PART I: THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE AND THE JEWISH BIBLE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE 1611 KJV CROSS-REFERENCES Author’s Note: The cross-references printed in the original 1611 King James Bible provide a window into how earlier generations of Protestants understood the relationship between the New Testament and the Deuterocanonical books, and how…
Author’s Note: This section examines whether the “Old Testament” used by the Jews at the time of Christ corresponds to the modern Protestant canon or to the broader Scriptures preserved by the Catholic (and Orthodox) Churches.
SIDEBAR 4: REASONABLE STANDARDS OF PROOF, PART I Author’s Note: This section introduces the evidentiary principles that will be applied consistently throughout Canon Crossfire when evaluating competing claims about the biblical canon. Consider the Moslem view of Christianity. From Qureshi: … Finally, we turn to the most common Muslim accusation…
SIDEBAR 3: THE EVIDENCE POINTS TO THE TRUTH Author’s Note: The pages that follow are intended to let the historical evidence speak for itself, inviting readers to evaluate the sources using a single, consistent standard of proof. Kruger’s view (part of his model, as he calls it) is that the…
SIDEBAR 2: SELF-AUTHENTICATION PROVES EVERYTHING Author’s Note: This sidebar examines the role of self-authentication in canon debates and explains why historical evidence remains essential to the discussion. It is well-established that simply reading the Books of the true Bible with an open mind will show any reasonable person that they…
SIDEBAR 1: SKEPTICS ARE THE OPPONENTS, NOT CATHOLICS Author’s Note: Although this book discusses Catholic and Protestant disagreements, its primary purpose is to show that standards of historical evidence have not been applied consistently. We will see repeatedly that whatever looks pathetically weak for Catholics and the Apocrypha will suddenly…
OVERVIEW FROM ORIGEN: “SUSANNA IS FOUND IN EVERY CHURCH” Author’s Note: Origen’s statement that Susanna was found “in every Church of Christ” is one of the clearest pieces of historical evidence, and serves as an important starting point for the discussion that follows. Rather than give you my own biased…
HOW BARUCH CAN DEFEAT THE CASE FOR CHRISTIANITY Author’s Note: Baruch provides a second independent test of the evidence, showing how the early Church’s acceptance of this book can be misunderstood when discussing the broader question of the biblical canon. The early Church accepted Baruch, according to nine of the…
HOW SUSANNA CAN DEFEAT THE CASE FOR CHRISTIANITY Author’s Note: Susanna serves as the book’s first test case, illustrating how a single Deuterocanonical text contradicts common Protestant assumptions about the beliefs of the earliest Christians. Susanna is presented as a book in the 1611 King James Version of the Bible,…
INTRODUCTION TO THE CASE Author’s Note: This page introduces the central argument of Canon Crossfire and explains why the standards used to reject the Deuterocanonical books determine whether the historical case for Christianity itself succeeds or fails. In my opinion, the case for Christianity would be lost by a Protestant[1]…
