Our Hangout

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, Christian and non, 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, then 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 its 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 his bidding day and night. James Cameron might or might not have a personal agenda in this, but the one he unknowingly serves does.

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. The DaVinci code laid the foundation, and this continues to build on that foundation.

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.

Before I end I should say, this is not the first time something like this happens. Not too long ago there was the apparent discovery of the ossuary of "James, the brother of Jesus" later discovered to have been a fraud. This could be that, or it could be a misreading of names, or just the discovery of a tomb with names that were some of the most common names of the time. Regardless of what it is, it is an easily manipulative tool in Satan's hands to blind and deceive, not just those already blind, but many who claim a walk with Jesus but whose hearts are not truly surrendered to him.

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, allowing him to 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 that 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, in my humble opinion, bogus DNA test can stand up against.

I love Jesus

I love Jesus! I love the way he lived his life. And the way he challenged people. And I love the way he still does it today. It's never easy because it's so backwards from all the lessons we learned before we met him. But you can't really listen to him without thinking, although I don't really feel like doing that, it makes sense why it's better. We might fight him, we might even say no, I won't do it! But it's hard to get away from that tug that says, "This is what you were created for!"

Just some thoughts prompted by a convicted heart on a rainy Tuesday.

Lucas & Easter

The most interesting I heard this easter came from Lucas' lips after the spending easter morning at Church...

"I understand Jesus died and rose again, what I don't get is where the easter eggs come from."

I like Lucas and his thoughts on life!

On Jesus' Teaching...

Some great thoughts from Steve at "Ponder This"...

"...But unlike most preachers he won't tell you ahead of time what it is going to mean and remind you afterwards what it meant! He's just going to tell it - stopping waaaay before you are ready and then he is going to sit back and watch what you do with it. If there is more than one person listening then all the better - half the group can try to persuade the other half what it means while he sits there with an amused look on his face. Jesus' stories draw people out - because he won't finish or explain most of them, his listeners have to do that - and 9 times out of 10 they learn more that way. Jesus was the master at involving people and when they were involved in his stories the main thing they understood at the end was that they didn't understand as much as they thought they did. The good guys weren't all that good. The bad guys weren't all that bad. Those on the top were really on the bottom and those on the bottom were headed straight to the top. "Yes," didn't always mean yes and, "No," didn't always mean no..."

Read the whole post "Jesus' Teaching"