Can We Trust the New Testament?

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Steve Foster

On October 1, 2011, Dr. Daniel Wallace, professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, and Dr. Bart Ehrman, professor of Religious Studies at UNC Chapel Hill, had a debate over the trustworthiness of the New Testament. I watched the debate on DVD.

Both scholars agreed that the New Testament is the best attested historical document from ancient times. There are 5600 Greek manuscripts of the NT, 10,000+ copies in other languages, and enough NT quotes from the early “church fathers” to reconstruct the entire NT from their works alone. No other ancient book or writing comes close…nothing is even in the same ballpark.

But Dr. Ehrman has made a career out of attacking the historical reliability of the NT. Some of his books have even become NY Times best-sellers…for instance, Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why and Forged: Writing in the Name of God – Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are. Dr. Ehrman’s skepticism and scholarly sarcasm toward God and the Bible plays well in our current culture.

Dr. Ehrman’s argument against the reliability of the NT stands on two grounds: 1) all we have is copies of copies of copies of the NT and 2) there are countless variations between the Greek manuscripts that we do have.

Dr. Wallace’s response answered both issues. 1) Yes, we have copies of copies but the evidence of the reliability of these copies is overwhelming. There are copies from the early centuries after Christ, copies from various places in the ancient world, and so many copies that all the readings of the NT can be compared and analyzed to find the most accurate reading. No other ancient manuscript can even come close to this much data. 2) There are so many variations between the manuscripts quite simply because we have so many manuscripts to compare. And almost all Bible scholars agree (even Ehrman) that the overwhelming majority of these variations (~99%) are either spelling errors, word order differences (which is common in Greek), or mistakes like missing letters or duplicated words. Only ~1% could be classified as significant and none of these affect one essential belief in Christianity.

That evidence wasn’t enough in Ehrman’s opinion. When asked by an audience member what amount of evidence he would need to convince him that the NT manuscripts were reliable, Ehrman replied, “If someone found 12 manuscripts dated from within a week of the writing of the NT then I would say that was strong evidence.”

But even if such a treasure house of NT manuscripts were found, I am sure the skeptic in Ehrman would still find something conspiratorial or doubtful about them.

Ehrman demanded absolute certainty. Wallace provided compelling evidence. And Ehrman was not impressed.

Ehrman would say things like “Dr. Wallace still has not provided absolute proof that we can trust the New Testament. How do we know that someone didn’t make major changes in the earliest manuscripts? Quite simply, we don’t.”

Wallace would respond along these lines. “If that is Dr. Ehrman’s criteria, then we have to throw out all that we think we know of the ancient world…everything. All of it must go. When we are dealing with history, we have to deal in the area of evidence not absolute proof.”

In Ehrman’s closing statement, he used an analogy that summed up his argument. He said something like this:

When it comes to the issue of trust, the burden of proof lies on the one who says that you can trust something. If a train full of people approaches a bridge across a great chasm, the person who says that the bridge can hold the train is the one who has to prove it. If there isn’t absolute certainty, then the train shouldn’t cross the bridge.

It was a good analogy…and Dr. Wallace chose not to address it in his closing statement.

But I kept thinking about it later.

There was one key missing element in Ehrman’s analogy…the reason why the train was going to cross the bridge. If the people on the train were simply on a leisurely trip, then, yes, crossing a bridge with only say 95% certainty of the bridge’s reliability would be foolish. But if the train was filled with people who were dying or in great jeopardy and the bridge was the only means to a hospital or to safety, then actually the burden of proof would lie on the skeptic who was shouting by the side of the tracks, “Don’t cross that bridge! It is too unsafe!” And if, upon questioning, that person could only offer, “Well, no one knows with absolute certainty that that bridge will hold you,” then it would actually be foolish to not cross the bridge.

In other words, Ehrman assumes that trusting the New Testament is the dangerous proposition and that staying a skeptic and having no belief in the reliability of the Bible–and hence, no belief in God, Jesus, or the resurrection from the dead–is the only safe place to be.

I would see it the other way around.

