The evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for 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.
Interpretation
The authenticity of the New Testament writings is more supported by evidence than many classical texts that are widely accepted.
F. F. Bruce emphasizes the substantial evidence supporting the authenticity of the New Testament compared to that of many classical authors. He argues that if the New Testament were treated like other secular texts, their authenticity would not be questioned, highlighting a bias in how ancient writings are assessed based on their content and context.
In practice
In a discussion on the reliability of ancient texts, this quote can be used to emphasize the evidence supporting religious writings.
Some writers may toy with the fancy of a ‘Christ-myth,’ but they do not do so on the ground of historical evidence. The historicity of Christ is as axiomatic for an unbiased historian as the historicity of Julius Caesar. It is not historians who propagate the ‘Christ-myth’ theories.
The soul’s deepest thirst is for God Himself, who has made us so that we can never be satisfied without Him.
I think there ought to be a strict separation or wall built between our religious faith and our practice of political authority in office. I don't think the President of the United States should extoll Christianity if he happens to be a Christian at the expense of Judaism, Islam or other faiths.
Like our attitude to love, truth and goodness, we seem to be confident about knowing what beauty is - certain, even dogmatic - until we think hard about the idea, whereupon all confidence flies away.
The world did not have me in mind; it had no mind. It was a coincidental collection of things and people, of items, an I myself was one such item...the things in the world did not necessarily cause my overwhelming feelings; the feelings were inside me, beneath my skin, behind my ribs, withing my skull. They were even, to some extent, under my control.
It's always a Catch-22 situation. They hate you if you're the same, and they hate you if you're different.
There are no contests in the Art of Peace. A true warrior is invincible because he or she contests with nothing. Defeat means to defeat the mind of contention that we harbor within.
A consciousness of wrongdoing is the first step to salvation...you have to catch yourself doing it before you can correct it.
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