“Walking with Jesus” featuring The Mustard Seed Soul Band from the album “Heart and Soul” recorded and produced by Ross Gill
So I have been looking at whether or not the Gospels are true or fairy- stories and this week I wish to draw on the book “The Case Against Christ” by John Young to consider the procedure for assessing the reliability of the New Testament. Young says the procedure is the same as for assessing any ancient document and is founded on two vital factors both of which depend on the discovery of copies of the original:
The first factor involves the number of copies which have been found
The second concerns the age of these copies, the time lag between the original document and the copies which now exist is very important.
The problem is how can we tell that the copies which have survived are accurate copies of the original? We can be confident an accurate record is possessed when we find several copies which are basically similar and the copies were penned fairly near to the time that the original document was written.
The date of the original document of Caesar’s Gallic War was AD 58-50 BC, the oldest surviving copy AD 850 (a gap of 900 years) and there are 10 copies in existence today For the Gospels the date of the original documents would have been AD 65- 90 with the oldest surviving copy dated less than 300 years later and with over 2000 copies in existence today. (In fact one fragment of a manuscript is dated only AD 130.) So the wealth of manuscripts and the narrow interval of time between the writing of the original and the earliest existing copies make the New Testament by far the best attested text of any ancient writing in the world.
Young quotes Professor FF Taylor
There is much more evidence for the New Testament than for any other ancient writings of comparable date.
And Dr. M C Tenney
In spite of the numerous possibilities for error, the New Testament s probably the most trustworthy piece of writing that has survived from antiquity.
“What More Can You Do Lord?” featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard from the album “Precious” recorded and produced by Ross Gill
First I would like to express my sincere thanks to Alex E. Serban who works for the Romanian Christian Cable TV company Credo. Not only did Alex translate the whole of Risen! The Musical into Romanian but he also produced the promo video which is featured today.
Last week I said that I would look at whether or not the Gospels are true or fairy- stories. In fact the blogs of July of 2015 dealt with this subject in some depth drawing in particular on the book “The Case For Christ” written by Lee Strobel, however the main points that I would like to raise are as follows:
The traditional view is that it was Matthew, the disciple and ex- tax collector who wrote the Gospel that bears his name. Mark is believed to largely consist of the preaching of the disciple Peter arranged and shaped by his close associate John Mark who features in the Book of Acts as a companion of Paul and Barnabas. His mother had a house in Jerusalem which served as a place of communion for the disciples (Acts 12:12) Many think he was the young man who fled naked when Jesus was arrested (Mark 14:51) Traditionally John’s Gospel has been attributed to the disciple John, brother of James and son of Zebedee who may have been a cousin of Jesus. Luke, the author of the third Gospel was a doctor and historian who had, in his own words, carefully investigated the life of Christ. He was also a close companion of Paul who although not one of the twelve disciples is still regarded as an apostle as he met the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus.
What would be the purpose of these four writers making it all up- what would they have gained expect perhaps some notoriety? Peter was crucified upside down for his faith, John was exiled into hard labour, Paul was beheaded and tradition has Matthew also martyred. Why would anyone go through such ordeals to uphold a story that they had made up?
The Gospel stories are honest – in fairy- tales usually the heroes are made out to be more than they are but for example Peter is shown to be someone who badly let Jesus down – disowning Jesus three times on the night of His arrest. I have made the following point before but it is something that can be easily overlooked – if the Gospels were made up then they would surely have written that Jesus was first seen alive after the crucifixion by a man and not a woman as, at that time in Israel, the testimony of women was considered to be virtually worthless and was not even admissible in court. In the words of John inRisen!- The Musical “No there’s only one reason why first appearing to a woman would make any sense and that is if it were true and it is I can assure you there is no pretence.”
There were other books written about Jesus and some were indeed fairly – tales written centuries after His life on earth. Over a period of time the Church decided what was “canon” e. what is considered to be authoritative scripture. The word “canon“ comes from the Greek κανών, meaning “rule” or “measuring stick. For it to be “canon” the author had to be an apostle or have apostolic authority? The book could not contradict the Old Testament and the work had to be accepted by the early church.
And there is more – but that’s enough for this week!