If there is no real God, no reliable Bible, no Savior named Jesus or no resurrection from the dead, then who cares whether we cross the bridge or not. All of us are going to perish anyway. Might as well go out with one last hurrah trying to cross a bridge that looks like it might lead to safety.

BUT if there is evidence that Scripture is reliable…that God does exist…that there was a man named Jesus who walked this earth and rose from the dead….then continuously critiquing the bridge and mocking the people on the train trusting it for salvation is the work of a scoffer not a scholar.

Especially when you die by the edge of the tracks.

Posted in Tough Questions of Faith | 2 Comments

Humility & the Tax Office

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Steve Foster

I was convinced they were wrong. I was also convinced that they were incompetent.

In the past year, I have called the city tax office five or six times. Everything made sense to me. I moved to Baton Rouge in May 2010. Thus, I paid taxes in 2010 for a partial year. In 2011, I refinanced. My mortgage company paid a portion of my taxes at the loan closing. Thus at the end of 2011 I paid the difference. I had my HUD statements and even a cancelled check from my mortgage company to prove all of this.

But the city tax office kept telling me that I owed $800. No matter how many times and how many people I explained things to, the answer was the same, “Mr. Foster, your property tax balance is $800.”

I was irritated. Frustrated. Opinionated. “Can’t they hire anyone with half a brain down there? This is pathetic.”

But to their credit, even though those city workers were downright inept, they were still friendly.

“Mr. Steve, I will have Ms. Louanna look at it. She is the best at figuring out all these things.”

“Great,” I thought, “My best chances for resolution lie in the lap of some woman named after a cooking oil.”

But I didn’t say that. In fact, for the most part, I kept my composure. I am a pastor after all. And I believe that, in the end, persistence pays more dividends than rudeness. So I kept calling and collecting data to support my cause.

But then it hit me. While I was on hold with some obscure company in PA that handles loan closings, a dimmed out light in my brain suddenly flickered on.

“Wait a second. When I bought the house in 2010, the seller did not pay a partial portion of my 2010 taxes, they credited me that amount so that I could pay the full amount. And when I refinanced my loan, the mortgage company didn’t pay a portion of my 2011 taxes, they paid the taxes I still owed from 2010!”

I hung up the phone.

Those inept city workers were actually the ones who understood. I was the clueless one.

At first I laughed. Then I cried. I really did owe $800. And it would be more if I didn’t pay it by the end of the week.

The next day I took a trip downtown to make sure my taxes were paid before any additional penalties kicked in. After standing in line for twenty minutes…and fighting back the temptation to complain about the lack of quick service…I finally got to the counter with the worker who seemed to be taking the longest with her customers. She was the friendliest one…but she wasn’t Louanna.

As I paid my bill, I explained my story and apologized if she happened to be one of the workers that I talked to on the phone at some point in the past year. She understood my confusion and laughed with me as I talked about my boneheadedness.  Then she began to look more in-depth at my tax bill.

“Mr. Foster, you do owe the $800 but it doesn’t look like you have claimed the homestead exemption the past two years.”

“The what?”

“The homestead exemption.”

“How do you qualify for that?”

“Do you live in the home?”

“Yes.”

“Then  you qualify.”

She proceeded to explain how the homestead exemption works and how it would save me roughly $800 per year. Then she explained the process for applying for it.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me this before?”

“Well usually your mortgage company explains this but sometimes they don’t know or simply fail to let the buyer know.”

I guess mine was one of those companies.

By the end of the day I had applied for the homestead exemption and was assured that I would receive a refund not only for 2011 but also for 2010. What looked like an $800 bill turned out to be an $800 blessing.

I praised God.

And I appraised myself.

It is so easy to convince ourselves that we have it all figured out, that we have a handle on the facts and everyone else who disagrees with us is either stupid or incompetent. It is hard to be humble, teachable, willing to be corrected, ready to acknowledge our mistakes.

But we must.

One of the most repeated truths in the Bible is a simple one: God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5, Ps 138:6, Prov 3:34, 29:23, Matt 23:12, Luke 14:11, 18:14).

And sometimes with the grace comes a homestead exemption.

