The Gospel Truth - Lesson 6 - The Preservation of the Gospels

So far we have shown that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote reliable histories of the life of Jesus. But some object that what they wrote has not been reliably preserved.

In some instances, the very meaning of the text is at stake, depending on how one resolves a textual problem: Was Jesus an angry man? Was he completely distraught in the face of death? Did he tell his disciples that they could drink poison without being harmed? Did he let an adulteress off the hook with nothing but a mild warning? Is the doctrine of the Trinity explicitly taught in the New Testament? Is Jesus actually called “the unique God” there? Does the New Testament indicate that even the Son of God himself does not know when the end will come? The questions go on and on, and all of them are related to how one resolves difficulties in the manuscript tradition as it has come down to us.  -Bart Erhman, Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, p. 208 

In this lesson we will take a look at the text of the New Testament.

JFK and Oswald

Since today is the anniversary of JFK's assassination, I thought I would post a link to a neat video (really, the first in a series). Back in the mid 80's a production company decided to put Oswald "on trial" for the murder of JFK, using a real judge, a real jury, and real lawyers. The prosecutor was famed Charles Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, and the defense attorney was the famed cowboy lawyer, Gerry Spence. I don't believe either of these men ever lost a jury murder trial in their careers, so it was a battle of the heavyweights.

Someone digested the series into small youtube clips. Here is the first - but WARNING - once you start watching you may not be able to stop!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO-UrGDUUzA

The Gospel Truth - Lesson 4 - The Writing of the Gospels

Lesson 4: The Writing of the Gospels

In the last lesson we looked at the writers of the gospels. In this lesson we will look at the writing of the gospels.

Notes on Islam - Lesson 8 Jesus

Jesus is revered in Islam as a great prophet. Known as Isa in Arabic, Jesus is mentioned over 90 times in the Quran in 15 various surahs.

In this lesson we are going to look at what the Bible and the Quran have in common regarding Jesus, and then look at the substantial differences.

The Gospel Truth: Lesson 3 - Who Wrote the Gospels

None of the four gospels contains a formal statement of authorship. Many critics latch on to this point and suggest that the gospels were written much later than the first century, and reflect the growth of unreliable traditions about Jesus.

Notes on Islam - Lesson 7 God in the Quran and the Bible

A Passion for God

As we discussed in a previous lesson, the central confession of Islam is “There is no god but God and Muhammad is the messenger of God” (the Shahadah). Islam is one of the world’s three monotheistic faiths, along with Judaism and Christianity. The doctrine of the oneness of God, tawhid, is the fundmantal dogma of Islam. “Say, ‘He is God the One, God the eternal. He begot no one nor was He begotten. No one is comparable to Him’” (Surah 112:1-4).

Notes on Islam - Lesson 5: Sunni, Shia, and Sufi

In the last lesson we studied the origin of the Sunni – Shia split. In this lesson we will discuss the differences between the two major sects of Islam, plus the mystical tradition known as Sufiism.