1 00:00:17,990 --> 00:00:20,029 Well its really great to be here. What we're 2 00:00:20,029 --> 00:00:27,249 going to be looking at tonight is the question whether the Gospels are based on eye-witness testimony 3 00:00:27,249 --> 00:00:31,567 and I want to be presenting some old and some new evidence 4 00:00:31,567 --> 00:00:35,745 that the Gospels are indeed based on eye-witness testimony 5 00:00:35,745 --> 00:00:39,388 But I want to begin 6 00:00:39,388 --> 00:00:42,798 with a fellow Brit: CS Lewis, the author of the Chrinicles of Narnia 7 00:00:42,798 --> 00:00:45,839 Who made and argument about the person of Jesus. 8 00:00:45,839 --> 00:00:51,829 And he said that when we look at the sort of claims Jesus makes 9 00:00:51,829 --> 00:00:56,910 about who he is, we either have to say that he is the Lord, 10 00:00:56,910 --> 00:01:00,018 that he is Liar or that he is a lunetic. 11 00:01:00,018 --> 00:01:08,748 Because his words can't just be written of as the words of a very 12 00:01:08,748 --> 00:01:14,598 great person. Because a very great person doesn't make such claims. 13 00:01:14,598 --> 00:01:16,703 doesn't attribute so much to himself. But what 14 00:01:16,703 --> 00:01:21,891 we found is that in recent years, people have added to those three possibilities 15 00:01:21,891 --> 00:01:24,331 another one: that Jesus is in fact Legend 16 00:01:24,331 --> 00:01:27,707 So we want to ask the question whether the Gospels are in fact reliable. 17 00:01:27,707 --> 00:01:29,077 I want to go to a sceptic 18 00:01:29,077 --> 00:01:31,283 source: Bart Erhmann, one of the most famous, prominante 19 00:01:31,283 --> 00:01:34,665 sceptics within the US at the moment 20 00:01:34,665 --> 00:01:35,734 very accomplished biblical scolar, 21 00:01:35,734 --> 00:01:39,244 says this about the Gospels: 22 00:01:39,244 --> 00:01:43,656 What do you suppose happend to the stories about Jesus over the years 23 00:01:43,656 --> 00:01:48,236 as the were told and retold, not as disinteresdd news 24 00:01:48,236 --> 00:01:52,410 stories reported by eyewitnesses but as propaganda 25 00:01:52,410 --> 00:01:57,000 meant to convert people to faith, 26 00:01:57,000 --> 99:59:59,999 told by people who had themselves heard them fifth or sixth- or nineteenth-hand? 27 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Did you or you rkids ever play the tlephone game at a party? 28 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 well the telephone game 29 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in britain, we call: Chinese wispers 30 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you're probably not allowed to call it that over here 31 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but thats what we call it over there and no one minds! 32 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Now you know the way the telephone game works. 33 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Its a game specially set up to corrupt the message 34 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so you know that you can laugh. 35 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So there are various rules, for instance you have to 36 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 wisper, that ensures that the message gets curropted 37 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Your only allowed to say it once, so that ensures that the message gets corrupted 38 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 You're only allowed to hear it from one person… 39 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Why should I use that as an analogy for how Christiany spread early one? 40 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I prefer the analogy of Karate. Now have 41 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you ever heard that Karate must be becoming corrupted because 42 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's being taught from one person to another? 43 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 No! Because you know that Karate is full of discipline 44 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and when people teach things, they teach it carefully 45 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 there are checks and balances to make sure things get passed on 46 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I think that is a far better analogy. 47 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But we're going to come back to this later, whether Christianity 48 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 could have begun through something like the Telephone game. 49 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But the first thing we're going to do is look at 50 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 where the Gospels were written. 51 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Now the Gospels, according to earliest Christ tradition there are about 52 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 where they were written say generally that they weren't written in the land of origin. 53 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Which is Israel, Palestin. I'm not making a political 54 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 point when I'm using either of those words. OK? I'm just talking 55 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 about a location, ok?