That was the question my grandmother was faced with. And even though she told me she would no longer write letters to me about my salvation, she must have decided that christmas gifts were still fair game – she gave me a DVD called The Case for Christ.
Lance and i watched it over the winter break. I wasn’t sure what to expect. At the beginning, i thought it might actually be an attempt at a serious film. Lee Strobel is a former atheist and former journalist, who studied the issue independently and came to the conclusion that a) god exists, b) the bible is the word of said god and c) jesus is the son of said god.
However, it quickly became apparent that there wasn’t any real rigorous research here. Strobel presents people he calls “expert witnesses” to report the evidence. These expert witnesses were all, without exception, professors at biblical colleges and divinity schools, or leaders of religious organizations. There was not a single opinion or point of view that would challenge the conclusions Strobel is trying to make. This film will not do anything but reinforce your already-held beliefs, whatever they may be.
Aside from that glaring omission from what Strobel claims is journalistic-style reporting, there are also many problems with his logic. Much of the evidence he gives is merely circumstantial. This film pretends to be a scientific look at the evidence, but it is nothing of the kind.
It is extremely bizarre to me that in one hand we have Lee Strobel creating a 90 minute video proving that Jesus is the son of god. In the other hand we have a group of scientists working on the Jesus Project. Their current question is not whether Jesus is divine; they are researching whether there is evidence that Jesus existed at all. Quite a difference.
January 6th, 2009 11:19 am
This will be rambling and weird.
When I was unwinding from all of my deeply held fundamentalist beliefs, I went through a lot of this stuff. I started to learn what academic religious scholars felt about how the Bible was written and compiled. One book I “read” (it’s too thick and deep and scholarly to read easily) was The Historical Jesus: A Comprehensive Guide. He tried to figure out, “What can we determine simply based on the historical record. I find his analysis of the Josephus writings particularly interesting.
I personally think Jesus was real and was a human. I don’t believe he was the embodiment of God or the Son of God. He was an extraordinary person, perhaps a healer, perhaps a teacher. You can look through his progression in the Bible and see he was learning in the process as to how to do these things, indicative of the fact that he wasn’t all knowing. In fact, he didn’t seem to indicate he was the Son of God much if at all (you could argue in the later stages of the gospel of John he did, but that’s a long discourse and who knows how much of that was added or embellished later). He didn’t come out against the Pharisees and Sadducees until they rejected him. His message was pretty simple and the same one that we should emphasize today:
- people are more important than tradition or rules
- treat all people with respect
- the people in charge have their best interest at heart, not yours
I do believe in God. Well, I believe in something, and I couldn’t tell you what it is. The “Ground of all Being” is the best phrase I’ve read concerning something bigger than us. I also believe in Satan and demonic possession, although it is rare. I realize that’s weird and not common. But I do have to say that M. Scott Peck helped me understand a lot about life, how to handle it, and where spirituality fits into all of that. He claimed to be involved in 2 exorcisms – and then he revealed in the last book before his death that he was the lead exorcist. This is a person whose other writings were pretty much accurate regarding the human condition so it’s hard not to throw those stories away. I try not to believe this. I did research, read other books, occasionally tape “Psychic Kids” or whatever on A&E, and it just seems all to weird, too much coincidence to explain or throw out. Lots of frauds, but too many weird things to explain easily or dismiss. OK, so this makes me a nutcase, I realize. In fact, I don’t really know why I’m sharing this because I know I look like a weirdo.
Oh yeah, there was one point I was making. I don’t think there are any rules about spirituality. One thing I thought was interesting about one of the exorcisms M. Scott Peck was involved in was that a helper was an atheist. He was a loving, caring person. It seems really strange to use a non-believer to help with an exorcism, but then again the atheist had the more important stuff working for him. I’m not convinced God wants constant worship and adoration, just for us to take care of each other with respect and love.
January 6th, 2009 4:46 pm
I haven’t been a believer in the traditional christian god for a long time, but I’m still in the very early stages of reading about and researching belief and/or non-belief. Some of my writings on this blog about atheism have been largely because i came out to my family as a non-believer, and there have been a lot of reactions in my family. So it’s in my thoughts a lot. I actually have a large respect for spirituality, which is quite a different thing than religion.
Did Jesus exist? Probably? But it doesn’t really matter. The lessons and parables all have the golden rule at their heart, and that’s a good way to live.
The film i mentioned in this post claimed to take a scientific approach and concludes that Jesus is the son of god and was raised from the dead. And it’s just not that well done, from a scientific standpoint. I have a lot more respect for someone who believes science doesn’t have all the answers, than someone who munges the scientific method in order to prove what they want to prove.
January 6th, 2009 11:36 pm
I haven’t read or seen any stuff by Lee Strobel, but I’m semi familiar with it. Before Lee Strobel there was “Evidence That Demands a Verdict,” one of the most horribly written books ever, not in terms of content but cohesiveness and editing. Same kind of thing I think.
BTW, very progressive Christians are writing books saying it doesn’t matter if Jesus died or rose from the grave or whatever.
Part of what I’m saying is, “Good you’re having this inner dialogue with yourself, but you’re OK as it is.” Well, that is until you take advantage of me at the bridge table…