Modern Attacks on Jesus

I. Introduction
   A. Jesus has always been a controversial figure
   B. "love Him or hate Him"
   C. many throughout history have not liked His message and have wished to                  
      discredit Him
   D. Even during His own life:
      1. Matthew 12:24
      2. Pharisees claimed He cast out demons by the power of Beezelbub, ruler of         
         demons
   E. At His death- Matthew 28:11-14
      1. Men produced lies about His resurrection
      2. such lies continued until at least 70 AD
   F. Many today who attempt to discredit Jesus and His claims concerning Himself
      1. His message- repent!
      2. His authority as Son of God
      3. Difficulty explaining Jesus? supernatural powers in a "scientific" world
   G. The tactics, however, have changed
   H. Let us examine some now

II. Modern Tactics
   A. Gnostic Scriptures
      1. Found in Egypt, Nag Hammadi, 1945
      2. Texts written by Gnostics
         a. splinter group of "Christianity"
         b. attempted to combine elements of Platonic philosophy with the story 
            of Jesus Christ
         c. could not conceive of God humbling Himself to the point of death on a 
            cross
         d. thus, denied the death of our Lord
      3. These scriptures (including the Gospel of Thomas, Acts of Peter/Paul, 
         Apocalypse of Peter/Paul) all reject the notion of Jesus? death
         a. He was a "hologram," visible but not physical
         b. He only appeared to be on the cross
         c. A substitute was placed on the cross
      4. These "scriptures" are referred to by many to bolster their claims about 
         Jesus being "different" from how He is presented in the Gospel accounts
      5. They were "rejected" by the "councils of the Catholic church" because 
         they presented the "truth"
      6. By no means! 
      7. Modern example: JFK
         a. many books have been written about JFK?s death
         b. either historically faithful or full of conspiracy theories
         c. if an archaeologist found both kinds 2,000 years from now, what 
            should we expect him to believe?
         d. Why, then, should we accept these ?scriptures? merely because they 
            were written about 100 years after Christ?s death?  
         e. Age does not equal truth!
   B. Revisionist History
      1. Many "historians" wish to "re-examine" historical evidence to determine    
         if they have been "interpreted correctly"
      2. This is done to Jesus and to His Apostles
      3. They will acknowledge Jesus as a prophet, "teaching good things," but 
         deny the essence of His godliness!
         a. they reject the notion that He performed miracles, attributing some 
            to fantasy and some to magic
      4. Concerning the Apostles, they believe that Christianity began as a 
         "reformation of Judaism," centered in the Jerusalem church, and then the 
         "Hellenistic Jewish" Christians "changed" the message to fit the 
         sensibilities of the Gentiles
      5. By 70AD, with the destruction of Jerusalem, the "original Jewish" 
         Christianity was destroyed
      6. Accurate?  Or at least historically feasible?  By no means!
         a. Jesus: we have to either accept the Gospel accounts of His life or we 
            reject them as fantasy.  
         b. Concerning the Apostles, however, the history is just plain wrong
         c. Galatians 2:6-10 demonstrates that Paul?s gospel to the Gentiles was 
            the same gospel spoken by the "Jewish" Apostles
         d. Acts 21:25: John, an elder of the church in Jerusalem, supposed 
            promoter of the "Jewish" Christianity, affirms the guidance of the 
            Holy Spirit in Acts 15:23-29 (and, to be noted, all the apostles and 
            elders in Jerusalem) in determining that the Gentiles were not to 
            keep the Law
      7. The Bible nowhere even hints that the gospel preached to the Gentiles 
         was a different gospel than the one to the Jews?God merely overlooked 
         the zeal of the Jewish Christians for the Law of Moses until 70 AD, the  
         destruction of the Jewish worship system
   C. The "Historical" vs. the "Theological" Jesus
      1. Many in scholarly circles wish to remove the "theology" of Jesus to 
         determine who the "historical" Jesus is
      2. groups come from liberal Christianity, Protestant and Catholic
      3. They want to separate "myth" from "reality"
      4. How?  By "reading into" the text to see what Jesus "truly" said
      5. Using "alternative scriptures" (read: Gnostic) to see "better" how Jesus 
         lived
      6. Example on TLC
         a. attempt to say that the "historical" Jesus really did not die on the 
            cross, but moved to France with Mary Magdalene and had a family
         b. Evidence?  Twofold-
         c. A priest in France in the nineteenth century found some documents in 
            the church building, supposedly written in code, and went to Paris to  
            have it translated
         d. supposedly was able to get it translated, and was stunned by what it 
            said? suddenly he received a large sum of money, posited as "hush     
            money"
         e. took the money and restored the church building and his own house? 
            supposedly incorporated some of the information from the documents in    
            the construction
         f. priest took his confession when he died?priest ran out screaming, 
            supposedly never smiled again?was told the truth of the documents?
         g. "Holy Grail" in French is "san greal;" change a letter, you have 
            "sang real," or royal bloodline
         h. supposition: when someone finds the "holy grail," he actually finds 
            out that he is in the royal bloodline of David through Christ
      7. it takes much more belief to believe such things than the Gospel    
         accounts themselves!
      8. A man finds documents, the origin of which is unknown, the validity of 
         which is unknown, the message of which is coded, supposedly translated, 
         and then the message is supposedly incorporated in the artwork of the      
         building?
      9. manipulation of two words brings forth a "truth?"
      10. Any historian worth his salt would reject this!  
      11. Mockery of the profession of history
      12. yet this is the "historical" Jesus?!?

III. Conclusion
   A. These attacks on Jesus are done in the name of "truth," yet are   
      demonstrably something else
      1. These individuals obviously do not want to accept Jesus as presented in   
         the Gospels if they go this far to create a new "theory"
   B. Any unbiased person comparing the relative merit of the Gospels versus the 
      "new evidence" of the liberals would recognize the greater validity of the 
      Gospels 
   C. We can be sure that the presentation of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and   
      John are far more accurate than any other presentation given by men
   D. Let us hold fast to His promises
      1. Hebrews 13:8
      2. Matthew 28:20
   E. We can thus be sure of the message preached in His name, that all men 
      should come to repentance and be baptized in His name for the remission of 
      their sins
   F. Come now as we stand and sing