Welcome to the Eric Matex Show. I'm proud to say Eric made me who I am today.

A man who lives in a car wash and goes by the name Uncle Sonsi Watsi.

And now your host Eric Matex. Hey Todd. Hey it's my pleasure believe me.

Folks this is the Eric Matex Show which is to say it's the show about everything falling under the roof.

Falling under the rubric of everything just barely nonetheless falling under the rubric of everything is what I like to call New Testament manuscript studies.

I am fascinated since I became a series about my faith in 1988. I've been fascinated with the idea how do we know whether the Bible is really the word of God.

How do we know if the manuscripts haven't been changed in the Middle Ages. How do we know all this stuff. So I read a book by FF Bruce.

The New Testament documents are they reliable. And I was stunned by what I found just amazing proof evidence really overwhelming.

So I've been interested in this for a long time. I have a dear friend Dallas named Bruce Fogarty. He turned me on to something called the Center for the Study of New Testament manuscripts.

He headed up by guy named Dan Wallace and I said could we get him on the program. And Bruce said if you give me 50 bucks I'll look into it.

I gave him 50 bucks. I didn't hear anything back but fortunately another friend connected me with Dan Wallace who is on the line right now. Dan Wallace. Welcome.

Well thank you. I appreciate that introduction. I'll give you 100 bucks. Aren't you friends with Bruce Fogarty.

I am. He's on the board. Okay. Well do me a favor. If you see him you tell him Eric needs this $50. You know no questions asked. I'm not going to I'm not going to give him a hard time but like I need my 50 bucks. What can I tell you?

Okay. I wanted to start on a positive note but I and I failed. No seriously I love Bruce and he he's always excited about these kinds of things in this in particular.

And I thought this just sounds fascinating and the more I looked into it the more I thought boy this sounds like a fun conversation so you are a senior research professor of New Testament studies at Biola are you still at Biola.

No not at Biola. I went there. I'm at Dallas Seminer. Oh I'm sorry you're in Dallas. What am I talking about? I am a Southern California fourth generation but I live in Texas.

Okay. Right. So you you've done postdoc work at Cambridge University and tubing and I love tubing in Bonhoff went to you tubing in for his first year. I visited tubing in many times. How do you get to study and tubing and that sounds like a it's as good as Cambridge. Wow.

It's iconic in an amazing place. I really love spent time there. And what is it that got you interested specifically in New Testament manuscripts?

Well when I got serious about my faith I met a man in Southern California who was an Aryan he did not believe in the deity of Christ.

Okay. Wait wait wait. Aryan a R I A N that's correct. Okay. Not a R Y A N just to be honest. No no no. That's a different that's a different conversation. Right.

But he followed Aryas the heretic in the fourth century who was condemned at NICS so. But anyway this this man said he was firmly committed to Jesus Christ but he didn't believe in his deity and he tried we had civil conversations he tried to convince me that that was the case.

And I thought if I've committed my life to Jesus I want to make sure that he's worth committing my life to wouldn't be a bummer if you found out oh he's not.

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