Dr Bart Ehrman Destroys The Historical Reliability of the Gospels

[bobtimster]

Interesting that the only evidence for Jesus is from the Gospels and Paul. There is no independent evidence apart from a few sentences in Josephus, a Jewish historian, who some people argue was not reliable, and a few by the Roman Tacitus. Also, according to
Matthew 27:45-56,
"50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and[c] went into the holy city and appeared to many people."

There is no parallel record to this event in other gospels or contemporary documents. Why?
Also, if that really happened, why are there no Roman records of this? The Romans were excellent record keepers, so don't you think they would have certainly recorded such a stupendous event, if indeed it had really happened?

[stefanod.l.]

Wow, such a brave thing to do in 2023. People fighting with Christianity resembles Don Quijote fighting windmills

[JosephLachh]

I find it interesting that for the Case For Christ, they compare the writings from AD 60 to other documents of antiquity and say the gospels are early compared to other sources that we trust historically. However, individuals like the one in this video call AD 60 late, and even 20 years late (for Paul’s writings affirming the gospel message). You see this stark difference in opinion about the reliability of 20-60 years, and for different reasons. For the viewer, I think it is essential to understand the reasons behind each evaluation, given by each side, in order to make a truly informed opinion about why 20 or 60 years is reliable or unreliable.

[Victor-E-R]

Early witnesses like St. Papias of Hierapolis (AD 60-130), who knew the apostles, and St. Irenaeus of Lyons (AD 130-203), who knew those who knew the apostles, tell us so. There are others as well.

These witnesses mean something to secular scholarship, but they mean something all the more to us because the Church has recognized them as saints, whose testimony is surely trustworthy.

Papias, for example, said in Fragment 1:

The Elder [John] used to say: Mark, in his capacity as Peter’s interpreter, wrote down accurately as many things as he recalled from memory—though not in an ordered form—of the things either said or done by the Lord. For he neither heard the Lord nor accompanied Him, but later, as I said, Peter, who used to give his teachings in the form of sermons but had no intention of providing an ordered arrangement of the words of the Lord. Consequently, Mark did nothing wrong when he wrote down some individual items just as he related them from memory. For he made it his one concern not to omit anything he had heard or to falsify anything.
And Irenaeus in Against Heresies 3.1.1:

After their departure [the deaths of Peter and Paul in Rome], Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, also handed down to us in writing what had been preached by Peter.

[PortmanRd]

I think they guy pretty much nailed it. 😂

[orandegellogaming]

Goodness, being contemporary has not been a requirement ever. The closer the better yes, but the simple fact is if it’s in the lifetime of the eye witnesses and the accounts match, you got evidence of validity.

[carefullychristian]

We are not relying on NT gospels to prove the information.
We have tanakh correlation with gospels.
Thats what proves the message as reliable or not.
Does rhe message echo what the law, psalms and prophets said?
Thats our test for reliability

[stevepest]

What i find interesting is that if you removed the supernatural and moral parts, few people would question the Bible partly due to the matter of factness of it.

It's fair to ask if the denial has more to do with scientific dogma. Similar to how human footprints over dinosaur footprints are ignored or dismissed even if dating makes them old.

[sharmilakalain]

Depends which gospel you read! Be relentless in spreading this. The toxicity of abrahamic conversions!

[RBoas]

Beware of the sound of one hand clapping

[ApenasUmSenhor]

what is this man trying to prove? No one has ever claimed that there is irrefutable material proof of the gospels having been written by the exact people one assumes today (Matthew being a disciple, Mark being a relative of Peter, Luke writing after accounts gathered while accompanying Paul on his journeys, John being another disciple), or of many other claims the bible makes. Mr. Ehrman may draw everything into question, but he also cannot prove it wrong, so where's the point?

I do not believe in Jesus Christ and the Bible as Gods Word because He overwhelmed me with irrefutable material proof. Rather, He spoke to me directly (you may also say God drew me to Himself, John 6, 44) and convinced me that the bible is His word and will be unlocked to me by the Holy Spirit, if read with a humble mind. If you don't believe this, you may call me all the names you want, I'll still love you with the love of Christ.

God bless Mr. Ehrman. May he find more rewarding subjects than refuting the bible. Everybody is laughing about him.

