Belief in Christianity is rational

1) Textual transmission: Con is wrong in saying that we have late manuscripts. Some date back to as early as 20-30 years from the originals (1). The former director of the British museum said: "The interval then between the dates of original composition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed. Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established" (2) Con did not provide evidence explaining the errors of the New Testament, so instead i will show the types of errors made: 1) spelling errors - some manuscripts read "we were horses [hippoi] among you" rather than in others which have the Greek "apioi" or gentle. Obviously the disciples would not be horses. 2) Minor changes such as the absence of the definite article "the." Changes also occur in word order, however Greek allows for a sentence to be written 18 times saying the same thing. Meaning is not lost. 3) Almost all manuscripts read (1 Thess. 2:9) "gospel of God" but a late copy says "gospel of Christ." Theologically and textually, it points to "gospel of God." 4) The errors accounting for alternate readings of original wordings is less than 1% and center around a word or phrase (3) None of these errors affect a single doctrine (4). The story of the adulteress is canonical based on evidence: Jerome stated: "in the Gospel according to John in many manuscripts, both Greek and Latin, is found the story of the adulterous woman who was accused before the Lord." Con's claim that it was a forgery is false. 2) Religions - Earlier, i explained i was only going to focus on the major religions and neglect the rest seeing they fall under the same almost in the same category as Hinduism and Buddhism. Should you consider which religion to pick, note that the Bible has an abundant amount of evidence. 3) Oral tradition: There have been cases of people reciting poems lasting several days from memory (6). Studies also show that the use of mnemonic devices in oral transmission increase memory (7). It's very unlikely for myths to have emerged with the amount of time the oral traditions were passed down (8). Con's claim that they were false stories is a false claim. 4) Authorship: Con claims that the Gospels were anonymous, however that is false. A researcher scanned the earliest N.T manuscript for the names of the authors and they are found on the headers (9). In ancient practices, that's how authors were identified. As for the disciples being able to write, Jewish scholar, Saul Lieberman wrote: "Now the Jewish disciples of Jesus, in accordance with the general rabbinic practice, wrote the sayings which their master pronounced not in a form of a book to be published, but as notes in their . . . codices [plural of codex or early book], in their note-books (or in private small rolls). They did this because otherwise they would have transgressed the law. In line with the foregoing we would naturally expect the logia [sayings] of Jesus to be originally copied in codices." (10) An expert notes that writings were passed along Jesus earthly ministry (11). A Hellenistic building with a storeroom of clay jars and papyri was discovered. According to an expert: "This new piece of evidence offer a good fit with the broader picture that emerges from the wealth of evidence amassed by Millard, and as the jig-saw takes shape the emerging picture suggests that the production of written records would have had a place in the cultural milieu of the Galilean disciples of Jesus"" (12) I have a lot more evidence to give, but in brief conclusion: "The picture of Jesus followers as simple, illiterate peasants is a romantic notion without historical basis. Unless it can be shown otherwise, it must be assumed that some of the disciples and / or their converts were capable of composing written traditions"" (13) 5) Interdependancy Most scholars accept the four-source theory as a solution to the synoptic problem (14). 6) Jesus Existence: If by stories you mean miracles, there's evidence. Experts can accept extra-biblical sources, but also indirect witnesses (people living after Jesus' time). a. Miracles - " About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah. And when, upon the accusation of the principal men among us, Pilate had condemned him to a cross, those who had first come to love him did not cease. He appeared to them spending a third day restored to life, for the prophets of God had foretold these things and a thousand other marvels about him. And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared. " - Jewish Antiquities, 18.3.3.63 (Based on the translation of Louis H. Feldman, The Loeb Classical Library.) Some say that this was a Christian insertion, but the ancient manuscripts of Antiquities has this passage (15). Julian the Apostate: "Jesus . . . has now been honored for about three hundred years; having done nothing throughout his lifetime that was worthy of fame, unless anyone thinks it a very great work to heal the lame and the blind and to cast out demons in the towns of Bethsaida and Bethany." Even the Talmud agrees that Jesus miracles (16). c. Death - Tacitus on Jesus "To suppress therefore the common rumour, Nero procured others to be accused, and inflicted exquisite punishments upon those people, who were in abhorrence for their crimes, and were commonly known as Christians. They had their denomination from Christus [Christ], who in the reign of Tiberius was put to death as a criminal by the procurator Pontius Pilate. This pernicious superstition, though checked for a while, broke out again, and spread, not only over Judea, the source of this evil, but reached the city [Rome] also" (17) d. Resurrection: Most scholars agree that the tomb Jesus died in was later empty (18). Michael Green cites a source which goes as follows: "This piece of evidence is also called the Nazareth Inscription, after the town where it was found. It is an imperial edict, belonging either to the reign of Tiberius (A.D. 14-37) or of Claudius (A.D. 41-54). And it is an invective, backed with heavy sanctions, against meddling around with tombs and graves! It looks very much as if the news of the empty tomb had reached Rome in a garbled form (Pilate would have had to report: and he would obviously have said that the tomb had been rifled). This edict, it seems, is the imperial reaction." (19) In closing, i prove Christian doctrine briefly: 1. God exists and created the universe (Gen. 1:1) 2. God is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost eternally existing (Gen. 1:26 in Hebrew, verbs identify the # of person, God is plural as "make" has a plural prefix) 3. Man was created in his image, sinned, but has the free will to be saved (John 6:44) 4. We are under a curse of the Law, but freed from the eternal salvation coming through Jesus Christ by his perfect life (Romans 1-5) 5. We receive Jesus Christ on the basis of faith and not of works (Eph. 2:8) 6. We mature spiritually through the power of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5) Sources: 1. McDowell, Josh 'Evidence That Demands a Verdict' Here's Life 1979 p.43 2. Comfort, Philip W. 'The Origin of the Bible' Tyndale House 1992 p.181 3. http://www.amazon.com... 4. Geisler, Norman L., Nix, William E., A General Introduction to the Bible (Chicago: Moody Press, 1986), 475 5. Migne, Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina, vol. 23, col. 579. 6. Honko himself has witnessed one oral narrative that took seven days to complete. Honko, Textualizing the Siri Epic, 15. - See more at: http://reknew.org... 7. http://en.wikipedia.org... 8. Norman Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics [Baker Books, Grand Rapids; 1999], p. 530 9. http://www.wall.org... 10. Saul Lieberman. Hellenism in Jewish Palestine. The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1962. p. 205. 11. E. Earle Ellis. "New Directions in Form Criticism." In Ellis, Prophecy and Hermeneutic in Early Christianity: New Testament Essays. Mohr, 1978. Pp. 243 12. Peter M. Head. "A Further Note on Reading and Writing in the Time of Jesus." Evangelical Quarterly 75 (2003) 345. 13. E. Earle Ellis. "New Directions in Form Criticism." In Ellis, Prophecy and Hermeneutic in Early Christianity: New Testament Essays. Mohr, 1978. P. 243. . 14. http://catholic-resources.org... 15. He Walked Among Us, Josh Mcdowell, Bill Wilson, Here's Life Publishers, pg. 37 16. http://www.biblehistory.net... 17. (Annals of Imperial Rome, XV 44). 18. Gary Habermas and Michael Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2004. 19. http://formerthings.com...