February 27, 2007
will the real Jesus please stand up?
Lately, at POG, we've been looking at, studying, discussing, talking about the work of Satan. We've come to the conclusion that at the heart of Satan's deception is his attempt to keep men and women blind to the truth. The truth of who God is, the truth of who he (Satan) is, and most of all the truth of what God, in Jesus Christ, has done for all of the human race on through Jesus' life, death and resurrection.
This week James Cameron announced that he's made a documentary of the greatest discovery in history. The tomb or (the ossuaries) of Jesus. Mary and their son. No doubt, even more so than The DaVinci Code, this is poised to be news for a long time.
A little bit of history first. This isn't a recent discovery! As a matter of fact this discovery happened 27 years ago when some Israeli construction workers were working on the foundation for a new building in Jerusalem. While digging they came across a 2000 year old tomb with 10 ossuaries (stone caskets). Now here's some interesting facts...
Expert archeologists were called in and it took them, don't miss this, 20 years to decipher the names on the caskets. So, this is not as straight forward and simple as Cameron would have you believe.
Interestingly enough, most of these archeologists (if not all, I haven't looked at this closely enough) but many very prominent archeologists did not arrive at the same conclusion that Cameron's Documentary wil try to make a case for. That the Jesus this casket belonged to was the Jesus Christians worship. If indeed the casket reads that way. We're not talking great certainty here. But assuming they do.
Why didn't the archeologists who worked on this come to the same conclusion? Two main reasons...
First, as a carpenter Jesus' father, a carpenter would not have been able to afford a luxury crypt for his family. But that can be argued, I suppose.
However of greater consequence was the fact that the names mentioned are incredible common Jewish names of the time. It'd be like someone finding a tomb 2000 years from now with names like John the son of Joe & Jane and their Son Bob, and then trying to tie that in to a family alive today. The odds that we're talking about here are astronomical.
However, you'll hear that the strength of the discovery is based on things like DNA testing, Biblical Studies and archeological evedince. These days you want to make something credible talk about DNA testing. But remember, DNA testing is like a fingerprint. In order for it to work, you need to be able to compare it to the original. And I'm not sure, but I don't think Jesus left us any DNA samples. Add to that the bones are now long buried somewhere and all you have is some empty stone boxes. With some very common Jewish names inscribed on them. That very coincidently, not as coincidently as you'd like to think, attempt to discredit who Jesus was, what he claimed, and ultimately what he gave his life for. Our redemption.
Now this is James Cameron we're talking about, this will sound convincing. I guarantee you that no expense was spared in the preparation of this documentary. And it will have people talking and debating and arguing. You can expect a flurry of books supporting this and Christians authors who will write to discredit it.
I found Cameron's own words today to be very interesting when he said in an interview, "If, and that's an if, but if we found the bones of Jesus, than this is of great historical significance." Not sure I got the ending correct, but it was the "If, and that's an if..." that struck me. Reminded me of Dan Browns' assurances that The Davinci Code is completely based on fact one moment, while appealing to it's work as a novel when confronted with facts that didn't measure up.
Having said all that, what do I think about all this? It's pretty simple we, especially in the west, forget that we live in a world that is under Satan's control. That although he's a defeated foe on a leash, he is still allowed to reign in this world and in the hearts of those who follow him, completely blind to their allegiance.
According to Jesus and the whole teaching of the New Testament, if you're not in him you are deceived by and serving the prince of this world. If Christ is not your master, you have another master, and you're not him, regardless of what you might think. The things of this world, at the risk of sounding extreme, are in service to him. And today, as has been the case for a long time, Hollywood and the media do this bidding day and night.
For those who can see clearly, with eyes open wide by the true Jesus. The one who didn't die and whose bones are not wasting away somewhere in the dirt of the Middle East, for them this is not surprising in the least. Actually, it's not even very original. With the exception that The Davinci Code suggested Jesus heir was a daughter and this suggests it was a boy.
Cameron suggests that this is positive for Christianity. As Dan Brown suggested the truth of his story was too. That it will actually help believers have a better understanding of their faith. That would be true if faith was just religion. But as the apostle Paul claimed so many years ago, if Christ was not raised, faith is in vain.
So how should Christians react to this? No different than if this had not made the news this week, in my personal opinion. The danger here is that Christians will become argumentative and even worst, disrespectful of others in their zeal to defend Christ. As if he needed us to defend him. We don't need DNA evidence to prove that this discovery is not what James Cameron is claiming it is. What we need is real Christians, men, women and children with the real Jesus alive in them to let Jesus live through them as he desires to. There is no greater evidence to Jesus resurrection than his ongoing work in all of history through men and women who are submitted to his life in them.
The very thing that Satan would use to deceive should rally Christians not to a vocal offensive, but to greater surrender that would allow Jesus to shine through our words, our thoughts and our actions.
So, don't be too quick to try and argue this out with people. The reality is there your words will, seemingly, fall short of Cameron's, so called, evidence. So, instead of arguing about it, why don't you let the real Jesus, the one alive in you be the evidence the world can see, hear and touch. That will be evidence no stone casket or even DNA test can stand up agains.
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