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From: mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: The Bible as History
Message-ID: <362@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 15-Oct-84 22:50:01 EDT
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.362
Posted: Mon Oct 15 22:50:01 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 17-Oct-84 19:30:17 EDT
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Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD
Lines: 16

The Bible, while it contains some historical information, is not a
work of history as we see it today, any more than the gospels are
biography.  The book of Job, for instance, begins with what is obviously
the equivalent of "Once Upon a Time."

Christianity is based entirely upon the historical fact of the ressurection.
Without this, nothing else is of any use.  Now, from our perspective, it
is simply impossible to make any statement concerning the reality of the
ressurection on "historical" grounds;  there is no circumstantial material
evidence, there are few eyewitnesses (whom many consider to be untrustworthy)
and to flatly state its impossibility is to prejudge the question.

Therefore, I have no use for historical arguments about the origin of
christianity.

Charley Wingate