Okay. Today’s work should be pretty short as Loftus only has two paragraphs to the part of independent testimony to the gospel record. Do we have any?
Loftus does admit that if it is independent testimony by a non-Christian source, it will not say that Jesus rose from the dead. However, his next line is that we have no confirmation by Jewish or pagan sources to show that Jesus rose from the dead.
Well, geez. They wouldn’t be Jewish or pagan if they said that now would they?
Let’s also mention that for biblical archaeology showing the reliability of the accounts, there’s nothing. Now archaeology most likely can’t show that Jesus rose from the dead, but they can show that the gospel writers knew what they were doing when they connected the events they were writing with history.
I believe Loftus is too quick to write off the Shroud of Turin. I think there could be something to it. It’s not the first argument I’d use though simply because it has too much bias built up against it. Loftus mentions the carbon dating, but that aspect has been called into question. Also, there has yet to be an explanation of what produced the image and we’ve been unable to produce anything like it.
Now Loftus asks where the independent confirmation is for the land being covered by darkness. Phlegon though wrote about this. Our sources indicate that he wasn’t alone, but other writings that commented on this have been lost. Why was not more said about this? Probably because the people just considered it an odd event and didn’t make anything supernatural out of it and it was soon forgotten. These people weren’t gullible after all.
What about the temple tearing in two?
Yep. The Jews are going to make a note about a blasphemer dying and then the temple curtain tearing in two…..
The earthquake?
Earthquakes were fairly common back then. It was nothing to write home about.
The dead being raised in Matthew 27?
Again, we have no record though of how long these people stayed or where they went afterwards. However, it’s most likely that anyone brought in would if told these people had been dead thought it had to be a hoax in some way. The ancient people weren’t gullible after all.
Loftus asks where the record is. The record isn’t there because these people either thought the stories didn’t happen or thought they weren’t worth writing about. After all, these were ancient people, and they aren’t gullible like moderns are.
Tomorrow, we’ll see if the writers intended to be historically accurate. For any wondering, due to plans this evening, I am writing early today.
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