National Geographic’s Commercial Motives Are Revealed by New Translation of the Gospel of Judas

Remember that big controversial Gospel of Judas that National Geographic Society released during the Easter Season last spring? The one that supposedly depicted Judas as a hero that Jesus had told to betray him?

Seems that initially the NGS had not released the manuscript for other scholars to translate. They eventually did, under pressure, and now it has come to light that their translation was very very poor. In fact, the meaning of the text is nothing close to what they proposed in their magazine issue. Another scholar has translated the original texts, published the results in the New York Times (and other places), and come up with something much different and … less controversial of course. A text that would not sell nearly as many magazines certainly.

The text is still said to be Gnostic but portrays Judas as a demon rather than a hero.

Ah but no one will care about it now. The damage is done. The public has moved on to other things and the impressions are left lingering in their minds.

And the reputation of the NGS is further tarnished. This is surely a magazine you only want to buy for the great pictures.

February Muslim Christian Dialogue – Complete video online

You may remember the Muslim-Christian Dialogue that my company sponsored in February. I’ve posted pictures before. Our Muslim friends brought someone in to video the event and they’ve edited and posted the entire dialogue on Google Video. Click below to watch (It’s fascinating… but 2.5 hours long, so plan ahead!… even a 10 minute viewing will give you a good feel for the event even if you can’t watch the whole thing).

Considering C.S. Lewis’ ‘Meditation on a Toolshed’

I’ve been reading a book about C.S. Lewis recently called The Most Reluctant Convert. It tracks how his life and writings reflected his spiritual life and how he eventually decided to become a follower of Jesus Christ.

One of the numerous pieces of his work that is referenced there is a short essay found in his book God in the Dock. It is called “Meditation in a Toolshed”. The central premise has really intrigued me and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.

He tells of a time when he was momentarily in a darkened toolshed. Just above the door is a large crack in the wall and a single beam of light is shooting down into the small room. As he observes it from the side he sees bits of dust floating in the beam. Then stepping toward the beam he lets the beam fall on his eye. What he sees then is green leaves blowing in the wind outside and even the sun 90 million miles away.

Then he draws a crucial distinction between ‘looking at’ the beam from the side and ‘looking along’ the beam when he aligns it with his eye. Lewis then goes on to say that the experience describes two ways of knowing about something. Modern experts, academics, and scientists tend to look at things. But people also can know about something by looking along it or experiencing it. But the modern prejudice is against ‘looking along’ and in favor of looking at. In other words, experts, academics, and scientists tend to be credited with the ‘true’ view of things while people who experience these things have their opinions discounted.

Lewis uses several analogies in the essay but he clearly wants to highlight the validity of religious belief as a credible means of understanding something and evaluating it. I find that the mainstream media, in particular, tend to fall into the mistake that Lewis is highlighting. They think that their observation of faith is somehow more true and honest than those with the faith.

Now I do think that faiths of different kinds should be evaluated and I, like Lewis, agree that it might be found that the ‘looking at’ AND the ‘looking along’ view might be found wanting with regard to a particular religion’s truth claims. But both should be considered.

In my case as a Christian, I am often considering my faith. I read about the historical evidence for the reliability of the Bible. Or I reconsider the sayings of Jesus and weigh whether or not it’s reasonable to believe he was claiming to be God. That’s ‘looking at’. And everyone should do it.

But I’m also ‘looking along’ the beam. And from my vantage point, I think I can see the sun 90 million miles away.

Dialogue – More Pics and Newspaper Article

Well, it’s still busy as my wife is out of town for a week. So the best I can do is give you a few more interesting pics from the dialogue and post an article the local paper ran on it today. I have some good ideas for posts but you’ll have to wait (click on the pics to enlarge them so you can read the articles… The Gulf News article is much more accurate)

Click here if you want to download a pdf of the above article for reading.

Report on Muslim – Christian Dialogue

The Muslim-Christian Dialogue that my company sponsored went really well yesterday afternoon. The students did a fantastic job of organizing the event and our company was well represented. I will post a video clip tomorrow.

