As he continued he again, as his manner was, asserting the authors of the Gospels could not be those they were assigned to. He based this argument among other things upon a late date given for their authorship, stating they were written sometime in the 4th century some 300 years after the event.
However, the fact is we have fragments of papyrus, one of which is P52 from the book of John Chapter 18 that is dated in the latter part of the first or early second century. It is old enough to possibly be a copy of an original manuscript. When translated it reads the same as our modern English translations nearly 2,000 years later. This along with many other textual facts renders his arguments absurd.
He then continues with much effort pointing to different wording presented in the differents Gospels concerning the events recorded in each. All of which is meaningless, for one would expect different accounts by different witnesses to vary in what they recorded, added to that the thousands of copies of text we have to draw from would naturally render some varients. So nothing he offers concerning the Gospels warrants any effort to address any further.
As he moves into the Epistles we are again amazed at his rich imagination, for concerning the Apostle Paul and his vision during the trip to Damascus he states, ". . . that is more than many others have done, who have been struck with lightning; and that he should lose his sight for three days, and be unable to eat or drink during that time, is nothing more than is common in such conditions." - Thomas Paine (The Age of Reason) This he offered purely out of his imagination, for there is nothing in the text that would suggest such a surmising.
I present this next quote simply for amusement purposes, "The doctrine he [Paul] sets out to prove by argument, is the resurrection of the same body: and he advances this as an evidence of immortality. But so much will men differ in their manner of thinking, and in their conclusions, they draw from the same premises, that this doctrine of the resurrection of the same body, so far from being an evidence of immortality, appears to me to be an evidence against it; for if I have already died in this body, and am raised again in the same body in which I have died, it is presumptive evidence that I shall die again. That resurrection no more secures me against the repetition of dying, than an ague-fit, when past, secures me against another. To believe therefore in immortality, I must have a more elevated idea than is contained in the gloomy doctrine of the resurrection." - Thomas Paine (The Age of Reason).
I was going to cease with the amusement, but I must continue for at least one more quote. After the foolishness related above, he makes the following statement which leaves one wondering what this has to do with his objective?
"Every animal in the creation excels us in something. The winged insects, without mentioning doves or eagles, can pass over more space with greater ease in a few minutes than man can in an hour. The glide of the smallest fish, in proportion to its bulk, exceeds us in motion almost beyond comparison, and without weariness. Even the sluggish snail can ascend from the bottom of a dungeon, where man, by the want of that ability, would perish; and a spider can launch itself from the top, as a playful amusement. The personal powers of man are so limited, and his heavy frame so little constructed to extensive enjoyment, that there is nothing to induce us to wish the opinion of Paul to be true. It is too little for the magnitude of the scene, too mean for the sublimity of the subject." - Thomas Paine (The Age of Reason).
I would comment further, but I will leave the foolishness of his reasoning stand for its self. However, since it is Paul he was maligning, I will let Paul answer his foolishness.
1 Corinthians 15:35-58 ESV
(35) But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?”
(36) You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
(37) And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.
(38) But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.
(39) For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.
(40) There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another.
(41) There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
(42) So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.
(43) It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
(44) It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
(45) Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
(46) But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.
(47) The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
(48) As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.
(49) Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
(50) I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
(51) Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
(52) in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
(53) For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
(54) When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
(55) “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
(56) The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
(57) But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(58) Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
May the Grace of God be with each of you,
David
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