I Know Its The Start Of The Day from the album Risen! The Musical featuring the Original Cast recorded and produced by Joffy Girling
Continuing on from last week, classic arguments disputing the Resurrection include 1) the disciples hallucinated 2) that Jesus did not really die on the cross but recovered in the tomb 2) that the disciples stole the body. The simple responses to 1) are that one person can hallucinate and “see things” but a whole group of people cannot hallucinate and all see the same thing. To 2) the sudden flow of blood and water which occurred when Jesus was pieced by the soldier’s spear (John 19:34) would have come from Jesus’ pericardium and heart and was, therefore a sure sign that He was dead. To 3) quite simply what would the disciples have gained from stealing the body of Jesus?
Another argument is that the whole story of Jesus’ Resurrection is a fairy story, but for that to be true the authenticity of the Gospels would have to be disproved- I’ll have a look at this issue next blog but I just wanted to say this week how amazing it was that Risen! The Musical was broadcast five times over the Easter weekend in Romania. Credo TV broadcast it on Easter Saturday at 10.00 pm, which I am told is the absolute prime time in Romania,- also on Easter Sunday at 6.00 am and 12.00 noon. Alfa- Omega TV broadcasts were on Easter Sunday at 5.30 pm and 3.00 am on Easter Monday. My apologies to anyone who tried to watch any of these after reading my Facebook posts – I forgot to add that Romania is 2 hours ahead of the UK in time and so I personally missed the broadcasts until I realised what was happening – I then watched a live stream of the 3.00 am Easter Monday broadcast at 1.00 am!!
Both Credo TV and Alfa- Omega TV broadcast far wider than just Romania and live stream all over the world including USA. It is amazing to think of how many people may have watched Risen! The Musical this Easter.
Credo TV posted a promo with Romanian subtitles which I will share with you next week.
Max Panks of the London Touring Cast portraying Jesus in Risen! The Musical, New Theatre Royal.
“Glorious in His Humility” featuring Lucy Stimpson-Maynard from the album “Love is the Way” recorded and produced by Bob Ross and John Hodgkinson
As this is Easter week In my last blog I said that I would consider whether or not Jesus actually died on the cross. To do this I will take extracts from my blog of July 9th 2015
As St Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:14 “And if Christ has not been raised then our preaching is futile and so is your faith.” I could also add and Risen!- The Musical would be a waste of time.
In the blog of April 23rd 2015 which focused on Mary Magdalene I made the point that if the Gospels were made up then they would surely have written that Jesus was first seen alive after the crucifixion by a man and not a woman as, at that time in Israel, the testimony of women was considered to be virtually worthless and was not even admissible in court. In the words of John in Risen!- The Musical “No there’s only one reason why first appearing to a woman would make any sense and that is if it were true and it is I can assure you there is no pretense.”
I have also made the point that if all the disciples bar John were martyred for their faith why would they have endured brutal deaths for a lie? I have heard one argument compare their martyrdom with those that caused 9/11; they also being prepared to die for a cause they believed in. However those involved in 9/11 committed suicide with the intention of killing others as part of a strategy for furthering their cause. The disciples did not commit suicide but chose to be murdered by others rather than deny Christ -also their deaths did not knowingly lead to the deaths of others, so I think comparisons between the two cannot be justified.
So what are the arguments for not believing that which Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul wrote? One argument is that there is little evidence for the Resurrection outside the Bible, another queries the authenticity of Gospel authorship whilst another that the Gospel accounts themselves are unreliable and contradictory.
For those that argue that there is little evidence of the Resurrection outside the Bible I would say that in those days only learned scribes could write and as that in itself was a slow process people transferred information by word of mouth (known as the oral tradition). I can hear the sceptics now talk about “Chinese whispers” -how something said can have its meaning dramatically changed as it is handed down from one person to another. That, however is not the case if is the information is considered “precious” for then people ensure that it is remembered correctly. Take, for example the words of Shakespeare or of Wordsworth- someone would soon shout out “Wrong- it’s suffer not inflict” if they heard “To be, or not to be, that is the question: whether ’tis nobler in the mind to inflict the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” Or “I wander lonely as the moon.” – “No, no it’s a cloud not the moon!”