Posted in Random Thoughts | 7 Comments

Density and Sovereignty

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Steve Foster

17 Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, 18 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, 19 and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.” (Matthew 20:17-19)

Jesus continues his final trek to Jerusalem. Along the way, He senses the need to pull His disciples aside and again remind them about what is going to happen to Him in Jerusalem. This is His third crucifixion/resurrection prediction in Matthew (16:21, 17:22-23).

Mark’s gospel tells us that the disciples were both amazed and fearful as they approached Jerusalem (Mark 10:32). Jesus apparently told them these words to remind them that everything was under control. Yes, He would be betrayed and crucified but He would rise again. But Luke tells us that even after hearing these words, the disciples had no idea what Jesus meant (Luke 18:34). They probably assumed that Jesus was speaking figuratively. They just couldn’t process how the Messiah could be rejected and killed…and the concept of physical resurrection was not at the forefront of their thinking (cf. Mark 9:10).

Part of me wonders why the disciples just couldn’t get it. Jesus’ words seem so self-explanatory. So clear. But the disciples are like the rest of us. When you think a certain way, it is hard to hear anything contrary to your thinking. You fight it. Or you explain it away. A rejected, crucified Messiah was not in the disciples’ theology. They couldn’t process it. They couldn’t accept it. So they missed it. And by missing the concept of a crucified Messiah, they missed the hope and glory of a resurrected One as well.

It is a reminder to me that I have to keep my ears and heart open to the Word of the Lord. I am to be firm in my beliefs, established in the core truths of Scripture…but I am also to be teachable, moldable, always humble in my own limited perspective and hungry for God to expand my understanding. May I never get to the point where I think I have it all figured out. May I never get to the point that inwardly I take Jesus aside like Peter and say, “Lord, let me tell You how it should be.”

The other thought that strikes me from this passage is that God is in control. He is sovereign. While the chief priests and scribes will act on their own accord and the Roman soldiers and rulers will make their own decisions, they will ultimately act in accordance with God’s foreordained, foreseen plan.

For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, gathered together, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done (Acts 4:27-28).

I can’t really fathom that. It is beyond my comprehension. But in the mind of God both work together seamlessly, without contradiction, for His glory.

That should give me comfort. Whatever happens in this world, it is all within the plan of God. Nothing is beyond His control. And even when things look dark, look dire, look disastrous, God can somehow bring victory and glory out of it. Without the tragedy, there is no triumph. Without the fire, there is no refinement. Without the cross, there is no resurrection.

Posted in Matthew Devotionals | Leave a comment

The End of the World?

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Steve Foster

Well, 2012 has begun…and talk of the “end of the world” will certainly increase as the year goes on. The Mayan “Long Count Calendar,” which presumably began on August 11, 3114 BC (according to the best guess of some scholars), will come to completion 5125 years later on December 21, 2012.

Uh oh.

I guess if you are Mayan then this is your Y2K moment when you fear that all your stone calendars and utensils will stop working :>).

Actually I am impressed that the Mayans had such a calendar. They were a resourceful people. And if nothing else, they made sure that their civilization would be talked about 5000 years later. But to derive any other meaning from their Long Count Calendar is obviously hype-filled speculation. The Mayans didn’t have any idea what would happen 5125 years after their calendar began…nor did they care.

But there is something interesting behind all the speculation of the world’s demise. Something inside of us reminds us that our existence is fragile and that the world can not go on forever. Something tells us that the world will eventually end.

And I agree.

Just as the world began at a certain time, it will end at a certain time. The universe is not eternal. It has a beginning and it will have an end. We just don’t know when that end will be. Jesus makes it clear: But of that day and hour no one knows, no, not even the angels of heaven [or the Mayans], but My Father only (Matthew 24:36).

That doesn’t stop the speculation.

I remember reading George Orwell’s 1984 in 1984 and being disturbed at the thought of such an oppressive, intrusive government. Big Brother is watching! I remember being in Bible college and someone giving me 88 Reasons Why the World Will End in 1988. I was bummed that I wouldn’t graduate but glad that my Greek exam might not happen.

