One of the five criteria used is that of embarrassment in which one asserts that the New Testament with particular emphasis to the old testament were created to promote faith in Jesus as God’s definitive agent of salvation and reconciliation (McMahon 45). The baptism of Jesus by John and his crucifixion is an example of this criterion at work (hard to imagine the messiah’s son going through all these). Another criterion is that of multiple attestation whereby it promotes the idea that material that is found in more than a single independent source or several literary forms is most definitely rooted in stage one. “It is now widely assumed that Mark’s Gospel was the source for both Mathew and Luke, along with another source that has been designated Q”. McMahon 45).
A third criterion is of rejection and execution that tends to explain the reason as to why Jesus had to be executed because he threatened those with power in the society. Fourth, discontinuity and dissimilarity that seeks to bring out the inconsistencies in Jesus’ acts that were not in line with Judaism. To explain this, “the Gospels depict Jesus as including women (without their husbands) among his close friends and associates, which was unusual for the first century Jew” (McMahon 48). The fifth is that of coherence that seeks to establish the patterns of Jesus’ acts and speech that have been echoed in the previous criteria. As in, there is a case in which Jesus reacts favorably to the woman who was claimed to be a sinner in public and his showing concern for those in need (McMahon 49).
The inconsistencies that exist in the biblical narration can be asserted to imply biblical errors. This is because if they cannot explain the time lapses, or even better be coherent with previous events then the narrations are not giving the full account of what took place in history (Wright and Wright 56). Leaving such time lapses to common sense applications implies that there may be errors that were made when writing the Bible or there could be omissions made earlier (Martin 34). History accounts for past events and if this is not the case then definitely there are errors of commission or omission.
Works Cited
McMahon, Christopher. Understanding Jesus: Christology from Emmaus to Today. Winona, MN: Anselm Academic, 2013. Print.
Wright, N T, and N T. Wright. The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is. Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 2011. Print.
Martin, James. Jesus: A Pilgrimage. , 2014. Print.
