even further west to Spain. 12:05 So now the story of this book 12:06 is spread across the Middle East, Africa and Europe. 12:11 Of course, over time it spread a lot further than that 12:14 because today nearly half the planet, 12:16 or a little more than half can trace 12:17 their religious beliefs back to Abraham. 12:20 That would include the Jews, 12:21 the Muslims, and my tribe, the Christians. 12:24 Today there are roughly 16 million observant Jews 12:27 on the planet, about 1.8 billion Muslims, 12:29 and 2.3 billion Christians, 12:32 a grand total of more than 4 billion people, 12:34 about half the planet. 12:36 But that's today and the canon of scripture, 12:39 the books that are accepted as having divine authority, 12:42 well, that was formed nearly 2000 years ago. 12:45 So at the time the story was anchored in the Middle East, 12:48 the northern part of Africa and the southern part of Europe. 12:51 And of course, today the whole planet practically knows 12:54 about this book. 12:56 Whether or not they believe that this is the word of God, 12:59 that's another story. 13:00 In the interest of full disclosure, though, 13:02 I happen to be a Christian who does think that the Bible 13:04 is divinely inspired and who knows. 13:07 If I managed to convince you to read it, 13:09 you might just be joining me in that opinion. 13:13 So where exactly did we get the Bible? 13:16 Well, I think I wanna start with where it didn't come from 13:18 because in the age of the internet, 13:20 there's an awful lot of, well modern mythology 13:23 about the scriptures. 13:24 And sadly, I've noticed that a lot of people seem to think 13:26 that the internet is this awesome source 13:28 of reliable religious information. 13:30 And I assure you it's not, 13:33 like, for example, the nonsense that came out 13:37 of Dan Brown's famous book, "The Da Vinci Code." 13:40 I think a lot of people failed to notice 13:42 that this book was sold in the fiction section 13:45 because that's what it is. 13:46 It's absolute fiction and not even historical fiction, 13:49 because while there's not any real history here, 13:53 in fact even secular historians have been quick to say 13:55 that Dan Brown's so-called history is really pretty bad. 13:59 And that would include what it says 14:01 about the origins of the Bible. 14:03 According to "The Da Vinci Code," 14:05 the canon of the New Testament was decided 14:07 that the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. 14:11 Now the word canon comes from a Greek word 14:13 that described a ruler or a yardstick. 14:16 It was used to measure things. 14:18 And so Christians adopted that word to describe 14:20 the authority of scripture. 14:22 The Bible they said, is the rule of faith. 14:25 This book is how you measure 14:28 whether or not your belief system actually squares 14:30 with the teachings of Christ. 14:32 When we say the Bible is a cannon, 14:34 we're saying it's the ultimate authority, 14:36 the final court of arbitration, 14:37 because it's been infused with divine authority. 14:41 Christians believe that God Himself was the source 14:45 of this book, but Mr. Brown would like you 14:48 to believe something else. 14:50 And in "The Da Vinci Code," he suggests 14:51 that when the bishops met in the city of Nicea near 14:54 the beginning of the fourth century, 14:56 they had more than 80 books that claim to be gospels. 15:00 Out of those 80 some books the story goes, 15:02 they settled on four, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 15:06 And the reason they settled on those books according 15:08 to Dan Brown's silly fiction is because they just invented 15:13 the concept of the deity of Christ. 15:15 And they picked those four gospels 15:17 because they supported this so-called brand new idea 15:20 that Jesus was God in human flesh. 15:24 And sadly, a lot of people now seem to think 15:26 that's what actually happened. 15:28 It's not, in fact it's nonsense. 15:30 First of all, there were no AD gospels 15:32 and the church had already settled on the four 15:34 we now have a long time before the Council of Nicea. 15:39 Secondly, the deity of Christ was not invented 15:41 in the fourth century as anyone who takes the time 15:44 to actually read the New Testament can see. 15:47 Paul's letters were already in circulation 15:49 between the 40's and the 60's AD, 15:52 and the entire New Testament was in place 15:55 by the end of the first century. 15:56 So we're talking something like 200 to 250 years 15:59 before the Council of Nicea. 16:02 And there's no question 16:03 that those New Testament books firmly underline 16:06 the divinity of Christ. 16:08 Like for example, this famous passage from Paul's letter 16:11 to the Colossians, I mean, just listen to this. 16:14 "He is the image of the invisible God, 16:17 the firstborn of all creation." 16:20 Now, that word firstborn has confused some people 16:23 because they assume it means that Jesus was created 16:26 at some point in the very distant past. 16:29 But the Greek word here is prototokos, 16:31 and it means first in the sense of priority, 16:34 not necessarily chronology. 16:37 You could think about it like this. 16:39 Mary Todd Lincoln was the first lady, 16:42 not because she's the first woman who ever existed, 16:45 but because she was considered the first among women. 16:48 And just in case there's any doubt, Paul continues 16:50 to tell us that Christ was not created, 16:53 but actually created everything. 