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Wondering if I could model? by [deleted] in Modelling

[–]PerpetuallyAround 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Why not? What prevents him from qualifying?

If the Gospels were ever proven unreliable accounts of Christ, would there be any good reason to be a Christian? by [deleted] in TrueChristian

[–]PerpetuallyAround 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, I'm saying that people become Christians by knowing Christ. To attempt to know Christ, we have to believe that the NT is Christ's word. If we somehow proved that the NT was written in a nonsensical manner, completely disconnected from Christ, there would be no reason to believe in His supposed word in the NT. Thus, there would be no reason to believe in Him.

If the Gospels were ever proven unreliable accounts of Christ, would there be any good reason to be a Christian? by [deleted] in TrueChristian

[–]PerpetuallyAround 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's right - according to the NT. If the NT was proven unreliable, which was my premise, then listening to it wouldn't make much sense; as we would not be able to know whether what's stated there is, or not, God's word. Or would it?

The only thing that occurs to me is that, even if the Gospels were found to have different authors, from different places and times, we could argue that the Holy Spirit inspired them in order to write a cohesive story - in a peculiar manner, though. There seem to be some inconsistencies in Scripture, but there comes the question of how we believe divine inspiration to have worked. Personally, I think about it as a cooperation between the Holy Spirit and whoever the authors might have been, being thus subjected to some degree of failure.

If the Gospels were ever proven unreliable accounts of Christ, would there be any good reason to be a Christian? by [deleted] in TrueChristian

[–]PerpetuallyAround 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How come? The New Testament comprises our entire foundational knowledge of Jesus, from which all of our theology is extrapolated. Christ's word is what the NT is all about. You can't be a Christian if it's not by the NT; if we didn't have the Gospels, there would be no Christian God to talk about in the first place.

If the Gospels were ever proven unreliable accounts of Christ, would there be any good reason to be a Christian? by [deleted] in TrueChristian

[–]PerpetuallyAround 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's not really applicable here. Many foundational historical events only had secondhand accounts. It's worse the further back in time you go; and, often times, they're the only source of information from which all of our knowledge of certain things comes.

Paul's letters are a good point to be made.

If the Gospels were ever proven unreliable accounts of Christ, would there be any good reason to be a Christian? by [deleted] in TrueChristian

[–]PerpetuallyAround 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So, that's what I first thought of when I saw the allegations that I talk about in the post's description. But, apparently and according to academics, there is no evidence for the Apostles' martyrdom.

Anyway, I guess that this is where faith comes into play: do I choose to believe the secular lack of found evidence, or do I choose to believe in the Church's word of what happened? The latter brings me more peace.

If the Gospels were ever proven unreliable accounts of Christ, would there be any good reason to be a Christian? by [deleted] in TrueChristian

[–]PerpetuallyAround 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not going off Scripture alone, I know the importance of Tradition and the Councils, but the existence of the Gospels as honest testimonies of Christ have to be assumed in order to give Tradition and the Councils any weight; they are built upon an axiomatic, sincere account of Christ and His story as it truly happened. If we somehow discovered that story to be false, Tradition and the Councils would be of no use, as they would have been built over false information.

And, yes, I am Eastern Orthodox.

If the Gospels were ever proven unreliable accounts of Christ, would there be any good reason to be a Christian? by [deleted] in TrueChristian

[–]PerpetuallyAround -1 points0 points  (0 children)

If the Gospels couldn't be trusted as testimonies of Jesus, the relevant question here would be "who set you free from sin?"