I’m pictured here with the speaker (left of me) named Ahmed Hamed and some of his team. Ahmed did a very nice job of presenting the Islamic viewpoint. I was impressed with his presentation skills.

Here is Ahmed Hamed, the Muslim speaker, and Thabiti Anyabwile, the Christian speaker.

We had a great crowd… about 175 people total.

The crowd was diverse and filled in after the very beginning pictured here.

The CEO of our company, Mack Stiles, welcomed everyone and gave some opening comments.

Corporate Sponsor… Muslim-Christian Dialogue at Knowledge Village

My company is the corporate sponsor of an event tomorrow in the Knowledge Village. It’s a Muslim-Christian Dialogue about the identity of Jesus based on the Qur’an and Bible. Come if you can! Details above.

Native Deen: Islamic Rap from Baltimore in Dubai

During the most recent Eid a group of students from a local University put on a festival to raise money for a Muslim charity. The center-piece of their event was a Baltimore based Islamic rap group called Native Deen. This group was fascinating.

They are orthodox Muslims (not Nation of Islam… i.e. Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan). And all their music is about Islam. It’s a like Christian rock/pop only with an Islamic focus.

After the show was over I met up with some of the band and we had some discussion about Islam and Christianity. It was great fun talking with them and very interesting to hear some of their story.

One of the three guys, Joshua Salaam, told me at some length about how his story of growing up as an African-American Muslim. His mother’s family had once been Nation of Islam but his mom had eventually moved away from that and into orthodox Islam. He had also served in the US military for some time and had discussions with fellow troops who where Christians.

I do want to touch on one particular thing he talked about centered on Jesus. The one story he wanted to talk about was his view of the Garden of Gethsemane. His recounting of the scene and the associated question went something like this:

“As a Muslim I don’t believe Jesus intended to be arrested and to die. Muslims don’t believe that Jesus actually died on the cross, rather they believe that Jesus was replaced with someone else by God. If you think Jesus did die willingly why did Jesus arm his followers with swords and station them as a force to protect him in the Garden of Gethsemane? And why did he return to their stations and get upset with them for getting drunk? I don’t think Jesus wanted to get arrested or to be sentenced to death on a cross.”

It’s been a couple months since the conversation so it’s a rough approximation though I think fair. And I must add that many well-read Muslims wouldn’t agree with Joshua on his recounting of the events on Jesus’ last night before death.

Here was/is my response to him.

Jesus fully intended and expected to be arrested, sentenced to death, tortured, and killed. He repeated this prediction many times during his ministry leading up to that night. Here are some references just from the book of Luke… 9:22, 9:44, 11:30, 13:33, 18:31-33, 20:9-15, 22:20.

Further, Jesus instructs his followers to buy swords so that scriptures will be fulfilled about him rather than to actually defend him. They buy two swords for a total of twelve men and Jesus says that is enough. He clearly means that it will be enough to fulfill the prophecy. It would also clearly be NOT enough for twelve fishermen types to defend themselves against armed Temple guards who would come to seize him. The reference is in Luke 22:36-38. Later, when one of them does pull out a sword and begins to fight Jesus stops him because he has clearly not understood why they had the swords in the first place.

And lastly, Jesus didn’t post them as an armed guard. He posted them to pray (Luke 22:40) and there is no mention of alcohol in any of the Gospel accounts. Jesus returns to find them sleeping rather than praying (Luke 22:45,46).

Well, that sets the record straight I think. Do go and see the Native Deen website, they are an interesting phenomenon. And see their latest video here.

Comment on "The DaVinci Code" (better late than never!)

This past summer my mother was the 17th person to ask me what I thought of the DaVinci Code. I presented my well researched answer for her. Then she had to go and immediately follow with the question, “Have you read the book?” I hate that.

Well, I decided I better read the book if I was going to be able to answer yes to all the other people who would surely continue to pester me with the “have you actually read it” question.

Not able to bear paying full price for the book (due to my pre-conceived notions) I picked up a used copy (there must be millions of those around) and read it.

