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The way I see it, the claims of Christianity can basically be viewed together as a three-legged stool attempting to support the basic claim that Christianity is true. If any one of the three legs falls, the support disappears, and the body of claims come toppling down.In the case of Christianity, the three basic claim groups are: 1) Jesus fulfills me personally (personal testimony); 2) Jesus fulfilled the prophetic expectation of the Messiah (prophecy fulfillment); and, 3) The New Testament is an accurate record of the continued revelation of the
If any one of these claims can be disproved, the weight of the Christian argument comes tumbling to the ground. Christianity depends on all of these things being true, though less so the claims of personal testimony, since these tend to accompany every form of religious expression based in a belief in a higher power.
Personal Testimony as Proof
When asked why they believe in Jesus, most people will respond that they believe because he has “set them free” or “delivered them” from a sense of guilt or fear, or even from a string of bad habits. This personal testimony is, for many, the strongest evidence that one can have for the truth of Christianity. What I came to realize is that they are right. There’s nothing more important in our lives than finding the strength and motivation to break our bad habits and to move into a higher state of consciousness, wherein we consider others in our decisions regarding right behavior.
In this case, Christianity can definitely be said to produce effects. There are many who spend their whole lives drinking and abusing, but when they become spiritually convicted by what they perceive to be the truth of Christianity (the existence of “Christ”), they abandon their evil behaviors and begin to live more upstanding lives.
From this perspective, I have nothing against Christianity – just as I have nothing against Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormonism, or Jehovah’s Witnesses, which all create moral behavior in their faithful masses. Are all Christians moral? Of course not. However, Christianity does have the power to create moral behavior in the lives of those who believe in it, and in this regard they have one leg to stand on. On the other hand, it just might be that the religion doesn’t itself create morality in people. Good people are still good when they become religious; bad people are most often still bad even when they are religious; some people can be scared into obedience through religious rhetoric – which may account for much of the turnaround experienced by believers. Once the fear has created the habit of good behavior, it becomes something more habitual and less robotic. There are, though, those who do bad things as a result of religious restrictions – as in the case of Catholic priests who abuse children sexually because of the absurd restrictions of their church on normal sexuality in their priestly caste.
Prophecy Fulfillment as Proof
Most of the New Testament focuses on this aspect of Christian proofs. The Gospels were composed in such a way as to attempt to establish that Jesus was the Messiah by referring to the many prophecies in the text of the Tanakh that the Messiah stood (stands) to fulfill. This body of proofs is also the one that receives more attention from missionaries and countermissionaries than all the rest. Essentially, this is because the first set of proofs is subjective and cannot be rationally proved or disproved, while the third set of proofs (those dealing with the accuracy of the New Testament) are less easily understood by those untrained in the area of textual criticism.
As a third-year student at Ozark Christian College, I enrolled in a survey course of the Jewish Prophets under Dr. Larry Pechawer, who was also my Hebrew professor. In this course it was required that we read the texts of the Prophets’ writings and write reports on the themes that appeared there. I took advantage of the time to read the chapters together in English with the Hebrew open for perusal for the first time in my life. That introduction to the Prophets taught me more than I ever expected to learn from the Bible, and before long I was convinced (without even asking anyone for explanations or checking commentaries) that there was no way that Jesus could have been the Messiah based on the text of the Prophetic Scriptures.
New Testament as Proof
The final supportive claim of Christianity is that the New Testament is accurate both historically and theologically, serving as a completion of the revelations of
The problems in the New Testament actually exist in both of these areas. Theologically, it disagrees with the Tanakh on several issues (which will be elucidated more clearly in the future on this blog along with links for further reading), such as: the place of the Torah in the grand scheme of things, the efficacy of animal sacrifices in providing atonement for sin, the centrality of the Jewish people in the plan of
Additionally, there are ways in which the New Testament is even internally contradictory. From the simple disagreements between Matthew and the other Synoptic gospels (namely, Mark and Luke) in parallel passages, to the obvious disagreement between the Synoptics and John regarding the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, to the problems that exist between the various gospels regarding the events of “Resurrection Sunday.”
Conclusion
The conclusions that I came to in my own studies was that Christianity simply cannot stand because it really has only one foot in the tripod. While it is true that Christianity has demonstrated through the years that it has the power to change lives (and this is really the benefit of religions in terms of society), it is also the case that the other two feet of this stool are not strong enough to hold the claim up.
I came to the conclusion that Jesus as presented in the New Testament simply does not succeed in fulfilling the prophecies of the Tanakh relating to the Messiah, and the New Testament has too many idiosyncrasies to pass it off as revealed from the Almighty.
These and many other topics will be taken up in this blog. If you have any questions along the way regarding to clarity or coverage, don’t hesitate to contact me.
Questions for Comment
* Would you agree that these three pillars (personal testimony, prophecy fulfillment and accuracy of the NT) must be firmly in place in order for Christianity to stand?
* Is there anything else that you believe Christianity is absolutely based on?
* Have you ever heard a proof for Christianity that lay outside of the three suggested above?
"Have you ever heard a proof for Christianity that lay outside of these three groups?"
ReplyDeleteI can't think of any offhand. The main ones I hear fall into the "personal testimony" category and the "fulfilled prophecies" one. Especially common is to hear that he fulfilled something like 300 prophecies and that the odds of that are some astronomical number.
Great blog, Jason!! I look forward to reading more from you!
I posted a bit on these issues as a new user at jhronline before it went down, so I'll kind of recap from the Christian view.
ReplyDeletePersonal testimony can't be disproved at this time, as you seem to agree.
As for fulfillment of all Messianic expectations and prophecy, that remains to be seen since there is still debate on items like Isaiah 53 and need for Messiah to first be rejected, then later prevail, as only one of many righteous Israelites and Servants of God who will prevail in the end despite their sufferings.
Precedent in the Tanach for return from Heaven and completion of prophecy and mission is also found with Elijah. So prophecy fulfillment can't be disproved at this time.
As for NT contradictions, example, on jhronline I replied to the issue of disagreement between the Synoptics and John regarding the day of crucifixion by showing High Sabbath of Passover fell on Wednesday night while regular Sabbath fell on Friday night, making for 3 days and 3 nights in the grave ending after Sabbath Saturday night.
Therefore "contradictions" like this are simply misreadings and a matter of personal interpretation. So accuracy can't be disproved at this time either.
However, as to your specific question, Christians as do some Jews rely on faith rather than proof for many things in their respective Bibles, so as long as our doctrines aren't disproved, they stand as firm as any in Judaism -- for us. As it appears, only time will tell who is actually standing firmest.
Thanks, and look forward to jhr coming back online. -J
I've written a new entry regarding the forum. Check that out for my hopes.
ReplyDeleteAs for the claim that Jesus was Messiah... If it cannot be determined from the Scriptures that he was Messiah, why should it be persuasive to any Jew? That's the problem. It's not claimed that he didn't fulfill the Scriptures. Indeed, it's claimed that the Scriptures and his fulfillment of them are what proclaim that he's the Messiah and Savior. How can such a claim be made when it is clear that anyone could make a claim, do nothing, and then disappear – and myths could develop about him coming back to fulfill them.
This is what happened with Quetzalcoátl in the new world, you know? He sailed off into the sea with the promise that he would someday return to lead the people into their utopian period. Isn't this the same thing that we see in Jesus? He sails off on a cloud into the sky with the promise that he will (someday – even though he specifically said in "this generation") come back and lead the people into utopia and eternal life. What happened with that? The same thing that happened with Quetzalcoátl.
Yours,
Jason