Then my first year in ministry in NJ (1999) I spent considerable time dealing with the Y2K issue. Some in the church had read Michael Hyatt’s The Millennial Bug and were stockpiling food and gas supplies and warning others to do the same. I had to remind people that it was wise to be prepared for any unexpected emergency but that fear, speculation, and excessive stockpiling were not to be our response.

Most recently radio preacher Harold Camping made the news for predicting the end of the world on May 21, 2011 and then adjusting it to October 21 when May 21 passed without instance. He quietly retired a few days later on Oct 24…probably 40 years too late.

So how do we respond to all this? How is the Christian to live in light of the “end of the world”?

We are not to be flippant as those who mockingly say, Where is the promise of His coming? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation (2 Peter 3:4).

On the other hand, we are not to be fearful Chicken Littles or dogmatic date-setters who quit our jobs and stand on a mountain waiting for the Lord to take us home (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:2, 3:10-12).

I think 1 Peter 4:7-10 has the answer. It was back in 1999 when these verses really caught my attention. Ever since then they have been my “go to” verses whenever someone predicts the end of the world or when my own mind wonders how I should live in light of the return of Christ.

The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. (1 Peter 4:7-10)

The apostles lived every day in light of Jesus’ return. When Jesus ascended to heaven, they were ready for Him to return (Acts 1:6). Thus Peter lived with his eyes on the skies. But he also lived practically and reasonably, realizing that the return of the Lord, while imminent, could also be thousands of years later.

So since the end of all things is near (it could happen at any moment)…therefore (this is how to live)…

Pray with a level head. Peter doesn’t say freak out, act weird, and walk around with an end of the world sandwich sign. He says be sober-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray effectively. In other words, be observant. Be discerning. Be wise. Be aware of what is happening in the world and also be knowledgeable of Scripture. And pray for God’s glory to be manifested in whatever happens in the day-to-day events of life. God is ultimately in control so fear and panic do not need to dominate the mind of the believer.

Love with a forgiving heart. Instead of becoming obnoxious with people or cursing at the world, Peter says…above all other things…make love a priority. The Great Commandment doesn’t change whether Christ comes back today or 5000 years from now. We are called to love God with the totality of our being and to demonstrate that love by loving others as Christ has loved us. That is our calling…and it is to increase as we see the Day approaching not decrease (cf. Hebrews 10:25). So to live in light of Christ’s return means to live with short accounts. I don’t let any conflict go unresolved because I don’t want to face my Savior with a bitter heart over some petty offense.

Bless others with an open home. Instead of holing yourself up in a cabin in Montana with your shotgun and your MRE’s, Peter says open up your home…and do so without grumbling. Peter is writing to suffering believers who may have grown tired of helping others and just wanted to close up shop and isolate themselves for awhile. Peter says don’t do that…and also don’t help others from some kind of martyr’s complex or sense of duty. Be hospitable with joy. Difficult times may come in 2012. An economic downturn may happen. Persecution may increase. But regardless, we are to be a giving and generous people (as exhibited in an open home) ready to help our fellow brothers and sisters as needed.

Serve with willing hands. Finally Peter says don’t retreat and pull away from the local church, but instead become more involved, using whatever gifts you have for God’s glory. The body of Christ functions best when every believer is doing their part. The worst thing about end-of-the-world-date-setting is that it usually distracts people from God’s work and often creates division in a local church. If you look at those who bought into Camping’s predictions, you often see people who are uninvolved in a local church, critical of it, and eager to follow some kind of different movement. They are tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine and easy prey for deceit (cf. Ephesians 4:14). Being part of a local church keeps me balanced in my thinking, accountable in my actions, and focused on relating to people who are different than me.

So that would be Peter’s advice for the start of 2012. Christ could come back this year. Maranatha! But whether He does or doesn’t, our calling as believers remains consistent.

Pray. Love. Bless. Serve.

With your eyes on the skies.

Posted in Eschatology/Prophecy | Leave a comment

The Danger of a Sanitized Christmas

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Steve Foster

A friend’s dad died this week. Just like that. Literally in an instant. One minute he is breathing, living, relating to his family, shopping, planning for Christmas. The next minute he is in eternity. With God. But away from his family. At Christmas no less, the time that you want your family to be together, the time that you want to be filled with joy and peace, the time that you want life to make sense…if even for a moment.

