Black Sheep, a.ka. Chris: In a perfectly rational sense, yes, you did answer my question, and very well. That's the real, practical reason why the chronology exists. To keep people in subjection. And yes, they claim they are right because otherwise they would be nothing but manipulators. I get that. But my angle is different.
When I was in college (what a waste of time, since the end was imminent those decades ago), my Theology professor said we (Catholics, damned pagans) do not believe in God beause the Bible says so. That's getting things wrong, he said. The priest went on to say that the Gospel was written so that others would know the Good News a bunch of people had actually witnessed. These guys had seen the Christ crucified torture-staked, had put him to his grave, and, guess what? They had seen him alive again. Thomas had even put his hand into Jesus' wound So these guys spread the faith and wrote the Gospels because they felt everyone should know that the nutty carpenter had been telling the truth, and all men were free from death and sin. That's to say, "We believe what we believe because we know it to be a fact. The Gospels were inspired by God but, if you want to go far with your rationalism, their importance is somewhat secondary to the fact that people actually saw those great events". You can believe this or not, but here you find an appeal to reason, not just credulity blind faith.
On the other hand, I don't see a similar justification for the chronology. We never get an explanation why Charlie was right in reading that deeply into the Bible and coming up with a chronology, that wasn't even originally his, and some of whose elements have been dropped. Why is it that sometimes the days are actual days, but sometimes the days are years? The man thought he alone had decoded the secret message of YHWH, one that all the other dunces had missed.
Which means that YHWH is apparently of two minds about saving us, since he gives us the secret that leads to everlasting life but hides it so well that only one man could decipher it, and then only a bunch of men can understand it, and then only a few million more can take it without skepticism. Those who don't mind having their door knocked on on Sunday mornings. Shouldn't YHWH please make his mind up? He seems to be the guy who did what somewhere in the Gospel you read you should not do: light a candle and hide in under a box.
In case any scholar responds the question, please, please, please, don't describe the chronology. Tell me why we have to believe that Charlie was right in the chronology.
