Eastland eBulletin 3.11.07
For Your Benefit...
- Please sign your name to the Vacation Bible School sheet if you are interested in having a VBS this summer. This needs to be done this week!
- Remember to change your clocks Saturday night.
- March 11-16 — Manslick Road.
- March 18 — Monthly kids’ singing @ 4:25; monthly congregational singing @ 5:00.
- March 18-23 — Oak Grove; Hebron Lane; Central Shelby (Shelbyville); Galena (IN); Westside (Salem, IN)
Myth Busters?
By Reggie Robarts
It seems that a portion of the intellectual community in our society feels it is their responsibility to teach the uneducated masses who believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that their faith is blind, ignorant, and at odds with human wisdom and logic. These superior-brained snobs would allow that there was a Jew who lived in Palestine 2000 years ago, who was a well-known and influential teacher, and who gathered quite a following during His lifetime. But to claim He was the Son of God (and who knows if there really is a God anyway) and to believe that after His death and burial He was raised to life again on the 3rd day, and even now lives in heaven, is patently absurd. If Jesus had not claimed to be the Son of God He would not have created such a furor then or now. After all, men like Plato and Aristotle were great philosophers and teachers, but they made no such claims.
If Jesus’ claim is to be discredited, and the faith of all believers in Him is to be destroyed, the simplest way is to prove the resurrection of Christ is a myth, and was invented by His followers. The opponents of Jesus in the first century knew that if the resurrection could be proven to be false, a fraud, then Christianity and the memory of Christ would quickly be extinguished. So when it occurred, the Jewish leaders quickly advanced a number of fanciful alternatives to explain the empty tomb, none of which made sense, or could be proved, and consequently fell on their face. The one thing the skeptics get right today is that if they can disprove the resurrection then they have won the day and faith in Christ as Divine is consummate stupidity. The Deity of Christ is essential if Christianity is to have any meaning. The resurrection is the ultimate proof of the validity of Christ claim. “And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4).
You may have seen the article in the Tuesday, Feb. 27th edition of the Courier Journal titled, “Jesus-tomb Claims Sparks Skepticism.” Two ancient stone boxes that were originally discovered in 1980 are the subject of a film, “The Last Tomb of Jesus”, that was aired last Sunday night on The Discovery Channel. James Cameron, an Oscar winning director, argues that 10 small caskets found in the 1980 Jerusalem dig may have held the bones of Jesus and his family. According to the film, one of the caskets even bears the title, “Judah, son of Jesus,” hinting that Jesus had a son. Cameron says, “There’s a definite sense that you have to pinch yourself.” (Huh? What does that mean? rr)
Amos Kloner, an archaeologist who examined the site of the discovery said the idea (i.e. that it is Jesus’ family) fails to hold up under archaeological standards. Shimon Gibson, one of the three archaeologists who first discovered the site in 1980, said, “I am skeptical about the claim, but I am willing to accept the possibility.” Simcha Jacobovici, the Toronto filmmaker who directed the film said the name on one of the ossuaries (caskets) — “Mariamene” — offers evidence that the tomb is that of Jesus and His family. In early Christian texts, “Mariamene” is the name of Mary Magdalene, he said. However, Stephen Pfann, a biblical scholar at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem, is unsure that the name “Jesus” on the caskets was read correctly. He thinks it’s more likely the name “Hanun.” Kloner also adds that the filmmaker’s claims are false. “The names on the caskets are among the most common names found among the Jews at that time” he said.
So experts and scholars cannot give any real assurance to those who desperately seek proof that the resurrection is a monstrous hoax perpetuated on gullible people. If only this would supply the proof they seek they would feel vindicated in their obsessive denunciation of Jesus and that which He claimed to be. If it could be proven that this was the burial place of Jesus and His family it would successfully refute the Bible account of Jesus and His life. The Bible nowhere hints that Jesus was married or had children. The account of Jesus being buried in Joseph’s new tomb, near the place where Jesus was crucified, would be false. The empty tomb, to which the women came on Sunday morning, would be a myth. It this were really the burial place of Jesus and his family, it would prove that Jesus was just another man like everyone else and His death would have no power to redeem man from his sin. But alas, this falls far short of the proof they need to shake any true believer’s faith.
In I Corinthians 15 Paul argues that the resurrection is critical to the Christian faith and Christianity becomes meaningless without it. He says if Christ is not raised there is no such thing as a resurrection. And if there is no resurrection the gospel is a lie because its message depends on a resurrected Savior. If Christ is not raised there is no assurance that we will be raised and we are of all men to be pitied. Do you think these brilliant men who are dedicated to the destruction of Christian faith will give up? Not on your life, they will continue to grasp at straws which would undermine the gospel story. They will never find the proof they need to refute the resurrection because the story is true. Over 500 people were witnesses to the resurrection when it happened. There were 12 other witnesses who would give up their lives and suffer terrific persecution to carry the story of Jesus and His redeeming love to a lost world. Those who embrace it and live their lives by the principles of the gospel will bask in sublime glory one day. “When He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed in that day” (2 Thessalonians 1:10).
(Note: This article is running a week later than anticipated, so the movie “The Last Tomb of Jesus” ran last Sunday night. It was full of the usual inaccuracies that you see in all the movies about the Bible. The main thing movie makers are interested in is entertainment and however the truth is distorted to make a good story is perfectly permissible. There was a follow up article this past week’s Courier Journal, which I have mislaid, that pretty well exposed the fallacies of the movie. But one observation in the article was one I had intended to make. People, who don’t know better, believe what they see and think it is an accurate portrayal of Jesus. It’s sad that people won’t pick up their Bibles, and learn the real truth about God’s Son. Our job is, as we have opportunity, is to help those who have been misguided to come to a knowledge of the truth.)
