We live in a fallen world. Turn on the television and you will hear countless stories of wars, illnesses, abuse, murder, and more. Many of you reading this right now have more than likely suffered at some point in time, either through violence, losing loved ones, disease, or other kinds of suffering. 

It’s heartbreaking to hear about innocent children dying by chemical weapons in Syria or children being sold into brothels in Cambodia, to hear about Christians being killed or beaten for their faith around the world, or a family at church losing a loved one to cancer. 

Let’s take a look at the life of Job to see how he suffered. Job had everything you could want, a large family, financial prosperity, many close friends, and integrity. Satan wanted to test Job’s love for God by destroying everything he had. Even when Job lost his health, his family, and his possessions he never lost his faith in God. 

Is God real?

How can we know — truly know — that God exists?

How can we be sure that He’s not a nice figment of our imagination?

When it comes to things unseen, these are the questions people often ask. Yet, in some church cultures, it might be considered impolite to ask such bold questions. But I believe our faith is strengthened when we wrestle with the truths that can’t be easily verified with our eyes and ears. {Tweet this}

One of the twelve disciples has been dubbed “Doubting Thomas” because he refused to believe that Christ had indeed risen from the dead. Even when his closest friends exclaimed that they had seen the Lord, Thomas was adamant in his stance. He said:

Have you ever been afraid to share your faith because of being asked a question that you can’t answer? Or maybe you have had the courage to share your faith yet you felt that your answers to questions were insufficient. There are great answers to the objections that many people have; unfortunately trying to find those answers can be quite a challenge. Recently my husband developed an easy to remember acronym that will enable anyone to present a sound and time tested defense of the Christian faith. He also put this acronym into a tract, called the Best Facts tract.

As newlyweds, my husband and I both attended graduate school. I studied rhetoric. He studied apologetics. We used to joke with friends and say that I was learning how to win arguments, and he was learning how to apologize.

That’s not exactly what rhetoric means, of course, and it’s not at all what apologetics means. It was merely a play on words.

Both words, however, are rooted in ancient Greek language. Rhetoric is classically defined as the art of persuasive speech — the ingredients of which combine for great compositions — which is why writers study it. But the word apologetics comes from the word apologia, which means “speech of defense.”

This is part four of a four part series about the development of the New Testament canon. Here is part one, part two and part three.

         D. Trobisch has developed an interesting theory about the early canonization process. He believes that the New Testament was published as a collection by the middle of the second century. Trobisch’s analysis of the manuscript evidence for certain parts of his theory has contributed greatly to an understanding of an early canonization process. He points to various “phenomena” found throughout the manuscripts that he concludes are the result of an early editorial decision in the “original edition.” These phenomena found throughout the manuscripts, including the earliest, are the nomina sacra, the use of the codex format, conformity of content and order throughout the manuscripts, the uniformity of the titles, and the “New Covenant” title for the whole collection. 

This is part three of a four part series about the development of the New Testament canon. Here's part one and part two.

         The term canon comes from the Greek word kanōn, which comes from the Hebrew word kaneh. Canon means “rule” or “standard.” It was not until the middle of the fourth century that the term canon was used to refer to the New Testament. However, this does not mean that the church did not have an early understanding of a canon. 

This is part two of a Four Part Series About the Development of the New Testament Canon. Read part one here.

Bart Ehrman discusses how Athanasius’ letter, written in the year AD 367, was the first time the twenty-seven books of the New Testament were affirmed. The implication is that before Athanasius there was not any consensus regarding any of the books. However, the criterion for canonicity that the early church councils used presupposes an early understanding of the canon. Everett Ferguson writes, “The organized church did not create the canon, but recognized it…Writers from the second century on repeatedly referred to the canonical writings as the books ‘handed down to us’” The fact that the church fathers repeatedly discussed the New Testament books as being “handed down” suggests that they understood which books were historically accepted.

What do people mean by the development of the New Testament Canon? For those that do not know, the canon is the collection of the twenty-seven books that make up our New Testament. The New Testament books were not written at the same time so the collection we have today did not come about all at once. 

Exactly when all the books came together is debated because evidence for the early canonization process is limited. There is much debate about whether or not the canon was actually set before or after the councils of the fourth and fifth centuries, the councils of Hippo and Carthage. According to some critics, Bart Ehrman in particular, the debate spanned centuries. He claims, “In a strange way, the canon, far from being definitively decided on at some point in time, emerged without anyone taking a vote.” Despite what Bart Ehrman and other critics claim, the point should be made that there is evidence that would suggest that the canon was set before the councils of the fourth and fifth centuries and without much debate.

So the word on the street is that the Bible has been translated so many times that it can no longer be trusted. People often refer to the game of telephone in order to prove this point, as if the game of telephone is a scholarly method of research.