Cold-Case Christianity: Rebuttal to Wallace's 5 reasons for trusting the Nativity stories

This is my reply to an article by J. Warner Wallace entitled

Five Reasons You Can Trust the Story of Christmas Is True 

Posted: 18 Dec 2017 01:53 AM PST

Story of Christmas Is True.  Detectives create lists. As a cold-case detective, I’m no different. When investigating an event in the distant past (in my case, an unsolved murder), I collect evidence, make lists and do my best to reach the most reasonable inference.

And if the theory of the suspects innocence required you to believe some alibi premised on a miracle (i.e., he was in two places at once), you'd become an anti-supernaturalist real quick.  So apparently, skepticism toward miracles really does deserve to be the default position.  Not even Christians will acknowledge miracles where they are alleged to occur outside their own religion.

When I began to investigate Christianity at the age of thirty-five, I approached the gospels the same way I approached my cold-case files. Lists were an important part of the process. One New Testament claim was particularly interesting to me: the conception and birth of Jesus. When I first read through the gospels, the birth narratives seemed incredible and unreasonable. I’m not the only person to express such a concern. In an article posted in the Herald Scotland, Reverend Andrew Frater called the Nativity story a “fanciful, fairy tale” and called on Christians to “disentangle the truth from the tinsel”. Frater is a minister and a believer, and even he doesn’t believe in the virgin conception of Jesus. As an atheist, I was even more skeptical. I rejected supernatural claims altogether, and the first Biblical claim about Jesus was a supernatural one.

But as I collected the evidence and formed my lists, I found there were many good reasons to trust the story of Christmas.

Which means you disagree with most Christian scholars since they reject the nativity stories.  No, it is not only fundamentalist evangelicals who qualify as Christian scholars.

I’ve assembled them here with links to longer treatments of each topic:
 Reason 1:
The Supernatural Nature of the Virgin Conception Shouldn’t Disqualify It
When I began to investigate the virgin conception, I was actually investigating my own philosophical naturalism. I was, in essence, asking the following questions: “Is the natural world all that exists?” “Is there anything beyond the physical, material world we measure with our five senses?” “Are supernatural events possible or even reasonable?” In asking these questions, I was putting naturalism to the test. It would have been unfair, therefore, to begin by presupposing nothing supernatural could ever exist or occur.

Not if you had first tested supernaturalism and found it less epistemically justified than naturalism, as I have.

If we want to be fair about assessing the virgin conception or any other supernatural aspect of the nativity story, we cannot exclude the very possibility of the supernatural in the first place.

We can if we already possess powerful arguments justifying a general rejection of supernaturalism.  But you were writing for Christians who already agree with your views here, so I understand the lack of rigor.

Our presupposition against the supernatural would unfairly taint our examination of the claim.

And your presupposition that God doesn't teleport people between New York and Los Angeles at the speed of light would likewise unfairly taint your examination of a criminal's alibi, where such miracle was being claimed as the basis for innocence of a crime.  You know perfectly well that miracles don't happen, that's why you conduct your criminal investigations under the exact degree of anti-supernaturalism that you condemn atheists for using.  If somebody's alibi asserted levitation as the reason they are not guilty of a crime, you wouldn't care if it was corroborated by 12 of his best friends, you'd just say that increases the number of liars from 1 to 13.  God never does miracles, and you know it perfectly well, at least, whenever your religious defense mechanisms aren't on red-alert.

Reason 2:
The Claim of the Virgin Conception Appears Incredibly Early in Christian History
It’s always easier to tell a lie once everyone who was alive to know the difference has already died.

It's also easier to avoid having the corpse of Jesus used to falsify your claims that he rose from the dead if you wait 40 days after his death before you claim such a thing.  Read Acts chapter 1.

But if you’re going to make a claim early in an area where people are still available to debunk your claim, be prepared to have a difficult time getting away with misrepresentations.