[t.p.sheppard]

Watch Daniel Wallace. He is a New Testament scholar who has debated Bart many times and you get quite the different perspective. You can critique the Bible. It is not perfectly translated into the multiple languages that exist today, and there were mistakes made and things added, and we know where most of the mistakes are and where things were added, but there is nothing like the Bible in antiquity. Nothing comes close in comparison. The Bible is a giant among ants in comparison to other literary works of antiquity. You can be assured believer that the stories told in the Bible were the stories that were meant to be there by His providence. No need in trying to convince someone that Jesus is Lord and Savior. Only the Spirit can reveal that to a person, but believers, we can be confident what we have in our Bible today is an accurate representation of God’s hand in Jewish history and a true representation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus; and it is a joy, a struggle and a life changing endeavor when we study it in earnest.

[billwilliams]

Interesting, no one can debunk or prove what he is stating as incorrect.
What i see some of you doing is very anti christian, and attacking him. Leads me to believe you are only christian because thats what you were taught to believe but like 99% of all christians it is talk only and not real action!

What is actually hilarious, is that none of you can debunknwhat he is stating, none of you even acknowledgedthe discrepncies in the gospels themsleves.
Given that the biblical God is supposed to be omnipotent, you would think that the people he chose to write down these accounts would be able to keep the stories straight!
An he only gave a few examples of the discrepancies!
Why don't you do yourselves a favor and do what he suggested, go read these books write down the timeliness and what happened and then compare then with the others!
The entire Bible is the longest game of telephone ever!
But you Christians don't want to do this because you live in such great gear of what you don't know it is pathetic!
And the inability to admit that you have been taken as fools by the very people you trusted, along with them being taken as fools and on down the line it goes!
It isn't just the gospels that do this, it is all throughout the Bible, these discrepancies!
Including God himself!
And here is the kicker, I used to be just like you, and I did exactly what he suggested! And the evidence is clear as day, the logic is clear as day, and the darkness that I was in was lifted, because the entirety of Christianity made zero sense to me, as I would witness those that only donned there christian cloaks when it suited them!
Like the comments above me attacking this man who never stated it didn't happen, only stated that it can not be historically proven, amd even stated that if you believe it, it is for theological reasons!

[AZ-tyub]

Anyone in the comments going to try to debunk him?

[kevinparkin]

This guy's discrediting of Jesus's Life Story is only the beginning. UsefulCharts (on YouTube) discredits the Quran (he traces the origins of the text) ... and the Torah (he timelines all the OT characters). The 4th century debate between Athanasius vs Arius about the metaphysical nature of God lead to the Nicean Creed (which 2 billion Catholics and Protestants currently accept as accurate). Remember, these 4th century Turks did not know about the giagantic continent separating the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, but they - somehow - knew all about the metaphysical characterics of God Almighty. Hmmmm. Throw in Noah's giant animal ark and baby Moses floating down the Nile in a basket and Daniel subdueing a bunch of lions and Jonah getting swallowed and burped by a whale. The entire Bible is library of folk lore. Then consider that William Tyndale wrote the Beatitudes (Jesus spoke Aramaic ... and he didn't bring a scribe to take notes for the Sermon on the Mount). All the famous Beatitudes phrases are Tyndall's creation. Of course, the King James translation is an 80% copy of Tyndall; and King James' motivation for a new Bible was to quell all the Catholic versus Protestant versus Anglican infighting caused by his uncle King Henry 8th and his two cousins (bloody) Mary and Elizabeth. Constantine's Nicean Creed and James' new Bible were both political maneauvers. So these and many other dis-accreditations are the best argument in favor of a complete restitution of The Truth about God and Jesus and humans and life and death and resurrection and Life Eternal. Enter Joseph Smith in 19th century New England America.

[Victor-E-R]

Repent and place your trust in Christ Jesus. He is the only way.
Christ says I am the way the truth and the life. Nothing new, past generations tried to stop Christ, nothing can! Christ Jesus is LORD.

2 Peter 3 16B: “which the untaught distort, as they do with the rest of the scriptures, to their own destruction.” Satan does the same thing as he has made religions like islam.
Christ is King.

[artstrology]

Learn the twenty days, a score. Getting stuck on historicity is a waste of time. Genesis, Exodus and Numbers, ...36 decans, 20 days, and the trecenas.
If people knew these, the argument would end.

[JosephLachh]

Mike winger does a great job of debunking this exact person on his YouTube channel. He also has separate videos on the historical reliability of the gospels. After I read the case for Christ, it was case closed for me.

[markputt]

The Lord's signs were all to prove the kingdom of God was there. the Bible is ALL about the kingdom. Especially the gospels. It is about 2 kingdoms, the world or God's kingdom.

[AnsweringChristians]

You Christians are just jealous and pissed because you can't refute what he is saying.