Adventures in Student Ministry

We’ve spent the last few weeks building a solid foundation. We’ve seen that God is real, that He created you with a specific purpose, and that the Bible is backed by more historical evidence than any other ancient book. But once you start feeling confident in the “Big Picture,” you’re going to run into specific “Internet Myths.” You might see a TikTok or a YouTube video claiming that the Bible is just a “copy-paste” job of older pagan religions, or that modern translations have been corrupted like a 2,000-year-old game of “Telephone.” Today, we are going to go over some of these claims and also point out a few facts that show us why the bible, the foundation of our faith, is more trustworthy than the foundational documents of a few other major groups.

Some claim the Genesis creation and flood accounts are simply retellings of a pagan story called the Epic of Gilgamesh.

There is a story about a large flood: a hero built a boat, released birds, made a sacrifice, and was blessed. But it’s super different. The story is about a king obsessed with becoming immortal after suffering. After a great trial, he achieves what could help extend his life, but it’s stolen, and he has to come to grips with his own mortality. In the middle of the story, another character tells the king the story of surviving a flood, and after making a sacrifice, the gods gave him immortality.

Problems with claims that Jews used it to write the story of Genesis.

• There are multiple versions of this story, all very different from one another. This story doesn’t appear in any version of the epic until much later in history. This portion is also written in a strange style that makes it look like it was copied from a different source.
• There are multiple stories around the world about a large flood. Scholars say that this suggests shares a common tradition, meaning it’s an event that they all understood was real, but that does not mean it’s a copy
• While there are some similarities, there are far more differences between the stories. Example Gilgamesh has a flood for 7 days, vs Genesis has 40 Days. Not to mention the fact that 40 days make more sense for a flood than 7.
  

Some claim the story of Jesus’ virgin birth, miracles, and resurrection are recycled pagan myths, suggesting early Christians borrowed heavily from Egyptian or Roman deities like Horus or Mithras.

Problem with this claim

• They claim Horus was born of a virgin, a star announced his birth, he was visited by 3 wise men, he had 12 disciples, walked on water, gave a sermon onthe mount, crucified between 2 thieves, was buried for 3 days, and resurrected, and called many of the things Jesus is called.
  • But none of this is true. Egyptologists don’t suggest at all that he was born of a Virgin. There’s no evidence of a star or being visited by 3 wise men. He never had 12 disciples; he had maybe 4. There’s no story of him walking on water. No evidence of him being crucified, resurrected, or being called anything related to Jesus. ACTUAL Egyptologists don’t claim any of this.
    

Some claim the Gospels were written decades after the events anonymously, arguing they aren’t reliable eyewitness testimonies.

• Yes, the Gospels are internally anonymous. But much of the ancient works were written this way. So the absence of the name in the text does NOT automatically mean it was anonymously written, and we’ve just added names we like.
• The distribution of the documents would not have been accepted if people didn’t know who was writing them.
• Early church history shows no debate about who wrote these gospels. They are all in agreement.
  

Some say you can’t trust modern translations. Is that true?

• As we said last week, we need to remember that modern translations are based on documents that we have found that date closer to the original events. Some emphasize an older translation, the King James Version, which, while good, is not the only translation you can or should use. 
• Last time we mentioned textual variants, and this is what King James Only believers tend to struggle with the most. But as we also said last week, these variants are mostly grammar issues, and the parts where there are verses in question generally hold no bearing to our faith.
• Keep in mind there is a difference between a translation( like King James, New King James, New Living, English Standard Version) and a paraphrase (like the Message Bible or the Living Bible). 

How does the reliability of the Bible stand against some other groups

• Jehovah Witnesses – This group claims to be Christian, but they have several beliefs that are far from Christianity. They say you can only use the “New World Translation” using the false claim that the Bibles we have are corrupted.
  • The problem with the NWT is that it was produced by a 5-man committee, only one of whom had any training in languages, and that training was not primarily focused on Biblical Greek or Hebrew. This person also refused to demonstrate their skill under oath during the trial. Credible translators nearly all fully agree that the NWT is not a valid translation of the text. Their alterations ot the scriptures are all designed to affirm many of their traditionally heretical beliefs, such as Jesus being the angel Michael, Jesus not being bodily resurrected, and salvation through works.
• Islam – This is an Abrahamic religion that uses a specific book called the Qur’an, which is a collection of messages written by a man named Muhammad, whom they believe to be a prophet of God, whom they call Allah.
  • The Problem they run into is a few things, such as the Islamic Dilemma. This dilemma is laid out as follows. The Qur’an affirms the inspiration, preservation, and authority of the Bible. However, the Qua’ran contradicts the idea that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of mankind and rose again. 
  • They also claim the scriptures are corrupted by man, something we have already discussed, how it’s not. Not just that, we have copies of the Gospel dating to the age of Muhammad. These copies reflect exactly what he would have read when he affirmed the Bible’s validity. These copies are not different from what we have today.
• Another common group we see that calls itself Christian is “The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints.” Once again, this is a group that claims that our Bible is corrupted. They still believe you should read the Bible, but it needs to be the King James Version, and you should heavily rely on what’s called “The Book of Mormon.”
  • LDS claim that their founder, Joseph Smith, was led by an angel to find  golden plates in the wilderness. These plates claimed that a group of Jews arrived in the Americas in 600 BC and that a post-resurrected Jesus appeared to them. Joseph translated these plates, and they were then taken away by an angel.
  • One issue is the language it’s written in. It’s written in Elizabethan English, the same as the King James Bible.  To translate into 1800 english there’d be no reason to translate them into this style of English outside of trying to make it “sound” Biblical.
  • Joseph Smith presented what he claimed to be copies of “Reformed Egyptian” writing that he claimed he copied from the Golden Plates. Credible Scholars deny his claim that this is any form of Egyptian.
  • DNA and Actual study of First Nations individuals do not in any way link back to any ancient Arabic culture.