The lack of defences for
Christian belief (N - 11)



    This relates to the appearance of internet websites where Christian webmaster(s) seek to silence those who challenge the Christian faith. While the Bible says the Christian is to have the 'fruit of the Spirit' which includes 'gentleness, self-control, etc'. (Gal 5:22-23), together with 'lowliness and meekness' (Col 3:12), the wording on these sites is sometimes abusive and insulting (apart from being inaccurate) about atheism and atheists: thus, once again, Christians jettison those requirements that do not suit them.
    On looking at some of these sites, it is clear that individuals who set themselves up as able to silence atheists are unable to offer anything approaching a satisfactory response. I show below some examples:-

    (1)One writer attempts to deal with the objection that while Jesus said he was going to be buried for three days and three nights, this did not occur. Matt 12:40 has Jesus predicting (my italics):-
'For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth'.
    And yet if he died on Friday and rose on Sunday morning, this would not be 'three days and three nights'. The Christian replies that (i)'three days' can also mean 'until the third day' (although he can only cite one New Testament (N.T) verse to support this), so Friday to Sunday can be 'three days'. (ii)A day (or night) does not have to be a full day or full night.
    Yet again we have a smokescreen here; this looks convincing until we look at the relevant texts. Even if we accept not only (i) but (ii) of the writer's argumentation, the situation does not resolve itself. Before proceeding further, it should be noted that in Jewish reckoning the night begins at sundown and precedes the 'day' Therefore the night of 'Saturday' (the Jewish sabbath) begins at sundown on Friday night and precedes the Saturday daytime which begins at sunrise Saturday and finishes at sundown Saturday night (which in Jewish reckoning is the beginning of Sunday night).

Mark 15 and 16
15:37Jesus dies
15:38Temple curtain torn
15:39Centurion's statement
15:40-41List of women witnesses
15:42'When evening had come, since it was the day of preparation; that is, the day before the sabbath'
15:43Joseph of Arimathea requests Jesus' body from Pilate
15:44Pilate unsure if Jesus is dead. Enquires of centurion
15:45On being told Jesus was dead, Pilate releases body to Joseph
15:46Joseph buys shroud, takes Jesus' body from cross, wraps it in shroud and buries him
15:47Two women see Jesus buried
16:1-8'When the sabbath past', Jesus' body is found to be gone
    From this it becomes apparent that the story shows that Jesus was buried after the Saturday sabbath had begun (at Friday sundown). While 'evening' can denote 'about sundown', the fact remains that even if 15:42 was before sundown, numerous events occurred after this and before the burial (15:43-15:46) that would not make it possible for the burial to occur before sundown. Consequently, this would mean the burial was during Saturday night but it is considered this would be impossible on a sabbath and certainly so during the Passover period.
    Regarding the mention of 'Preparation' in 15:42: 'the Greek word translated 'Preparation' means the eve of the sabbath, the erev shabbat of the Jews, which has the special meaning of 'preparation' for the sabbath' (Prof. P. Benoit, The Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ (London: Darton, Longman and Todd), p.213).
    The total time that Jesus was buried was therefore:-

Jesus buried

Saturday night1 night
Saturday daytime1 day
Sunday night1 night
    In other words, just one day and two nights. And in the case of the time of being dead, Jesus' prediction for this fares no better:

Jesus dead

Friday daytime1 day
Saturday night1 night
Saturday daytime1 day
Sunday night1 night
    As Jesus was supposed to have risen before sunrise on Sunday (John 20:1), Sunday daytime cannot be included. Therefore, as can be seen, according to the Gospels, Jesus was only dead for two days and two nights, and this includes counting a part day or part night as a whole.
    Therefore, in sum, despite all the protestation by Christians and accompanying smokescreens, Jesus' prediction was not fulfilled.
    Why Christians should be that concerned with this particular prediction is anything but clear as Jesus made various predictions that were not fulfilled, e.g., Jesus is alleged to have said there were some standing with him who would see 'the Son of man coming in his kingdom' (Matt 16:28), and he is said to have told the high priest 'You will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven' (Mark 14:61). Both of these were of course unfulfilled. In fact the very last statement in the Bible is a broken promise by Jesus when he says (in about the year 96 CE): 'Surely I am coming soon' (Rev 22:20).


