I felt like an interesting topic for my weekly study would be non-biblical support for God, Jesus and the bible. It’s convenient to use the bible to support the bible, however it isn’t as effective for people who aren’t convinced of the sovereignty of God and His word. So, here we go… 3 topics: Join the Bandwagon, Worldwide Catastrophe, and Historical Victory.
1.) Join The Bandwagon.
3,800,000,000 (three-billion-eight-hundred-million) people can’t be wrong. The world’s three primary “monotheistic” faiths (the belief that only one God exists) are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In fact the two largest “religions” in the world, monotheistic or not, are Christianity with a whopping 33% and Islam following closely with 21%. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are known as Abrahamic religions which mean all three faiths share the same God… technically. In one sense the bible could be called the story of Abraham since the bible has a great deal to do with God’s promise to Abraham and God’s fulfillment to said promise.
“And he brought him outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ “ (Genesis 15:5)
Over half of the world’s population believes (or claims to believe) that God made a covenant with a man named Abraham and that they are spiritually connected to this man. There is actually a group of people who claim decent from this man and live in a place named after his grandson (Israel.) According to a 2007 poll by Newsweek; 13% of Americans believe in “naturalistic evolution or that God was not involved in evolution; 48% believe they were created as they are within the last 10,000 years or so; 30% believe that “Humans developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process”; 9% are unsure. Again for emphasis, over 50% or the world, believe that God is the God of Genesis and that He made a covenant with Abraham. NBC News Poll of 2005 asked “Which do you think is more likely to actually be the explanation for the origin of human life on Earth: evolution or the biblical account of creation?” 33% answered evolution, 57% said biblical account, 3% said none of the above and 7% was unsure. Fifty seven percent of those who believed in the biblical account of creation were asked a follow up question: “And by this do you mean that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh as described in the Book of Genesis, or that God was a divine presence in the formation of the universe?” 44% of those answered that they believed the world was created in six days while 13% said divine presence.
2.) A World Wide Catastrophe.
While we are still on the Genesis theme I would like to note that there are over 500 flood stories and legends worldwide. Biblically we have the story of Noah found in Genesis chapters 6-9. Among the “earliest known works of literary writing” is the Epic of Gilgamesh which Gilgamesh meets a man named Utnapishtim who became immortal after building a ship to weather a flood that destroyed mankind. Utnapishtim had brought all his relative and all species of animals and released birds to find land then landed on a mountain. There is also the Hindu Puranic story of Manu where the King of Dravidadesa was asked by a fish to save it. Compassionately he placed it in a water jar until it began growing. Then he placed it in a larger pitcher and then a well. Eventually he has to put the continuously growing fish into a river and then the ocean where the fish ends up informing the King of a flood or deluge. The King builds a huge boat that fits him, his family, 9 types of seeds, and animals to repopulate the earth. His boats winds up on the top of the Malaya Mountains. A Greek version is the story of Deucalion where an angry Zeus decides to end the Bronze Age with a flood. Deucalion is told of the flood by his father, he then builds an ark, his family board it then repopulate the Earth. In Sumeria, the god Enki warns Ziudsura to build a large boat due to the coming destruction of the Earth. In China classic records detail one family survived a great flood by gathering their sons and son’s wives together in a large boat, afterwards they repopulated the Earth. The Choctaw tradition tells us that The Great Spirit destroyed a corrupt and wicked human race and all life on Earth, a prophet tried to warn the people to repent or die. He survived by building a raft of sassafras logs. The Chippewa believed that a war was fought between Nanabozho and the Great Serpent. The serpent was wounded and vowed to destroy the tribe by a flood. The tribe quickly built rafts, gathered animals, and escaped to the highest mountains. The Tamanakis of South America say that a man and woman escaped to the highest peak after being warned of a flood. After the flood they tossed coconuts behind them, which became the next race of man. World culture itself argues toward traumatic flood story. Meteorologist Michael J. Oard states “The Flood and its aftershocks provide the volcanic dust and gases that bring the summer cooling indispensable for the Ice Age. Water from the “fountains of the great deep” and mixing during the Flood provides a warm ocean. In the mid and high latitudes the warm ocean would cause copious evaporation and produce massive amounts of snow. The two ingredients required for an Ice Age, cool temperatures and tons of snow, were dramatically fulfilled immediately after the Genesis flood. This unique climate would persist for hundreds of years after the Flood as the intensity of the two mechanisms slowly decreased.”
