That'll Be the Day

Tonight I read an article in Newsweek entitled "From Jesus to Christ." It was about the Gospel story and how a carpenter like Jesus rose to such great fame after his death. If the Resurrection isn't true, how could an "average Joe" (or, arguably, his followers) launch a world-wide explosion of faith? Good question. I have always found the arguments for Christianity's historical accuracy compelling, but that's just me. A while back you could have said it was my bias. Not so anymore.

Favorite quotes:

"For the religious, the lesson is that those closest to Jesus accepted little blindly, and, in the words of Origen of Alexandria, an early church father, "It is far better to accept teachings with reason and wisdom than with mere faith." For the secular, the reminder that Christianity is the product of two millennia of creative intellectual thought and innovation, a blend of history and considered theological debate, should slow the occasional rush to dismiss the faithful as superstitious or simple."

"On historical grounds, then, Christianity appears less a fable than a faith derived in part from oral or written traditions dating from the time of Jesus' ministry and that of his disciples."

"In the second century, the anti-Christian critic Celsus called the Resurrection a "cock-and-bull story," and cast doubt on the eyewitness testimony: "While he was alive he did not help himself, but after death he rose again and showed the marks of his punishment and how his hands had been pierced. But who say this? A hysterical female, as you say, and perhaps some other one of those who were deluded by the same sorcery, who either dreamt in a certain state of mind and through wishful thinking had a hallucination due to some mistaken notion ... or, which is more likely, wanted to impress others by telling this fantastic tale ..."

(Oh, screw you, Celsus.)

"The uniqueness—one could say oddity, or implausibility—of the story of Jesus' resurrection argues that the tradition is more likely historical than theological."

Lastly, the article quoted a scripture from the book of Revelation:

"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new."

While reading that, I retrieved the mental image of that scene from Titanic when the ship is sinking and the priest speaks that line. And then I had this thought that humanity - all of us - are on a sinking ship. I mean, turn on the news. We're going down, folks. And as I previously stated regarding self-hatred, I don't feel that this is something the Bible has told me so much as something I've observed, and the Bible is explaining. And I hope that I can find a way to cling to this verse, because, crutch or not, what else is there?