To those who contend that there are no contemporary books outside the Bible claiming Jesus was raised from the dead I would ask “Why are there no contemporary books written claiming that Jesus was not raised from the dead? “ Obviously Both the Romans and Jews had people who could write so that’s not the issue. The Romans would surely have wanted to disprove Jesus’ Resurrection because it interfered with their worship of the Emperor (the reason why so many Christians were martyred; thrown to lions etc) The Jews, especially the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, had been heavily criticised by Jesus and it was they who initiated His crucifixion so it was in their best interest to disprove the Resurrection. An example is Saul, a zealous Pharisee who, before his conversion and change of name to Paul, was throwing Christians into prison. So I would say that there were many who would have benefited from proving Jesus was not raised – so why didn’t they write down their proof? Surely that’s obvious – they had no proof – they had no corpse to produce – they could not persuade Jesus‘ followers to deny Him no matter how badly they were treated. Writing a book on the non -Resurrection of Jesus was not worth their time or their ink!
But perhaps the people who saw Jesus alive hallucinated, or perhaps the disciples of Jesus stole His body or perhaps He did not actually die on the cross but merely “fainted.” I’ll look at these claims next week.
Triumphal Entry (Wickland/Shearsmith) featuring the Mustard Seed Soul Band from the album “His Story” recorded and produced by Ross Gill
In previous blogs I have looked at the classic questions that are asked of Christianity such as why is there suffering in the world and is there a conflict between Science and Christianity? Another question often asked is “Isn’t the Bible full of contradictions?”
In an attempt to answer this question I would like to take extracts from Steve Legg’s excellent book “Big Questions.”
Steve first looks at a definition of the word “contradiction” and says that it means “a statement of the opposite” going on to say that if the Bible said that Jesus died of strangulation (which it does not) and that elsewhere He died by crucifixion then that would be a contradiction.
Steve continues by addressing what some claim to be contradictory in the different four Gospel accounts i.e. how many angels were at the tomb of Jesus. Matthew and Mark relate that one angel spoke to the women whereas Luke and John state that two were at the tomb. Steve agrees that at first sight this would appear contradictory but that Matthew and Mark did not say that there was only one angel at the tomb but instead that only one angel spoke.
Steve then goes on to relate a story in which he and his friends Simon and Scott enjoy a pint at a social club where they meet up with some other friends, Arthur and Chris. Someone later tells Steve’s wife that they saw him and Scott going into the club with Simon but then someone else says that they saw Steve having an in depth chat with Arthur. Now both of these witnesses are telling the truth but the two accounts look completely different. They just come from two different witnesses with differing perspectives
Back to the Gospel accounts – although some of the details are different which you would expect from different eye witnesses the key facts are the same – i.e. that Jesus, who had been killed and buried, had risen from the dead and that the angels were proclaiming this amazing truth!
Next week I will look at whether or not Jesus did actually die on the cross.
“Walking with the King of Kings” Featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard from the album “Precious” recorded and produced by Ross Gill
So the season of broadcasting Risen! The Musical on Revelation TV Sky 581 Freeview HD 250 and Freesat 692 finishes with tonight’s showing at midnight. Unfortunately Risen! Is not being broadcast in April but Revelation TV have done us proud in broadcasting our musical so many times in March. We are now waiting on the dates for broadcast on the Romanian Christian Cable Channel, Alpha – Omega and perhaps also Credo TV which has some of the strongest broadcasting transmitters in the world.
In the blog of February I6th I posted an extract of Risen! translated into Mandarin – ready for subtitles to be encoded onto the DVD- I am delighted that other translations in the pipeline include Romanian, Serbo Croat, Korean, Spanish, Swahili and Tibetan!
Last Saturday I had the pleasure of going to the Kings Theatre, Southsea to watch the famous musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie. “ I had been given a special rate ticket by someone in the orchestra, Stuart Fowler – now after getting married, Stuart Mclean- Fowler. I had met Stuart when he was playing trumpet as part of a promotional visit to Crofton School by St Vincent College. The Mustard Seed Soul Band had saxophonists but no trumpeter so I spoke to Stuart and over the years he has played an incredibly important part in our journey. He played trumpet in our previous musical “His Story” and recorded in numerous CDs including “Precious” which includes the featured song for today “Walking with the King of Kings.” Stuart also recorded the backing tracks for Risen! The Musical and the photos show him recording this with Joffy Girling and also in the Kings Theatre orchestra pit for “Thoroughly Modern Millie. “.