In other words, if those who believe Benny Hinn does real miracles, are going to make a claim early in an area where people are still available to debunk the claim, they need to be prepared to have a difficult time getting away with misrepresentations.  Atheists and even many Christian scholars and the secular media have been debunking Hinn's claims for decades, yet Hinn's popularity did nothing but grow that whole time.

The virgin conception of Jesus is one of the earliest claims in Christian history.

No, if the consensus of Christian scholars is correct in saying Mark was the earliest gospel, then the earliest form of the gospel did not have a virgin birth story to tell.

Again, if the consensus of Christian scholars is correct in saying Paul was proclaiming the gospel in 40 a.d. at least a decade before the 4 canonical written versions were published,  then the earliest form of the gospel did not have a virgin birth story to tell.

Again, aside from Matthew and Luke, none of the NT authors mentions the nativity stories or shows the least bit of knowledge about them, so it is reasonable to thus conclude that the earliest form of the gospel did not have a virgin birth story to tell, and therefore, Matthew and Luke represent a late embellishment of the originally more simple version of the story.

The students of the gospel authors cited the virgin conception as a true claim about Jesus.

No they didn't. Mark was the earliest student of the gospel preacher called Peter, if the patristic traditions can generally be trusted.  Mark says nothing about a virgin birth.

Ignatius, the student of John (an Apostle who chose not to write about the birth of Jesus in his own gospel), included it in his early writings to local churches. Other Church leaders repeated the claim through the earliest years of the Church, and the doctrine also appears in the most ancient Church creeds. Even early non-canonical documents include the virgin conception of Jesus.

All your evidence dates after 70 a.d., when Matthew and Luke had already embellished Mark's earlier and more simple form of the story.

Reason 3:
The Birth Narratives in Luke and Matthew Are Not Late Additions
Critics, in an effort to argue the birth narratives in Luke and Matthew are not reliable, point to stylistic differences and “content shifting” within the gospels. Critics claim that the Greek language used in the birth narrative section of Luke’s gospel is far more Semitic than other sections. But the fact that this section of the gospel is stylistically or linguistically different than other sections does not mean it was a late addition.

When investigating history, you don't discard some explanatory theory to account for the data, merely because the theory is not a "knock-down".

Luke told us he compiled the information for his gospel from a number of divergent sources (Luke 1:1-4).

Which means you must be writing solely for the trusting Christian audiences you ceaselessly peddle your marketing gimmicks to, since an ancient historian's claims about sources doesn't tell you whether he is being truthful or dishonest.  You don't have the first fucking clue who Luke' originally intended audience was beyond a ferverishly unidentfiable "Theophilus", yet knowing who that audience was is critical to ascertaining how honest Luke was in what he had to say.

As a result, we should expect stylistic and linguistic differences within the gospel of Luke.

Yes, Luke's use of various sources is a possible explanation for the stylistic differences found within his gospel.  It's not the only explanation, yet here you fallacious leap from "possible" to "probable" with no reason given why your favored theory is better than the others.

In addition, any claim related to the late addition of the birth narratives defies all the manuscript evidence available to us; there is absolutely no evidence that the gospel of Matthew and Luke ever existed without the birth narratives.

But in the case of Mark as the earliest gospel, we are forced to conclude that the earliest form of the gospel said nothing about a virgin birth.

All manuscripts, translations, early Church documents and references to the gospels, along with every historic, reliable witness testifies to the fact that the birth narratives are ancient and part of the original record.

And likewise there are no manuscripts of Mark or patristic statements saying that gospel had once included the nativity story.  So Mark's silence on that story is likely something original to Mark and not the result of Markan material being lost or edited out.

Reason 4:
The Virgin Conception Was Not An Invention of Early Christians
Some critics of the virgin conception argue that the earliest Christian authors inserted it in an effort to give Jesus a “heroic” birth consistent with other Old Testament heroes.But, not every Jewish hero from the Old Testament had an unusual birth story.

