Words of Truth

Well, I watched the last two episodes of “The Bible,” but I got caught up in doing homework and other things that prevented me from spending the time to write down the things they got wrong.  Suffice it to say they were legion.

They got the basic idea correct:  Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and He rose from the grave.  Most of the details however, they got wrong.  And I don’t understand why.  This is like if someone decided they were going to do a play, but instead of following the script, they decided to let the actors say whatever they wanted.  It wouldn’t be the same play.  If you take the Bible (the supposed source for the material in this miniseries) and change key facts, you don’t have “the Bible” anymore.  I don’t know what it is, but it’s not the Bible.

I was going to go through the videos and list the errors one by one, but the History Channel took the full episodes down, so I can’t. All that’s left are the short recaps of each hour of the show, and I will detail what I can, for those of you who still care.

1. Lazarus:  John 11 gives the record of this event.  Jesus never entered the tomb. They removed the stone, and He called for Lazarus to come out.  Lazarus did.
2. Walking on water:  Jesus didn’t call Peter out of the boat until Peter asked to come out.
3. The adulterous woman:  Where does the Bible say that Jesus picked up a stone?
4. Why is Mary Magdelene present in every scene?  She did travel with the disciples, but IIRC, she was at the Last Supper, an event which the Bible says in Mark 14:17 that it was just Jesus and “the twelve.”  Mary was not an apostle.
5. Matthew describes the audience of people listening to the “sermon on the mount” as a “multitude.”  It looked like about fifty people in this video.
6. The feeding of the five thousand:  a boy gave his lunch, Jesus broke the bread and fish with His hands, and it multiplied.  The video has people simply lifting up baskets above their heads, and then lowering them to find bread and fish that had not been in them.
7. Cleansing the temple:  John chapter 2 records that Jesus saw the moneychangers, made a scourge, and drove them all out of the temple.  The video shows him merely upending the tables of money and then whining at the moneychangers.  Not what happened at all.
8. In the movie, at the last supper, Jesus has a “vision” of Judas betraying him.  The movie seems to imply that this was news to Jesus. Jesus, as God, is omniscient. He knows all things.  Nothing surprises Him.
9. The movie also seems to indicate that, at the last supper, it was very clear to all the apostles that Judas was the betrayer.  The Bible says in Matthew 26:22, “And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?”
10. Pilate acts like the Jews had free reign to kill whoever they wanted of their own people. This was not the case. John 18:31 records that it was illegal for the Jewish religious leaders to condemn someone to death. That’s why they had to convince Pilate to execute Him.
11. The video portrays Peter’s denial of Christ differently than the Bible does.  Just read Matthew 25:69-75 for the actual event. The actual event happened at night, for one.
12.  Of course since the producers of this movie are Roman Catholic, they had to include the stations of the cross. Just a note:  Six of the 14 “stations” are not in the Bible.
13. The crucifixion was accompanied by miraculous signs, which the movie ignores.  There was darkness from noon to 3pm when Jesus died (Matt 27:45-50). There was an earthquake. The veil of the temple was ripped in two. There were multiple resurrections.
14. The angels were conspicuously absent at the resurrection and at the ascension.  I would have thought the producers would have taken these final opportunities to have angels removing their hoods.
15. They show the apostles being martyred in various places.  Only one of the apostles’ deaths is recorded in the Bible:  James the brother of John. \

So that’s pretty much every error I can gather from the summary clips the History Channel provides.  I’m sure there were others, but I can’t remember them. If these final two episodes ever become available to view for free, I may watch again and detail the errors I missed, but really, does it matter in the end?  I believe I’ve made my point, that the producers decided to make a movie called “The Bible,” the contents of which only bear a passing resemblance to the actual Bible.

If you want to find out what is in the Bible, just read it.

In light of today’s news out of Boston, I have heard several people say words to the effect of, “What is wrong with people?”  I have the answer.

I understand that there is an accepted standard of behavior in our society that we hold people to, and that this standard keeps changing. For instance, 50 years ago a woman who lived with a man who was not her husband would be shunned, castigated, and even persecuted.  Fast forward to today.  I know several couples who are living together (and presumably sleeping with each other, since they have children), and they experience little or none of the things they would have experienced had they lived and made this choice 50 years ago.  So our standards change over time.

We understand that there is a disconnect between acceptable behavior and the actions of whoever planted these bombs in Boston today (assuming that bombs were the cause, as the news agencies are currently doing), the man in Sandy Hook who shot all those kids, Osama Bin Laden, Mohammad Atta, and every other person in recent memory who has murdered innocent people.

We ask, “What is wrong with people” but what we really are asking is this: why don’t these people hold to the same standard of behavior as we do? Why don’t they believe that killing people is wrong?  Why do they think it’s acceptable behavior to shoot children, to blow up spectators at a race, and to blow up buildings with planes? Why don’t they agree with our standards?

God is asking the same question.  He has perfect standards.  He has given us a written record of His standards of what is acceptable behavior, and what isn’t.  And you know what?  Every person on earth fails to live up to His standards.  Every single one of us fails to behave as we should, every single day.  Every day God is disappointed in the actions, thoughts, and words of every single one of us.

That is why He came to earth.  That is why He died on the cross, rose from the grave and made the provision for our salvation from the consequences of failing to live up to God’s standards. He loves us, and doesn’t want us to suffer forever because we continually make choices against His righteous standards.  All we have to do to avoid this eternal suffering is to accept His gift.  We simply trust that the sacrifice He made is sufficient in and of itself to save us.  Nothing we do counts as anything towards paying these consequences.