3.) Historical Victory.
Buddha taught his doctrine and discipline for about 45 years. His estimated time of living was around 400 BC and his teachings were not written until around 400 years later; up to that point his teachings were orally passed down.
The Analects of Confucius where written over a period of 30 – 50 years sometime around 475 BC to 221 BC (254 year gap.)
Other than the fact that Plato wrote the dialogues of Socrates there is no real evidence to prove the existence of Socrates. He is assumed to have lived from 469 BC – 399 BC when he died as a martyr for his teachings. Plato (his student) lived 428/427 to 348/347 BC. The oldest manuscript of his dialogues was written in Constantinople in 895; almost 1242 years after his death.
All of the above and many, many more have no historically accurate integrity. Interestingly, people have no problem accepting that the works of their words and teachings are legitimate. All of the above people spent the majority of their lives working on a cause or seeking enlightenment; all of them achieved worthy respect as influential men of history. However Jesus had a three year ministry. Due to the work and teachings of a three year ministry the entire world was forever altered. As discussed above, the estimated time of Buddha’s life was 400 BC; or 400 years before Christ. Although modern free thinkers may use BCE now days for Before Common Era or CE for Common Era… it’s the exact same thing as Before Christ and After Death of Christ.
An interesting historic story about early Christianity is told when you follow the Roman Empire during the first few centuries AD. The first documented case of imperial Christian persecution begins with Nero in 64 AD. After a great fire broke out in Rome he (Nero) pointed his finger at Christians who were already viewed as an unusual religious sect. Nero’s forms of persecution: burning in the “tunica molesta,” (fundamentally a shirt dipped in gasoline) systematic murder, crucifixion, and being fed to lions and other wild beasts. Publius Cornelius Tacitus (56 AD – 117 AD, a senator and historian of the Roman Empire said in his history book Annals:
“ … a vast multitude, were convicted, not so much of the crime of incendiarism as of hatred of the human race. And in their deaths they were made the subject of sport; for they were wrapped in the hides of wild beasts and torn to pieces by dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set on fire, and when day declined, were burned to serve for nocturnal lights.”
Peter and Paul are said to have been martyred during the reign of Nero. Emperor Trajan declared Christianity illegal, although he did not actively pursue Christians, Christians were punished if charges could be proven. During the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, Christians were forbidden from public areas like the marketplace and baths. Christians were robbed, attacked and abused openly. One specific instance during this time was when two pagan servants falsely charged Christians with incest and cannibalism leading to a massacre where over 48 Christians. As Emperor Septimius Severus reigned, Clement of Alexandria said, “Many martyrs are daily burned, confined, or beheaded, before our eyes.” In 202 Septimius enacted a law prohibiting the spread of Christianity, becoming the first universal decree forbidding conversion to Christianity due to gaining power of the Christian movement. (pause for one moment… Christianity was actually gaining momentum in spite of its followers being fed to lions and used as street lamps?) One martyrdom story involves a young girl being cruelly tortured, then burned in a kettle of burning pitch with her mother; another being the martyred Perpetua and Felicity a story where at the demand of the crowd at a game event for a public festival, a group of Christians where scourged (or methodically beaten), then a boar, a bear and a leopard were set on the men, while a wild cow set on the women. In 235 Maximinus banished Pope Pontian to the island of Sardinia. Emperor Decius brought about a fresh persecution 250 AD when the first universal and organized persercution began. Decius issued an edict requiring all citizens to sacrifice to the emperor in the presence of a Roman official and obtain a certificate to prove it thereby cornering Christians. Public opinion seemed to grow as the martyr’s passive resistance strengthened the Christian movement. Emperor Valerian punished Christians with heavy fines, reduction of rank and death.
Either way, let’s skip forward to Emperor Constantine I (272 – 337 AD) best known for being the first Christian Roman emperor Constantine and reversing penalties for professing Christianity. In 391 AD all religions but Christianity were outlawed by Emperor Theodosius I. The same empire that used Christians to light the dark streets of Rome, 300 years later is officially Christian. Historical victory…‘Nuff Said.
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