That is irrelevant.  This skeptical argument doesn't require every OT hero to have an unusual birth.  The fact that SOME did is plenty to justify early Christians in thinking that conjuring up an unusual birth story about Jesus would raise him to the level of some OT heroes.

Joshua, King David and King Solomon are just three of the more obvious examples of powerful Old Testament heroes whose birth stories were less than surprising or unusual. In addition, there is no other character from the Old Testament who was born of a virgin through the miraculous conception of the Holy Spirit.

Unfortunately for you, the closer parallel to Jesus is Moses, since Jesus took the place of Moses in modifying and explaining Mosaic law, and Moses' birth was dramatic.  Nothing says the forger's copy must imitate the original in all its particulars, or even most, to justify saying imitation was indeed attempted.

This characteristic of Jesus’ conception is unique to Jesus and follows no pre-existing Old Testament pattern.

Ever hear of putting new twists on old themes?  Who says the twist has to imitate the original exactly before it can be legitimately called a plagiarism?  If I wrote a book entitled "Cold-Case Atheism: A Homicide Detective Refutes the Claims of the Gospels", would you deny I was imitating your own stuff merely because the imitation wasn't exact?   Well then, stop pretending as if the failure of the nativity stories to match pre-Christian stories in particular details, must mean the Christians responsible for such stories were not borrowing older ideas and putting new twists on them.

Reason 5:
The Virgin Conception Wasn’t Borrowed from Another Source
Skeptics also attempt to discredit the virgin conception of Jesus by claiming it was borrowed from prior pagan mythologies such as those of Mithras or Horus.

Count me out.  As a skeptic I agree with Celsus that the virgin birth story was borrowed from the earliest version of the story about how Zeus got Danae pregnant while he was in the form of a golden mist (i.e., pregnancy achieved without breaking the hymen).  See Pindar's Pythian Ode # 12, securely dated several hundred years before the 1st century, which says in part:

Perseus, the son of Danae, who they say was conceived in a spontaneous shower of gold. But when the virgin goddess had released that beloved man from those labors, she created the many-voiced song of flutes [20] so that she could imitate with musical instruments the shrill cry that reached her ears from the fast-moving jaws of Euryale.

Notice that she is called a virgin goddess who releases Perseus by labor (giving birth).  Pindar apparently thinks she continues to be rightfully classified as a virgin even during her pregnancy.  Yes, Pindar's poetry constitutes nothing but fiction, of course, but your problem is that the idea of a women continuing to be a virgin even after a god got her pregnant, is certainly found in pagan pre-Christian writings, therefore, you cannot pretend that the copycat savior hypothesis is impossible, and you cannot pretend that the virgin-birth of Jesus was an original concept.  You will have to up your game and argue that despite virgin births existing in pre-Christian literature, Matthew and Luke were not influenced by them.  Good luck and thank Christ you don't intend to convince anybody of your bullshit except other fundamentalist evangelicals who already agree with everything you have to say.

But any fair examination of pagan mythological birth narratives revels the dramatic differences between the virgin conception of Jesus and stories about the supernatural emergence of mythological gods.

My Chevy pickup has many differences from a Model-T too, so apparently under your logic, the idea for the Chevy model came about wholly independent of any notion of the Model-T.  Only a desperate apologists would insist that in the case of my Chevy and the Model-T, "the differences outweigh the similarities".

While “borrowing” may have occurred between belief systems, the weak resemblances between the Biblical account and pagan mythologies are far more likely the result of the Judeo-Christian influence rather than contamination from a pagan source.

Not in the case of Pindar's Pythian Ode # 12, which is securely dated to at least 400 b.c., so the direction of borrowing is clear and Christianity is thus the party clearly guilty of doing the borrowing.

It’s irrational to believe the early Jewish readers of the gospels would embrace any part of paganism in the story of Jesus’ conception as continuous with the Jewish narrative from the Old Testament.

We don't know exactly how "orthodox" were the alleged Jews that Matthew and Luke allegedly wrote for.  But with Jews like Philo on the scene in the first-century, don't be too sure that Jews would oppose mixing bits of their beliefs with bits of pagan superstition.

