The validity of any religion or belief system is only as secure as the documents upon which it is based. Particularly with issues as important as one’s eternal destiny and how to live a fulfilling life, it only makes sense to base your belief system on a solid foundation. As this infographic shows, the New Testament gives us the historically valid history of Jesus, his life, death, and resurrection, and the history of the founding of the Christian Church and its doctrines rests on a solid textual history.
There is more and earlier documentary evidence for the reliablity of the New Testament than for any other ancient document that supports the history we have of those times.
In addition, this infographic shows the contrasting poor documentary support for the Gnostic Gospels, few manuscripts, 1-4 as opposed to thousands, and late dating, hundreds of years after the events they purport to record as opposed to less than 100 years.
The lesson, Introduction to the New Testament, the critical importance of correct dating, will give you a detailed discussion of this infographic and additional background on the New Testament from both favorable and antagonistic sources.
Below is a free, reproducible handout of the chart.
