Belief: The Bible came down to us in the same form that we have today. Fact: Do you know that no one knows what the earliest texts of the Hebrew Scriptures looked like or said? (P. 17) Belief: The first five books of The Bible, The Pentateuch, were the first books to be written and Moses wrote them. Fact: Do you know that an early form of 1 and 2 Samuel were the first books of The Bible committed to writing and Moses had nothing to do with them or The Pentateuch? (P. 31) Belief: The Bible has always said the same things that we read today. Fact: Do you know that the Prophet Ezra compiled and changed the earliest Hebrew Scriptures into a form that may be similar to that with which we’re familiar about 400 BCE and that we have no texts of the Hebrew Scriptures older than about 100 BCE? (P. 24) Belief: A prophet of God is 100-percent accurate and prophets like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Ahijah, Micah, and Isaiah are revered as true prophets of God and were 100-percent accurate. Fact: Do you know that the Prophets made predictions that didn’t happen? (P. 45-47) Belief: A man named Jesus existed 2000 years ago and was the founder of Christianity. Fact: Do you know that early Christian historians beginning in the 2nd century searched historical writings and found literally no historical evidence for the existence of the Jesus of the Christian Scriptures. The statement in Josephus didn’t appear before the 4th century and Tacitus (c. 112) never mentioned any name in reference to the followers of a “Chrestus?” (P. 155-156) Belief: The early Church had used the Gospels and Epistles and they came down to us from the 1st century CE and tell an accurate story. Fact: Do you know that there were no Gospels or Epistles in Christianity until the end of the 2nd century and they were rewritten to accommodate the prevailing orthodox Christian beliefs? (P. 89) Belief: Orthodox Christian philosophy was always the same from its very inception. Fact: Do you know that in the early 4th century CE Constantine organized Christianity around a single religious philosophy and dogma and it was Constantine who initiated the Papacy? (P. 166-169) Belief: Christians around the world believe in the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus as a fact. Fact: Do you know that the idea of Jesus as God dying on a cross was considered heresy to early Orthodox Christianity and there were early Church fathers who said Jesus did not die on the cross? (P. 172) Belief: Jesus lived to about 33 years of age and that his ministry lasted for 3 years. Fact: Do you know that the whole life of Jesus as written in the Gospels is less than 18 hours and much of that can be disputed as well as most of the teachings attributed to him and, depending on the Gospel, his ministry lasted from about a year and a half to three years? (P. 155) These are only some of the hundreds of historical facts about The Bible contained in the new book: The Gospel Truth: The Heresy
of History
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