On Bart Ehrman and Silly Professor Tricks

Jesus, Interrupted, Bart Ehrman's latest shot at Orthodox Christianity

I can’t tell you how exciting it is to me to know that I live in the same state as Bart Ehrman, a distinguished member of the staff at the University of North Carolina.  Professor Ehrman has recently released a new book entitled Jesus, Interrupted. Now, to be perfectly fair, I haven’t sat down and read Mr. Ehrman’s “masterpiece of NT textual criticism.”  But that’s not my fault.  It’s not my fault, because Mr. Ehrman really isn’t much of a masterpiece maker.  In fact, my position, after viewing the evidence, is that Mr. Ehrman is basically puffed up on himself and is heavy on style, but utterly devoid of substance.

Because I haven’t read Mr. Ehrman’s work, I have included a video from his appearance with Steven Colbert on The Colbert Report.  I won’t go into the gory details, and I admittedly don’t even know much about Mr. Colbert, but after watching the video, I am much more impressed by his acumen than Mr. Ehrman’s.

One thing that amazes me is Mr. Ehrman’s incredibly wooden reading of the gospels.  For example, he compares the record of the gospels in Mark and Luke and concludes that they conflict because in Mark, Jesus seems to not understand why He was dying, while in Luke He was calm and concerned about all around Him.

Is Bart serious?  Is this really what passes for New Testament ship these days?  COME ON!  First of all, Jesus was quoting Psalm 22.  He knew what was going on.  He had just told the disciples a few days previously that He was going to die.  Would He now be mystified as to why He was being crucified?  NO, HE WOULDN’T.  Even beyond that, let’s think for a moment.  Jesus was comforting the women who were standing beside His path to Golgotha.  He wasn’t on the cross yet.  Also, consider this.  Jesus was on the cross for six hours.  SIX HOURS!  Do you really think a chapter out of each of the 4 gospels REALLY covered everything that happened?  I’m sure that a lot more went on, but the gospel writers recorded what they recorded for a specific purpose.  The combination of the 3 synoptics with the Gospel of John provides an incredibly full account of Christ’s death.  The sad thing is that surely, if all four gospels recorded the same thing, then Professor Ehrman would accuse the gospel writers of overcorroboration.

Also, it’s not the Jews of early Palestine that were confused on what the “Son of God” meant.  It’s Ehrman who doesn’t get it.  The “Son of Man,” as Jesus was apt to describe Himself, was a divine being, as evidenced in Daniel.  Also, there was enough prophecy surrounding the birth of Jesus that it should leave little doubt as to whether or not Jesus was divine.  The prophecy of Isaiah even went so far as to say that He would be called “Mighty God.”  Consider for a moment the implications if this was not what was meant by that prophecy.  You have a God who has previously stated there are no other gods but Him, stating through Isaiah, His chosen mouthpiece, that someone else would be called God.  How would that not be terribly wonky unless the being who would be called God was God, and shared in the divinity of the One who was God?  And you can’t argue from lack of authenticity of Isaiah, because we have scrolls from Qumran that predate the birth of Christ by 100 years.  Give me a break.

One more note to consider.  Ehrman claims that the divinity of Christ was a late addition to Christianity.  If that’s the case, explain why Corinthians, written assuredly before 68 AD (Paul had his head removed from his neck in 68), contains a creed that was expressed by early Christians that basically amounts to an expression of Christ’s resurrection, which should surely prove that He was divinity.  Why did Paul offer 500 eyewitnesses to Jesus’ resurrection, unless the witnesses were there to be asked?  It makes no sense.

People like Bart Ehrman are only as dangerous as we allow them to be.  With careful study and workmanship, we can refute the pitifully shallow arguments of men like him, Richard Dawkins, and Chris Hitchens.  My wish is that Christians would take the time to build their faith through a sound defense of said faith.

