Tiberius
Well-Known Member
Not at all.
if there are many sources which have the same accounts, and these sources are not related to each other, than I will conclude that it is likely that the accounts are accurate.
However, if the accounts have significant differences and are related and I can't check many other sources for their accuracy, then I will be less likely to believe it.
For example...
I research a person named J. Smith...
Source one says Joe Smith was a mechanic
Source two says Joseph Smith was an autotechnician
Source three says Joey S.worked on cars
Source four says that Mr Smith was a greasemonkey
Source five says J. Smith worked in an autorepair shop
it's safe to conclude that there is someone by the name of Joseph Smith who fixes cars for a living, yes?
However, if...
Source one says Joe Smith was a mechanic
Source two says that Justin Smith worked as a flight attendant
Source three says that James Smith died as an infant
I'm hardly going to conclude that they were speaking about the same person, am I?
Yet, there are differneces similar to these in the Bible, and the most common result, it seems, is that people create elaborate excuses to avouid it.
Yes, James Smith was involved in a terrible accident when he was an infant and was clinically dead for three minutes, and afterwards his name was changed to Joe because his parents wanted to avoid the trauma of the memories of what happened to baby James. After joe left school, he got a job as a mechanic, but he found out about what his parents did, and he wanted to distance himself from the lie that his parents had told him. So he quit his mechanic job and got a job as a flight attendent and changed his name to Justin, because his parents told him his name had originally been Justin. (They really didn't want him to be known as James again, so they lied a second time about his name.) And I know it's true because my research clearly shows that James Smith was involved in a freak accident as a child, and that later, Joe Smith was a mechanic, and several years after, Justin Smith was a flight steward. Plus, I really feel it in my heart, so it's gotta be true, golly gee, it's just gotta!
You laugh when I do it with J. Smith, yet when people do it to the Bible, it's all of a sudden so plausible.
if there are many sources which have the same accounts, and these sources are not related to each other, than I will conclude that it is likely that the accounts are accurate.
However, if the accounts have significant differences and are related and I can't check many other sources for their accuracy, then I will be less likely to believe it.
For example...
I research a person named J. Smith...
Source one says Joe Smith was a mechanic
Source two says Joseph Smith was an autotechnician
Source three says Joey S.worked on cars
Source four says that Mr Smith was a greasemonkey
Source five says J. Smith worked in an autorepair shop
it's safe to conclude that there is someone by the name of Joseph Smith who fixes cars for a living, yes?
However, if...
Source one says Joe Smith was a mechanic
Source two says that Justin Smith worked as a flight attendant
Source three says that James Smith died as an infant
I'm hardly going to conclude that they were speaking about the same person, am I?
Yet, there are differneces similar to these in the Bible, and the most common result, it seems, is that people create elaborate excuses to avouid it.
Yes, James Smith was involved in a terrible accident when he was an infant and was clinically dead for three minutes, and afterwards his name was changed to Joe because his parents wanted to avoid the trauma of the memories of what happened to baby James. After joe left school, he got a job as a mechanic, but he found out about what his parents did, and he wanted to distance himself from the lie that his parents had told him. So he quit his mechanic job and got a job as a flight attendent and changed his name to Justin, because his parents told him his name had originally been Justin. (They really didn't want him to be known as James again, so they lied a second time about his name.) And I know it's true because my research clearly shows that James Smith was involved in a freak accident as a child, and that later, Joe Smith was a mechanic, and several years after, Justin Smith was a flight steward. Plus, I really feel it in my heart, so it's gotta be true, golly gee, it's just gotta!
You laugh when I do it with J. Smith, yet when people do it to the Bible, it's all of a sudden so plausible.