The “New Atheists”, such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchins’ claim that the New Testament accounts of Jesus are nothing but unreliable ideas passed on like “Chinese whispers” containing nothing but “hearsay upon hearsay”. As such, the New Testament accounts of Jesus are unreliable and fictitious.
In order for New Atheists to perpetuate such falsehoods, they need to avoid scholarly research. As I’ve said earlier: they have been very successful at this. They give little evidence of having done more than paddle about in the shallow end of Google—re-quoting anti-Christian rhetoric.
The thing is: Christianity is not a culturally derived religious philosophy that gradually evolved over the years. Christianity is based on concrete historical events.
This claim is hugely significant and very bold… for if it can be shown that the New Testament accounts of Jesus are nothing but myths and exaggerations formed incrementally over the years by overzealous adherents, Christianity disappears in a puff of smoke leaving nothing behind but moralistic platitudes.
So let us take a look at the historical integrity of the gospel stories of Jesus in the Bible.
John, the disciple who was closest to Jesus begins his epistles with these amazing words:
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have see with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of Life. The life appeared, we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us (1 John 1:1-3)
John is making it quite clear that he is writing from his first-hand experiences of Jesus. He is not at all interested in teaching myths that might have occurred about him at a later stage.
Peter and the other apostles said similar things. Luke records them in Acts saying: We are witnesses to these thing(Acts 5:32).
The apostle Paul was equally passionate about accurately transmitting Jesus’ words and actions. He understood that the revelation he had of Jesus, and the truths handed to him by the apostles, were a sacred entrustment that he needed to pass on faithfully in an untainted way.
The apostle Luke who wrote one of the gospel accounts of Jesus’ life took real pains to research all that happened in the life of Jesus using first-hand accounts of the apostles. He begins his gospel, saying:
Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taugh(Luke 1:1-4).
One of the extraordinary features of the New Testament regarding its witness to Jesus Christ is how soon the Scriptures were written after his death.
There is no hint of the theology of Jesus gradually being fabricated by over-imaginative Christians in the years after Jesus’ death. Far from it! The fully finished theological and historical record of Jesus exploded into being fully formed very quickly after Jesus’ time on earth came to an end.
What is more: we have an incredible number of early New Testament manuscripts that give us the assurance that what was written within easy living memory of Jesus, is what we read now.
The earliest piece of New Testament manuscript found by archaeologists is a tiny piece of papyrus found in Egypt. It is known as P52 and it is thought to between 90-150AD — possibly just thirty years after John wrote it.
Because so many early copies of the New Testament text have been found, the different texts could be crosschecked for accuracy. Remarkably, the texts have been found to retain an accuracy of over 99%. In archaeological terms, this level of accuracy is unheard of; it has no parallel.
So please don’t dismiss the gospel accounts of Jesus in the New Testament as unreliable. As with multiple accounts of any event: of course they differ slightly — but the accounts are remarkable consistent. They tell the story of God coming to us as Jesus to rescue us back to himself. Please don’t miss out on it.
