Posted by Illuminati on 4/28/2005, 6:39 am, in reply to "Re: Validity of the Bible" One of the most important parts of the Jesus tradition was His exegesis of the Hebrew scriptures. This was reinforced and expanded after the resurrection and was fresh on their minds when they set out to evangelize the world with His teachings. In Acts 1 we find the Apostles of Jesus immediately went into the temple and began preaching His message with power and winning thousands of converts. We have details of the disputes they had with those who rejected their teachings and insights into their methods of exegesis and specific texts they used. Because these teachings were used repeatedly every time they witnessed about Jesus and were the instrument which brought people into the church it was very stable from the beginning. Indeed one can follow these same arguments from the gospels, through Acts and the Apostles writings, into Pauls writings and beyond in the writings of the early church fathers. The more disputed an idea was by those who were not Christians the more stable that part of the tradition would be since the Christians would constantly repeat their theological arguments and present their textual evidence to support their claims. The most scandalous part of all and the arguments they repeated the most was that Jesus was the Christ the Son of God and the texts from the Hebrew scripture which supported that understanding. God is our Father who loves us dearly was also guaranteed by Jesus' death on the cross to proclaim God's eternal love for us. Next was that Jesus was the lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world. The story of the cross was repeated endlessly along with the evidence of His resurrection. Finally the understanding that by His death are we promised salvation through belief in Him was bedrock to the early Church's understanding of Jesus from the beginning. These themes were repeated endlessly and could not have possibly have been forgotten. This was the essence of Christianity then and it remains so today. As I stated earlier, Jesus undoubtedly repeated His most important lessons and parables many times to reinforce them in the memories of the apostles. These would provide packets of information which could be retold in different settings and with different applications depending upon the circumstances in which they were used. This is the proper usage of these lessons and this is what is found in the Bible. Some details will vary but the foundational understanding of Jesus' teachings never changes. One of the most important parts of someone's existence on this earth is the moulding of their children's characters. Children will keep memories of their parents teachings, attitudes and beliefs throughout life and in many ways often subconsciously will mirror their parents. If the relationship was poor they will rebel against what they were taught and consciously repudiate portions of those lessons. The influence of a parent on a child is so deep and pervasive it is very difficult to escape their lives even after the parents are long dead. I have never found anyone who will deny the profound influence a parent will have on their child. And yet if you ask siblings to tell the story of their parents lives, they will differ greatly in the stories they choose to tell and the details they remember. I remember my father's funderal as if it were yesterday. The eulogy my older brother differed in many ways from what I would have given and the details he remembered were not exactly those I remembered. I would have expressed my father's life quite differently than my older brother, but I never once doubted the veracity of my brother's observations. He and I lived with the same man for years and those things which we chose to remember and tell were different but both stories were completely true. If we tell of experiences we had with our father we will undoubtedly differ in many details even though the story is basicly the same. When we were traveling together for the funeral my brother and I talked for hours about our father. There was no question that we remembered his beliefs and attitudes the same way even though the events we would relate to support our impressions of him were different. This is because our overall understanding of dad was based on thousands of experiences which blended into one overall impression of the man and could never be adequately expressed in individual experiences. Each experience was simply a brush stroke which along with millions of other similar incidents produced the accurate picture of our father's character and personality which each of us will carry in our minds until the day we die. This type of operational memory is much more stable and accurate than declarative memory which recounts individual incidents of an individual's life. For example I know my father was a commited Christian not because of one incident in his life but because of millions of incidents all of which contributed to that unerring understanding. In the same way the life and teachings of Jesus were borne in the hearts of Jesus' disciples and formed the basis of the teachings of the new church. Those who associated with Him the closest would have the deepest and most accurate memories of His teachings, personality and character. These were the apostles who founded the Christian church and transmitted Jesus' teachings to us. They were the leaders of the church and carefully chose and taught their underlings who took over leadership when the original apostles move on to a new location or died.
206.206.120.230
After His resurrection not only did Jesus give the two disciples an intense course in Biblical exegesis but He gave it to the rest of the Apostles shortly thereafter.
Luke 24:36-53
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."
37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."
40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.
44 He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms."
45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
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