From: rpitts@emperor.gatech.edu (Richard Pitts)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc
Subject: Re: I'm God.
Date: 28 Sep 92 00:57:11 GMT
Organization: CERL-EE, Georgia Institue of Technology


My response to this in at the end - it is a summary of a few
chapters of a book - _Why I Believe_ by Dr. D. James Kennedy.  
I think it address several of Kent's points/concerns.  I would
have deleted the articles, but I think the are relative to
my post.

In article <ksand-230992123610@wintermute.apple.com> ksand@apple.com (Kent Sandvik) writes:
>In article <1992Sep22.215617.25658@tc.fluke.COM>, emery@tc.fluke.COM (John
>Emery) wrote:
>> The early rabbinical writers after Jesus spoke of Him and attributed His 
>> miracles to sorcery.  His enemies did not deny His miracles, they simply
>> attributed them to demonic power.
>
>No Jewish historical texts, neither Roman historical references, refer
>to any demonic sorcerer by the name of Jesus. However, the only valid
>historical references we have is to a Jewish religious leader that 
>was killed by the Romans.
> 
>> There is excellent manuscript evidence behind the New Testament writings,
>> more than any other work of antiquity.  To say that the New Testament
>> writings are historically unreliable would basically disqualify *any*
>> work of antiquity.
>
>Sorry, but that's the case. Nobody is even sure who wrote what. If that
>is not a prime example of unreliable historical writing, please correct me.
> 
>> That's not true, Brian.  Many people have questioned it.  It is not
>> hard to find a book of an ex-sceptic who set out to disprove the 
>> Bible and ended up becoming a believer.
>
>A huge over-statement. For your information, I have about 3 feet
>with books back home where writers are downsizing the historical/religious
>perspective of this Messiah-wannabe person. I don't collect Lewis
>books, read one, and the lack of logic was too much for me to swallow.
>
>> >I'm doing my best to keep an open mind; if
>> >someone can give me *any* food for thought at all to make me suspect
>> >that I've missed something and maybe there is a god at work here, then
>> >I'll do my best to re-evaluate my beliefs, but be warned that I've
>> >already put an awful lot of time and thought into arriving at the
>> >beliefs I hold right now.
>
>As Brian said, same with me. I have an open mind, if Jesus would levitate
>around the planet tomorrow I would accept it as a fact. But I don't believe
>in Baccus worshipping just because it's historically documented, and there
>are people whose life has changed due to Baccus.
>
>Kent


Summary of Dr. D. James Kennedy's book "Why I Believe"

[1]Why I Believe the Bible:
The Bible gives many predictive prophecies.  It tells us of 
a coming Prophet into whom's mouth God will put his words.  
It tells not to fear anyone who gives a prophesy that is 
false.  The Bible even quotes God as saying that there is 
none like God, himself, declaring the end from the 
beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not 
yet done.

Dr. Kennedy says that Budda, Confucius, and Lao-tse's 
writings DO NOT contain predictive prophesy.  The Koran has 
one prophesy by Muhammed that says he will return to Mecca.  
However, the Bible contains prophesies that are 
substantially in a league of there own - it predicts the 
death and return from that death for Jesus the Christ.

Today's 'prophets' (e.g., Jeane Dixon) don't do very well in 
their prophecies.  [They help sell the tabloids, but do fail 
miserably in their fulfillment.]  Dr. Kennedy says "Perhaps 
God wanted to show people how incapable they are of 
predicting the future."

The Old Testament contains some 2,000 predictive prophecies 
- not a few lucky guesses.  These prophecies are detailed.  
They often predict things that were not likely to come to 
pass - the very opposite of human expectations.  In many 
cases the writer had already died and even the writings had 
been translated into Greek before some of the prophecies 
came to fulfillment.

Examples: The cities of Tyre and Sidon, two great cities on 
the Mediterranean Sea.  Exekiel prophesied that Tyre would 
be destroyed and never be rebuilt nor inhabited.  Sidon was 
to be brought down, but continue to be inhabited.  Sidon was 
attacked and many killed, but still exists to this day.

Tyre on the other hand was at its height at the time of the 
prophecy.  It was to be destroyed, made like a rock, have 
its building stones thrown into the sea, and be built no 
more.  Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon fought against the city for 
thirteen years and took it.  Many former inhabitants fled 
for an island and made a new city of Tyre.  Two hundred and 
fifty years later the city walls still stood, but Alexander 
the Great came and took the old buildings and dumped them 
into the sea to build a bridge to the new Tyre, in order to 
take it.  He did - the old city was stripped.  Today the old 
Tyre is like a rock and a place to spread fishing nets to 
dry.

