WEBVTT 00:00:17.990 --> 00:00:20.029 Well its really great to be here. What we're 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 00:00:27.249 --> 00:00:31.567 and I want to be presenting some old and some new evidence 00:00:31.567 --> 00:00:35.745 that the Gospels are indeed based on eye-witness testimony 00:00:35.745 --> 00:00:39.388 But I want to begin 00:00:39.388 --> 00:00:42.798 with a fellow Brit: CS Lewis, the author of the Chrinicles of Narnia 00:00:42.798 --> 00:00:45.839 Who made and argument about the person of Jesus. 00:00:45.839 --> 00:00:51.829 And he said that when we look at the sort of claims Jesus makes 00:00:51.829 --> 00:00:56.910 about who he is, we either have to say that he is the Lord, 00:00:56.910 --> 00:01:00.018 that he is Liar or that he is a lunetic. 00:01:00.018 --> 00:01:08.748 Because his words can't just be written of as the words of a very 00:01:08.748 --> 00:01:14.598 great person. Because a very great person doesn't make such claims. 00:01:14.598 --> 00:01:16.703 doesn't attribute so much to himself. But what 00:01:16.703 --> 00:01:21.891 we found is that in recent years, people have added to those three possibilities 00:01:21.891 --> 00:01:24.331 another one: that Jesus is in fact Legend 00:01:24.331 --> 00:01:27.707 So we want to ask the question whether the Gospels are in fact reliable. 00:01:27.707 --> 00:01:29.077 I want to go to a sceptic 00:01:29.077 --> 00:01:31.283 source: Bart Erhmann, one of the most famous, prominante 00:01:31.283 --> 00:01:34.665 sceptics within the US at the moment 00:01:34.665 --> 00:01:35.734 very accomplished biblical scolar, 00:01:35.734 --> 00:01:39.244 says this about the Gospels: 00:01:39.244 --> 00:01:43.656 What do you suppose happend to the stories about Jesus over the years 00:01:43.656 --> 00:01:48.236 as the were told and retold, not as disinteresdd news 00:01:48.236 --> 00:01:52.410 stories reported by eyewitnesses but as propaganda 00:01:52.410 --> 00:01:57.000 meant to convert people to faith, 00:01:57.000 --> 99:59:59.999 told by people who had themselves heard them fifth or sixth- or nineteenth-hand? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Did you or you rkids ever play the tlephone game at a party? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 well the telephone game 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in britain, we call: Chinese wispers 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you're probably not allowed to call it that over here 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but thats what we call it over there and no one minds! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now you know the way the telephone game works. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Its a game specially set up to corrupt the message 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so you know that you can laugh. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So there are various rules, for instance you have to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 wisper, that ensures that the message gets curropted 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Your only allowed to say it once, so that ensures that the message gets corrupted 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You're only allowed to hear it from one person… 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why should I use that as an analogy for how Christiany spread early one? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I prefer the analogy of Karate. Now have 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you ever heard that Karate must be becoming corrupted because 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's being taught from one person to another? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 No! Because you know that Karate is full of discipline 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and when people teach things, they teach it carefully 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there are checks and balances to make sure things get passed on 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think that is a far better analogy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But we're going to come back to this later, whether Christianity 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 could have begun through something like the Telephone game. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But the first thing we're going to do is look at 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 where the Gospels were written. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now the Gospels, according to earliest Christ tradition there are about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 where they were written say generally that they weren't written in the land of origin. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Which is Israel, Palestin. I'm not making a political 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 point when I'm using either of those words. OK? I'm just talking 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 about a location, ok?