Monthly Archives: May 2010

On May 14th, our Reasonable Faith NYC chapter attended a presentation by Dr. Darrell Bock, of Dallas Theological Seminary on the subject, “Why We Trust the Bible.” In this wonderful audio presentation you will find these things discussed:

1. Historical Criteria applied to the Gospels to test authenticity

2. The Jesus Seminar – goals and outcomes

3. Evaluating the Extra-Biblical attestation to Jesus (Joseph, Suetonius and Tacitus – special attention to Josephus)

4. A close look at the Crucifixion story and its historicity

A really great Q & A session was held afterwards. Yours truly asked the question:  ”Could we even recognize an original autograph of the New Testament if it were in our midst?” I asked the same question to N.T. Wright when he was here in NYC a month ago (this audio event will go up soon – watch this space).

Here’s the Audio:

Dr. Darrell Bock’s presentation “Why We Trust the Bible”

Dr. Bock provided us with a copy of his PowerPoint slides in pdf format:

Dr. Bock’s PowerPoint slides on “Why We Trust the Bible”

I commend to you this video of David Bently Hart. In an interview with the Center for Public Christianity he explains his point of view:

http://www.publicchristianity.com/Videos/suffering_problem_of_evil.html

Hart is reacting to this apologetic: Evil is permitted, yes, even designed by God so that those who suffer under it can benefit from character transformation. Hart rejects this explanation and others like it as ultimately describing a God unworthy of worship and a world in which he’d rather not inhabit. He sees this world rather as a place where God has allowed Satan and his powers to run rampant and dominate us (for a time). Thus, there is no “grand purpose” behind suffering – no eternal scheme – and therefore looking for “reasons” and asking “Why?” are pointless. This world is under the control of an evil power and that’s that. Until Satan’s dominion is overthrown, this is what we are going to experience.

I’d like your thoughts on this viewpoint. Is it consistent with Biblical teaching? Does it make sense? Why or why not? What are your thoughts on why evil exists?

Hart explains his viewpoint more fully in a book he wrote in response to the 2004 Tsunami:

The Doors of the Sea: Where Was God in the Tsunami? 2005, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.