the bible....a few questions
So earlier this summer I was in a theology course (the 200 level at xavier) and the teacher struck me with some interesting ideas. So I believe that the Bible isn't infallible (i.e. there are inaccuracies in it) but my teacher pointed out that most of the Bible could potentially be untrue. I had never really thought that the Bible could've been written long after Jesus had died. So now we have the 4 Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John, which might not have even been written by them. They might have been written by people who followed Matthew (or Mark, or Luke, or John) and this brings about a whole list of questions:
1) How do they know what Jesus meant?
2) How do they know Jesus even said those things?
I mean, I do believe Jesus' teachings were written down in the Bible, but I'm not so sure that those stories were actually made up by him (parables and such). He also brought up another interesting point. Let's say the Gospel writers (whoever they might be) wanted to inspire people to follow Jesus, so they made up a few of his miracles in order to "add a little spark" to people's faith. Now I have no doubt that Jesus died and was Resurrected, but I'm in doubt as to whether those other miracles (walking on water, healing of the cripple, casting out of demons) actually happened. Forgive me for being a pessimist, but this guy really had a lot of interesting ideas (his name is Dr. Brennan Hill if you want to know, he wrote a couple of interesting books and you could probably do an internet search on him and bring up a few interesting articles). Anyway, leave your thoughts/opinions on this debate, we'll get this going :). I hope you (and someone very special to me) are having an awesome day. Talk to ya'll later.
1) How do they know what Jesus meant?
2) How do they know Jesus even said those things?
I mean, I do believe Jesus' teachings were written down in the Bible, but I'm not so sure that those stories were actually made up by him (parables and such). He also brought up another interesting point. Let's say the Gospel writers (whoever they might be) wanted to inspire people to follow Jesus, so they made up a few of his miracles in order to "add a little spark" to people's faith. Now I have no doubt that Jesus died and was Resurrected, but I'm in doubt as to whether those other miracles (walking on water, healing of the cripple, casting out of demons) actually happened. Forgive me for being a pessimist, but this guy really had a lot of interesting ideas (his name is Dr. Brennan Hill if you want to know, he wrote a couple of interesting books and you could probably do an internet search on him and bring up a few interesting articles). Anyway, leave your thoughts/opinions on this debate, we'll get this going :). I hope you (and someone very special to me) are having an awesome day. Talk to ya'll later.