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A Historical Look for Proof
To prove the Bible, and the Gospels, as true, we will examine them as we would any historical document, looking at five internal characteristics and four external charachteristics.
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Internal
1- Was the author in a position to know what he/she was writing about?
Was the author of the work in a possition to either provide an eye witness account, or talk with someone who could provide an eye witness account? If so, that can attribute to making a more credible document
2- Does the document contain specific and especially irrelevant material?
If the document is loaded with irrelevent information, for example, exact numbers, possibly the weather, possible, what people were wearing, then chances are that the document is credible. Where as if the document does not have any of these details, then there is a greater chance that the document is false.
3 - Does the document contain self-damaging material?
Does the document contain any material that discounts the author or any of the people in the document? If so, the question might be raised about the motives of the author in writing their piece.
4- Is the document reasonably self-consistant?
Does the document follow one story line and keep that story consistant within itself or does the same story or details change from part to part within the document? If they do, this could damage the crediblity of the document.
5 - Is there evidence of legendary accreation in the story?
Does the story follow a typical fishing story, and do some of the details in the story seem over exaggerated? Or does everything seem to fall into place with natural events that we are accustom with? If the details seem to be enlarged then the credibility of the document might be damaged.
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External
1 - Would the authors have a motive for making up what they wrote in the document?
Would the author have anything to gain or profit by this document. If not the chances are that the document is more credible, since more often than not if they have nothing to gain, they do have something to lose, and unless there is truth behind what they are saying, chances are, they would not write it.
2 - Do other sources confirm or go against the document?
Do other documents of the time frame support or go against the document? If other documents are in support then the document is lead to be more credible, especially if more than one writter has a similar account to the same story.
3 - Does archeology support or go against the document?
Does archeological evidence prove what happens in the document? Are finding similar to iteams described in the document? Does the document see to be appropriate for the time frame that it was created in? If so, then the document can be viewed as more credible.
4 - Could contemperaries of the document falsify the documents, and if so what are their motives?
Could contemperaries of the document prove that the document was false, and if they could be chose not to, as far as history shows us, then the credibility of the document is enhanced.
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Now we will take the documents themselves and plug them into these questions to either verify or falsify the document.
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