As I thought about that this week, I realized that we often talk about the danger of a commercialized Christmas. Christmas turned into a money-making, spend yourself into debt, get more stuff commercial holiday…totally removed from the heart and meaning of Christ’s birth.

But there is another more subtle danger that is sometimes easier for us to fall into. A sanitized Christmas. Christmas turned into a Hallmark card with a milky white baby resting peacefully in a straw bed. Cute animals peering in adoration. Clean shepherds on their knees. A placid Joseph and Mary sitting next to their makeshift cradle. And halos sitting on everybody’s heads.

A beautiful picture. Idyllic. Peaceful. Serene. But is it real?

I think of Luke’s short comment about Jesus’ birth. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn (2:7).

No room in the inn. A man with his pregnant wife on the verge of giving birth can’t find a place to stay. They were out-of-towners, arriving at a time when the small town of Bethlehem was overrun with people for the government census. Moods had to be strained. Space was limited. It was every man for himself. And Joseph arrived late to the game.

And so, stressed, tired, and probably scared to death, Joseph does the best he can. He finds an animal stall perhaps in a nearby cave. That is where his wife will deliver their first child.

I grew up with cows and chickens in the backyard. I know that where there are animals, there is lots of dung. Lots of flies. Lots of stink. We never gave a bath to our cows.

Mary goes into labor in a barn…with only her husband, the carpenter, to help her deliver.

Alone. Ostracized. In pain. And nobody seems to care.

There is no indication that Mary’s labor was easier because she bore the Savior of the world. The birthing process had to be painful. That was the curse of Adam’s sin (cf. Gen. 3:16). The One who would bear our pain brought pain on that night.

Joseph would be the only one to help Mary through her painful labor. With only the animals watching. And the flies buzzing around.

This baby would be born in the most unsanitized of conditions.

She laid him in a manger. After the delivery, Joseph scrambles to find whatever he can. Supplies were limited. He grabs a feeding trough, also known as a manger, dumps out the morsels of food and fills it with whatever clean hay he can find. The umbilical cord is cut with an old knife that he has in his bag.

She wrapped Him in swaddling cloths. Strips of cloth. Mary and Joseph have very few clean clothes but they take what they have and tear it into smaller strips so that they can wrap the baby tightly, warmly. The same process used to wrap a dead body is used to wrap their newborn baby. The baby who was born to die.

The first and perhaps only visitors that night (the wise men came much later) are a group of shepherds. Not the clean shaven guys with the nice white and blue robes and the cute little lamb in their arms. No, the rough guys who hadn’t bathed in weeks, if not months. Considered unclean by the Jews. Smelly. Outcasts. They are the ones who show up to welcome the child and provide some brief companionship and comfort to the new, tired parents.

Blood. Stench. Dirt. Dung. Flies.

Alone. Unwelcome. Ostracized.

Pain. Labor. Life…and reminders of death.

Not the picture that we normally have of Christmas. How would you paint that on a Hallmark card? What would it say on the inside? “Hope your Christmas is better than the experience of these people.”

But there is real hope in the unsanitized Christmas.

Jesus Christ was not born to make our world a little better, to make the winter months more bearable, to make life and death a little more tolerable. He wasn’t born into a world with a few problems needing improvement.

Jesus was born into a world of sin…a world of pain, sorrow, stench, betrayal, rejection, dung, flies, and death…a world separated from God. A world without hope. A world needing a Savior.

You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).

In the unsanitized Christmas we see two things.

We see sin. The cancer of creation. The rebellion from our Creator. The selfishness that courses through our veins. We have no room for God. We want our own way. We want God to bow to us. And all of creation groans under the weight of sin’s curse. The world is not the way it is supposed to be. We are not the way we are supposed to be. And death seems to have the final word.

And we see Jesus. “Jehovah saves.” God in the act of salvation.

His birth was God invading our world.

His death was God bearing our sin.

His resurrection was God conquering our enemy, death.

And His return will be God wiping away our tears.

Even the tears of Christmas…when we miss our loved ones the most.

Posted in Christmas Devotionals | 1 Comment