Texas Baptist is Master of the Obvious
Posted February 28, 2007
I got a note moments ago from a Texas talk show host and Baptist Bible School president who is sounding off about "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" -- which purports to reveal the final resting place of Jesus.
The headline on the Texan's press release begins: "Baptist Theologian Thinks Hollywood Claim Is Heresy..."
Dr. Jerry Johnson THINKS it's heresy to proclaim that Jesus died and stayed dead? I would've expected a slightly stronger headline...
Cameron's much-ballyhooed claim is garden-variety, dictionary-definition heresy.
According to the Webster's New World Dictionary, "heresy" means "a religious belief opposed to the orthodox doctrines of a church" or "the rejection of a belief that is part of church dogma."
Cameron's statement clearly contradicts church teachings -- regardless of whether his theories pan out.
Over the past 2,000 years, Christians have argued about key doctrinal matters, including baptism, salvation, Holy Communion and the Trinitarian nature of God.
But the belief in the resurrection is one of the few things that unites all major Christian faith. Christianity crumbles if the tomb is not empty.
(Read entire press release below).
Baptist Theologian Thinks Hollywood Claim is Heresy and Seeks Apology from Cameron
Dr. Jerry Johnson, President of Criswell College in Dallas, says there is no truth to Cameron's claim of finding Jesus' casket.
DALLAS, Feb 28, 2007 -- Dr. Jerry Johnson, President of Criswell College and host of the "Jerry Johnson LiveShow" on 90.9 KCBI, said that James Cameron's claims of finding physical remains of Jesus are unscientific, as well as heretical; and he would like an apology from Cameron to those who hold the Bible's account of Jesus' resurrection to be the truth. Cameron's claim comes as a result of his controversial documentary, "The Lost Tomb of Christ," set to air on the Discovery Channel on March 4th.
"Cameron's claims are founded on the desire to make good TV instead of forensic DNA evidence," said Dr. Johnson. "Ironically, each Easter we see a story like this pop up in the media. Last year it was DaVinci's Code, and this year it's Cameron's coffin. These claims are nothing short of heresy and an attack on a fundamental Christian truth. I'm asking Cameron to consider apologizing to the Christian community world-wide for making this unsubstantiated claim."
"Jerry Johnson Live" can be heard each weekday from 5 -- 6 PM (CST) on 90.9 KCBI or online at http://www.kcbi.org
Visit http://www.jerryjohnsonlive.com or http://www.criswell.edu to learn more about Dr. Jerry Johnson and his reactions to this story.
WHO: Dr. Jerry Johnson (Host of "Jerry Johnson Live" on 90.9 KCBI)
WHAT: Dr. Johnson calls Hollywood claim heresy and seeks apology
WHERE: 90.9 KCBI or http://www.kcbi.org
WHEN: 5-6 PM (CST)
Contact:
Lisa Bamford, 90.9 KCBI Radio, 817-505-8548, lbamford@kcbi.org
Comments
Theological issues aside (and yes, it is heresy to believe Christ wasn't bodily ressurected) will the DNA evidence ever get closer than a familial link? We can't be 100% sure, and Jesus did have family members that would be blood relatives through his mother.
Much ado about nothing, I think--but a great way to sell books that are ten dollars worth of nothing. Way to many Christians will buy those books!
The factual basis for christianity is by no means certain. The specific incidents in the gospels are not recounted anywhere else, and even the Apostle Paul, the earliest Christian writer, knew only the sketchiest of details about Jesus' life, and apparently didn't feel the need to find out more.
The gospels were written between 70 AD and probably 100 or so AD. If we believe that Jesus was crucified somewhere between 33 and 37 AD, that means that the earliest word written about Jesus was written fifteen years after his death (the earliest Pauline letters date back to around 50 AD) and the earliest gospel written about 35 years after the fact. And this earliest gospel, Mark, contains (in its original form) no information about Jesus' post-resurrection appearances, and no birth narrative.
The remaining gospels were written between 40 and 60 years after the fact. There is no evidence that any of the gospels were written by anyone contemporaneous to Jesus, and the one writer who was contemporaneous to Jesus, Paul, knew almost nothing about the details of his life, beyond the oft-repeated mantra that he had been crucified and rose from the dead.
