Is the Bible history? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
This book is one that seems to get worse as it goes along. So this chapter is talking about history. Let’s see what we have.
Throughout the Old Testament, when God is being quoted he’s often speaking in plurality – flying in the face of most religious apologists who adamantly insist on there being only one God.
Brucker, J. D.. Improbable: Issues with the God Hypothesis (p. 104). Kindle Edition.
Right. Right. Obviously, every apologist has a problem with this. There are plenty of reasons for plurality.
One is the Trinity is speaking.
Two is the royal three is being used.
Three is that God is speaking to the Divine Council.
Any of these would work. It’s hard to imagine why Brucker doesn’t know about these. Nah! It’s easy to! Brucker just hates contrary thought!
I will touch on the existence of Jesus later in this work, but it is understood by historians that the following who claimed Jesus as their Messiah believed in a very different Jesus than the man whom Paul would eventually describe. He was not God-made-man, and he did not die for our sins – merely a self-described prophet who rose from the dead after death. It wasn’t until Paul and others elaborated on those beliefs and carried on with such did there become a distinction between Judaism and Christianity. It is very possible that the Jesus as we commonly understand today is only the product of the human imagination.
Brucker, J. D.. Improbable: Issues with the God Hypothesis (p. 109). Kindle Edition.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t tell us who these historians are. The idea of Paul inventing Christianity was dealt a death blow years ago by E.P. Sanders. Since then, we know Paul fit in just fine with the Judaism of his time.
Jesus is said to have died roughly 33 CE, and Paul is said to have converted approximately 36 CE, but history tells us that Jewish and Judeo-Christians coexisted without quarrel for much longer than described.
Brucker, J. D.. Improbable: Issues with the God Hypothesis (p. 111). Kindle Edition.
It would be great to know which history this is. Does Brucker have one of Jews and Christians meeting together and holding hands and singing Kum-Bu-Yah?
Most who support the Christian faith may not know that the Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – were not written by those who’ve been given the credit. In fact, most contemporary Biblical scholars would also agree with me on this point, alluding to the fact that the stories of Jesus may have only been an oral tradition for fifty to 100 years. I find it impossible to believe that the story of Jesus remained the same as it was when he supposedly lived until it was first written down.
Brucker, J. D.. Improbable: Issues with the God Hypothesis (pp. 111-112). Kindle Edition.
Brucker again doesn’t name any of these historians or why they think the way that they do. We accept authorship for other works on far weaker grounds than we do for the Gospels. Brucker can also say he finds it hard to believe a story remained the same. His disbelief is not an argument. (I plan on sometime soon doing a series on the Gospels with dating and authorship.)
If Christianity was true, and what is being taught today is meant to be believed as the word of God, why would it take such time to formulate the Gospels? If Jesus’ apostles were real, why would history suggest they weren’t the likely authors?
Brucker, J. D.. Improbable: Issues with the God Hypothesis (p. 112). Kindle Edition.
First, history doesn’t suggest that.
Second, writing was a laborious process, took a long time, cost a lot of money, and could only reach the people who could read and their audience. Oral tradition was free, reliable, quick, and could reach anyone who spoke. On the surface, Brucker’s question is understandable, but alas, it totally ignores the fact that this was a pre-Gutenberg society.
Next time, we look at the historicity of Jesus. Brucker does talk some about Moses, but I will choose to focus on Jesus.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)
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