QUOTE(Jesusfan @ Nov 12 2005, 02:42 AM) [snapback]927390[/snapback]
According to what is passed around today as "credible" scholarship... It would those whose viewpoints tend to reflect an anti Supernatural bias, whose framework is within pure naturalism, and whose edict is that God does not exist, at least not the Judeo-Christian view of Him, Jesus could not be His Son, the Bible simply is another religious writting, full of myths and contridictions... Gospels were piecemealed together, no historical reliability to the texts, were corrupted, just propaganda to support a jewish Messiah, who may/may not have even existed...
Basically, a source that can acknowledge that all relions are either the same, or all equally valid, that God has never revealed Himself through either visitation or written Word, and who refuses to accept any type of predictive elements, miracles, resurrection...
And whose salavation resides not outside, from a God who gave His Son as a sacrifice to atone for our Sins, but internally, from our own works and efforts...
That is what qualifies, to many today, as a source reflecting "credible Biblical authority"...
Yep, that's what I thought.
QUOTE(iaapac @ Nov 12 2005, 04:00 AM) [snapback]927491[/snapback]
One who not only knows Scripture but also the history of the Bible, the conditions of the times in which it was written, the peripheral characters who never appear in the Bible but who had a profound impact upon it, who has an equal knowledge of other religions and their relationships with the Bible and the subsequent relgions and sects stemming from them, the histories of other significant personalities from whom came other religions and sects, a knowledge of languages and their changing forms from epochs to epochs, who has personally examined early documents and has the ability to form opinions about their authenticity or if they have been corrupted. An expert should have first hand experience in visiting important geographic locations mentioned in the Bible, Apocrypha and even the pseudepigraphic writings. From this there can be an awareness of distances to evaluate journeys and their mentioned times. An expert should have a great familiarity with world museums and have personally viewed artifacts and stelas that have religious importance. The expert should have an awareness that his work and study are never-ending and that he has the obligation to form opinions only when they can be qualified.
I guess it doesn't hurt that none of these credible historians never come to the conclusion that it is real. Those that do obviously get thrown into the bias bin.
Truthfully dude, according to this information, many of the scholars that think of the Bible as true can fit into this description just as easily as those that dismiss it.
Just a thought.
Regards, PA