Why is New Testament Quoted to Prove the New Testmantent is True?

Question

Same thing with Jesus, why is his words used to prove he is who he said he is? Or a book based on beleiveing in him is quoted to support is exsistence? I am asking a real question.

Answer 1

Great point - it's like Stephen King writing a review on the newest Stephen King novel ;);););)

Answer 2

There are ways we know what happened in history. For example, we know by manuscript evidence that the New Testament we have today is accurate. By archeological evidence, we know that people, places and events referred to within the New or Old Testaments are also real.

C. Sanders, in his book Introduction to Research in English Literary History, lists three criteria that scholars use to determine whether or not an ancient document is genuine:

Test #1: Bibliographical Test

Test #2: Internal Evidence Test

Test #3: External Evidence Test

Let’s focus on the bibliographic test. This is the process whereby a scholar evaluates all the current copies of a document to test them for consistency. If you have one copy that is 500 years old, and also have a newer copy that is only 100 years old, you would compare the newer document to the older one to see if there were any changes. Historians always consider the oldest copy as the most reliable source because it was written or copied closer to the original texts.

The other part of the bibliographical test has to do with the number of copies made. This is another place where the New Testament is unique to all other ancient literature. There are a number of ancient writings that scholars regard as part of history with basically “no questions asked.”

One of these writings is The Gallic Wars by Julius Caesar. These writings speak of Julius Caesar’s conquest of Gaul (modern-day France) during the first century. You will find this documented in every history book of Ancient Rome…nobody refutes this. However, we only have 10 copies of these original writings and these were written over 1,000 years after Caesar. But even though these were written 1,000 years after Caesar, nobody disputes their credibility.

Another commonly accepted work of early Rome is The History of Rome by Livy. Currently there is only a portion of a copy made 400 years after the original. The earliest complete copy was found dated at 1,000 years after Livy. Just like The Gallic Wars, historians accept these ancient documents as accurate and historical.

Others include writings by Tacitus and Homer. Tacitus wrote his Annals of Roman History around 100 A.D. Twenty copies remain dated 1,000 years after his death. Scholars have discovered 643 manuscripts of Homer’s Iliad, but the oldest dates from the 13th century.

Why is all of this important? Because historians give credibility to these other ancient documents even though most were written 1,000 years after the actual events and the number of copies found to compare are very limited. Yet nobody disputes the contents of these ancient documents.

In the “The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?”, F.F. Bruce says “The evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than …many writings of classical authors, the authenticity of which no one dreams of questioning….And if the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt.”

The New Testament doesn’t have 643 copies. There are close to 25,000. And these 25,000 copies and portions of New Testament manuscripts are all consistent with the actual New Testament we hold in our hands today.

There are many examples where people have claimed that some person, place or event in the Bible did not exist or did not occur, only to be proven wrong as a result of an archeological find.

For example, people claimed that Nineveh was not a real city and denied that Assyrians were a real people. That was until Austen Henry Layard excavated Nineveh circa 1840.

Similarly, people denied the existence of both Caiphas, the High Priest who ordered Jesus’ arrest, and Pontius Pilate. That was until 1961 when archaeologists in Caesarea uncovered a limestone block inscribed, “Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea.” In 1990, archeologists discovered the ossuary belonging to Caiphas.

The more they dig up, the more the Bible is shown to be true!

Answer 3

The big wheel keeps on turning and always comes back to the same thing...PROOF! Why do people always forget that the bible had many authors? Both the Old and the New are the written stories of people who lived in those times. What kind of proof will satisfy you if not the words, thoughts, feelings and corroboration of hundreds?

Neither God nor Jesus Christ wrote these chapters. If you believe there is no evidence that supports these things, albeit little, perhaps you should pack up your D.N.A. mindsets and realize that those things we have at our disposal today to verify evidence were not available then nor in the hundreds of years since they all lived. If you question the Bible then it naturally follows that you do not believe anything which cannot be proven by some scientific means. We take so many things in life on faith...why is this such a problem?

Answer 4

There was a Roman historian, his name escapes me, who actually wrote about the crucifixion of Jesus, but his version is completely different from what is in the Bible. The early church leaders must have missed this one during their purge of unsavory information.

The Roman Historian was Tacitus, and his account of Jesus does not agree with the New Testament. Further, ALL of the manuscripts are proven to be altered through their copy history. Deal with it.

Answer 5

It is the _OLD_ Testament that is quoted to show fulfillment of the prophecies.
You may be thinking of the several retellings of the same item.

Answer 6

The lack of other compelling evidence makes it impossible to do otherwise.

You know, objective third-party witnesses. Physical evidence. Etc.

Answer 7

I believe you are.. and sadly, the answer is that they believe that their bible is the "inspired word of God".. so we should ALL just buy into it..

Of course, the lack of historical, physical and empirical evidence that any of that ever happened is supposed to be overlooked.

The infected just can't see that they are sick.

Answer 8

Because I use the oxford dictionary to put People down showing my superiority and sanctimony.
I know by heart and I am thorough with the said dick.

Answer 9

Its called circular logic. It work great if you are the one with the power to enforce it.

Answer 10

Because, if you want to know the truth, you have to go to the one true source of truth, which we know to be true because it SAYS its true, so it can't be false, and, therefore, it's TRUE.