16:54 Here's what it says. 16:56 "For by Him, all things were created in heaven and on earth, 16:59 visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, 17:02 or rulers or authorities, all things were created 17:05 through Him and for Him. 17:06 And He is before all things." 17:09 Now, that's the sense in which He's first, 17:11 "And in Him all things hold together. 17:14 And He's the head of the body, the church, 17:16 He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, 17:18 that in everything He might be preeminent. 17:21 Now, the reason it says He's the first born from the dead 17:24 is because His resurrection as a human being guarantees 17:28 the future resurrection of all the faithful. 17:30 And you can find that described in detail 17:32 in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, but let's continue. 17:35 "For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell 17:39 and through Him, to reconcile to Himself all things, 17:42 whether on earth or in heaven, 17:43 making peace by the blood of His cross. 17:46 Now, if that wasn't clear enough, 17:48 how about this passage from Philippians chapter two 17:51 where it says, "Therefore God has highly exalted Him 17:54 and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, 17:57 so that at the name of Jesus, 17:58 every knee should bow in heaven and on Earth 18:01 and under the earth, 18:02 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord 18:05 to the glory of God the Father." 18:07 Now, at first blush, that might not look like ironclad proof 18:11 of Christ's divinity, but what many people don't realize 18:14 is that Paul is quoting from Isaiah 45 where God says, 18:18 and it's clearly God speaking, 18:20 there is no other possibility in that passage. 18:22 God says, "To me every knee shall bow, 18:26 every tongue shall swear allegiance." 18:28 Alright, time for another really quick break, 18:31 I'll be right back after this. 18:36 - [Narrator] Life can throw a lot at us. 18:39 Sometimes we don't have all the answers, 18:42 but that's where the Bible comes in. 18:45 It's our guide to a more fulfilling life. 18:48 Here at The Voice of Prophecy, 18:49 we've created the Discover Bible guides 18:51 to be your guide to the Bible. 18:53 They're designed to be simple, easy to use, 18:55 and provide answers to many of life's toughest questions, 18:59 and they're absolutely free. 19:01 So jump online now or give us a call 19:03 and start your journey of discovery. 19:07 - All right, we've debunked that idea that the deity 19:08 of Christ was invented at the Council of Nicea, 19:11 but what we're really looking at today 19:13 is the origin of the New Testament Canam. 19:16 Dan Brown and a handful of other wishful thinkers 19:19 have suggested that the books of the New Testament 19:21 were chosen in order to bolster this supposedly new idea 19:25 that Jesus was God in human flesh. 19:27 Before the break, I told you 19:29 that "The Da Vinci Code" insists there were more than 80 19:31 gospels in circulation at the time, 19:33 and the bishops of Nicea chose the four 19:36 that we currently have, 19:37 and then willfully suppressed all the others. 19:40 Here's what Dan Brown's ridiculous book actually says, 19:43 beginning on page 251, "Teabing paused to sip his tea, 19:47 and then place the cup back on the mantle. 19:50 More than 80 gospels were considered for the New Testament, 19:53 and yet only a relative few were chosen for inclusion 19:56 Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John among them. 19:59 Who chose which gospels to include.? Sophie asked. 20:02 Aha teabing being burst in with enthusiasm. 20:05 The fundamental irony of Christianity, 20:08 the Bible as we know it today was collated 20:10 by the Pagan Roman emperor, Constantine, 20:13 the great, well, that might make 20:15 for an exciting novel, but it's horrible history. 20:18 And of course the implication 20:20 is that you can't trust the Bible, 20:22 that the Bible some kind of human or political document. 20:25 If Mr. Brown is right and he's not, 20:28 but if he was right, that would mean that your Bible 20:30 is nothing more than a human invention, 20:32 created for political purposes 20:35 to help the emperor expand his power. 20:38 But that's a bald-faced lie. 20:40 And then once upon a time, I might've been tempted 20:42 to be more charitable and say that Dan Brown 20:44 was just writing fiction, but when people asked him 20:47 if it was true, he wouldn't admit that it wasn't. 20:51 And honestly, you don't have to dig very deep 20:53 to find the truth. 20:55 Around the year 100, well over 200 years 20:57 before the Council of Nicea, 20:59 there was a church manual being circulated called 21:01 the Didache. 21:02 And at one point the Didache says this, 21:05 "Nor should you pray like the hypocrites, 21:07 but as the Lord commanded in his gospel, 21:10 you should pray as follows, our Father in heaven." 21:14 Now, you recognize that passage because it's a quotation 21:16 from the New Testament. 21:18 So you tell me how in the world did the Christians 21:21 from 100 AD know about a gospel quote from Jesus 21:25 if the gospels didn't exist until 325? 21:29 It's obvious that the author of that church manual 21:32 was quoting from Matthew, and that was roughly 15, 21:35 or 20 years after the Matthew Gospel was written. 21:38 A few years after that, another popular work known 21:41 as the Epistle of Barnaba started to circulate, 21:44 right around the year 130. 21:46 So we're still 200 years before the Council of Nicea, 21:50 and at one point the epistle of Barnabas says this, 21:53 "As it is written, many are called but fewer chosen." 