After the UK tour of “Thoroughly Modern Millie” Stuart goes on tour to China- all at Mustard Seed Songs wish him the very best.
“Precious” featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard from album “Precious” – in thanks for the life of Ken’s mum – Audrey Lillian Shearsmith
So no more delays – here is the amazing story of my mum becoming a Christian- it would have been her birthday on March 8th.
My mum, Audrey Lillian Shearsmith, had attended Chapel as young girl and I knew that she said her prayers without fail every single day. However in 1997 I still was not sure how she would react to me telling her that I had become a Christian. I therefore showed her a little book from the Alpha course entitled “Who is Jesus?” and we had a short chat before she told me to leave it and that she would read it later.
When she was 102 years old and was living in the wonderful Chesterholm Lodge Care Home mum asked me what a Christian was and how you could became one. I simply said that to become a Christian you ask God to forgive you for all the things you have done in your life that have displeased Him and to ask Jesus to come into your life. She then smiled her special smile and pointed to her bag and nodded for me to look in it. And there it was -the “Who is Jesus? book that I had given her five years before. I told her that there was a prayer in the book that she could say if you wished to become a Christian. Mum immediately read out the prayer aloud. I was sitting on the bed beside her overjoyed, but at the same time almost not believing what was happening, in fact so much so that I told her that just saying the prayer was not enough she had to really mean it; so she said it again, but this time with even more meaning in her voice! I noticed, Mandy, one of her Carers who worships at my church was outside mum’s room, so I went out to tell her the good news. “Halleluiah” Mandy cried out before telling me that she was not in the least bit surprised because mum had been talking about Christianity for some time. So mum became a Christian at the age of almost 103!
A few days before she died in August 2006 I was with her on my own. She looked at me with so much love, smiled that wonderful smile again and told me that I was precious.
The day after she said “precious” to me I was looking at Psalm 116 and the word “precious” jumped out of the page. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” I read in the concordance that “precious”means, not only highly valued, but also carefully looked after – I can’t tell you how reassuring it was to know that in mum’s last days she was being carefully looked after by God. And she was; all those who were with her will testify to how much at peace she was. She was in no pain whatsoever and was as sharp as always. She left this life in a very gentle and serene way – there is no doubt that she was indeed being carefully looked after and watched over by God.
The day after reading Psalm 116 it was a Sunday and I sat at the back of Holy Rood church with no one on the one seat beside me. Beryl, a retired Curate, came in, which was a bit of a surprise because normally on a Sunday morning she worships at an associate church; coming to Holy Rood for the evening services. Although we are good friends I had not sat with Beryl before, but on that Sunday she asked if she could sit on that one free seat by my side. She knew that my mum was very unwell from the church notice sheet and when she asked me I told her that mum was, in fact dying.
At the end of the service Beryl told me that she had prayed for my mum and me and that during the service God had given her a picture. She had seen a beautiful meadow in which stood a rock- a rock that had been very “precious” to her friends and family. The rock was also “precious” to God. Beryl saw the earth around the rock become disturbed and God taking this “precious” rock up to heaven to be with Him.
Last blog I said that it would have been my mother’s birthday and that I would tell you her amazing testimony this week; however I would like to delay that for week more as I have some exciting news to share.
In the blog of February 16th I said that I had met with Dr Richard Kent, a Trustee and Presenter of the UK Christian Cable TV channel, Revelation TV and that we are hoping that Risen! The Musical will be broadcast on Revelation during the Easter season. Well I am delighted to announce that this has actually happened- Risen! The Musical is being regularly broadcast on Revelation TV- Sky 581 Freeview HD 250 and Freesat 692.
Todays featured pic shows Benny Bright of the London Touring Cast who plays Peter, proudly showing the next broadcast which is this coming Saturday, March 18th at 5.30 pm (immediately after the Ireland v England Six Nations Rugby match) Risen! Is also being broadcast on Thursday March 23rd and 30th both at midnight. We are waiting on the next edition of Revelation Times to see if it is also being scheduled for broadcasts in April. I am hopeful that it will be as people have been ringing Revelation to obtain my phone number to say how much they have enjoyed it and to order DVDs – one lovely lady called Sheila ordered 25 to send to friends and family, including some in Australia.
