6.

Similar ANE Mythology Predates the Bible

That although there are many other similar mythological stories told in Ancient Near Eastern Literature that pre-date [sic] what we read in the Bible, the stories in the Bible are about real events and real people. 1

imilar mythology existing from the same time period as the Pentateuch was written does not discount the veracity of the account. That would actually confirm the veracity of a single account. Is Loftus arguing that a multitude of sources describing similar events existing simultaneously means that the event is fictional? Because a simple thought experiment will show why this is bad reasoning. If you were to log in to your Facebook account and find a prayer request for a little girl that was injured in a severe car crash, how could you find out if that actually happened? If you Googled the key words of the event, such as the girls name, location, and parents, you could see what comes back. This works even better if you filter the results to include News only. If you get few relevant results, then it is quite likely that this request is another hoax being perpetrated on Facebook. On the other hand, relevant results overflowing the listings, all with matching details in each article, would indicate that this event actually happened. Which means that the best indicator of the truth of a story would be to find a multitude of sources describing similar events existing simultaneously. The very thing that Loftus believes destroys the credibility of the Bible is how one confirms suspect stories in the news. And yet another double standard revealed.
1) John W. Loftus. Reality Check: What Must be the Case if Christianity is True? Debunking Christianity. <http://debunkingchristianity.blogspot.com/2010/05/reality-check-what-must-be-case-if_18.html>. Accessed June 12, 2010.

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