If you haven’t read the book you only need to read my post here and then, when you’re asked “that” question, you can say with great confidence, “well, I read all the important parts.”

Seriously, many authors who have philosophical ideas that they want to communicate will sum up their opinions at important junctures in the book. And Dan Brown does just that. The quote is below and it will tell you basically what he believes. If you think that his book is merely fiction and he has no agenda in the book then you need to read his website (google it) and you will see that he does in fact have an agenda.

The excerpt below is a conversation between the two main characters, Langdon and Sophie. Langdon and Sophie are chasing documents (they think) that will “prove” that Jesus was merely human and was married to Mary Magdeline…

“There’s an enormous difference between hypothetically discussing an alternate history of Christ, and …” He paused.

“And what?”

“And presenting to the world thousands of ancient documents as scientific evidence that the New Testament is false testimony.”

“But you told me the New Testament is based on fabrications.”

Langdon smiled. “Sophie, every faith in the world is based on fabrication. That is the difinition of faith – acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove. Every religion describes God through metaphor, allegoary, and exaggeration, from the early Egyptians through modern Sunday school. Metaphors are a way to help our minds process the unprocessible. The problems arise when we begin to believe literally in our own metaphors.”

“So you are in favor of the Sangreal documents (documents that the book purports would prove the New Testament false) staying buried forever?”

“I’m a historian. I’m opposed to the destruction of documents, and I would love to see religious scholars have more information to ponder the exceptional life of Jesus Christ.”

“You’re arguing both sides of my question.”

“Am I? The Bible represents a fundamental guidepost for millions of people on the planet, in much the same way the Koran, Torah, and Pali Canon offer guidance to people of other religions. If you and I could dig up documentation that contradicted the holy stories of Islamic belief, Judaic belief, Buddhist belief, pagan belief, should we do that? Should we wave a flag and tell the Buddhists that we have proof the Buddha did not come from a lotus blossom? Or that Jesus was not born of a literal birth? Those who truly understand their faiths understand the stories are metaphorical.”

Sophie looked skeptical. “My friends who are devout Christians definitely believe that Christ literally walked on water, literally turned water in wine, and was born of a literal virgin birth.”

“My point exactly,” Langdon said. “Religious allegory has become a part of the fabric of reality. And living in that reality helps millions of people cope and be better people.”

“But it appears their reality is false.”

Langdon chuckled. “No more false than that of a mathematical cryptographer who believes in the imaginary number ‘i’ because it helps her break codes.”

Sophie frowned. “That’s not fair.”
A moment passed.

“What was your question again?” Langdon asked.

“I can’t remember.”

He smiled. “Works every time.”

Brown believes that:

1. All people who really understand their faith understand that it’s merely metaphorical
2. We shouldn’t reveal the truth to those who literally believe the stories in their books of faith because it helps them cope and be better people.

Can you see the arrogance in his beliefs? First of all he is assuming that he has a better and more true understanding of God and belief than all those other people who literally believe their faith stories.

And he believes that it’s only people like him (I guess the ‘enlightened ones’) who can be good people and know the real truth – that books like the New Testament are really just fabrication. In other words, believing in falsehood has become a part of the fabric of reality so let’s just let them keep their silly little beliefs if it helps them cope with life.

There’s a lot more that could be said about this but I’ll stop here. Any comments from readers on what you see in this excerpt from Dan Brown? Any questions?

Questions Young People Ask…

I am the Deacon of Youth Ministry at my church (listed in the sidebar links). A deacon is just a leader who is assigned to a specific service task. Elders are the other kind of leaders in churches and they are usually tasked with a focus on prayer and teaching the Bible.

Recently, we helped hosted a Gulf-wide youth conference at the church. Over 250 12 to 20 year olds attended from many different nationalities. During the conference I led a 75 minute seminar called “Defending the Faith”. The purpose was to equip them to deal with tough questions they might face about their Christian faith. This is traditionally called apologetics. Almost half of the students came through the seminar during the weekend. And best of all, we had a blast!

