label your posts (was Re: Resurrection)

Greg, Nancy, and James Todd todds@pa.net
Sun, 31 Jan 1999 16:22:27 -0500 (00917839347, 199901312122.QAA18772@emh1.pa.net) 


>On Sun, 31 Jan 1999, Mark Bakke wrote:

>

>> > >> Tim

>> > >> Where is Arimathea?

>> > >

>> > >BAKKE

>> > >It's location is not universally agreed upon, but most opinion seems to

>> > >be that it is the same as Ramathaim-zophim, the home of Samuel.  If so,

>> > >the site would be modern Rentis, approximately 25 miles NW of Jerusalem.

>> > >

>> > 

>> > TILL

>> > I think you missed the point.  Biblicists assume the historical accuracy of

>> > the NT in order to "prove" the resurrection, but the historicity of Joseph

>> > of Arimathea cannot be corroborated by any contemporary records.  No one is

>> > really sure where Arimathea was, yet we are supposed to believe that

someone

>> > named Joseph of Arimathea, who was mentioned only in biased accounts of a

>> > resurrected Messiah, was an actual historical person.  To prove that he was

>> > an actual person, a good place to begin would be to establish unequivocally

>> > that there was even a place named Arimathea.

>> 

>> BAKKE

>> Establishing the location of a city is not the same things as

>> establishing the existence of a person who was supposedly from that

>> city.  For example, many people doubt the existence of Jesus of

>> Nazareth, but how many will doubt the existence of Nazareth?  Why should

>> it be any different with Joseph of Arimathea?  Certainly, the Gospel

>> writer(s) would know of the city and could weave it into their tale. 

>> That does not give the existence of Joseph any more validity.



>**DEREK**

>In some cases however, such as Matthew's use of Bethlehem, the writer may

>have been attempting to weave the city name into the story to make a case.

>The actual location, or even existence, of Bethlehem at that time is, I

>think, difficult to determine?  I do not have a source for this comment,

>to avoid the inevitable rejoinder. 

>

>

NANCY
Derek, please label your posts as I have done in this reply. Whenever you
split a post, please label each part. That way, there is no confusion as to
who said what.

Nancy Todd
todds@pa.net