2 Timothy 4:1-5, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
I have seen two articles this week that have disturbed me, The Gospel of Judas and Did Jesus Really Walk on Water? I have linked them so you can read them as well. In addition, The Davinci Code movie is slated to be released May 19, 2006. These seemingly unrelated events are actually very related. They are three concerted efforts to refute biblical truth.
The Gospel of Judas is a historical artifact found in the deserts of Egypt. It puts forth the theory that Judas Iscariot was the only one of the 12 who actually understood Jesus' desire to die in order to be freed from His human body. It has been dated to circa 180 A.D. So, nearly 200 years after the fact, someone decides they understand Jesus and Judas Iscariot better than the Biblical Gospel writers who wrote within their lifetimes of events they knew firsthand. It is a ludicrous theory at best. Jesus didn't die because He wanted to. Why would He have agonized in the garden that the cup be taken from Him? He didn't desire death to be freed from His humanity. He suffered death to purchase our pardon.
Did Jesus walk on water? is one scientist's attempt to disprove any of the miracles of Jesus. The theory is that there was surface ice formed on the sea of Galilee that allowed Jesus to appear to walk on water, but in reality, it was ice. The first issue I take with this "finding" is that the author neglects to even mention that Peter also walked on water. And if it were ice, how was the boat undamaged? The ice had to be close enough to the boat in order for Peter to step out onto it. And the Bible also records that there were wind and waves, I have never seen ice that could whipped into waves by the wind. Jesus, as the creator, could bend the "rules" of science in any direction He chose. And this day, He made it possible to walk on water.
The Da Vinci Code puts forth the theory that there is a secret code hidden in the text of the Bible that disproves the deity of Jesus and the infallibility of Scripture. That, of course is an extremely simplistic summary, but it will suffice for my purposes. This book, and now movie, should be called the rallying cry for postmodern thought. It "proves" that Christianity is a creation of man and therefore no different than every other religion in our world. The problem with that idea is that Jesus said He was the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the father but through Him.
I could go on and on about just these three theories. Yet, we as those who claim Jesus as Lord of our lives, should know His word well enough to refute these theories without great thought. The Bible is authoritative. We just need to know it. It is no suprise that the world is jumping to "new" conclusions about Christ, we are not giving them the truth. We need to stand uncompromisingly on God's word and what it says, that is the only way to refute such heresies.
How well do you know your Bible?
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