Thomas Jefferson cut verses from six copies of the New Testament as he worked to create his own personal version. The above photo is of one of the copies he used in his cut and paste system.
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(…continued) We now get to the most commonly accepted option of who Jesus was, again beginning with the letter ‘L.’ C. S. Lewis listed three options, Lunatic, Liar, and Lord. But before we get to Lord, we must add one more possibility. Not many people believe Jesus was a lunatic or a liar. Most people would say Jesus was a good fellow and a good teacher, but he was not God. They would say Jesus himself never claimed to be God, nor did he do all those miracles the Bible said he did, nor did he rise from the dead. Rather, Jesus was just a man who lived and died like Socrates. And what we have in the New Testament, they say, is a recounting of the wonderful teachings of Jesus, and also a whole bunch of additional material that his followers added in later years as they were trying to get this new religion going.
So, the question becomes “Is the Bible true?” How can we be sure someone didn’t just make up the whole thing? Many people say some of it is true, but much of it is made up; such as all the accounts of miracles, all the outrageous things Jesus said about being one with the Father God, and the part about Jesus rising from the dead. We are much smarter now, and we know those sorts of things just don’t happen. Jesus was a nice guy, he was not a lunatic or a liar, but over the years things just got added, and what we have is part true and part Legend. So, if we just cut out all the things Jesus said that we don’t like, and eliminate all the miracles which we rule out ahead of time as impossible, then we no longer have the Lunatic/Liar problem. Two thousand years after the fact, we edit the eyewitness accounts as we wish to fit our preconceived notions of what is possible. Thomas Jefferson himself actually did such a cut and paste job on his New Testament (see above).
This is the main approach of those who do not believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Many thorough and convincing books have been written by top theologians and historians to refute this view of the New Testament. Those who take the time to study the question are amazed at how the truth of the New Testament holds up to critical historical scrutiny. Many people have set out to write books disproving the New Testament and were convinced against their will of its truth. Several then wrote big books about coming to faith in Christ because of the reliable truth they discovered in their study of the Gospels (Lee Strobel to name just one; to learn more click onto this LINK).
I can only scratch the surface of all this with these two responses.
First of all, legends take years to develop, years to take hold, and can be tested. For example, did George Washington really chop down a cherry tree and confess it to his father, saying “I cannot tell a lie”? Probably not. No account of this can be found until many years after Washington’s death. Even then, it is not published in a memoir as an eyewitness account, or even as an account of someone who heard it from Washington, or anyone who knew him. It first appears in a book of moral lessons for children. That is not a reliable source, and the story is now considered a legend. What if the story was told during his life? Then, Washington himself could have confirmed or denied it.
We have heard news reports of politicians running for office who claim to have done heroic deeds during their military service. They have sometimes been disgraced when soldiers who served with them come forward to say they did no such thing. You cannot become a ‘legend in your own time’ unless you really did your legendary deeds. Someone is going to set the record straight.
With that in mind, consider the source of the accounts of Jesus miracles and resurrection. The New Testament books were not written over many centuries. The earliest books were written ten years after Jesus’ resurrection, most within 20-30 years, and all the rest within the first century; well within the lifetime of thousands of eyewitnesses. Any one of them could have discounted the whole thing, like the fellow soldiers of lying politicians. But that did not happen. If it did, the whole ‘Jesus as Lord’ message would never have gotten off the ground. The New Testament books were written by those who were with Jesus, or, who were in contact with those who were with Jesus, and most were written in the area where Jesus lived. And, the stories were apparently not denied but confirmed by eyewitnesses, as the documents survived and thrived and were passed on.
Many legends about Jesus did arise later. There were stories of miracles in his childhood, such as the boy Jesus making birds out of mud and bringing them to life, helping his Dad in the carpentry shop by lengthening boards that his Dad mistakenly cut too short, and healing friends injured on the playground. But the church rejected such later legends, accepting only the earlier, more reliable records. Did you ever hear stories of ‘the hidden gospels?’ They weren’t hidden. They were rejected by a church concerned that only the truth be told. We can trust the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and death and resurrection. (continued…)
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