A Game of Telephone?
The last time we met, we discussed the four Gospels and their authors, who were eyewitnesses (or directly recorded the eyewitness testimony) to the events of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. If you haven't had a chance to read the actual events, I highly encourage it, as it is FASCINATING. In the coming blogs I will talk about why these events are so important for humanity and for each one of us personally.
But first, we need to establish two things:
1. What we are reading today is actually what was written all those many years ago and not just some messed up (or made up) version AND
2. That the authors weren't lying or crazy or that this wasn't just some fairy tale that was passed down through generations.
In a nutshell, we need to show that what is written in the Gospels is ACTUAL history, like any other history we would read about in school and accept as fact.
I'll focus on #1 today and on #2 in my next blog.
So how do we know?
Well, throughout history, people have made sure to preserve written documents and accounts of events by copying them, word for word, very carefully. Often this took months or even years to ensure accuracy and to preserve the integrity of the original document. Many, many copies were created, painstakingly, by hand, over time, and found by archaeologists. These copies are compared to each other and dated to determine what the original document, often not available, must have looked like. The closer the match and the date to the estimated time of writing, the better idea we have that we are reading what was actually written in the first place. These handwritten copies are called manuscripts and it's through them that we have learned much of our own history. Of course, once the printing press and the copier were invented, the need for manuscripts disappeared, but imagine the toil of love that must have been undertaken by scribes to ensure history was recorded properly.
Without manuscripts, our understanding of history would be like a game of telephone. We would only have a corrupted, messed up version of events that would in no way resemble the truth of what might have occurred.
The use of manuscripts as a bibliographical test of accuracy is the most common accepted way of determining whether ANY piece of writing is actually what was written originally, and that nothing has been lost in transmission over the years. You can find more info on manuscripts here.
Homer's the Iliad, written about 800 BC, and considered the MOST historically accurate piece of writing besides the New Testament, is verified by more than 1800 manuscripts. That is, over 1800 separate matching handwritten copies have been discovered. The earliest manuscript is dated about 400 BC, 400 years AFTER the original was written. Nevertheless, historians accept these copies as historically accurate and also accept that what we are reading today is what Homer originally wrote.
The New Testament, including the Gospels, not including the early translations, have over 5800 manuscripts that have been discovered.
Let me say that again. 5800. Matching. Handwritten. Copies.
When is the oldest manuscript? Circa AD 125. Less than 100 years after the events, and less than 60 years after John is thought to have written the book of Revelation.
Homer's the Iliad is accepted as accurate with only 1800 manuscipts and with the first being dated 400 years after writing.
The Gospels have over 5800 manuscripts, with the first ones dated less than 100 years after writing.
Based on that, we HAVE to conclude that what we are reading, what we have in front of us, is what these people ACTUALLY wrote.
Of course, this doesn't tell us anything about whether they were lying or crazy, or whether this was a story they were making up, only that they wrote about these events, and also based on their own writings, were persecuted and killed as a result.
We'll discuss #2 in more detail next, but in the meantime, go back and read what they did write...because it's a lot to think about.
Until next time!
But first, we need to establish two things:
1. What we are reading today is actually what was written all those many years ago and not just some messed up (or made up) version AND
2. That the authors weren't lying or crazy or that this wasn't just some fairy tale that was passed down through generations.
In a nutshell, we need to show that what is written in the Gospels is ACTUAL history, like any other history we would read about in school and accept as fact.
I'll focus on #1 today and on #2 in my next blog.
So how do we know?
Well, throughout history, people have made sure to preserve written documents and accounts of events by copying them, word for word, very carefully. Often this took months or even years to ensure accuracy and to preserve the integrity of the original document. Many, many copies were created, painstakingly, by hand, over time, and found by archaeologists. These copies are compared to each other and dated to determine what the original document, often not available, must have looked like. The closer the match and the date to the estimated time of writing, the better idea we have that we are reading what was actually written in the first place. These handwritten copies are called manuscripts and it's through them that we have learned much of our own history. Of course, once the printing press and the copier were invented, the need for manuscripts disappeared, but imagine the toil of love that must have been undertaken by scribes to ensure history was recorded properly.
Without manuscripts, our understanding of history would be like a game of telephone. We would only have a corrupted, messed up version of events that would in no way resemble the truth of what might have occurred.
The use of manuscripts as a bibliographical test of accuracy is the most common accepted way of determining whether ANY piece of writing is actually what was written originally, and that nothing has been lost in transmission over the years. You can find more info on manuscripts here.
Homer's the Iliad, written about 800 BC, and considered the MOST historically accurate piece of writing besides the New Testament, is verified by more than 1800 manuscripts. That is, over 1800 separate matching handwritten copies have been discovered. The earliest manuscript is dated about 400 BC, 400 years AFTER the original was written. Nevertheless, historians accept these copies as historically accurate and also accept that what we are reading today is what Homer originally wrote.
The New Testament, including the Gospels, not including the early translations, have over 5800 manuscripts that have been discovered.
Let me say that again. 5800. Matching. Handwritten. Copies.
When is the oldest manuscript? Circa AD 125. Less than 100 years after the events, and less than 60 years after John is thought to have written the book of Revelation.
Homer's the Iliad is accepted as accurate with only 1800 manuscipts and with the first being dated 400 years after writing.
The Gospels have over 5800 manuscripts, with the first ones dated less than 100 years after writing.
Based on that, we HAVE to conclude that what we are reading, what we have in front of us, is what these people ACTUALLY wrote.
Of course, this doesn't tell us anything about whether they were lying or crazy, or whether this was a story they were making up, only that they wrote about these events, and also based on their own writings, were persecuted and killed as a result.
We'll discuss #2 in more detail next, but in the meantime, go back and read what they did write...because it's a lot to think about.
Until next time!
Comments
Post a Comment