    (2)Another writer tries to deal with the objection that if Jesus had existed, there should surely be much more evidence for this. In reply, he claims there is much non-canonical information about Christ which he declares is amazing. He then seeks to show why Jesus was treated as 'a marginal Jew', i.e., he was not historically significant, he was considered a common criminal, he was a wandering preacher, he avoided large urban areas, his teachings were unorthodox and he offended people, and he was poor. There was also no 'news network'.
    This might just be convincing if Jesus were supposed to only be these things. However, the Gospels present him as something far more than this. We are expected to believe that he was entirely ignored by all secular writers at the time that he supposedly lived even though:-
Special star appears to signal his birth (Matt 2:2).
Massacre of infants in attempt to kill him (Matt 2:16).
Goes about 'healing every disease and every infirmity' (Matt 4:23).
Fame spreads throughout all Syria so 'all the sick' are brought to him - who are then healed by him (Matt 4:24).
Followed by 'crowds' (Matt 5:1).
'Great crowds' follow him (Matt 8:1).
Heals leper (Matt 8:3).
Heals paralysed servant (Matt 8:13).
Heals Peter's mother-in-law (Matt 8:15).
'Many' afflicted brought to him: he heals 'all who were sick' (Matt 8:16).
Great crowds follow him (Matt 8;18).
Heals demoniacs and kills some pigs (Matt 8:32).
Heals paralytic (Matt 9:7).
Crowds witness healing (Matt 9:8).
A ruler comes to him for help with daughter (Matt 9:18).
Heals woman with hemorrhage (Matt 9:22).
Heals ruler's daughter (Matt 9:25).
'Report of this went through all that district' (Matt 9:26).
Heals two blind men (Matt 9:30).
They 'spread his fame through all that district' (Matt 9:31).
Heals dumb demoniac (Matt 9:33).
Crowds marvel (Matt 9:33).
Heals 'every disease and every infirmity' as he travels about cities and villages (Matt 9:35).
Followed by crowds (Matt 9:36).
Preaches in cities (Matt 11:1).
Speaks to crowds (Matt 11:7).
Heals man with withered hand (Matt 12:13).
Many follow him and 'he heals them all' (Matt 12:15).
Heals blind and dumb demoniac (Matt 12:22).
'Great crowds gather' around him (Matt 13:2).
Speaks to the crowds (Matt 13:34).
Herod hears about Jesus' fame (Matt 14:1).
Crowds follow him, he heals the sick, and feeds 5000+ (Matt 14:13).
On entering Gennesaret, he is recognized and all the sick are brought to him and all those who touch him are healed (Matt 14:36).
Great crowds come to him with the sick and they are healed (Matt 15:30).
'The thong' see 'the dumb speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking and the blind seeing' (Matt 15:31). Feeds 4000+. Crowds are sent away (Matt 15:38).
Meets crowd and heals epileptic (Matt 17:14,18).
Large crowds follow him in Judea and he heals them (Matt 19:2).
Great crowd follows him on leaving Jericho (Matt 20:29).
Heals two blind men (Matt 20:34).
Ejects Temple traders (Matt 21:12).
Heals blind and lame (Matt 21:14).
People call for his execution (Matt 27:23).
All the people admit responsibility (Matt 27:25).
Darkness 'over all the land' (Matt 27:45).
Temple curtain torn and earthquake (Matt 27:51).
Saints came out of their tombs and appear in Jerusalem (Matt 27:52-53).
Resurrected from dead (Matt 28:1ff).

    It is of course absurd for any rational person to suggest that anyone who was involved in all of this (and the above is only from Matthew - John has further miracles), and in just three years (John) or one year (Synoptics), could go unnoticed by the secular writers and historians of the time.
    The remarkable silence regarding other NT events is also incomprehensible. For example, Acts 2:41 says 3000 people in Jerusalem became Christians after Peter's Pentecost speech and this is followed, according to Acts 4:4, by a further 5000 being converted after Peter spoke at Solomon's portico. Some 8000 people all suddenly being converted in Jerusalem in the third decade of the first century CE, would be comparable in present period to a sizeable proportion of New York's population suddenly embracing Hare Krishna or Jainism. And while the Bible describes this happening, it went totally unrecorded by all the secular writers of the time...


