(…continued…) In 2010 a novel was published called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. It was a ridiculous concept for a novel, but that book is indeed in print, making it an authentic document, copyrighted in 2010, a mere 145 years after Lincoln’s death. But that doesn’t make it true.
Would you go to a book like that to get at an accurate look at the real Lincoln? No. Rather, you would go to a biography written by someone who knew him—like Billy Herndon, Lincoln’s Springfield, Illinois law partner; or the reflections of his White House aides, John Hay and John Nicolay. Those biographies were written by eyewitnesses as true accounts. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was written as a silly novel. Who wrote the ‘Jesus had a wife’ fragment, and why? No one knows, but everyone knows it was written at least 700 hundred years after the very reliable eyewitness accounts. To learn about Jesus, wouldn’t you go to ten thousand early documents, rather than to what might be the eighth century equivalent of a silly novel? Even the professor who first broke the story, later admitted it was not authentic (in the face of overwhelming evidence and ridicule), but I never heard of any retractions from the news outlets that so enthusiastically reported it.
This is the same kind of thing we keep hearing in reports about the Gospel of Judas, the Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, and all the other so-called ‘hidden gospels.’ These are the often-used sources on many sensationalized TV specials about the real Jesus; and they can always find some bogus experts to quote to add some semblance of credibility. But these other Gospels were not hidden and not suppressed by the church as is often charged; but were long ago disregarded as unreliable and worthless, just as we would quickly disregard Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter as a reliable historical source. But phony scholars, use these fictitious documents, to create fake news; calling into question the core message of our faith.
One huge piece of this whole business is a widely read book from a few years ago. The Da Vinci Code sold over 80 million copies, making it an all-time best seller; and, the movie made from it, starring the ever popular Tom Hanks, was an international blockbuster, making almost a billion dollars. Author Dan Brown wrote this thriller about how the early church conspired to hide the truth about Jesus– which was that Jesus did not really die on the cross, but got married and moved to France. And the premise of the book is that the evil suppression of the truth continues to this day. But historically, the book has about as much basis in fact as Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. At least in the Lincoln Vampire book no one tried to say it was true history, but the author of The Da Vinci Code was shamelessly dishonest about the whole thing. When he was on friendly talk shows with adoring audiences, Dan Brown would go on and on about his extensive research and all the historical facts behind the book. But when he was challenged by anyone who knew anything about how ridiculous it all was, he would smile and say, “Hey, relax, it’s only a novel.”
So, what you have is, publicity hungry scholars who get their 15 minutes of fame by being reported on by journalists eager for a story; or in sensational books or TV programs or movies that come and go. But it is all a sham, and responsible scholars demolish these stories time after time. Real scholars look at things like textual authenticity, support from other texts from the same time period, context, grammar, writing style, and much more. There are many ways to ask the hard questions and honestly evaluate authenticity; and when that is done, the New Testament always comes out looking really good—in fact, better than any other ancient documents. Many people who have actually taken the time to study the reliability of the New Testament (even if in order to discredit it), have changed their minds, and come to believe in what the Bible says, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, risen from the dead. That’s what can happen when you take a closer look. But you won’t see any of that in the media.
When I asked earlier about ‘why Jesus didn’t appear to his wife,’ I wasn’t just being silly. If Jesus did have a wife, it would be fair to ask how the story would work. If Jesus did not die, but moved to France with his wife, it is clear that the rest of the story would not work very well at all. We know that many early Christians were thrown to the lions in the coliseum for proclaiming that Jesus had risen from the dead and ascended into heaven. But why would they have gone through all that trouble if Jesus had never even died, but was off in France raising a daughter with Mary Magdalene? These theories take unreliable documents from many centuries later and use them to make nonsense out of the very best documents that we do have. If any of these new theories are true, Christianity is false, and we are wasting our time here every Sunday morning. But, it is the new theories that are false.
(…continued…)
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2 Peter 1:15-16 — I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things. For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
Acts 2:40 — And he (Peter) testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” (This is what I am doing here; ‘making an argument’ to defend what we believe from uniformed attacks in this ‘corrupt generation.’)
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Lord Jesus Christ, you burst from the tomb winning for us an eternal triumph over sin and death forever and ever. Let the good news of your resurrection from the dead call us now to live no longer under the dominion of death, but in the light of life eternal until the news permeates our homes, our communities, our nation, and our world. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
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