In October of 2001 I bought a new van.  It was the only brand new vehicle I have ever bought.  A few weeks after I  bought it, I drove my wife and two kids to my Dad’s house for a visit. We took our baby daughter inside while our four-year-old son played in the yard.  After a while, we came outside to see what he was doing. Evidently he decided that the shiny, glossy finish on our new van was too boring, so he picked up a piece of gravel and drew on the paint.  Not in one spot. Not in two spots. He scratched up the hood, all the way down the driver’s side panels, and the back of the van.  It was at that moment that I told myself, “I love my son more than my van.”

Thankfully insurance covered the repair, but we still had to pay the $500 deductible.  My four-year-old son would never have been able to pay that to us.  He’s almost 16 years old now, and if you added up all the money he has received in his life up to this point, it probably still doesn’t total $500, let alone the multi-thousand dollar bill that the body work actually cost.  That van was wrecked eight years later and is now scrap metal, but my son still does not have the ability to pay me what his actions cost.  As his father, because I loved him so much, I paid for the consequences of his actions.  And that is what God wants to do with us.

What is wrong with people?  In one word:  Sin.  We all have it. We all express it differently, but we are all sinners.   It has been reported that famous author G. K. Chesterton answered the question “What is wrong with the world” by sending a letter to the newspaper as follows, “Dear Sirs:  I am.  Sincerely, G. K. Chesterton.”

While the actions of the perpetrators of today’s crime in Boston are truly heinous, we would do well to remember that they are just as heinous in God’s eyes as the choices every one of us makes every day.  We may be “better” than the bomber because we haven’t killed anybody, but whose standard matters in the end?  Ours?  Or God’s?

When we are all present at Judgment Day, I know who is going to be sitting on the throne. I guarantee it’s not going to be you or me.

Not.

Many of you know that I am going to grad school to become a nurse practitioner. Well, now you all know.  Anyway, when I started classes last August, I got my parking permit sticker and put it on our van.  I followed all the rules of the college, parking only where I was supposed to.

In January I got a car in addition to the van that I drove last fall. I drove the car to school the whole time I had a temporary tag, but never got a ticket.  I decided that I would wait to get a sticker  for my car until I got a real license plate.  The day came in February when my plate came, and I drove to school that Thursday.  I parked in my normal lot, went to the student affairs office and obtained a sticker for my car.  Then I went to class.

When class was over I walked back to my car only to discover that I had received a ticket for $25: $10 for not having a sticker, and $15 for not parking in the right place (since I didn’t have a sticker).  I appealed the ticket, since it was obviously a one-time occurrence, my first offense of any kind, and I HAD a sticker that I had just obtained that day (and the sticker was placed on the car that same day).  I asked them to reconsider the ticket.

Fast forward two months.  Here we are in April, and since I had not received any notice, I was starting to assume that they had approved my appeal.  Today I got an e-mail that said my appeal was denied, and I need to pay the ticket in the next ten days.

Needless to say, I’m not happy with their lack of mercy.  I will pay this, but I am sorely tempted to walk in there with 12.5 pounds of pennies (in 50 rolls or all separate).  I won’t do that, but this ticket just shows how petty some people can be. Any suggestions?

Lesson learned: don’t cross the sentinels of law and order at the University of Indianapolis.

Peter and John went to pray
They met a lame man on the way
He asked for alms and held out his palms
And this is what Peter did say

“Silver and Gold have I none
But such as I have give I thee
In the Name of Jesus Christ
Of Nazareth: rise up and walk!”

He went walking and leaping and praising God,
walking and leaping and praising God.
“In the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

This is a song that I learned when I was a child.  The song relates the basics of the story from Acts 3:1-10 where Peter and John go to the temple just after Pentecost (about 50 days since the Resurrection), and at the gate called Beautiful they heal a man who couldn’t walk.  It’s an amazing story that sets the foundation for the Apostles’ early ministry and their confrontation with the same men who condemned Christ to death.

The verse that I want to key in on is Acts 3:3

“And a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple.”

What makes this story different from any other New Testament story where someone gets healed?  I’ll tell you.  This man had been lame from birth.  He was over forty years old, according to Acts 4:22. Verse 3 says that it was his routine to sit in the temple and beg.  We can infer from this that he had probably been doing that for some time, probably decades.

Why does this matter, you ask?  Because that means this lame man was almost certainly begging at the temple in Jerusalem all throughout the ministry of Jesus.  It is even possible, given his age, that he was begging at the temple when Jesus went there as a twelve year old (the beggar would have been at least 19 years old at that point).

What this means, is that Jesus Christ, the compassionate, merciful, all-knowing Son of God, and God the Son, walked past this man not once, not twice, but at least four times that we know of.  He probably went to the temple more than the four recorded times, since He says in Matthew 26:55 that he sat in the temple teaching “every day.”  So probably more than four.

What lesson can we learn from this?  You may be hurting. You may be in trouble. You may be in pain or great sorrow.  God knows your pain.  God cares for you.  He is going to help you at the best possible time for you, and to bring the highest amount of glory to Him.

Jesus walked by this man, knowing his condition, knowing that He could heal the man in an instant, and yet He did not.  Because He knows what is best, and He knew that Peter and John would be blessed to heal this man two months after His ascension.

When I have pain, when I have a need, I can trust that God is going to the right thing at the right time for all concerned. I have friends who have problems.  One of my friends is a former missionary who is younger than me.  He is a former missionary because he had a carbon monoxide leak in his house, and he developed a severe reaction to it, which has rendered him disabled. He continues to trust God.  We have prayed and prayed for him to be delivered from his disability, but to no avail.  Why has God not healed him? We don’t know.  It seems to us, in our imperfect human logic, that God would be better served if this man were to be healed and continue his work of preaching the Gospel.  We don’t know why God has answered our prayers with, “No.”

What we do know, is that whether God heals him or not, we can continue to trust in His perfect will.