Spiritual Surf: So-called “Jesus’ tomb” causes war of words
Moviemaker says found Jesus’ tomb. [This Is London]
Scholar: “They just want to get money.“[AP]
Tomb may be opened to public [Jpost]
Why people try to ‘disprove’ Christianity [BeliefNet]
Also: Farrakhan to give last big speech. [NYT]
After the jump: Polemic of the day
Beliefnet’s David Kuo on why folks are so eager to debunk Christianity:
There is not, for instance, a very big industry for disproving Buddha. Mohammad doesn’t have an industry devoted to disproving him or Islam. Why Jesus? Why is that Jesus’ name can people more frothed up more quickly than any other name?
There are certain easy answers - it has become the most politicized faith, it has the deepest roots in Western culture, it has been the root of past sins. But I think it lies far deeper than that. I think it lies in words written by Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are being destroyed, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
It is. Renowned theologian Bishop N.T. Wright writes of it this way:
“The Christian good news is all about God dying on a rubbish-heap at the wrong end of the Empire. It’s all about God babbling nonsense to a room full of philosophers. It’s all about the true God confronting the world of posturing power and prestige, and overthrowing it in order to set up his own kingdom, a kingdom in which the weak and the foolish find themselves just as welcome as the strong the wise, if not more so.”
That message is an affront, it is an offense. It requires a submission of human will to the will of a God who demands we see ourselves as worthless and priceless. It is a message that human hearts and human minds rebel against because of all that it requires - unconditional love received, unconditional love given…things the human heart has such trouble with. It is also a message that is true no matter how many times people think they have disproven it and a message grounded in timeless truths like an empty cross and an empty tomb.
1 Comment »
If this spoke to you, here are five similar articles.
- James Cameron takes on Christianity
- Born in Israel, a female mystic goes beyond 9/11
- The spiritual solution to codependence
- Did Early Christianity “Pass The Buck”?
- Spiritual Surf: Beatles & Jesus, Madonna, Obama, “Guiding Light”
the beautiful cycle of life...lambs in the spring...wild flowers in the summer...enlivening winds in [...]
on 04 Mar 2009 at 7:09 pm 1.vic said …
Winston Churchill was one of the less informed when he warned about the Nazi’s too right? And Chamberlain signed a deal with Hitler…Churchill also warned about Islam way back when and his words are proving true nearly a century later - put your back in the sand now