In addition, early Christian converts were repeatedly called to a new life in Christ, told they were merely travelers passing through this mortal (and pagan) world, called to live a life that was free of worldly influences, and told to reject the foolish philosophies and stories of men.

And the church fathers like Justin Martyr explain that the reason we find virgin births in pre-Christian paganism is because the devils foreknew the truth about Christ, and sought to retroactively imitate it, so that when the real thing later came along in actual life, men would errantly count it is just another story instead of the truth.

Justin, First Apology, Chapter LIV.—Origin of Heathen Mythology.
But those who hand down the myths which the poets have made, adduce no proof to the youths who learn them; and we proceed to demonstrate that they have been uttered by the influence of the wicked demons, to deceive and lead astray the human race. For having heard it proclaimed through the prophets that the Christ was to come, and that the ungodly among men were to be punished by fire, they put forward many to be called sons of Jupiter, under the impression that they would be able to produce in men the idea that the things which were said with regard to Christ were mere marvellous tales, like the things which were said by the poets. And these things were said both among the Greeks and among all nations where they [the demons] heard the prophets foretelling that Christ would specially be believed in; but that in hearing what was said by the prophets they did not accurately understand it, but imitated what was said of our Christ, like men who are in error, we will make plain. The prophet Moses, then, was, as we have already said, older than all writers; and by him, as we have also said before, it was thus predicted: “There shall not fail a prince from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until He come for whom it is reserved; and He shall be the desire of the Gentiles, binding His foal to the vine, washing His robe in the blood of the grape.”115 The devils, accordingly, when they heard these prophetic words, said that Bacchus was the son of Jupiter, and gave out that he was the discoverer of the vine, and they number wine116 [or, the ass] among his mysteries; and they taught that, having been torn in pieces, he ascended into heaven. And because in the prophecy of Moses it had not been expressly intimated whether He who was to come was the Son of God, and whether He would, riding on the foal, remain on earth or ascend into heaven, and because the name of “foal” could mean either the foal of an ass or the foal of a horse, they, not knowing whether He who was foretold would bring the foal of an ass or of a horse as the sign of His coming, nor whether He was the Son of God, as we said above, or of man, gave out that Bellerophon, a man born of man, himself ascended to heaven on his horse Pegasus. And when they heard it said by the other prophet Isaiah, that He should be born of a virgin, and by His own means ascend into heaven, they pretended that Perseus was spoken of. And when they knew what was said, as has been cited above, in the prophecies written aforetime, “Strong as a giant to run his course,”117 they said that Hercules was strong, and had journeyed over the whole earth. And when, again, they learned that it had been foretold that He should heal every sickness, and raise the dead, they produced Aesculapius.

Chapter 21  Analogies To The History Of Christ
And when we say also that the Word, who is the first-birth of God, was produced without sexual union, and that He, Jesus Christ, our Teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, we propound nothing different from what you believe regarding those whom you esteem sons of Jupiter. For you know how many sons your esteemed writers ascribed to Jupiter: Mercury, the interpreting word and teacher of all; Aesculapius, who, though he was a great physician, was struck by a thunderbolt, and so ascended to heaven; and Bacchus too, after he had been torn limb from limb; and Hercules, when he had committed himself to the flames to escape his toils; and the sons of Leda, and Dioscuri; and Perseus, son of Danae; and Bellerophon, who, though sprung from mortals, rose to heaven on the horse Pegasus. For what shall I say of Ariadne, and those who, like her, have been declared to be set among the stars? And what of the emperors who die among yourselves, whom you deem worthy of deification, and in whose behalf you produce some one who swears he has seen the burning Caesar rise to heaven from the funeral pyre? And what kind of deeds are recorded of each of these reputed sons of Jupiter, it is needless to tell to those who already know. This only shall be said, that they are written for the advantage and encouragement of youthful scholars; for all reckon it an honorable thing to imitate the gods. But far be such a thought concerning the gods from every well-conditioned soul, as to believe that Jupiter himself, the governor and creator of all things, was both a parricide and the son of a parricide, and that being overcome by the love of base and shameful pleasures, he came in to Ganymede and those many women whom he had violated and that his sons did like actions. But, as we said above, wicked devils perpetrated these things. And we have learned that those only are deified who have lived near to God in holiness and virtue; and we believe that those who live wickedly and do not repent are punished in everlasting fire. 

