How to prove New Testament writings as valid sources?

[q54332]

How do I prove to an atheist or someone that denies the bible as a good historical source?

 

[Dobereiner]

Are there any specific issues that you are concerned with?

 

[Mrchatsworth]

Prove what?

 

[commenter]

Start where this atheist is now. What’s their current ideal, or frame of reference?
Is he or she bringing up the topic of the Bible?

Atheists may complain the Bible condoned certain “evil” actions, or maybe rigidity on sex issues. Well, what’s their standard, or yardstick by which they evaluate the Bible? Where did they get that standard?

Almost certainly they will assume there is an absolute standard that you and he or she and everyone will accept. Follow that line of reasoning.

Remember it’s not so much the Bible you’re defending but God. If their issue isn’t morality but accuracy of documents, what ancient documents do they regard as reliable? The NT has been examined far more closely than anything else. We have copies of manuscripts very close in time to originals, compared to other well known documents.

Again, start with what they accept, and ask why. Most progress is likely by you getting them to reflect back on their current assumptions.

 

[BartholomewB]

How do I prove to an atheist or someone that denies the bible as a good historical source?

As a good historical source for what kind of information? Let’s say the “atheist or someone” points to the lifetimes of the patriarchs in Genesis 11 and asks you, “Do you really believe it’s the literal historical truth that those people lived hundreds of years?” What would your answer be?

 

[Wesrock]

I think it’s important to understand that these weren’t written to be part of a Bible. They’re not by an established first century Roman historian, but they are independent first century books and letters written to be accounts of Jesus’ ministry or for pastoral guidance. The Christian community chose to include them in a larger body of documents later.

 

[White_Tree]

How do I prove to an atheist or someone that denies the bible as a good historical source?

The whole New Testament? Honestly, I don’t think you can.

Among the Pauline epistles, there is a mountain of evidence that many of them are outright forgeries or at best, of uncertain authorship. And the New Testament in general has undergone too much editing for a non-believing person to accept them at face value. On the surface, the main reasons to trust texts like that are theological in nature, and you won’t be able to use that sort of argument with an atheist.

If you’re dealing with an atheist, you will probably need to use something other than the Bible to argue your point.

Fortunately, the Author of the universe wrote Truth into the hearts of men, and nature itself. There are plenty of other ways to demonstrate the truth, validity, and importance of religion that don’t rely on the authority of the Bible. Once you get them that far, then you can show how valuable the New Testament is as a source of insight into that religion, and they can come to recognize for themselves the wisdom of those texts.

 

[Pattylt]

The problem is, from an atheist point of view, the Bible isn’t an historical document. It has history in it but it wasn’t written to be an accurate description of the ancient world. It’s written to be a theological history of certain people. It often ties its stories to actual events but interprets those events from a theological point of view.

The problems arise when a believer takes any historical sounding text in the Bible and insists it is a physical historical truth. The believer is free to do that…the atheist is not. Historical fictions sound like they have actual historical events in them, too…and they may…but it is still a fictional story. Most atheists view the Bible as historical fiction. It may have some actual history but that’s not the point of the text. The point is theological truth of which the atheist rejects.

Is there one particular “history” in the Bible that you are discussing?