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CAN WE TRUST BIASED WRITERS?
The New Testament (NT) writers were obviously biased. They were Christians which means expectedly, nagsulat sila para suportahan ang paniniwala nila kay Jesus Christ, their Savior and Lord. Now the question is, can we still trust their writings? As believers, how can we answer this kind of question?
First, we should recognize that we are all biased towards something; the same is true to all writers. Lahat ng manunulat ay mayroong agenda sa kanyang sinulat, maaring para ipaalam ang isang bagay, para hikayatin ang mambabasa na paniwalaan ang isang bagay o iba pang dahilan. Dahil every writer, ancient man o modern, ay may purpose sa kanyang sinulat, siya ay matatawag na bias towards his/her purpose. The NT writers, also, have their share of biases. This could be seen in how they select specific details from all the available data during their time. In fact, hindi naman nila ‘yon sinikreto. For example, John directly said that, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (Jn 20:30-31). Namili lang si John ng gusto niyang ilagay na mga kwento at ang goal niya ay para maniwala kay Kristo kung sinumang magbabasa.
Dahil ba biased hindi na dapat pagkatiwalaan? Absolutely not! Hindi dahil biased ang isang isinulat pwede na nating sabihin na unreliable ‘yon o useless. Ang mga literatures ng mga Jews na naka-survive sa Holocaust ay mostly patungkol sa horrors ng concentration camps at pang-aabuso ng mga German Nazi. Hindi dahil may bias sila against sa mga Nazi, pwede na nating sabihin na unreliable ang sinulat nila o kaya hindi naman nag-exist ang Holocaust. Balik tayo sa mga NT writers, mapagkakatiwalaan pa rin ba ang ang record nila kung supporter naman sila ng Christian movement that time? “This argument, however, is seriously flawed. There is no necessary connection between supporting a movement and one's ability to tell the truth… Detached objectivity was largely unknown and would have been considered pointless. But historians still distinguished between reliable and unreliable reports.” (Craig Blomberg).
Magiging problema lang ang bias ng isang writer kapag ito ay sumobra na to the point na na-fabricate na o kaya na-distort na ang event na kaniyang ni-record. The NT writers recorded the life of Jesus proving that He actually existed. Ang mga non-Christian ancient historians ay nagpapatunay din na nabuhay talaga si Jesus. This shows na kahit biased ang NT writers (dahil sila ay Christians) makakaasa tayo na hindi bunga ng imahinasyon nila si Jesus, and so, their records could be used as historical basis of the life of Christ during the First Century, kasama ng ang iba pang evidence outside the NT.
We should also take note that the NT writers were not just some random people na gusto lang mag-recruit sa kanilang “fandom.” They were eyewitnesses to the events they were writing about, and they invited their original readers to verify what they had written (“Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive...” 1Cor 15:6). They claimed na nakita nila kung ano ang sinasabi nila (see Jn 19:35; 2 Ptr 1:16; etc) or atleast, may access sila sa mga taong nakakita (see Lk 1:1-4). Hindi natin pwedeng i-disregard ang sinasabi nila dahil lang gusto rin nila na i-convert ang iba. Kung iisipin, kung talagang nakita nila ang sinasabi nilang nakita nila, makaasa tayong mas magiging maingat sila sa mga ire-record nila, dahil ang eternal salvation ng makakabasa ang nakataya! They gained nothing in this world because of these writings kaya walang basehan na isipin na inimbento lang nila ang sinulat nila dahil mga biased sila; instead, they received persecution, poverty, and death. They suffered not because they just believed something was true, but because they were certain that what they witnessed was true—and nothing could change their minds.
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