Chapter 22  Analogies To The Sonship Of Christ
Moreover, the Son of God called Jesus, even if only a man by ordinary generation, yet, on account of His wisdom, is worthy to be called the Son of God; for all writers call God the Father of men and gods. And if we assert that the Word of God was born of God in a peculiar manner, different from ordinary generation, let this, as said above, be no extraordinary thing to you, who say that Mercury is the angelic word of God. But if any one objects that He was crucified, in this also He is on a par with those reputed sons of Jupiter of yours, who suffered as we have now enumerated. For their sufferings at death are recorded to have been not all alike, but diverse; so that not even by the peculiarity of His sufferings does He seem to be inferior to them; but, on the contrary, as we promised in the preceding part of this discourse, we will now prove Him superior - or rather have already proved Him to be so - for the superior is revealed by His actions. And if we even affirm that He was born of a virgin, accept this in common with what you accept of Perseus. And in that we say that He made whole the lame, the paralytic, and those born blind, we seem to say what is very similar to the deeds said to have been done by Aesculapius.  ---------Schaff, P. (2000). The Ante-Nicene Fathers (electronic ed.). Garland, TX: Galaxie Software.

Chapter LXIX.--The devil, since he emulates the truth, has invented fables about Bacchus, Hercules, and AEsculapius.

Chapter LXIV.—Further Misrepresentations of the Truth.
From what has been already said, you can understand how the devils, in imitation of what was said by Moses, asserted that Proserpine was the daughter of Jupiter, and instigated the people to set up an image of her under the name of Kore [Cora, i.e., the maiden or daughter] at the spring-heads.

Wallace continues:

This group, in particular, would be the last to turn to pre-existing pagan stories and superstitions.

Correct, that group wanted their followers to believe some superstitions were gospel-truth.

If there exists a supernatural Being capable of bringing all space, time and matter into existence from nothing,

If a baby could lift 4 billion tons using nothing but his own unaided muscular strength, while also being in two places at the same time...

such a Being could certainly accomplish the virgin conception of Jesus, the Resurrection of Christ, or any of the other “lesser” miracles described on the pages of the New Testament.

The issue is not whether God could.  The issue is whose theory on the nativity stories accords better with normative principles of historiography.  That would be mine.  You lose.

In addition, there is no historically, textually or philosophically necessary reason to reject the claims of the New Testament authors.

And so you typically end your case with preaching to the choir.  I think you forgot to add that moody music that makes people feel so much better at the close of the service.  The Holy Spirit needs every psychological bell and whistle you can come up with.  If you ask, I'll give you Frank Turek's phone number.  He can show you how modern video animations and expensive apologetics vacation seminars wherein you do little more than make yourself the center of attention, can help the Holy Spirit do a better job than He ever did in the first 1900 years, to convict people of sin.

Or maybe you could read something by Clement of Alexandria and discover for the first time in your life that you and 90% of today's Christians are an absurd departure from the oldest post-apostolic definition of a morally good Christian.

If you’re a Christian this Christmas season, celebrate the birth of Jesus with confidence and certainty. The virgin conception is not a fanciful, fairy tale. It is a true story. In fact, there are five good reasons to trust the story of Christmas is factual, reliable and true.

And all five have been refuted on the merits.  I suggest you dedicate your life to defending Mark as a secondary gospel, otherwise, his more simple form of the gospel is going to look like the earliest form and accordingly make Matthew's and Luke's later versions more likely to be the one's whose differences from Mark constitute later fictional embellishments.