To those who argue that the Bible is a work of fiction, I would direct your attention to a 3hr BBC documentary called 'Son of God'. It is a secular production that investigates the reliability of the New Testament account and looks into the historicity of Jesus of Nazareth. Whether you believe that Jesus of Nazareth is Jesus the Christ is left by this documentary as a matter of individual faith.

The motto of the DVC is 'seek the truth'. How I wish that people would honestly seek the truth!

It is far too easy to throw out subjective, emotional arguments - 'The Bible is a work of Fiction'. It's much harder to conduct your own personal investigation of the facts.

Where the DVC is most dangerous is that it keeps to the facts up to a certain point (about as far as the average person could investigate without too much trouble), and then deviates into a world of utter fiction. These are the most dangerous lies because on the surface they can appear true. The average person can't be sure where the truth ends and where the lie begins.

As I said in my previous post, these lies do not pose any personal challenge to a Christian's faith. However, they are of concern to Christians generally for the effect that they have on non-Christians - in that these lies serve to fuel the internal desire to ignore God and to deny Jesus Christ.

If you're serious about finding the truth, and not just about arguing against Christians, then conduct your own investigation and form your own opinion. I would suggest starting with the Gospel accounts in the New Testament (I can just sense your gut wrenching at the thought), or perhaps you would like to hear a secular view first (e.g. the 'Son of God' video).

So again I will say it - 'seek the truth'. And in the words of Jesus Christ himself - 'You will know the truth and the truth shall make you free.' Jesus was big on truth.

Nice one Bill. I'm amused by those who worry about whether Christ was divine or not and therefore the validity of the gospels, let alone the Bible.

If you don't acknowledge the divinity question you still have the stuff Brown can only begin to touch on - how could so many people be so motivated by a "myth"!

There is that wonderful joke that when the Pope is told that they have found the "bones of Jesus" in a tomb he says - Well at least we can now agree that he existed!

Bosk,

I beg to differ. Jewish time is different from Roman time as these 2 links demonstrate:
1. Jewish time: http://www.aish.com/literacy/concepts/Jewish_Time.asp
2. Roman time: http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/dunkle/romnlife/romntime.htm

You wrote:
"You claim that the text only claims that the crusifixion occured sometime in the afternoon. Now you are contradicting your own scripture. The TEXT is VERY specific. Mark says the crucifixion occured at the 3rd hour & John says the 6th. There is NO evidence within the text to justify your interpretation."

That is not what I wrote at all. I wrote nothing about the afternoon, but quoted Australian Johannine scholar, Dr. Leon Morris, who stated:

"It is more likely that in neither Mark nor John is the hour to be regarded as more than an approximation. People in antiquity did not have clocks or watches, and the reckoning of time was always very approximate. The "third hour" may denote nothing more firm than a time about the middle of the morning, while "about the sixth hour" can well signify getting on towards noon. Late morning would suit both expressions unless there were some reason for thinking that either was being given with more than usual accuracy. No such reason exists" (The Gospel According to John, p. 801).

I don't intend bantering further with you on this subject.

Thanks everyone for a very enjoyable thread.

It has confirmed my faith in the proposition that questions are invariably more interesting - and infinitely more numerous - than answers.

It is a puzzle to me why people put so much faith in there being such a thing as "the truth". It should be clear by now that in the infinitesimal span of time allotted to us on this tiny insignificant planet, it is entirely unreasonable to expect to know anything meaningful about why we are here. We just are. Enjoy.

I would have thought that it is obvious that mankind is so unusual a beast that we can never aspire to take up much more than a short paragraph in the overall story of the universe - and even then, only because of our oddness. A sentence or two in MX-Cosmos, perhaps, headed "Something Weird"

But keep asking the questions. The journey is always more rewarding than the destination.

Francis,

How can I reply to your smart crack?

Are you saying the Council of Nicea did not occur? That the Merovingians can’t be traced back to the fifth century (Mevrovee). There is no legend of the Quinataur? The Vikings didn’t invade Normandy (Norse-man-dy) in 911. The Battle of Hastings (1066) did not occur? The (Rosslyn) Sinclairs were not historically tied-up with the Templars? That General Monk didn’t invade Scotland under the orders of Cromwell?

Monk flattened the Castle and left the Chapel, whose ownership left Sinclair male line in 1700s, but is still privately owned by a St Clair with a hyphened name. I have been Scotland and seen both.

Dan Brown wrote a novel using fudged history. But at least he knew a little history to fudge.

p.s. There is something to the Keystone too. Psalm 118 & Ephesians 2:20. I believe it has both Jewish and Christian meaning. The foundation of the (Jewish) Temple and the completion of the Temple in Christianity. I am sure Philo will know more than me. I am on shakier ground here, as to my understanding

Friends reading this thread I must apologise for including the name of Julius in the previous posts in the following statements. Of course it wasn't Julius it was Tiberius 14 - 37 AD.

Should read:

"Tiberius Caesar sent a possee of guards to have Pilate brought before him in Rome after learning that Pilate had allowed the death of one whom he had earlier reported to Caesar saying, "this man Jesus performs miracles greater than any of our Roman gods". Posted 20th May 10: 22am

Correction:
"I never challanged the existence of Julius Caesar. The fact is that Caesar [Tiberius] in his communications with Pilate recognised the existence of Jesus in his response to communications sent by Pilate." Posted 20th May 12: 19 pm.

The gospel text alludes to the dreams of Pilates wife that implied she held respect for Jesus [Matthew 27: 17 - 19]. The extent of Pilate's wife concern over Jesus death is mentioned by Pilate in his letter to Caesar. The extent of this concern is not recorded in the Gospel accounts but it is in Pilate's letters to Caesar in Rome. These letters are included in "Lost Books of the Bible" ISBN 0-529-03385-2.