Former fundamentalist 'debunks' Bible

cnn ^ | May 15, 2009

[JoeProBono]

Just so you know, Bart Ehrman says he's not the anti-Christ. Bart Ehrman says most of the New Testament is a forgery but it's still an important body of work. Bart Ehrman says most of the New Testament is a forgery but it's still an important body of work. He says he's not trying to destroy your faith. He's not trying to bash the Bible. And, though his mother no longer talks to him about religion, Ehrman says some of his best friends are Christian. Ehrman, a best-selling author and a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is a biblical sleuth whose investigations make some people very angry. Like the fictional Robert Langdon character played by actor Tom Hanks in the movie "Angels & Demons," he delves into the past to challenge some of Christianity's central claims. In Ehrman's latest book, "Jesus, Interrupted," he concludes: Doctrines such as the divinity of Jesus and heaven and hell are not based on anything Jesus or his earlier followers said. At least 19 of the 27 books in the New Testament are forgeries. Believing the Bible is infallible is not a condition for being a Christian.

[TFMcGuire]

Ha ha ha ha!

“Last eve I passed beside a blacksmith’s door
And heard the anvil ring the vesper chime;
When looking in, I saw upon the floor,
Old hammers worn with beating years of time.
“How many anvils have you had, said I,
To wear and batter all these hammers so?
Just one, said he; then said with twinkling eye,
The anvil wears the hammers out you know.”
“And so, I thought, the anvil of God’s word
For ages skeptics’ blows have beat upon;
Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard,
The anvil is unharmed - the hammers gone!”

[JoeProBono]

[kalee]

In Chapel Hill? Sure he does.

[brytlea]

If one doesn’t believe Jesus rose from the dead, then they don’t believe the central tenet of Christianity. Thus, they are not Christians. I think we should all pray for this man.

[texmexis best]

This guy is just another “retro-heretic”.

All of his ideas have been seen before and have been debunked.

[Friendofgeorge]

Really he only holds the same views as so called “Democrat Christians” (oxymoron btw)

Most Liberals say that Jesus would never have said....I am the way the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but through Me, etc etc etc. Hey, Obama and Hillary both answered that homosexuality is not a sin. Obama says Christ is not the only way to God. Joel Osteen says that Christ is not the only way to God.

I fail to see the difference between this fellow and any “liberal Christian” (another oxymoron)

[El Cid]

I bet Bart doesn’t have many friends ...

Oh, I'm sure satan (the father of lies, "Yea, hath God said...") and the world have befriended Bart. Interestingly enough, Islam also teaches this forgery nonsense...

But the Truth will be revealed in its time.
It would have been better if Bart had taken this passage to heart - rather than crank it through his textual criticism analysis:

Matthew 10
32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

But of course Bart believes this is all forgery...Here's praying that he gets his head and heart right before he finds out when it is too late.

[scarsc]

<> It took off primarily through the efforts of Constantine, who made it the official religion of the empire. However, how fast or how far a religion spreads isn't, in and of itself, proof of much. Christianity got a head start of over 600 years to Islam, yet Islam now has over 1.5 billion followers. That, in and of itself, doesn't speak to whether Islam is "true" or not.

[mikeus_maximus]

I guess CNN, History Channel, and other liberal media groups got tired of trotting out the usual Jesus Society hacks whenever they feel like attacking Christianity. Erhman’s been around for a while now, and his approach likewise finds its roots in the so-called Higher Critism movement of a century ago. His methods, assumptions, and speculations have been likewise debunked as unscientific wishful thinking.

[ak267]

Quote:

---

Bart Ehrman says most of the New Testament is a forgery but it’s still an important body of work.

---

Unquote:

Isn’t that like a person getting a bogus $20 bill, realizes that it’s bogus, yet tries to pass if off anyway????

[mikeus_maximus]

I guess CNN, History Channel, and other liberal media groups got tired of trotting out the usual Jesus Society hacks whenever they feel like attacking Christianity. Erhman’s been around for a while now, and his approach likewise finds its roots in the so-called Higher Criticism movement of a century ago. His assumptions are unsubstantiated speculations and wishful thinking.

[DManA]

he began to develop doubts about the infallibility of the Bible after attending Princeton Theological Seminary to become a college Bible professor.

Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 1 Corinthians 1:20

[LiteKeeper]

Standing back...making room for the wrath of God!!!

[D-fendr]

but writing a text and claiming the work was penned by someone else, like an apostle.

If memory serves, this was a common, and not illegitimate, practice in earlier times.

If a follower wrote about the teachings it was in the teacher's name. This is true not just for Christian writers. The weren't concerned with copyright or royalties and it was in humility and for accuracy they credited the teacher.

That a certain scripture under the name of X was written by X's disciple is not a revelation or discredit. There's also a great many writings in world religion that were orally transmitted long before they were committed to writing. Who was the forger then?

This whole point seems to fail in an anachronistic error.

[Free Vulcan]

Does he speak Greek and Hebrew? Otherwise don’t waste my time.

[353FMG]

Sigh. Better and more informed people than Ehrman have tried to discredit this PERSON in the last 19 centuries and they have failed.

[scory]

As others have pointed out the bible is quite probably THE most-studied book in human history. It has been subjected to every form of calumny, misrepresentation and distortion that human minds have been able to conjure - all of them repeated with monotonous regularity over the centuries. This fellow has not and will not come up with anything new, startling or even interesting.

Critics have been “debunking” the bible and pointing out the contradictions and inconsistencies for as long as there has been a bible. The bible is still here. Where are the critics?

[Two Kids' Dad]

I think he’s saying that it’s not the actual true word of God, but still teaches valuable lessons about right and wrong.

But I could be mistaken.

[lwd]

It’s great to see my NC taxes are going to fund to such profound work. /s

[TFMcGuire]

Thanks for the visual, Joe.

:)