The Bible was written over a span of 1500 years, by 40 authors. Unlike other religious writings, the Bible reads as a factual news account of real events, places, people, and dialogue. Archaeology cannot prove that the Bible is Gods written word to us, although it can prove that places in the bible did exist. The gospels read like news reports, an accounting of the days events, each from their own perspective. The descriptions are unique to each author. Apart from the most rabid fundamentalists among us, nearly everyone admits that the Bible might contain errors -- a faulty creation story here, a historical mistake there, a contradiction or two in some other place. But is it possible that the problem is worse than that -- that the Bible actually contains lies? Most people wouldnt put it that way, since the Bible is, after all, sacred Scripture for millions on our planet. But good Christian scholars of the Bible, including the top Protestant and Catholic scholars of America, will tell you that the Bible is full of lies, even if they refuse to use the term. And here is the truth: Many of the books of the New Testament were written by people who lied about their identity, claiming to be a famous apostle -- Peter, Paul or James -- knowing full well they were someone else. In modern parlance, that is a lie, and a book written by someone who lies about his identity is a forgery. Most modern scholars of the Bible shy away from these terms, and for understandable reasons, who wants to denigrate the cherished texts of Scripture by calling them forgeries built on lies? And so scholars use a different term for this phenomenon and call such books pseudepigrapha. You will find this antiseptic term throughout the writings of modern scholars of the Bible. Its the term used in university classes on the New Testament, and in seminary courses, and in Ph.D. seminars. What the people who use the term do not tell you is that it literally means writing that is inscribed with a lie. bp
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 04:06:44 +0000
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