The disappointing thing is that Virgin Media do not have Revelation TV as part of their channel options. I rang Virgin to complain and soon will be knocking on Sir Richard’s door!
If you are making up your mind whether or not to watch a broadcast on Revelation TV then please have a look at this short extract to help you decide
So next week how my mum became a Christian aged 101!
“I Look Up To The Heavens” featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard from the album ” I Look Up To The Heavens” recorded and produced by John Hodgkinson
If I may start by saying that Risen! The Musical is being broadcast on Revelation TV as I type. It is on Sky 581 and Freeview 281 – it can also be viewed live on- line but unfortunately Sir Richard has not got his act together so at present Virgin are not broadcasting Revelation TV. Its next on Saturday March 18th at 5.30 pm
It would have been my mother’s birthday – I will tell you her amazing testimony next week, as today I would like to finish sharing the article on John Glenn that I began last week.
Glenn, who died in December 2016 aged 95 was on his first orbit of space in February 1962 when his heat shield was thought to have come loose and many believed it might fail during the reentry which would cause Glenn’s capsule to be incinerated in its fiery descent. Glenn was told to take manual control of the capsule and described a “real fire ball” outside as he reentered the atmosphere. He prayed and thankfully his prayers were answered as he splashed down safely in the Caribbean. Shortly after that mission he gave a talk on “Why I know there is a God.” In this he explained why being in space confirmed his faith in God.
Our galaxy is some 100000 light years in diameter.. we realise how difficult it is to visualise the tremendous scale of the universe beyond our solar system. The limits of the telescopically observable universe extend at least two billion light years from us in all directions. Glenn says Come back to what we know of atomic particles, the smallest particles known. Atoms have a great similarity to our solar system in that they have electrons rotating about a nucleus in regular patterns. Now what is the point of what I am saying? It is the orderliness of the whole universe about us, from the smallest atomic structure to the most enormous thing we can imagine. Could this have just happened? Was it an accident that a bunch of flotsam and jetsam suddenly started making these orbits on their own accord? I can’t believe that. This was a definite plan. This is one big thing in space that shows me there is a God. Some power put all this in orbit and keeps it there.
Glenn firmly believes what the Bible tells us about this: Through Him (Jesus) God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see. Everything was created through Him and for Him. He existed before anything else and He holds all creation together (Colossians 16:16-17).
In 1998 Glenn returned to space on the space shuttle Discovery’s STS-95 mission becoming at age 77 the oldest person to travel in space. He told reporters – Looking at the Earth from this vantage point – looking at this kind of creation and to not believe in God to me is impossible. To see Earth laid out like that only strengthens my beliefs.
Actually it was looking up to the heavens some 18 years ago that I was inspired to write today’s featured song “I look up to the heavens.”
“There’s More Than One Way Of Saying I Love You” featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard from the album “Uplifted” recorded and produced by Bob Ross
At the weekend I read an article that I thought I would share with you. Last year in thirteen blogs I considered the question of “Is there a conflict between Christianity and Science?” One issue would have been whether or not our amazing world was created by accident or by an intelligent designer. One thing is for sure – it is impossible to look up to the moon and stars at night and not be awestruck. If looking at the heavens from here on earth is so amazing, imagine what it would be like looking at it from outer space! One person who has done that is the American, John Glenn.
This is what I read about John Glenn’s experience of looking at Planet Earth from space:
But far from his ego being rocket -boosted by such an achievement, the pioneering astronaut was humbled by the experience and his faith in the Creator of the universe increased. Glenn, who died in December 2016 aged 95 was on his first orbit of space in February 1962 when his heat shield was thought to have come loose and many believed it might fail during the reentry which would cause Glenn’s capsule to be incinerated in its fiery descent. Glenn was told to take manual control of the capsule and described a “real fire ball” outside as he reentered the atmosphere. He prayed and thankfully his prayers were answered as he splashed down safely in the Caribbean. Shortly after that mission he gave a talk on “Why I know there is a God.” In this he explained why being in space confirmed his faith in God.
