Christian Scholarship vs. Penn and Teller

Baptist Press - Scholar lists reasons for Gospels' reliability - News with a Christian Perspective

A few days ago I was looking through YouTube for any videos that related to the Bible. I was appalled when I found a video by the comedy/magic team of Penn and Teller. The name of the Video was "Why the Bible is Unreliable". Ok, I lied, they didn't say unreliable, but they instead used a crass term with the same initials as Barbara Streisand. I found it very offensive. And no, I won't give you a link for it. They attacked the Bible's historicity and reliability as a moral and ethical standard. Of course, they gave a completely one sided presentation, never giving anyone an opportunity to defend the historicity and reliability of scripture. When I read the article above this morning I realized that some of the reasons that this scholar gives for the historicity and reliability of scripture are the same reasons these atheists gave NOT to trust it. Penn and Teller pointed out many "difficult" passages of scripture, such as the command to stone to death children who disobey their parents, as a reason why we should not trust the Bible.

Blomberg in this article lists some of the difficult sayings of Jesus, as evidence of the reliability of the gospels. As an example he mentions Jesus command that if we would follow him we must hate our father and mother. If the gospel writers were trying to fabricate stories to build up Jesus, they would be unlikely to include such a difficult saying. Likewise, by examining the things Jesus didn't speak on, we can assume that the gospel writers sought to be historically accurate. Two major areas of controversy in the early church were speaking in tongues and circumcision. The gospels don't record Jesus speaking on either. If the gospel writers were playing free and loose with history they could have put words in Jesus mouth to settle these issues, but they did not. Knowing that they did not shy away from Jesus difficult teachings, and that they did not fabricate things Jesus did not teach, gives me all the more reason to trust what they did record. You know, little things, like Jesus' immaculate conception and birth to a virgin. His miracles of healing, raising the dead, feeding thousands with the contents of one boy's lunch pail, calming the seas with the sound of his voice, and most importantly, his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father.

Penn and Teller pride themselves on being intellectuals that would never fall for the silly superstitions of scripture. I believe, however, that if they were as confident in their intellect as they pretend to be, that they would have included prominent Biblical scholars and Christian Archaeologists to provide a rebuttal. Anyone can make a case for anything if they don't have to defend their facts and logic. And why did they feel the need to make this video? What is it that compels them to attack the foundation of Christian faith. They certainly have a right to be atheists, and not to believe the Bible. But why the need to attack the Bible? In a day when the likes of Mel Gibson, Michael Richards, Don Imus, and so many others are raked across the coals for hateful and disparaging remarks, why do entertainers like these two feel free to attack the predominant faith in this country with impunity? It seems that Christians are the one people group that can be maligned without consequence in our culture of political correctness. Had Penn and Teller created such a video attacking the Koran, we'd see major news coverage of their hate speech, and the need to ban them from performing in Vegas and appearing on TV.

I challenge Penn and Teller to debate the reliability and historicity of the Bible with genuine Jewish and Christian Biblical scholars, but I won't hold my breath. And I won't be watching any more of their magic/comedy acts.