21:59 Now, that's a direct quote from Matthew 22, 22:01 which would be a strange thing to quote if the gospel 22:04 of Matthew wasn't going to be considered authoritative 22:06 for another 200 years. 22:09 Furthermore, we had an Egyptian bishop by the name of Papias 22:13 who said in about AD 125 that John Mark's writings 22:17 were a collection of Peters sayings, 22:19 and he's clearly referring to the gospel of Mark. 22:22 What real scholars have noticed 22:24 is that the four gospels you currently have 22:26 in your Bible were being quoted very frequently 22:29 at a very early date, 22:31 almost immediately after they were composed. 22:34 So in other words, the church understood Matthew, Mark, 22:37 Luke, and John to be authoritative scripture 22:40 pretty much right away. 22:43 Another confirmation for the New Testament comes 22:45 from the early church father Ireneaeus who was bishop 22:48 of Leon in the last half of the second century. 22:52 Now, remember, the Council of Nicea was in the first half 22:56 of the fourth century, 22:57 so we're still way in advance of Constantine. 23:00 Somehow without the help of the emperor 23:02 or the members of that council, 23:04 Irenaeus quotes from most of the books of the New Testament, 23:07 and he calls them scripture. 23:10 He even contemplated the fact 23:11 that there are four gospels by saying this, 23:14 "For it is impossible 23:16 that the gospel should be a number either more 23:18 or fewer than these. 23:20 For since there are four regions of the world wherein we are 23:23 and four principle winds, and the church is as seed sown 23:26 in the whole earth, and the gospel is the church's pillar 23:29 and ground and the breadth of life, 23:31 it is natural that it should have four pillars. 23:35 Strange, right? 23:36 I mean, how in the world did he figure that out 23:38 without the help of Constantine? 23:40 He even mentions all four gospels by name. 23:43 I'll be right back after this. 23:52 - [Narrator] There is a place so still 23:58 you can almost hear your imagination, 24:09 so free your spirits can soar, 24:18 so vast it needs to be explored. 24:32 So high, you can touch the clouds, 24:40 a place called Discovery Mountain. 24:57 - Let me give you just one more example 24:59 of an ancient Christian document that verifies 25:02 the four gospels we have, a document that predates 25:05 the Council of Nicea. 25:07 [bright music] 25:11 There's a famous Abbey and Bobbio, Italy that was founded 25:14 by the Irish missionary Columbanus. 25:17 It's really a pretty amazing place. 25:19 It's in Italy, but if you go down in the basement, 25:21 you'll suddenly find Celtic artwork on the walls. 25:24 And that's because the missionary's 25:26 actually buried down there. 25:28 And one of the things that emerged 25:29 from this church's library is a very old document known 25:32 as the moratorium fragment, 25:34 or some people call it the moratorium cannon. 25:37 It's a copy of a much older document dating 25:40 to about the year 170. 25:42 So we're talking about the second half 25:44 of the second century, and this is a list 25:47 of New Testament books that the author knew to be scripture. 25:52 Now, we don't have the whole thing because it's a fragment, 25:55 but it does list 22 books of the New Testament, 25:57 including the four Gospels, the book of Acts, 26:00 all of Paul's letters, first and second John, 26:02 Jude, even the book of Revelation. 26:05 And again, if Dan Brown is right and he's not, 26:08 you'd have to admit that would be a really remarkable feat 26:10 for somebody writing more than 150 years 26:13 before the Council of Nicea. 26:15 It'd be like somebody in the 1870's anticipating an act 26:19 of Congress that got passed this week. 26:22 So let me just sum it up by saying this. 26:24 Even unbelievers in skeptics know "The Da Vinci Code" 26:27 is nonsense. 26:28 Bart Airman, a skeptic and ex Christian 26:31 who can hardly be described as a Bible believer, 26:34 was appalled enough to tackle Dan Brown publicly. 26:37 And here's what he said. 26:39 "The oldest and best sources we have for knowing 26:41 about the life of Jesus are the four gospels 26:44 of the New Testament, Matthew, mark, Luke, and John, 26:47 "This is not simply the view of Christian historians 26:50 who have a high opinion of the New Testament 26:52 and its historical worth, 26:54 it is the view of all serious historians, 26:56 of antiquity of every kind, 26:58 from committed evangelical Christians 26:59 to hardcore atheists." 27:02 And with that, I rest my case. 27:05 Now we know where the books 27:07 of the New Testament didn't come from, 27:08 and of course, we still need to explore 27:10 the actual origins of the whole Bible. 27:13 How exactly did we come up with this book 27:16 and why is it considered to be the rule 27:18 of faith for Christians? 27:19 I'm gonna pick that up again the next time we meet. 27:22 But in the meantime, I'd encourage you 27:24 to read the Bible for yourself. 27:27 Just head on over to biblestudies.com 27:30 and take a look at what we've got waiting for you there. 27:33 Take advantage of these resources, they're free to you. 27:36 Now, again, if you've taken advantage of those resources, 27:39 head on over to voiceofprophecy.com, 27:41 and maybe consider just clicking on the orange Donate button 27:45 to help us keep providing these things for everybody. 27:49 Thanks for joining me today. 27:50 My name is Shawn Boonstra, 27:52 and this has been another episode of "Authentic." 27:57 [cheerful music] |
Revised 2023-12-13