The two cities of Samaria and Jerusalem were spoke about and 
Jerusalem was to be attacked, destroyed, have its people 
carried away captive, and have its walls destroyed, but then 
it was to have its walls rebuilt.  Samaria's walls were to 
be cast down and made like a vineyard.  History testifies to 
this.

Another eight or so examples (Edom, Babylon, etc.) are given 
in support of the accuracy of he Bible.

[2] The Stones Cry Out
And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if 
these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately 
cry out.  Luke 19:40.

As the higher critical school of thought arose in the 
eighteenth century began heaping doubt upon the Bible's 
authenticity, the field of archaeology (the witness of the 
stones) arose in the nineteenth century.  The question of 
what will archaeology say about the worthiness of the Bible 
too arose.

As the details of a story are brought out and defined, so 
the truth of the story is also confirmed or denied.  Many 
have striven to do this very thing.

Julius Wellhausen (German scholar, 1889) subjected the 
fourteenth chapter of Genesis to tough evaluation.  This 
chapter relates how four Babylonia kings captured five kings 
around the Dead Sea and how Abram and his servants went 
after them, since his nephew Lot was also captured.  They 
routed the enemy near Damascus - a rather long way off.  
Wellhausen said that this was near a near impossibility for 
that time and others did agree with him.  In 1890 
excavations in Egypt, Dr. Petrie found information (Semitic 
writings) that gave the names of these four Babylonian kings 
- one of which was Hammurabi.  These writings tell how 
Hammurabi and three other kings did the above, along with 
the findings of the associated camp sites.

The Hittites were another favorite muse of the critics, for 
surely they did not exist, as they were mentioned only in 
the Bible and only in eight different chapters.  Dr. Hugo 
Winckler has now discovered forty Hittite cities.  The 
kingdom was so large that Egypt and Babylonia were like 
tribes to the Hittites. [R.A. Torrey]

The Pharaohs of Egypt were said to have made the Hebrew 
people build with bricks made with straw and 'mortar' and 
then with bricks without straw.  Sir Flinders Petrie 
discovered the sites of Pithom and Raamses - they were built 
with mortar - found here, but no where else in Eygpt - much 
less the lower bricks were made with straw and the tops ones 
were made without straw.

Dr. Kennedy continues on with examples about Moses 
authorship, the fall of the city of Jericho.  The Flood is 
attested to in almost every civilization.  Findings in 
Babylonia and Acadia gave the basically the same account as 
the Biblical account.  Another Babylonian tablet mentions 
reading the writings of those who lived before the flood.  
While another tablet parallels the ten generations before 
the Biblical account of the Flood to that of ten kings of 
their history and the words "The Deluge came up ..."  Miller 
Burrows of Yale states that "the archaeologist spade has 
refuted the views of he modern critics.  The critics 
excessive skepticism come not from careful evaluation of the 
data but from the great predisposition against the 
supernatural." (paraphrased.}  Nelson Glueck, the renowned 
Jewish archaeologist, said, "It may be stated that no 
archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical 
reference."

The stones cry out.

...
[8] Why I believe in Christ

Dr. Kennedy states that the evidence for Christ is 
overwhelming.  For those who honest seek the truth there is 
abundant evidence.

Some say Jesus never really existed - he was a myth.  
Consider this - Historian J. Gilchrist Lawson says: "The 
legendary, or mythical, theory of Christ's existence is not 
held by any one worthy of the name scholar.  The evidences 
of Christ existence are more than for any other event in 
ancient history."  One reason we know this is that the Bible 
tells us, but more than that we have support from the 
following secular historians and writers of antiquity: 
Tacitus, the Roman historian; Suetonius; Pliny the younger; 
Epictetus; Lucian; Aristides; Galenus; Lampridius; 
DioCassius; Hinnerius; Libanius; Ammianus; Marcellinus; 
Eunapius; Zosimus.  Lucian,Celsus, Porphyry, Hierocles, and 
Julian the Apostate have written whole books against 
Christianity.  Pontius Pilate wrote of his activities with 
Jesus - "he described Christ's miracles - he tells of Herod 
delivering Jesus over to him and the crowd making a great 
uproar to have Christ tried and so he [Pilate] ordered him 
crucified, but first had him scourged, although he found 
nothing against him.  Much less he records that that day the 
sun went dark and the moon turned as if to blood." [The 
Ante-Nicene Fathers vol 8]  

Another writer, Thallus, wrote about the sun's failure to give 
light.  A Syrian writer, Mara bar-Serapion, in about A.D. 
73, wrote to his son warning not to do evil like killing 
godly men and he also "What advantage did the Jews gain from 
executing their wise King?..."  Julian the Apostate's book 
aimed at destroying Christianity confirms that Jesus was 
born in the reign of Augustus at the taxing time of 
Chrenius.  He even affirms the authenticity of the four 
gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.)  

[That's it for now.]

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