[The following material is from O Timothy magazine, Volume 12, Issue 4, 1995. David W. Cloud, Editor. This material cannot be stored on BBS or Internet sites without permission from the author. Any articles which are redistributed by e-mail or print must be left intact and nothing must be removed or changed, including these informational headers. All rights are reserved. O Timothy is a monthly magazine. Annual subscription is US$20 FOR THE UNITED STATES. Send to Way of Life Literature, Bible Baptist Church, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org. FOR CANADA the subscription is $20 Canadian. Send to Bethel Baptist Church, P.O. Box 9075, London, Ontario N6E 1V0. The Way of Life web site is located at http://www.wayoflife.org/]

JESUS SEMINAR SCHOLARS SAY JESUS DID NOT RISE

By David W. Cloud

According to a Religious News Service report for March 6, 1995, the Jesus Seminar has "concluded there is no evidence that the Easter resurrection was a physical reality." They conclude that "the story of the historical Jesus ended with his death on the cross and the decay of his body."

Like all good Modernists, the Jesus Seminar fellows claim that "the religious significance of the resurrection does not depend on historical fact." Modernists claim that they are not tearing down people's faith, since faith does not require an inspired Bible. Strange faith, theirs! The Modernist's faith is like the Hindu's; it is founded upon myth.

The misnamed Jesus Seminar has been meeting since 1985 (its organization was first announced in 1978) with the supposed object of discovering which words of the Gospels are authentic. After a passage is discussed by the participanting "scholars," they use colored pegs to indicate the degree of authenticity they feel should be acribed to it. Red means they believe it is definitely authentic; pink for maybe; gray for probably; black for absolutely not authentic. In 1993 the Jesus Seminar published The Five Gospels: The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus. This included a new translation called "The Scholar's Translation." The color coding has been incorporated into the text to describe the degree to which the various portions of the Gospels are considered authentic by the Jesus Seminar. I can assure you that there is very little red ink in this volume!

It has become traditional for secular news sources to quote Modernists such as the Jesus Seminar at Easter and Christmas. The April 4, 1994, issue of Newsweek, for example, featured an article titled "The Death of Jesus: New Insights on His Last Days." A number of modernists were cited, including some of the scholars involved with the Jesus Seminar. Newsweek's encouraging Easter message was this: "In the last few years, dozens of polemical books have been published rejecting the passion stories as pious--even pernicious--fabrications." The December 1994 issue of Life magazine featured a longhaired Jesus to illustrate its cover story, "Who Was He: Solving the Mystery of Jesus and Why It Matters Today." Typical of the testimonies contained therein, British theologian Peter Bien revealed his ignorance when he claimed, "I don't think we know who Jesus was." In 1982 I was passing through London at Easter and picked up a copy of the Sunday Times Weekly Review for April 11, 1982. It contained an interview conducted by reporter John Mortiner with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie. Runcie told of visiting Buddhist temples and Islamic mosques and finding "great spiritual values in them." He said Christians should not make exclusive claims for Christ. The interviewer asked Runcie, "But what was God's motive in creating human suffering, and the suffering of the crucifixion?"

Incredibly, the head of the Church of England gave this reply: "As I say, I'm an agnostic about that."

Mortiner: "And this God you argue with, what's he like exactly? Is he a judge?"

Runcie: "No."

Mortiner: "But you believe in an after life?"

Runcie: "Of course. ... But as for the geography and climate of the after life... well, I'm an agnostic about that too."

Mortiner: "So does it matter which religion we have?"

Runcie: "I find the easiest way to enlightenment is through Jesus Christ. ... But I don't believe in creating a vacuum into which we insert the Christian religion. I went to Rangoon and found a Buddhist priest examining some teenagers. One of the questions was: 'What ethical effect does a belief in the after-life have on our actions?' I thought that was very good. I'm against extravagant claims made for one faith..."

This was the Archbishop of Canterbury's Easter message to the world. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!"