Big news was broken yesterday: Jesus and his family have been founded dead in their graves in Israel. 

Ok, to be fair, you might want to check out the blog.

Don’t know the fellow. In fact, I’ve never heard of him before. Nice piece of writing, though. I don’t know that the conclusion can be drawn that Jesus, spouse and kids were found in a grave in a Jerusalem suburb 27 years ago. I’ll reserve the right to examine the evidence a bit more circumspectly than a blockbuster movie might. But, besides this issue, I’ll have to wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Boles.

What does this discovery mean for the religious myths that bind us and for the sustenance of the Resurrection ideal to Christians across the world? How does one now translate God?

Without the Resurrection, doesn’t Christianity become an empty vessel?

I’ve got to admit, he has a point. The first sentence being true, the last sentence is, pardon the obvious pun, “gospel” truth. Seems I remember reading somewhere about a Jewish Pharisee who converted to this Christianity and hailed by the new name of Paul stating just about the same thing — not the first sentence, but the last.

The point of David Boles’ article is not the death and staying deadness of this Jesus fellow. Rather:

I understand this revolt against the sanctity of the core of Christianity is a direct response to the rise of Christian Fundamentalism in America where Believers now force their myths into mandatory mainstream acceptance: “If you don’t Believe, you’re sinner; if you don’t Repent, you’re going into the fires of hell.”

Sad, isn’t it? What happened to make a life-changing event into a system of beliefs that so many feel obligated to foist upon those who have no connection to that event? Since when were we appointed judge and jury to condemn a lost world? If I remember correctly, we were simply told to “go” and “to make disciples,” not to force, insult, condemn, belittle and berate.

Belief can never trump Science if it is forced down the throats of the neutral and the unwilling.

How true! What have we become as the church that we’ve stopped being the light of the world and have become the spotlight on what others are doing wrong with “wrong” being defined by our standards, not those of the Jesus Lord.

I remember being in an elevator in Memphis way back in the 70’s with a pastor who sincerely believed that he and his denomination were the only ones who were “right;” everyone else was hell-bound. His sole obligation for all those sinners who didn’t believe as he did was to tell them that they were wrong, to repent of their sinful ways, embrace his denomination and go to heaven. This particular day, entering a full elevator, instead of turning to face the door, he simply stood looking at everyone. He then declared that they were all going to hell and if they wished to escape that fate they needed to believe in Jesus, immediately get off the elevator and be baptized. Several snickered, one cursed and the rest looked at the carpet or the ceiling, desperately wanting to get off the blasted elevator. When the door open, the elevator emptied, leaving the pastor and me as the sole occupants. He made a motion with his hand as if washing them and shaking off water and stated, “Their blood is no longer on my hands.” 

The Religious Right reeks of the same attitude. Seems somebody forgot that the “dead Jesus who refused to stay dead” made mention of the fact that the world would hate his followers and would seek to destroy them at every turn. He never said “sic ’em!” Seems he said something more radical like, “love ’em, even when they seek your ruin.”

Never, ever were we promised justice, equality and financial prosperity. Strange, isn’t it, the way things have evolved?!