The Historicity of Jesus: A Spirited Debate

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A while back, I posted about Catholic apologist Trent Horn’s debate with Dan Barker on the subject of atheism, as well as his debate with Cecili Chadwick concerning abortion. Well, later this month Trent is going to be debating Dr. Richard Carrier on the historicity of Jesus. You can register for tickets here. Since I couldn’t find one, I also created a Facebook event:

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This debate should be particularly interesting since Dr. Carrier is a prominent Jesus Mythicist and, to the best of my knowledge, the only historian with a PhD in Ancient History who casts serious doubt of Jesus’ existence. He’s published a couple of books on the subject where he explains why he thinks the scholarly consensus is wrong and what historical methods should be used instead.

If you’ve been to the other debates which Trent has done, you’ll know that this is sure to be a charitable and engaging debate. See you there 🙂

Sitting down with a Jehovah’s Witness

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So, as many of you know, a couple of weeks ago I had Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) scheduled to visit my home. I had already received two rounds of visits from them but had not yet managed to get them across my threshold. However, on their previous visit they had promised that next time they would have time to come in and have a proper chat.

I had received my first visit about a month earlier when two female JWs had called. During our discussion on the doorstep, I had spoken a little bit about my reversion to Catholicism and about how the question of the canon had played an important part in my return, being rather unimpressed with the various Protestant explanations as to the Bible’s Table Of Contents. Since JWs are distinctly set apart from Protestants, I asked the ladies on my doorstep how they would justify the contents of the Biblical canon. They had no explanation, but said that they would find out and get back to me.

Several weeks later, two gentlemen rang my doorbell, saying that they had heard from their associates that I was interested in knowing about the “hidden” books of the Bible. I explained that my question was not about the deuterocanon/apocrypha per se, but rather about the Biblical canon as a whole. How did they know the right books were in the Bible? How did they know that there were no wrong ones included and no books missed out? Unfortunately, they said that they didn’t have time to talk with me there and then, but they booked an appointment for the following week.

In today’s blog post I’d like to explain what happened on this next visit and the rather interesting turn of events towards the end…

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Music Monday: I heard the voice of Jesus

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Today we have Audrey Assad’s arrangement of the 19th Century hymn, “I heard the voice of Jesus Say”:

1. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Come unto Me and rest;
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down,
Thy head upon My breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was,
Weary and worn and sad;
I found in Him a resting-place,
And He has made me glad.

2. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Behold, I freely give
The living water; thirsty one,
Stoop down and drink and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank
Of that life-giving stream.
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
And now I live in Him.

3. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“I am this dark world’s Light.
Look unto Me; thy morn shall rise
And all thy day be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found
In Him my Star, my Sun;
And in that Light of Life I’ll walk
Till traveling days are done.

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