Is the New Testament (NT) reliable? (Part I: The reliability of the manuscripts)

Is the New Testament (NT) reliable? (Part I: The reliability of the manuscripts)

NT critic Bart Ehrman claims that the manuscripts we have today don’t represent the original writings, but in fact are error-ridden copies that cannot be trusted. The number of variations among these manuscripts even exceed the number of words in the NT in its original Greek language. He suggests that there are about 400,000 variations in the manuscripts we have and about 138,200 words of the Greek NT; that means that for every word that exists there’s around 3 options for it!  However, is that really an indication of the accuracy of the manuscripts? and what do the numbers really mean?  To answer this question and determine the reliability of the NT manuscripts, we need to look at how historians assess any work of antiquity coming from the ancient world. Historians generally assess any text by looking at three things: A) the number of manuscript copies that exist…

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Were The Gospels Written By Anonymous Authors?

Were The Gospels Written By Anonymous Authors?

Bart Ehrman, a famous New Testament scholar, claims that the four canonical Gospels were written anonymously, and were later falsely attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, a century after they had been written. In his book, “Forged: Writing in the name of God, Why the Bible's authors are not who we think they are”, he builds a story for why these names were selectively chosen after they had already been in circulation in the early Church. Instead of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, he says, the real authors were anonymous Christians who relied on hearsay and legend rather than eyewitness testimony. He claims that the canonical Gospels were written in the third person, and were not attested for, in church fathers until Irenaeus, in the late second century.  ​​  Is there evidence for this claim?  First, there is simply no evidence that the first manuscripts of the…

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Has Evolution Been Observed?

Has Evolution Been Observed?

The theory of evolution asserts that all living organisms are related, they descended from common ancestor(s), and the variations are explained by natural processes such as natural selection and genetic mutations. Scientists cite several evidences for evolution such as:  Comparative anatomy: the study of differences and similarities between living things  Embryology and development: how creatures develop before being born or hatching from an egg  Fossil record  DNA similarities: the molecules that carry the codes with the characteristics of living things  For example, if we compare hippos with whales, we find the above four pieces of evidence. First, the anatomy of a whale and a hippo shows that both have smooth skin, lungs, internal testicles, etc. Second, the development stages of both embryos look similar. Third, there are fossils indicating transitional animals that are similar to whales, yet with legs as hippos. Fourth, the DNAs of both hippos and…

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Evolution Vs. Intelligent Design, Which Is More Reasonable?

Evolution Vs. Intelligent Design, Which Is More Reasonable?

When Darwin proposed the idea that all living creatures evolved by natural selection, he wasn’t aware of the structure of the DNA as it was discovered later. The DNA carries the genetic information of the living organism and is responsible for the fundamental and distinctive characteristics of the organism. Bill Gates describes the DNA as “a computer program but far, far more advanced than any software ever created.”  Now, given this very complicated, code-like DNA, which is a more reasonable explanation for this system: evolution or intelligent design?  Evolution aims to explain the biological variations in life through natural processes such as natural selection and genetic mutations. However, applying the same concept to ocean waves, we should expect that the trillions of waves hitting the shores around the world, across the past billions of years of the earth’s existence, have produced a poem on the sand, rather than…

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