TrueU Filming—Last Day

Posted on June 5, 2009
Filed Under Worldview | 7 Comments

Our last day of filming brought us to the New Testament. It too, is under great attack. One of the most notable came in the form of a best-selling book and later a movie: “The DaVinci Code”, where much of the teaching and the historicity of the New Testament is turned on its head or presented as the mere creation of agenda-driven men.

The basic theme of these final four lessons was to examine the New Testament documents in the same way any historiographer or papyrologist would examine ancient documents for validity. We walked through each of the five criteria used to determine veracity and found that the New Testament documents can be overwhelmingly confirmed from a scientific perspective…unless, of course, one’s presupposition would automatically discount any document that recounts supernatural events. To reject the validity of a document based upon that presupposition isn’t scientific, it is prejudicial philosophy.

We do not need to be buffaloed by anyone who would scoff at the historicity of the New Testament. Now, whether one believes what is presented within its pages is a different matter. But don’t let anyone discount it as unreliable from a historiographical sense. There is much more evidence supporting the validity of the New Testament documents than any of the other ancient documents: Illiad, Gallic Wars, Tacitus, Homer, Euripides, etc.

One of the things that struck me as we progressed through this filming was how often the Scripture gives specific historical facts that provide us with the means to validate it. Here is one from Luke 3:1-2:

“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod Tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Phillip Tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias Tetrarch of Abilene—during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiphus, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the Desert.”

Confession time! How many of you have gone “ho-hum” through this or just skipped it?

I slowly raise my hand.

However, these are the “historical anchors” that have been provided for us by the Holy Spirit to confirm the historical reality of the Scriptures.

So, we spent a good bit of time looking at the archeological evidence that the people, positions, places and other historical facts presented in the New Testament had external support: from the Gallio Inscription stone to a statue confirming the goddess Artemis; from an alter to an unknown god to a limestone block that confirmed the existence of Pilate. We found it in coins and ossuaries, pottery and tombs, wells and pools, external documents and architecture. We found it everywhere.

The final lesson dealt with the historicity of Christ and the resurrection. Here is the closing slide:

“Ancient historical documents with wide and varied attestation have demonstrated that Jesus of Nazareth was, in fact, a historical person. Many of these documents describe His character, actions, and major life events such as His crucifixion and resurrection. The historical documents argue that He was crucified and then His body disappeared from the tomb—explained as resurrection in the earliest sources. Thus, Jesus and the events of His life should not be regarded as myth, but instead as history.”

That is, of course, unless your worldview presupposes the impossibility of the supernatural, in which case you discount the scientific evidence and discard the New Testament as unreliable.

However, that position is getting harder and harder to defend.

TrueU is dedicated to prepare God’s people to recognize that and to remain internally confident in the midst of the battle. Hopefully, some will even be able to engage openly in the debate.

In a winsome way, of course.

Pray for us, now, as we work on the editing of these first two sets and prepare for sets three and four to be filmed later this year; pray the Lord will provide the funding; pray that I will get the script written for set #4; pray that we will get interviews with our top apologists; pray for God to bless all of this as He has the Truth Project.

Thank you! We are pumped about this!

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