Personal Jesus

The detractors are at it again.

A few of days ago, I saw a man on television claiming to know the whereabouts of a couple of letters he alleges where written by Jesus to the Sanhedrin. Yes, THAT Jesus.

Recently, Christians have been bombarded by claims from “experts” who have information they claim contains the real truth about Jesus, the church, or some other biblical event. Whether it is The Da Vinci Code alleging some great plot by the church, or the Jesus Seminar denying the deity of Christ (or claiming he was not resurrected but was eaten by dogs), these so-called experts get a lot of attention from the secular media even though they never offer any proof.

Why?

In this latest attack on people of faith, Jesus allegedly writes to the Sanhedrin and claims he is not the Son of God, but is just simply filled with the spirit. Of course, all of this hype is leading up to the latest novel about the church keeping secrets from the world to build up the image of Christ. It will be a best seller, but let us pray that seekers who find it will be led to read the Bible as a result instead of taking fiction as fact.

The man on the news, whose name I cannot remember, claims to have seen the papyrus letters which were found under a house in Israel in the 1960’s. Never mind that experts testify that papyrus could not have survived in such a hostile environment. Never mind the fact that the letters were written in Aramaic, and the man cannot read that language. So, how does he know what they say? He also claims that Jesus survived the crucifixion and was aided by Pilate in this deception.

It sounds like good fiction, actually. Unfortunately, there are those out there who will be willing to accept it blindly. Instead of developing a personal relationship with Jesus, modern culture often encourages a spirituality that creates a Jesus who conforms to us.

It’s interesting that so many people when they are seeking spiritual answers in life will turn to Gnostic ideas about Christ. Why is it that people want to believe there is some hidden knowledge that they must find in order to understand God? Why is it that there are so many people willing to publish their own ideas on that hidden knowledge?

There are a lot of things in the universe that we simply do not know, but the secret of salvation is not among those things. Pray that God’s grace will be revealed to all who are seeking Him so that they do not stumble trying to create their own version of Jesus.