Mass delusion

In the fascinating and often frustrating world of internet atheism and agnosticism, I have taken a passing interest in the Jesus myth movement. Jesus mythicists believe that Jesus Christ did not exist, or that there is little evidence for his existence outside of the Bible, which they also claim is not a reliable source. I will not address the question of Jesus in the Koran, as I have not read enough of it to deal with it adequately.

Jesus mythicism is a fringe movement based on a fringe idea. The agnostic New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman, who is no friend of Christianity, unequivocally believes that Jesus existed. Bear in mind that he is not on the faculty of a seminary, so he is not bound by a doctrinal statement.

The point of this meme is this. All of the New Testament gospels were written before the end of the 1st century AD, as were the pastoral epistles. To this we can add the extra-Biblical writings of Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Polycarp, Tacitus, Aristides of Athens, Justin Martyr, Lucian, Melito of Sardis, the Talmud, and Mara Bar-Serapion, all of which were definitely written between the first and third centuries. The first century historian Josephus also writes about Jesus, but it is likely that later Christian editors altered his original text. Even so, by the standards of ancient literature, this is not that long after the events.

Even if they believe that Jesus existed and was killed by crucifixion, it goes without saying that they totally reject the Christian belief in his resurrection. From a Christian viewpoint, the problem with this line of thinking is that without the death and resurrection of Christ, Christianity is worthless. The apostle Paul said as much in 1 Corinthians 15. That is precisely why this is so crucial.

Jack Zavada has compiled a handy summary of the evidence for the resurrection. He presents the following evidences.

Firstly, we have Jesus's empty tomb. Two major theories have been advanced by unbelievers seeking alternative explanations for this empty tomb. One is that someone stole the body, and the other is that the women and disciples went to the wrong tomb. Neither his executioners or the apostles had any reason or capacity to do this. The women who found the tomb empty had earlier watched Jesus being placed in it, so they knew where to find the correct tomb. Even if they had gone to the wrong tomb, the Sanhedrin could have produced the body from the right tomb to stop the resurrection stories. Jesus's burial cloths were left neatly folded inside, hardly the action of hurrying grave robbers. Angels said Jesus had risen from the dead.

Secondly. women were the first eyewitnesses to the resurrection. This was in a time when women were regarded as second class citizens. If the accounts were not factual, the male gospel writers would not have used women for witnesses. Because they were the first witnesses, the Gospel writers had no choice but to record this information.

Thirdly, we have the evidence of the changed lives of the apostles. After Jesus was crucified, they fled and went into hiding, fearing for their own lives. The risen Christ appeared to them on multiple occasions. Only something truly remarkable as this could have happened to change these men into bold and courageous preachers of the Christian message, spreading it throughout the Roman Empire and beyond. Most notable among them were the apostle Thomas, who initially doubted that he was seeing a flesh and blood man when Jesus appeared to him, and Peter, who denied knowing Christ on the night he was arrested, and John, who is believed to have been the only disciple to die of natural causes.

Jesus was seen alive by more than 500 people at once, as the apostle Paul records (1 Corinthians 15:6). He states that most of these witnesses were still alive when he wrote this letter, about 55 A.D. Undoubtedly they told others about this miracle. It is not possible for hallucinations to be shared between such a large number of people.

Speaking of the apostle Paul, his dramatically changed life is itself further evidence of the resurrection. He changed from being a fierce opponent of Christianity to becoming its most passionate early missionary, enduring many years of suffering and ridicule, and eventually his life, as his New Testament writings attest. Christians believe that Paul was converted because he had a supernatural encounter with the risen Christ. It was his unshakable belief in Christ that enabled him to accept these hardships.

Lastly, countless people have died for Jesus, absolutely certain that the resurrection of Christ is a historical fact. Hundreds or thousands of early Christians died in the Roman arena and in prisons for their faith. For centuries, thousands more have died for Jesus because they believed the resurrection is true. Even today, people suffer persecution because they have faith that Christ rose from the dead. An isolated group may give up their lives for a cult leader, but Christian martyrs have died around the world for nearly 2,000 years, believing Jesus conquered death to give them eternal life.

