The Pew Research Center in Washington, DC conducted an April poll of 1,546 adults. One of the questions they asked was if the respondent believed Jesus would return by 2050. 41% said “yes.” Among white evangelical Christians, the “yes” response climbed to 58%.
They also published data broken out by education level. 59% of people with no college experience believed Jesus was coming, while only 19% of college graduates believed in a return by 2050.
In the foreword of our book we wrote, “One final point. No one really knows if the words you see in What He Said are what He actually said! We don’t have any voice recordings or transcripts from the Year 1, and Jesus didn’t keep a journal. Further, scholars have documented how the Bible changed over the years as generations of scribes laboriously made copies (from copies) for their particular Christian communities.”
Along these lines, L. Michael White, a professor of Classics and Christian Origins at the University of Texas at Austin, recently published a new book called Scripting Jesus: The Gospels in Rewrite. In the book, White:
“demonstrates that each of the four gospel writers had a specific audience in mind and a specific theological agenda to push, and consequently wrote and rewrote their lives of Jesus accordingly—in effect, scripting Jesus to get the desired audience reaction.”
Sounds like an interesting read.
The Rev. Howard Bess, in this article, talks about forgetting about retribution and revenge. And argues that what Jesus preached at the end of the Sermon on the Mount was going completely against the grain of what anyone—including God—practiced or believed at the time (or now). Here’s what Jesus said:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you, don’t resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.” — Matthew 5:38-39
Jesus believed in forgiveness, not in sin as a debt to be repaid. Bess titles his article, “How Christianity Lost Jesus” and feels that the western world in this century has embraced “an eye for an eye” in utter rejection of what Christ taught. How did it happen? Read the article and see his description of how Paul’s theology trumped Jesus’ teachings. Bess closes with:
“There is no evidence that the practice of ‘eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ ever produced an honorable result, made people more whole with lives that are more satisfying, or produced a society that is good for all.”
Happy Good Friday, everyone. I hope you will enjoy the beautiful spring weather (after so much cold and rain) and take a moment to witness all the re-birth and renewal that is happening around you.
For an account of what happened on Good Friday, you could certainly grab your copy of What He Said and read the narrative of the Four Gospels. Or, you could rely on trusty Wikipedia. Interesting to see that the Crucifixion of Jesus was “most probably on a Monday” in the year 33 AD.
Religion scholar Scott Korb has written a history book detailing everyday life 2,000 years ago. It is entitled ‘Life In Year One’: The World As Jesus Found It and he is careful to point out that, while the book describes people in Jesus’ time, it is not a book about Jesus. Korb was interviewed yesterday on NPR’s Talk of the Nation. You can find out more, listen to the interview and read an excerpt here.
I thought his response to a question about the accuracy of the written record was interesting:
…where we find discrepancies from one Gospel to another, that doesn’t really tell us anything about Jesus. It tells us about the people who were writing about Jesus.
Representatives from Judaism and the Baptist, Episcopal and Unitarian Universalist churches recently met at the University of Maryland to discuss how homosexuality has affected their personal lives, their own congregations and their faith. The panelists’ viewpoints were scattered across the spectrum, but I found this quote quite powerful:
“Jesus doesn’t say anything about orientation in the Gospels. Instead he teaches love and compassion. If anything, the only thing he speaks out against is divorce, and you don’t see them trying to outlaw divorce. What we’re dealing with are anthropological issues about human dignity and human worth.” – Reverend Peter Antoci of the Episcopal-Anglican Campus Ministry
Many people might be surprised to learn that “Christ” is not Jesus’ last name. As in, you wouldn’t instruct your young children to address Him as Mr. Christ in a chance encounter on Main Street. You shouldn’t even address him as Jesus Christ. Jesus the Christ is correct.
“Christ” is actually Jesus’ title and means, in Greek, “the anointed one.” I learned some things in this article.
Peter and I are often asked why we created What He Said. Besides our usual response (the Bible is a hard book to read and there had to be an easier way for busy people to access the teachings of Christ), we often point out that we’re dismayed that so many self-professed Christians seem to get Jesus’ message so wrong.
Case in point: this guy. Can you imagine a worse way of getting the message across to young people than yelling out “You’re a hussie and going to hell!” and wearing a big red sign around your neck proclaiming, “You Deserve Hell”?
Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore has been a lightning rod for controversy over the past several years. His latest film, Capitalism: A Love Story continues the trend. In the film he wonders if Jesus would have supported the current system of capitalism and concludes that He wouldn’t have. Jesus’ teachings to help the poor and give away your money, to Moore, seem incompatible with the greed for money that drives much of the market today.
This interesting article provides a number of viewpoints. Clement Mehlman, a Lutheran chaplain at Dalhousie University, agrees with Moore:
“Jesus says to follow Him, you have to give everything you own to the poor. How many Christians do you see doing that? It’s a text that should be thrown at the wealthy fat cats.”
Others feel that the problems lie not in capitalism, itself, but in the way it is used. Rev. Gary Thorne, an Anglican minister and chaplain with Dalhousie and the Canadian Forces Reserves, talks about the “intent of the heart” in looking at free markets. He cites the history of the church and points out the Martin Luther and John Calvin were all in favor of capitalism as a way to motivate people to work hard, support their families and please God. Thorne also says that the most important thing about acquiring wealth, for a Christian, should be a willingness to share it.
“Any Christian who says that we pay too much in taxes is just bonkers.”
The article goes on to talk about a middle ground and I encourage you to dive in.
A couple of weeks ago, we wrote about the “prosperity gospel” and how it fits (or doesn’t) with the gospel teachings of Jesus. Now, one minister, Rev. C. Thomas Anderson, senior pastor of the Living Word Bible Church in Mesa, Arizona, is claiming that the Jesus we all thought was poor was, in fact, wealthy.
Rev. Anderson points to three pieces of evidence for his claim: (1) the expensive gifts baby Jesus received from the three wise men; (2) the fact that Mary and Joseph rode a donkey (“Cadillac”) to Bethlehem; and (3) that Roman soldiers gambled for Jesus’ undergarments.
Others disagree. Bruce W. Longenecker, a Baylor University religion professor says, “The only way you can make Jesus into a rich man is by advocating torturous interpretations and by being wholly naive historically.” You can read more about the debate here.
Join What He Said Online