Don't be bamboozled!

The message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been challenged this year by the fictional work of Dan Brown, The DaVinci Code. Nearly 40 million copies of the book, which is a novel about the conspiracy of the Church to hide the 'truth' about Jesus' marriage to Mary Magdalene and to make Him into a god. I haven't read it, but I'm told it's a story that is written in a way that keeps the reader turning the pages. What it isn't is true! But many people seem to think that it is. This month the National Geographic Society is hyping the so-called Gospel of Judas as though it is a major new revelation about Christianity. Yes, it is true that an ancient book was found in the Egyptian desert that has been dated to the 2nd or 3rd century. But the book doesn't change a thing about the origins of Christianity. Judas didn't write it and it isn't Christian. It is a rehash of Gnosticism. "The Gnostics were a heretical cult that believed that the inner self was held prisoner by a material body, a prison from which they hoped to escape. This Gospel of Judas holds that Judas was helping Jesus to get rid of his flesh, so that his inner divine being could be free." - Dr. Ron Carlson

What we are seeing is the conceit of human intelligence in full bloom. I am not suggesting that scholarly inquiry and study of the Bible is a terrible thing, nor do I think that Christianity is incapable of withstanding criticism. But much of the 'stuff' being written about the so-called 'historical Jesus' is just speculation based on scraps of information by people who have already determined that the supernatural content of the Gospels cannot be true and that the declaration of Jesus' divinity is merely a myth, invited by the unsophisticated men and women who first followed Him. These presumptions color their inquiry so that they are incapable of seeing the plain truth of the Word. Their high-sounding words and intricately woven arguments bamboozle many into rejecting the wonderful facts that Jesus, the Christ, came into the world to bring us the full Truth about God, to die to reconcile us to Him, and to restore us to eternal life!

Paul, just a couple of decades after Jesus lived and died and rose again, warned about being taken in by high-flown rhetoric and invented theories that invalidate the Truth of the Gospel. "I know very well how foolish the message of the cross sounds to those who are on the road to destruction. But we who are being saved recognize this message as the very power of God. As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy human wisdom and discard their most brilliant ideas.” So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made them all look foolish and has shown their wisdom to be useless nonsense." (1 Corinthians 1:18-20, NLT)

Many are suggesting that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a fabrication, a collection of folk tales and legend that collected around an obscure Jewish apocalyptic prophet whose radical ideas got him killed. I don't think that a cleverly invented lie about a Jewish prophet's death and 'Resurrection' would have the ability to change the world, do you? When did a lie ever last for two thousand years? It is much more reasonable to believe what the Bible claims - that the Gospel is the Truth of God, that it is the "the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—... This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” (Romans 1:16-17, NLT)

I affirm the ancient Truth. "You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart!"
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I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven and
sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic* church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.
Amen.
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*Note: The word "Catholic" in this creed does not mean the Roman Catholic Church, but the Christian Church as a whole.