Christian apologist Frank Turek recently left an audience of university students roaring with laughter when he asked a simple question of a young man who was challenging him on the historical authenticity of the New Testament.
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The moment, which was caught on camera, unfolded at Southern Illinois University Carbondale in Carbondale, Illinois, with the unnamed student challenging whether people really can know for sure whether the Bible’s authors were telling the truth.
“Earlier you mentioned that people often lie to make themselves look good,” the student said. “Has it ever occurred to you that, possibly, maybe the writers and creators of the Bible possibly lied … for power?”
Turek responded by noting that the problem with that argument is that the disciples and authors ended up receiving “abuse” as a result of their claims about Jesus. Still undeterred, the student continued his challenge.
“People can say things, but that doesn’t always mean it’s true,” he said, seemingly proceeding to dismiss the historical reliability of oral traditions that are passed down for eons.
Turek took issue with that, though, and responded with a pretty thought provoking statement about historical documentation.
“If you’re saying we can’t know history because it happened hundreds of thousands of years ago, then there should be no history department at any major university,” he said. “Everybody has to evaluate the evidence and make a decision for themselves as to whether or not what [the Bible authors] said is true.”
Then, as the dialogue continued, Turek delivered the simple question that sparked laughter, leaving the audience with a mic-drop moment of sorts.
“Do you believe, say, George Washington existed?” he asked, to which the student responded, “I mean from what people say, possibly, yes.” Then, the laughter started, with even the student cracking a smile, realizing he had just defeated his own assertion.
Watch it all unfold below:
A skeptic at Southern Illinois University Carbondale gives me a "fake name" in an attempt to discredit the historicity of the New Testament.
Posted by Frank Turek on Tuesday, October 10, 2017