I led the sessions with both teaching and discussion. And boy was it gloriously messy! People asking questions which spurred secondary questions, which spurred some to answer the first ones… and on and on. And lots of interruptions like “yeah but what about…!” I loved it.

At one point during the sessions I had them tell me what THEIR questions were; not the questions that they were being asked. If you know students, you know that many of them are trying to figure out their faith just as much as trying to answer questions posed to them – if they’re being asked questions at all. In fact, many of them at this conference are not likely to have not made personal commitments to follow Jesus as Lord. So, answering their personal questions is perhaps even more important than answers to questions they may face.

Most of all I want them to put their faith in Jesus.

Over the next couple of weeks I’d like to share some of their questions with you. And I’ll share my answers as well.

Here is a small sampling of the questions:

“Why us…”
Why were we created?
Why would God create us if he knew we would sin and rebel against him?

“What about the Bible…”
How was the Bible put together? What is it’s history?
Why are there different versions of the Bible?
Hasn’t the Bible been corrupted over the years?

“Why evil…”
If God is good why doesn’t he just stop all the evil in the world?
Why did God create hell?

“What about the nature of God…”
How can I understand the trinity?
How can God be loving and full of wrath?

And my personal favorite:
How can I know that God loves me?

There were lots more and I’ll mention them here if any readers want to know more. In the meantime we’ll work on some of these.

Honestly, the first question in the list; “why did God create us?” really surprised me for some reason. Someone in each of the three sessions asked about this.

And the last question really touched me. A young man asked it with such authenticity that I stopped and answered him immediately for fear we wouldn’t get back to it.

Do you have other questions? Ask them in the comments section and we’ll try to get to them.

John Piper’s Day Off at Barnes and Noble

Here’s a ‘must read’ from John Piper’s newsletter about Christians who respond hatefully to secularists and the interaction of church and state.

A trip to Barnes & Noble on my day off takes me beyond the Star Tribune and NPR in my daily culture dose of postmodern pronouncements. Consider Sam Harris’ Letter to a Christian Nation (Knopf, 2006). It is ranked as the fourteenth best seller in the nation at Amazon as I write (just behind Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion). It begins like this:

“Thousands of people have written to tell me that I am wrong not to believe in God. The most hostile of these communications have come from Christians. This is ironic, as Christians generally imagine that no faith imparts the virtues of love and forgiveness more effectively than their own. The truth is that many who claim to be transformed by Christ’s love are deeply, even murderously, intolerant of criticism. While we may want to ascribe this to human nature, it is clear that such hatred draws considerable support from the Bible. How do I know this? The most disturbed of my correspondents always cite chapter and verse.”

Later he says that not believing that man evolved from lower life forms is like not believing the sun is a star. Our nation is being overrun with anti-intellectual people who scoff at true science. The Intelligent Design movement is a scheme to replace science with religion by people who get PhDs to provide a cloak of respectability for their anti-science agenda. And so on.

What makes Harris’ book postmodern and not simply modern is that it treats Christian “fantasies” not merely as rational errors, but as dangerous cultural and political power plays. I have no desire to scoff at this book. There is too much right-wing, radio-show-type Christian scoffing. Besides, I am old enough to be Sam Harris’ father (I was twenty-one when he was born), and that makes me want to rescue a son, not skewer a peer.

Of course, he thinks I am the one who needs to be rescued. My concern for us evangelicals is not that we bash Harris but that we try not to give the impression that we fear science, and that we make clear that we want Sam Harris to have the freedom to say false things about us.

So my dip into Harris’ book was good for me. I may even read more. I don’t fear it. I wish he didn’t fear us. God, he should fear. But I will do all I can to keep my fellow Christians from playing God. As long as Christ’s kingdom comes not by the sword but by the Spirit and the Truth, I will resist the unholy union of conscientious church and coercive state. I stand with those who believe that Christ is the best foundation for a view of the state that refuses to enforce Christ. I also stand with those who believe that true science (not presuppositional secularism) will not contradict true biblical interpretation.

For more from John Piper visit his website Desiring God