Can you prove,
beyond the shadow of a doubt, that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the
dead? Or that, if he did, it was so that you, 2,000 years later,
would be forgiven of all of your sins? Scientifically, historically?
Me either.
Before you go
pulling out some passage from the gospels, remember that Mark, the
earliest gospel, was written between thirty and forty years after
Jesus's death, by an anonymous author who almost certainly had never
met Jesus. (Jesus and his disciples were probably illiterate.
Sorry). The other two synoptics came up to forty years later, using
Mark as their primary source, along with three other 'hypothetical'
sources; they are hypothetical because we don't actually have them
and only theorize their existence to account for the unique material
in Matthew and Luke. John, while usually regarded as less historical
than the synoptics, was finalized sometime between 90 and 100 AD,
also, you'll notice, decades after Jesus's death.
So what am I saying?
Brace yourself: I'm saying that you can't take the gospels as,
well, gospel. Extrapolate that: I'm saying that the Bible is not
the inerrant work of God that so many of the Christian faith like to
talk about. I'm saying there are inaccuracies, mistakes, and even
total fabrications. The purpose of this post is not to detail these
errors, but anyone who has done any reading into the so-called “Quest
for the Historical Jesus” knows what I'm talking about; scholars
have even developed sophisticated lists of criteria for determining
how likely a saying of Jesus's is to be authentic.
So what can
we know for sure? We know that an itinerant Jewish preacher named
Jesus, who was probably born in Nazareth (again, sorry), led a
ministry sometime in the first half of the 1st
century CE in Galilee and Judea. We know that he preached a reversal
of the social order of his time, when society's poor were seen as
below the rich, ruling priestly class of Jews that Jesus clashed
with; a priestly class that many of the time saw as complacent to a
Roman occupation that was oppressive at best and blasphemous at
worst. We know of an incident in which Jesus created a scene at the
Temple in Jerusalem, the holiest place in all Judaism, and railed
against the agents of commerce turning a profit out of what was
supposed to be a house of God, of worship (it is important to note
that government in Judea was inextricably linked to worship; indeed,
the high priest of the Temple lived and governed almost like a king).
We know that, for this action and others, possibly
including a claim to be the son of God, Jesus was ordered executed by
the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate. We also know that Jesus might have
ended up like the dozens if not hundreds of other messianic leaders
of his time put to death by Rome for sedition, had his disciples not
seen what they believed was Jesus raised from the dead and gone on to
preach his message to the world; finally, we know that at least some
of Jesus's teachings and deeds, as perceived by people from his era,
were recorded in the gospels.
So
here's what we can prove: that Jesus's followers believed they saw
him raised from the dead. A rational, reasonable man or woman cannot
take something like that on only the good faith of anonymous authors
who lived two millennia ago. It is preposterous.
So
what then is the basis for Christianity? The Church (here meaning
all formal establishments of Christianity) has taught for the vast
majority of its existence that Christ's death and resurrection for
the remittance of sins is the cornerstone of our Christian faith,
that our salvation is through faith in this one, singular event.
This is too often, unfortunately, to the exclusion of the rest of
what we know about Jesus the man: his message. The evils he
spoke against, the virtues he extolled; the way he told us to live
our lives, and the way he lived his.
This
is a man who taught that when all people are being judged for their
actions on Earth, our measure is how we treated “the least of
these;” therefore exhorting us to feed, clothe, welcome, and care
for them (again, I want to reiterate to the conservatives who may be
reading: for Jesus, there was no wall between the Church
and the State). This is a man
who preached ultimate love and forgiveness by God, whatever God may
be, for our undeniably flawed human natures. Who told us,
unambiguously, that all the law rested on two singular commandments:
love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. I
won't get into the first part right now, because what it means to
love God is a topic worthy of its own post (at the very least), but
it is much easier for us to understand how to love our neighbors.
So
whatever you believe, are not these ideals something every one should
strive for? Things that even non-Christians can appreciate? Would a
hateful, spiteful God who condemned us for the natures He gave us be
worth worshiping? Could anything be lost by ultimate compassion
towards the least of these? Could we possibly do anyone harm by
treating them just as we would like to be treated?
The
answer to all of these questions is a resounding no. So here is my
point: these are things we can know and agree on. Everyone. So why
not start here?
A
man named Jesus told us to love one another. He told us that God
loves us and would forgive us all our faults, if only we try our
damnedest to love our crooked neighbors with our crooked hearts. He
told us to love and care for the people in society who need it the
most; he told us to try our hardest to keep our natures like those of
children: innocent, trusting, curious, loving.
Throw
away all the theological stuff, just for now. I do not wish to speak
to large communities and tell them how to live together; I am only
interested here in helping individuals along their paths to the
indescribable glory of God. Just as Jesus built his ministry upon a
rock, you must build your faith upon a foundation that cannot be
shaken, a foundation of things that can be known,
things that are beyond reproach. Love your neighbor. Care for the
least of these. Try your hardest to do these things and you're
already a Christian, whether you know it or not. Then, from this
foundation, begin your journey of faith anew. Re-read your Bible and
learn the contexts in which its books were written. Find the parts
that speak to you and the parts that don't ring true. It will be
difficult to leave the solid footing of Jesus's teachings and step
into the rough waters of theology, faith, and the incomplete history
of Jesus's life and the inception of Christianity, because nothing
there is sure and you must make your own decisions. I think, though,
that it's not so bad as it might seem: if God created us, and God is
worth worshiping, then we can only go so far as our efforts. So do
not be afraid, and remember, as Jesus told his disciples: “I am
with you always, even unto the end of time.”
