Brother,<\/p>\n
How would I handle the difference between the inspired text that makes claims and a comic book that someone can use to make claims? I was told this: \u201cFor instance, I can claim the existence of Spider-Man because he is from Queens, NY, and that is a real place with real historical figures in the comic. However, citing real things in an imaginary comic doesn’t make the storyline true. That’s what an atheist sees.\u201d<\/p>\n\t
First, we need to start with a simple fact: a comic book does not claim to record the truth. That some use real-life settings does not change the fact that a comic book is a work of fiction. In contrast, the Bible claims to be the inspired words of God (II Timothy 3:16-17) and that it is the truth (John 17:17). Thus, its historical references would have to be accurate.\u00a0 The verification of the facts mentioned in the Bible supports its claim of being the truth, but it does not prove that it is true.<\/p>\n
Second, since there are elements in a fictional work that are provably false, it supports the claim that it is a work of fiction. There have been many attempts to poke holes in the Bible’s narrative but each has failed. Thus, the atheist’s claim that the Bible is a work of fiction has not been proven.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Brother, How would I handle the difference between the inspired text that makes claims and a comic book that someone can use to make claims? I was told this: \u201cFor instance, I can claim the existence of Spider-Man because he is from Queens, NY, and that is a real place with real historical figures…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[184,709,279],"class_list":["post-7235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-atheism","tag-evidence","tag-history"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18216,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-the-trials-of-jesus-historically-accurate\/","url_meta":{"origin":7235,"position":0},"title":"Are the trials of Jesus historically accurate?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 25, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Are the trials of Jesus historically accurate? I ran across a web site that claims that some of the details of the trial were not historically accurate, but rather made up. The web site also claims that Pilate was not portrayed accurately and that the trial before the Sanhedrin\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40441,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/on-using-the-bible-to-prove-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":7235,"position":1},"title":"On Using the Bible to Prove the Bible","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer via\u00a0Mind Your Faith The charge is sometimes made against biblical apologists that they just use the Bible to prove the Bible. The implication, of course, is that this is circular reasoning and, therefore, erroneous. They want other sources outside the Bible that verify it, not the Bible\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2818,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-truth-behind-the-da-vinci-code\/","url_meta":{"origin":7235,"position":2},"title":"Is there truth behind “The Da Vinci Code”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 7, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Have you heard of\u00a0The Da Vinci Code? It's a book written about Leonardo da Vinci, Opus Dei, and stuff like that? I've read the story and it was about hidden truths in Christianity: Jesus being married to Mary Magdalene, the Bible as a product of men, the books of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95274,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-versus-other-religious-writings\/","url_meta":{"origin":7235,"position":3},"title":"Bible versus Other Religious Writings","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 26, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton There are two ways to test the validity of a book's claims about itself. There is the external test, which considers the historical accuracy and archeological evidence in its favor.\u00a0Then there is the internal test, which considers prophetic accuracy, unity, harmony, and unusual marks of foreknowledge\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":978,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-we-know-the-bible-is-inspired\/","url_meta":{"origin":7235,"position":4},"title":"How do we know the Bible is inspired?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 26, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How do we know absolutely that the Bible is the infallible and inspired Word of God? How did the Bible as we know it today come into existence? Answer: Entire books have been written on the subject of the inspiration of the Bible. It is unlikely that I will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5358,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-parts-of-our-bible-missing\/","url_meta":{"origin":7235,"position":5},"title":"Are parts of our Bible missing?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 6, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I've been discussing with a friend about his belief in God, Jesus, and the Bible. He believes in all three, but in regards to the Bible, he does not believe everything in it. He also believes that some parts of the Bible are missing, saying it's in history that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7235\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}