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The New Testament: History's Verdict
From time to time, in a society governed by self and sin, the integrity of the
New Testament is called into question. We should be ever prepared for such
attacks and ready for an appropriate response. The following passage from a
popular work on evidences may be helpful.
"When an event takes place in history and there are enough people alive who were
eyewitnesses of it or had participated in the event, and when the information is
published, one is able to verify the validity of an historical event (circumstanial
evidence).
"William Lyon Phelps, for more than 40 years Yale's distinguished professor of
English literature, author of some 20 volumes of literary studies, public orator
of Yale says:
"'In the whole story of Jesus Christ, the most important event is the
resurrection. Christian faith depends on this. It is encouraging to know that it
is explicitly given by all four evangelists and told also by Paul. The names of
those who saw Him after His triumph over death are recorded; and it may be said
that the historical evidence for the resurrection is stronger than for any other
miracle anywhere narrated; for as Paul said, if Christ is not risen from the
dead then is our preaching in vain, and your faith is also vain.'
"Professor Ambrose Fleming, emeritus professor of Electrical Engineering in the
University of Longdon, honorary fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge,
receiver of the Faraday Medal in 1928, . . . one of England's outstanding
scientists . . . says of the New Testament documents:
"'We must take this evidence of experts as to the age and authenticity of this
writing, just as we take the facts of astronomy on the evidence of astronomers
who do not contradict each other. This being so, we can ask ourselves whether it
is probable that such book, describing events that occurred about thirty or
forty years previously, could have been accepted and cherished if the stories of
abnormal events in it were false or mythical. It is impossible, because the
memory of all elderly persons regarding events of thirty or forty years before
is perfectly clear'."
From Evidence Demands a Verdict, by Josh McDowell, p.#189.
By Warren E. Berkley
The Final Page
From Expository Files 4.2; February 1997
