Board index ‹ Faith and Knowledge

[Ella Real]

There is absolutely no evidence, Barbara Thiering studied some Dead Sea Scrolls and found that Jesus was walking on the jetty reserved for priests to baptize people and it was considered a holy place. When the priest was walking on the jetty the saying was that he is walking on the water.

[jimwalton]

For one, I'd be curious to read those Dead Sea Scrolls that she is referencing. For two, that's an impossible explanation of Jesus walking on the sater. (A) the Gospels specify he was in the middle of the lake, not on the edge (Mt. 14.24; John 6.19; the lake is 13 miles x 7 miles. That would be QUITE a jetty!). (B) There was a violent storm going on (John 6.18). It's not a plausible explanation for this situation.

Secondly, not everything is subject to evidence. I saw a rainbow two weeks ago. I have no evidence of it, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. Rainbows don't leave evidence. For the Jesus story, we have three accounts of its occurrence. It's not like they could take a picture. The only people who could testify to its truth are the 12 disciples who saw it. There's no other possibility for evidence, not even corroborating records. Only 12 people saw it. A few years back some friends and I saw a mountain lion cross the road in Vermont. Scientists say there are no mountain lions in Vermont. He was there and gone before we could take a picture. None of us have any evidence; there are no corroborating records. But we know what we saw. We all saw it. You say there is "absolutely no evidence" of the walking on water, but we do have evidence. We have the records from those who were eyewitnesses. Though you may doubt Matthew (as many people do, but I don't), John's Gospel is much more an account from an eyewitness. That's the evidence we have. To rebut the accounts you have to prove that Matthew and John are incompetent to be telling us history.