Life expectancy in Palestine in the first century was probably not much above 40 years, meaning that a whole generation was born and died between the time of Jesus' death and the writing of the gospels.
It is highly unlikely that anyone who knew Jesus in real life ever read a word of the gospels, and if they did, their reaction is not recorded.
I've written a comprehensive rebuttal to claims and evidence of this film. Please read it and decide for yourself.
You will find it at extremetheology.com
I'd like to respond to Mr. Powers, if I might. He wrote, “The factual basis for christianity is by no means certain.”
Christianity builds upon certain established facts, however. It does not spring forth ex nihilo. It develops out of the Semitic experience of God and the Semitic experience of God is well represented in the person of Abraham and his people. What do we know about them? So much that it would fill the pages of a large volume.
Mr. Powers also wrote, “The specific incidents in the gospels are not recounted anywhere else…”
The events recounted in the Gospels are foreshadowed throughout the Hebrew Scriptures and it is Paul’s rabbinical gift to show how this it true. Paul, John, Peter and the early Church Fathers found continuity between the faith of Abraham and other believers of the old covenant and the faith fulfilled in the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Mr. Powers wrote, “It is highly unlikely that anyone who knew Jesus in real life ever read a word of the gospels, and if they did, their reaction is not recorded.”
Indeed their reactions are recorded in extra biblical writings and in artifacts they left behind. The Bible was not complied in its entirely until the 4th century. Before that the Gospel was embodied in the lives of the saints and through the preaching of those in apostolic ministry. The need to inspire and spiritually form Christians was met in the lifetime of the Apostles by depicting scenes from the Old Testament on the walls of tombs where martyrs were buried and where services were secretly held during the period when Christianity was illegal. By the time that the persecutions stopped in the 5th century, most of the significant events narrated in the Bible were painted on the walls of churches. This was not a Christian innovation. Even Jewish synagogues unearthed from the early Christian and pre-Christian eras have Biblical events depicted on the walls.
I find it amazing how the da vinci's code comes out and says they are based on fiction -and the whole word believes them to be true-anyways they put Mary raising Jesus's daughter in france- while supposdly this documentary put mary as being buried with Jesus and their son Judas.
I think as the saying goes--It's time to wake up and smell the coffee.
Its almost appears to me that man wants to dictate the limits of God in organized religion.
Of course they do, perplexed. That's because each of us has an idea of what God or Christ or Buddha or Muhammed or Allah really is, and if someone challenges our belief about that being, we take it as a personal insult.
Christians in particular love to put limits on God. I refer to this as putting God in a box, and it is the favorite sport of the evangelicals and fundamentalists. They will tell you down to the last angel how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, along with the brand of the pin.
And if you call them on it, they'll say that THEY didn't put God in the box, he put himself there, blah blah blah.
But I'm with you, perplexed. I am not confident that much of anything we think we know historically about Jesus is true, but am confident that God still loves us whether it's true or not.
Jesus is God's Love personified. If you're not sure about Him, how logically can you claim to have confidence in God's love?
Believe as you wish, Caleb, but don't promote yourself as one who doesn't put God in a box.
Which god?
Thanks Caleb. I guess what bothers me is the conclusions I draw from reading the material thats out there. I try to be objective and cover both sides of the argument but usually I end up with conclusions that weren't in the picture, yet, there plain as day to me.
Frank, you gotta love the studied understatement of those Texas headlines. If I am not mistaken, a Texan Episcopal bishop named Clarence Pope left the Episcopal Church to join the Roman Catholics, then later returned to the Episcopal fold. The headlines in Texas read thus: "Pope Becomes Roman Catholic" and then, "Pope Leaves Catholic Church."
Prester John, I wonder if this Pope was related to the one who, in the DaVinci Code, so famously interred a knight?
What if Jesus came back to the earth to have a family with Mary Magdaline. If He did, wouldn't it be possible that God would give him a mortal life. Isn't the basis of this about love, refute it if you want, but to me its another chapter in a book that was censored because the truth was to powerful. Hopefully I will get to watch the movie tonight.