Taken together, all of these evidences give us good reason to believe that Jesus was a historical figure, was crucified, and was resurrected. This summary is not exhaustive, but it is a good starting point. If you look into the New Testament documents, and some of the material which is listed here, which is a mixture of Christian and secular sources, it is my hope that your beliefs about Jesus and who he was will either be strengthened or challenged.

https://www.bethinking.org/is-the-bible-reliable/the-historicity-of-the-new-testament

https://www.history.com/news/was-jesus-real-historical-evidence

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/did-jesus-exist_b_1349544

https://www.learnreligions.com/proofs-of-the-resurrection-700603

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/12/jesus-tomb-archaeology/

https://www.rzim.org/read/a-slice-of-infinity/credible-witnesses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm4DWnD72TE

Altar ego

Spend enough time in Christian circles and you'll inevitably have disagreements with other Christians over points of theology and hermeneutics. In most cases you can respectfully agree to disagree, but occasionally they are so clearly in the wrong that they need to be corrected. Often it's in seeing how other Christians misuse Bible verses that you discover what they actually mean.

Matthew 6:3 is a good example of one such verse, which reads as "But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." (NIV)

I recently heard of someone who asserted to another Christian that because the left hand is the "unclean" hand, as it was in certain cultures in ancient times, this verse teaches that it is sinful to use your left hand to put money in the offering plate when it's passed around. The mind boggles at how the individual concerned could make such a radical interpretation.

This teaching is part of the Sermon on the Mount. To get the context of a verse, you need to read the verses before and after it. The context of this verse is part of a discourse in Matthew 6:1-18 contrasting true piety with hypocritical piety. Here, Jesus was speaking about religious leaders who gave to the needy not out of a desire to help them, but so that others would think well of them. In verse 2 he called them "hypocrites." Hypokrites is a Greek term for stage actors who wore masks to play various roles. Their giving was part of a facade, to disguise the fact that their hearts were far from God (cf Matthew 23:25-26).

The trumpets that Jesus speaks of may refer to actual trumpets, which were used to announce an especially large gift being given, or he may be referring to the sound of coins being tossed into the trumpet-shaped money chests in the temple used for collecting alms. One of the commentaries I looked at briefly mentions a reference in the Mishnah to a room in the Temple where benefactors could leave their gifts to the poor anonymously.

In verse 3 Jesus was clearly using a figure of speech to make a point about having a humble attitude when giving, to give out of pure motives, solely out of concern for the poor, and to not do it to make yourself look good. Good works have their place but they are of little use if they're done with the wrong motives. As any good Bible scholar would tell you, there is no possible way to support the interpretation given in my anecdote.

Sanctify my tongue

For the benefit of my reader(s) I submit some of my reflections from chapter 3 of the epistle of James,  verses 1 to 12.

The key thing that James wanted to put across was how important it is to be careful in how you speak. Our words are a good indicator of the condition of our hearts, or our character. This could be good or bad. If we had time we could also do a thematic study and find the same idea put across elsewhere. The first thing you might think of is that it's unChristian to use coarse or obscene language. There's no reason to think it should stop there.

When was the last time you gossiped, spread rumours or slander about others, putting others down, bragged, tried to manipulate someone, exaggerated, complained, used flattery, or lied? None of these things should have any place in a Christian’s life.

We see also that James uses the metaphors of a horse’s bit and a ship’s rudder. Even though both of these things are small, they have great power. Our words are no different. For good or bad, they can influence the course of your entire life, and they also have power over others, with one disclaimer. In no way does any of this support the erroneous idea of positive confession, popular in some Christian circles.

Even so, carelessly spoken words can cause a lot of damage, so this is a stern reminder to us to be careful about what we say, and to choose our words carefully. Speaking of words, James doesn’t mince his words here (verses 5 to 6). The wicked tongue has its source in hell. Satan uses the tongue to divide people and pit them against each other. Like the fire that James writes about, idle words are damaging because they spread destruction quickly, and no one can stop the results once they are spoken. Words spoken in the heat of the moment can cause a lot of damage. Words are like fire. You can’t control or reverse the damage they do.

What James is saying here (verses 7 to 12) is that if no human being can control the tongue, why bother trying? We must learn to control our tongues. But this isn’t something we can do in our own strength. We need the help of the Holy Spirit. We should want him to work in us so that our words will please God.

Our words, whether good or bad, reflect what is in our hearts. Set aside time to come before God and ask Him, are your words those of someone who is walking in the Spirit, whose heart is given over to God, or perhaps you might have some things to sort out with God.