Quote:None of those edicts are contemporary. They are written hundreds of years later. Whereas the NT was completed by 70 AD except for Revelation 95 AD just a few decades later holding the highest of standards.
No, the Augustan Edicts were written BY Augustus (this is why they're called 'The Augustan Edicts'). If you have evidence that 'they are written hundreds of years later', trot it out.
Let's assume for the nonce that the NT was completed by 70 AD (it isn't true, but let's assume it). This is still more than 30 years after the alleged death of Jesus. Suppose you had a good friend who snuffed it 30 years before you decided to write about him. But your friend left no personal diary, he wasn't written about in any newspaper accounts - all you have to rely on is your own memory of what he said and what he did and where he went, etc. No person in their right mind would accept your writings as historically reliable, they might even question whether your friend existed at all. This is EXACTLY the case with Jesus.
Now, suppose you had met this friend a few years before his death. You had a heavy correspondence, he sent you lots of letters giving you details about his childhood, his job, his personal outlook on life, and such. Furthermore, he mentioned people you both knew and who knew you both. Your friend became famous, and his likeness hung in galleries and studios all over the world. Someone would have to be delusional (there's that word again) to question your friend's existence. This is EXACTLY the case with Augustus.
No sign of a new left eye, by the way. I suppose I'll have to remain unconvinced.
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
