Misunderstanding Jesus

There are all kinds of potentially cool movies coming out this summer! I wonder if Pixar can keep up their amazing reputation with creativity in a movie all about Cars! And in the previews, the special effects in Poseidon look really cool! Oh, and I’ll bet that the makers of the hilarious Madagascar have done it again with Over the Hedge! And, of course, my most anticipated movie this summer has to be very cool: Pirates of the Caribbean 2!

There is also one other big movie coming out in a matter of days. Millions of people all over the world have already read the novel. It is a story that entertains readers through historical controversies, mysterious works of art, interesting math and scientific facts, codes within codes, secret societies, and suspenseful chases through European cities. Not to mention, the core of the novel is a major religious controversy.

According to The Da Vinci Code, one third of this world’s population has been fooled into believing the greatest conspiracy of all time--the salvation of Jesus Christ. Yes, a man named Jesus existed way back when but the true story of Jesus is completely different then what you think. If I had to summarize the whole idea of the conspiracy into one sentence it would be like this:
Jesus never died for your sins although he was nailed to a cross and beaten nearly to death, he later escaped to the romantic country of France and married Mary Magdalene who was supposed be the real founder of the Christian church (although she wasn’t) and she had a baby who is the actual Holy Grail who is the key to eternal life but the Catholic church didn‘t like that so they rewrote the Bible to say what they wanted it to giving males more authority than before and hiding the truth which can be found today in the Gnostic Gospels. (whew!)

But, it is just a novel, right? I mean, what’s the big deal? It’s fiction! Nothing to worry about!

Unfortunately, many non-fictional works have come as a result of this book and many of them support several aspects of The Da Vinci Code. Educated historians and professional scholars are beginning to publicly promote the blatant attacks on Christianity with what they believe to be evidence that my Savior was just another man. The Da Vinci Code has stirred up an age-old controversy that asks, “How reliable is the Bible?”

To tell you the truth, Dan Brown does a lousy job explaining his theory of why the Bible is unreliable. His theory is that Constantine rewrote the Bible during those important councils he held and this argument easily falls on its face.

However, world renown scholar Bart Ehrman probably does the best job explaining why he believes that the Bible is not historically accurate and not the inspired Word of God in his new book Misquoting Jesus. My English teacher just so happened to have this book and let me borrow it for a couple weeks. This book is the real inspiration for this post.

Misquoting Jesus is a very discouraging book. Ehrman begins by explaining how he went to Moody Bible College to study for the ministry and eventually was led to believe that the Bible is full of errors and is therefore not the Word of God. With his education in the Hebrew and Greek languages he can read the ancient manuscripts himself and he speaks as if the whole Bible has been radically altered from the originals.

Of coarse, Ehrman wouldn’t have much of a case if he didn’t have evidence and examples. However, a small part of the book is dedicated to what he sees to be the best evidence that shows the fallibility of the Bible. I’m sure you already know that the manuscripts that we have are not without errors but most Christians believe that they don’t affect anything important. Ehrman claims that there have been drastic changes to the original theology and he’s got evidence!

Do you want to hear one of his best pieces of evidence? Are you sure? This could change your life completely! Be warned that the following information may open your eyes to the truth about your near and dear Bible. Proceed at your own risk…

Actually, I’m amazed that a guy this smart can’t do any better. Listen to this: In Mark 1 the Bible talks about how Jesus is baptized and God says, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Ehrman says that some of the eariest manuscripts actually say “today I have begotten you” instead of “with you I am well pleased”. …so… yeah. This is one of his very best examples to prove that the Bible is unreliable. Right. I mean really, Mr. Ehrman, can’t you do any better? Doesn’t look drastic at all to me--what about you? Either way God still calls Jesus His Son.

Ehrman goes on to say that this is great evidence that the originals are completely different than what we call the Bible today. More changes like these were made between the time the books of the Bible were written to the manuscripts that we do have. Sure, go ahead and believe what ever you want to Mr. Ehrman but you’ve gotta admit that this evidence is pretty lame.

In the end, I’ve simply come back to the conclusion that the best evidence still points toward the fact that we have an amazingly accurate Bible. Ehrman and Brown act as if they’ve really found something by asking, “What if the Bible isn’t accurate?” But it seems that they still can stop us from asking, “But what if it is?”

This post has been kind of all over the place, touching topics that deserve books worth of discussion but it has been what I’ve been studying lately and it has been awesome. I just want you to leave New Focus today with this in mind: Maybe we’re just misunderstanding Jesus when we discuss these controversies. Can the God who is powerful enough to created everything be sovereign enough to give us the accurate and reliable Bible that He meant us to have? Yes, yes, yes, and yes!!

My friends! Years and years of handwritten copies are no obstacle for the Almighty! God has spoken! And you can listen! Is that not cool or what?