    (3)Another attempt to refute the objection that the two references to Jesus' existence in Josephus' writings (see page 8) are too late to be of any major relevance involves the claim being declared 'senseless' because it would mean that we would have to also reject much of ancient history.
    What the writer conveniently overlooks is that there is a rather large difference between the significance of ancient history and supposed importance of Jesus' existence. Secondly, he overlooks that in view of what is claimed for Jesus, i.e., God's once-and-for-all inbreaking into human history, such silence is in fact incomprehensible, ie., 'senseless' if Jesus ever existed (see (2) above).


    (4)One writer attempts to deal with certain - selected - contradictions and does so by embarking upon lengthy rambling discussions which are presumably intended to bore the reader into submission. For example, when dealing with the argument that Jesus' words in Matt 27:46 ('My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?') indicate that he could not be a saviour (John 4:42) there is a rambling length of text in response to this. However, the essence of this 'explanation' is that Jesus' quotation of this (while he was drawing his last breath on the cross!) was to draw Jewish attention to the fact that he was the fulfilment of Psalm 22(!).
    Secondly, why is such an important statement only recorded in two of the Gospels (Matthew and Mark). Thirdly, Psalm 22 is neither prophetic or messianic and the argument is therefore wholly inappropriate. Fourthly Jesus declaring that God had forsaken him directly contradicts John 16:32 when Jesus is reported as saying 'I am not alone, for the Father is with me'.


    (5)A writer, referring to Job 26:7 which says 'He stretcheth out the north over the void, and hangs the earth upon nothing', says, incredibly, that this implies knowledge of cosmology. In fact the earth is not 'hanging' at all, but in moving orbit around the sun.
    With regard to Job 38:4 ('Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?'), we are told that we have to look at it 'metaphorically'! Presumably this also applies in those other instances when the Bible writers clearly have no idea of the composition of the world, e.g., in Rev 7:1 when the author speaks about 'the four corners of the earth' (i.e., obviously thinking the world is flat).
    One therefore justifiably wonders how it is possible to know which parts of the Bible are to be viewed literally or metaphorically. Perhaps the entire NT should be treated 'metaphorically'?


    (6)A writer attempts to deal with the contradiction of Matt 5 and Luke 6 that record Jesus' sermon on the mount (or plain). Matt 5:1,2 has 'Seeing the crowds, he [Jesus] went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying....'. And yet Luke 6:17,20 has 'And he came down with them, and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples, and a great multitude of people...who came to hear him... And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples and said...'.
    The supposed explanation offered for this contradiction (i.e., Matthew has Jesus going up a mountain whereas Luke has him standing on a level place) is that the wording in Matthew does not refer to 'on a mountain' but 'in mountain country'. Therefore, the Christian says there is no contradiction as Jesus did not go up on to a mountain but stood on a mountain plain...
    Firstly, it is strange(!) that no translators of the many versions which exist have rendered Matthew's wording as 'in mountain country' as the Christian believes it should be worded. Secondly, apart from reference to 'mountain' the Greek word in Matt 5:1 to describe Jesus' movement is 'anebe' which is rendered 'went up' (see 'anabaino': to cause to ascend, to go up, climb up, mount, ascend). Thus it is clear that Matt sets Jesus' speech up on a mountain (which actually has a theological motive, i.e., is to present Jesus as the New Moses), and yet this is in complete contrast to Luke which has Jesus speaking from a 'level place' (Note also how Luke omits the majority of Jesus' 'Sermon on the Mount' as recorded in Matt chapters 5-7). Consequently, there is a contradiction and no amount of attempted word changes will assist.

    As noted, when confronted with wild claims for the authenticity of Christian belief, there are often insults and disjointed ramblings, not even pertinent to the subject under discussion, and claims by Christian writers to be "scholars" (or 'skolars'!) and experts while they only reveal a truly lamentable knowledge of the Bible: consequently, it is not difficult to see why the writers adopt an arrogant and abusive stance to shield their all-too-obvious failings, ignorance and shortcomings.