Challenging Times

Charlie Colchester, the International Director of CARE, has just written some very encouraging words about our latest course:

Television affects all of us profoundly, both for good and for ill. It is one of the most powerful forces shaping our society. It provides wonderful entertainment for many but at the same time it, unquestionably, harms some of the most needy and vulnerable members of society, especially children and those most at risk from violence. It is vital that we, as Christians, understand the dynamics of television, the exact processes by which it has the dramatic influence that it does and then, on back of this understanding, how we can work for change so that we can use its influence constructively. This new course from Focus Radio is an excellent resource to help us do just this. I wholeheartedly commend it to you.’

The March 2007 issue of ‘Evangelicals Now’ carries an encouraging review of our new ‘Facing the Challenge of Television’ course.

(The review is slightly critical of one point in the course, which we are revising in the light of the comments made.)

A new documentary, to be aired on the Discovery Channel on Sunday 4th March, claims that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, they had a son called Judah, and their family tomb has been discovered in Jerusalem. This documentary is produced by James Cameron, director of ‘Titanic.’

The heart of the programme is a tomb with a collection of ossuaries, or bone boxes, marked with names including Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Matthew and Judah. This isn’t a new discovery – it was found in 1980.

Cameron interprets it as the family tomb of Jesus, his wife Mary Magdalene, and their son Judah, and he says that there is DNA evidence to support his identification.

(DNA is wonderful. It sounds so reassuringly modern and scientific. If there’s DNA evidence, it must be right!)

However…

• Names like Jesus, Joseph, Judah, Mary and Matthew were extremely common in first century Israel. There really is no reason to think this was one particular Jesus and Mary.
• The names on the ossuaries don’t match with what we know from the New Testament of Jesus’s family.
• All the DNA evidence really does is to show whether the people in the ossuaries were probably related to each other. It doesn’t prove any connection with Jesus Christ.
• The Christian movement started with a belief that Jesus had been physically raised from the dead. If the body of Jesus had been decaying in some tomb near Jerusalem, (a) his followers wouldn’t have believed in his resurrection as they did. Many of them were put to death for this belief, and who is willing to die for something they don’t believe? And (b) the authorities could have produced the body, and immediately killed off the emerging Christian movement.
• The experts don’t agree with Cameron – including Amos Kloner, the archaeologist who worked on the tomb in the 1980s. He calls the idea ‘impossible and nonsense.’

For more…

The Jesus Tomb? ‘Titanic’ Talpiot tomb theory sunk

Problems Multiply for Jesus Tomb Theory

And

The Smoking Gun – Tenth Talpiot Ossuary Proved To Be Blank

Witherington says that

‘James Cameron, the producer of the movie Titantic, has now jumped on board another sinking ship full of holes, presumably in order to make a lot of money before the theory sinks into an early watery grave. Man the lifeboats and get out now.’

See also Darrell Bock’s article: Hollywood Hype: The Oscars and Jesus’ Family Tomb, What Do They Share?

Like The Da Vinci Code, the Tomb of Jesus is another load of nonsense. Christians do not need to be worried by it. But also like The Da Vinci Code, it gives us tremendous opportunities to share the Faith. I probably had more conversations about the historic basis of Christianity in six months around the time The Da Vinci Code was released than I did in the previous ten years. It is a missional opportunity, as Brian Russell says. Let’s seize the day!

Over the past few days, I’ve received several emails from concerned Christians, about plans to build a £100-million, 40,000 seat ‘super-Mosque’ next to the 2012 Olympics site in London.

The Evening Standard has been holding an on-line poll about whether the building of the mosque should be prevented. Christians are encouraging one another to vote in this poll, against the mosque.

Maybe I’m missing something here.

Don’t we believe in freedom of religion in this country? Or do we only believe in freedom of religion when it suits us?

Do we, somehow, and despite everything, still expect that as Christians we ought to receive preferential treatment in this country?

If we do think that, it’s long past time we grew out of it. We have no right to expect special treatment. What we can legitimately expect, and ask for, is a level playing field, where we have the same right as anyone else, to build places of worship, and to proclaim our faith.

I can’t see any basis for Christians to campaign against this mosque.

If we oppose freedom of religion for other groups that we disagree with, on what basis can we expect freedom of religion for ourselves?