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Psalm 22

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.
Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
“He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help.
Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast;
my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.
For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet–
I can count all my bones– they stare and gloat over me;
they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
But you, O LORD, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid!
Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog!
Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.
From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD! May your hearts live forever!
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.
All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive.
Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it. “

The words of David, fulfilled in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, Son of David.  In Him is found all hope for our souls, the restoration of life with the LORD, and the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament, including the prophecies of Psalm 22.

Take a moment and consider the gravity of the LORD’s death commemorated today.  In His death do we find life everlasting and the defeat of the grave.

Good Friday

The painting beside this post is a painting by Diego Velazquez done in 1632.  The depiction is of Jesus the Messiah being crucified.  Today, commonly known as Good Friday, is the day which Christians commemorate the death of Jesus by crucifixion.

The historical veracity of the crucifixion and subsequent resurrection of Jesus have been questioned by some scholars, such as Bart Ehrman, the fellows of the Jesus Seminars, and a host of other critics such as Bill Maher.  While I will not debate the historicity of the resurrection in this post, suffice to say that the evidence against the resurrection is not sufficient to provide a compelling case.

Instead, I thought I would spend a moment to talk about what Easter means to Christians.  I find it intriguing that Robert Funk, in his decrying of Christianity, pointed to a sermon delivered by a pastor who continued to point to the empty tomb of Christ as a source of hope in the mundanity of life.  Mr. Funk then decided from there that the resurrection was merely symbolism to provide hope for Christians that we would be okay.  How sad that  a man as educated as Mr. Funk could have much learning, but then miss the key points of what he learned.  I agree that as Christians, we have immeasurable hope despite our circumstances.  In fears of job loss, in fears of tragedy and malady, we have a hope that is not available for others, because we have the Lord as our inheritance.  There are a host of bible passages that speak to this, such as the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, where Jesus exhorts us not to worry about our lives, because the Lord sees our needs.  There is the epistle of Paul to the Romans where he says that “we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28 NASB)”  The crucifixion of Christ offers us much more hope than that, though.

The crucifixion and resurrection is vivid, tangible proof that death has been defeated.  No longer does the believer have to fear death, because death is no longer a finality, but is now only a formality.  Death is now the passage from our life here to a life in the presence of the Father.  More than that, we can look forward to the day when we will be reunited with our bodies, which will be resurrected themselves into a glorious state where corruption will no longer stranglehold our bodies and souls into submission.  One day, my father will no longer be crippled by arthritis.  His body will be transformed into an imperishable body.  The ravages of age and time will no longer affect the believer.  Instead, we will have an eternity to spend in the presence of God in worship (I keep hoping that in the resurrection, I will have more hair to cover my bald spot).

Another hope that we have in the crucifixion is that our sins have been forgiven.  Much like the Israelites who were once slaves in Egypt, we have now been freed from our captor, Sin.  No longer are we separated from God because of the sacrifice of this Jesus.  As humans, we owe God our lives in payment for our sinfulness, for the wages of sin is death.  However, Jesus lived the life we could not live, payed the debt we could not pay, and now freely offers His sacrifice for us so that we might have relationship with God.  Without His sacrifice, we would still be estranged from God.  As it is, we now have a high priest in heaven who intercedes with the Father on our behalf.  Because of the painful death that our Lord suffered on our behalf, we are able to have community with God that would otherwise be impossible.

Mr. Funk is correct in that the spine of the Easter story is the recapturing of hope for humanity.  In that aspect, yes, it could definitely be said that humanity has hope in the crucifixion.  However, Mr. Funk was very far off in the assumption that this hope centers on such mundane things as our everyday life.  Instead, this hope rests in the fact that our very eternal destinies were decided by that Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, who fills us now with His very presence, who instead of leaving us in a state of eternal depravity, took it upon Himself to condescend to be one of us, live the life we could not live, and pay the debt that was far too much for us to pay.  The hope of the Cross in the resurrection of our bodies, the forgiveness of our sins, the restoration of complete fellowship with God, and the ability to forever commune with our Creator, the Lord of Heaven and Earth.