Prodigal Magazine

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All to Crazy

As someone at my local church, described the crazy details behind the religion of Scientology, about the levels of knowledge you master and the history of the sci-fi book from which much of the theology came from,  I pondered on my own beliefs.  Almost as quickly as I said, “how can people believe that” I quietly thought to myself, “you know, this is some crazy stuff we believe in too”, is this whole Bible thing really logical.  To an outsider that has not grown up in the church his whole life, the story must sound a little outlandish.  A baby comes to this Earth from a virgin mother, is born in a stable along side 3 wise-men, and is not only the perfect being but also the Son of God. He performed miracles, healed the sick, made water into wine, died on a cross along with all of my sins, and then rose from the dead to be seated at the right hand of God.  Wow, I mean if I step back from it, it sounds a lot like the epic Star Wars story I just went too.  It seems like a large tale, a beautifully mastered Hollywood script, with the underdog heroes coming through in the end.  Is this really just a legend?  Did stories of Jesus get exaggerated over the years and the breaking of bread for a few people turned into food for hundreds?  Did his praying for the sick, turn into healing the sick?

The information in this article is summarized from a sermon by Dr. Greg Boyd, Head Pastor of Woodland Hills Church in Maplewood, MN.  Click here for the entire sermon.

If you do not take the Bible story to be true, you have to either think it is a lie and a conspiracy, that the Disciples made it all up in a plot to deceive the world, or it has to be a legend, in which the true story has been changed and exaggerated as it  was passed down from generation to generation.

Our faith has to go beyond the evidence, but for the critical mind, the Christian faith is also based on historical truth.  There are 6 fundamental problems with the Legend theory.

Reason #1  Non-Conducive Environment

The first century Jewish culture was a non-conducive environment for a legend to begin.  Much like America, the Jewish Culture was also very skeptical about believing a notion without verifying the truth.  This was a culture that looked at the Legendary religions of Roman and Greek mythology and thought it was all hogwash!  With such animosity towards legends of the past, the Jewish faith was resistant to stories and tales being exaggerated.  If there was any culture that would stomp out a story if it were getting out of hand it was first century Jews.

Reason #2 Christian Story does not read like a Legend

Against the Culture-In legends of the past they are almost always started to reaffirm cultural beliefs, especially when it seems the culture is forgetting it’s core values.  The Christian story goes directly against the Jewish culture that it came from.  For example the Jewish people believed that those that die on a cross are cursed (Leviticus).  They also did not believe in a self proclaimed savior, one who called himself the messiah.  They were expecting a savior but one who would not be worshiped as God like Jesus was.

Gospels are dull and the Disciples are very human- In Legends you find supermen, all wise and all powerful.  The disciples were not only did not possess powers, they also just didn’t get was Jesus was teaching them at times (the Last shall be first and the first will be last).

Legends don’t raise questions they don’t answer-  His family did not believe him, Mary called him crazy and James didn’t buy it either which is a very human trait.  This was 30 years after Gabriel visited Mary, isn’t it natural to start having doubt especially when what your son is doing will get him killed.  If the Bible were a Legend why would they include this part of the story?  Why would his own family doubt his heritage to the throne?

Woman are treated well by Jesus This does not seem that significant to our culture but the way Jesus treated women in the First Century was unthinkable at the time.  This was a culture that looked down at women and saw them as second class citizens.  However in the Christian story they play a huge role and it is amazing that even though the story is true that Jewish male writers would include them in their writings.

Jesus breaks all the Rules- Again going against the cultural beliefs Jesus hangs out with the wretches, drunks and prostitutes.  He also touches the Lepers, which was forbidden and looked at as unclean.  By the time he is crucified he had broken almost every Jewish rule in the book!

Reason #3- There was not enough time

Some scholars who believe that the story of Jesus is just a good old legend compare him to Buddha.  Their argument is that if Buddha, who was an atheist himself, can be worshipped in modern times by his followers as a God, why is it so hard to believe that the same did not happen with Jesus.  Although this reasoning sounds good at first, as we look at the Legend of Buddha there are some major differences between the two.  First, Buddha was from a pagan culture, a culture that was used to immortalizing beings into Gods, as opposed to the Jewish culture that was against multiple Gods.  Secondly, it took over 5 centuries, for one sect of Buddhism, the Mahayana Buddhists, to see him as one of their many Gods.  With Jesus, we don’t have 5 centuries or even 5 decades before it was a widespread belief amongst all of his followers that he was not just a god but the God of the universe.  Paul wrote in about 49AD, which is 16 years after the resurrection, and immediately speaks of Jesus as Divine, so it was not a new belief to him.  Luke is estimated to date around 62AD and Mark is estimated in the 40’s, 50’s or 60’s.  Mark speaks to his church about Simon of Sarine, by calling him the father of Alexander and Rufus.  So we are talking about the immediate generation after the death of Christ.  Bottom line is, there is just not enough time for a Legend to form.

Reason #4- Eyewitnesses are still around (Both friendly and hostile)

Legends don’t start with Eyewitnesses still around at the time of writing, they start with a “long long time ago, in a place far far away”.  The Bible names real names, names of power and influence, such as Pilot, Herod, and Joseph of Sanhedrine. With these people were around, wouldn’t the bluff be called and the Legend cancelled as soon as representatives of these powerful people would hear that the story was getting out of hand?  But this never happens, although there were plenty of people against Christianity, one thing they never say, is that it was a legend or an exaggerated tale.  Wouldn’t someone, anyone, such as maybe the brother of Jesus, James, say that this is just a legend? That these stories were untrue and exaggerated?  But it does not happen, we find no historical evidence of anyone ever saying that Jesus’ works are that of a legend.

Reason #5- The Gospels Claim to be History

There is a standard rule when dealing with an ancient document that if the document reads like history and claims to be history, then you must treat it like history.  The “burden of proof” falls on the historian to prove that it is not history, not on the document to prove that it is history.  Some reason however, the Gospels are usually not treated like this by most secular historians. The Gospels read like sober history and they claim to be history.  Luke himself claims to write his message that was passed down by an eyewitness

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. ³Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning… Luke 1:1-3

And in John it reads:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. ²The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. ³We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us- John 1:1

Either John is telling the truth or he is lying, it can not be a legend because he could not claim to see and testify to it if it were a legend, because legends take place in a distant time, and in a far away place.

CS Lewis, who was an expert on legends and mythology tells us this,

“I have spent my entire life studying legends and if there is one thing the Gospels aren’t, it is legend, they just don’t read like legend.