
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 7, 1994                   TAG: 9401080020
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: TOM TAYLOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HAS HISTORY BEEN DUPED BY JESUS?

THE DEC. 12 news article, entitled ``Gospels give the wrong picture of Jesus, scholars say,'' told of a group of biblical scholars called the ``Jesus Seminar'' that has concluded the four New Testament Gospels aren't at all reliable. Many of the things that Jesus supposedly said were really added later by his followers, say these scholars. He never claimed to be the Messiah, and never said he was the only way to God.

It's ironic that such critics, who claim to be concerned with ``historical fact,'' are themselves ignoring one shining historical reality: Today, 2,000 years after his birth, Jesus Christ is the foremost figure of the human race. His birth is celebrated around the world as the greatest event of the year. Our calendar is centered on him, being reckoned in the number of years before and after his coming. Rightly or wrongly, great nations have gone to war in his name, claiming their cause to be his. The world's most majestic buildings were built in his honor.

Our greatest universities and charities were founded in his name. The greatest literature has been written about him, and the world's most beautiful music - from Handel's majestic ``Messiah'' to the gentle strains of ``Silent Night'' - was composed in worship and praise of him.

Everyday, in practically every nation and culture of the world, more and more people acknowledge him as Lord and trust him for their eternal salvation, so that the innumerable band of his true followers stretches unbroken for 2,000 years. His name is praised by those who love him, or used as a curse by those who do not - but no one can really ignore him.

How do the ``Jesus Seminar'' scholars explain this? After all, there must be an historic cause equal to the effect. Two thousand years ago, there were many sects and religious movements active in Palestine. But today, does anyone celebrate the birth of the founder of the Essenes? Does anyone trust their salvation to Matthias, founder of the Pharisees, or else use his name as a curse? (If that was his name - who knows?)

If Jesus had been only what the doubting scholars say he was, only an itinerant reformer or miracle worker, no one but a few historians would have ever heard of him. If he had been only one of the more than 20,000 Jewish patriots crucified by the Romans, would we even know his name? If even, by some incredible feat of deception, his followers had falsely convinced thousands of people that he had risen from the dead, his story would still be nothing more than a minor (and weird) footnote of history. No one today would be celebrating the birth of the greatest fraud of ancient times.

The most likely explanation for the march of Jesus through history is that he really was God in human flesh, he really did die to pay the penalty of sin, he really did rise again, his Holy Spirit really did inspire the true writing of the Gospels (as he promised his disciples he would do), and is really in the world today calling people to faith and salvation.

Tom Taylor of Roanoke is a bookkeeper for Norfolk Southern Corp.

by CNB