I’m not saying that the authority can’t exist without the signs. But then, what differentiates one with authority from one without? Without signs and prophecy, Jesus, Moses, Elijah, Elisha, etc. are just these guys telling people to listen to them.
What I’m actually saying is that the Bible, our only objective source of information on God, who He is, and what He wants, claims that these things did occur. If they did not, then it is useless as an authority, or even as a source of good moral teaching, because it would have been demonstrated to be deceptive and fraudulent. So then, we’re back to everything being subjective experience.
Shoot. Most Christians I know don’t want anything to do with a wrathful God, either.
Well, I’d suggest that the Holy Spirit speaking within one is sufficient authority. But that is, of course, to a third party a totally subjective bit of evidence.
But let me propose another alternative here. Suppose that the device is built but only works sporadically. And various researchers are using it to check out the lifestyle of Homo rudolfensis, what happened to Judge Crater, and other similar stuff. The two occasions it’s been turned on Biblical times and events are Elisha waving Elijah’s mantle over the Jordan – which it’s been established did not happen, and Paul preaching on the Areopagus, which did. Based on this small degree of additional data, is your faith at all shaken?
Myself, I’d take it right down to the Resurrection. If Joseph and Mary conceived a child by the usual means and God blessed that conception, then I’d attribute the virgin birth stories to mythmaking around the person of Jesus, à la George W. and the cherry tree. And so on for all the other miracles – if there were an explanation about what happened that fit the laws of physics and biology we know, no sweat. But if something did not happen that changed the hearts and minds of the apostles to see Christ as “arisen” in some real though perhaps symbolic sense, then (as Paul, MEB, and you have said, “our faith is in vain.”)
We had a thread about this once (in fact, I think I started it), and several people on this board have changed their opinions on big issues. For instance, I used to be anti-abortion, now I’m about as pro-choice as you can get. I’ve also changed my views on the death penalty and the role of government in social programs many times in my life, and though I am an atheist now I did go through a phase where I was a theist for a few years.
I think that if I believed in the Bible, the time machine (assuming ironically that it is infallible) would unquestionably alter my opinion of that book. It would change from unimportant to insignificant. Frankly, in many ways, I prefer Kahlil Gibran’s Jesus, the Son of Man.