Creating Myths to Support Secularism and Deny Christ

John Dominic Crossan

For several years I was a Sunday morning discussion leader, and the success of it was that I brought up controversial subjects. We talked about the beliefs of Christianity, what non-believers said about our Faith, and the history of Christianity, including the “historical Jesus”. The biggest attack on Jesus, both theologically and historically comes from a group called “The Jesus Seminar”.  They were founded in 1985 by Robert Funk and John Dominic Crossan for the purpose of exploring the historical Jesus.

They took Jesus’ sayings, parables and passages written about Him, and voted whether or not they thought them true. The voting was done with colored beads. The result was that Jesus was an itinerant rabbi and healer, and his resurrection was a parable; it didn’t happen. The people that saw Him after His death had “visionary experiences”.  He didn’t perform miracles, didn’t die for our sins.

For example, they claim that on Palm Sunday hardly anyone was there when he entered Jerusalem, just a few folks. Hardly anyone really noticed Him at all at any event; there were no 4,000 fed with the basket of fish and bread. Members of the Jesus Seminar provide no evidence of any of their findings; there’s a lot of “likely” and “probably” in their writings. According to them, Jesus didn’t walk on water, change water to wine, or raise Lazarus from the dead, and was born of Joseph and Mary, not conceived of God. Of course they can’t site anyone from the time that refutes any of these things happened. They don’t have any evidence for their own “beliefs”; all they do is refute what the Gospels say…’nope, didn’t happen’. How weak is that?

Crossan turned out to be the star of the group, and has built a nice cottage industry debunking Christ and Christianity. I’ve watched this guy for years, and he does not accept Christ as his Lord and Savior, accept Christ died for his sins, yet still calls himself a Christian. Apparently accepting the 18% of what Jesus taught is good enough to call himself a Christian. He needs to fess up, he isn’t a Christian.  St Paul wrote to the Corinthians:

“Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is not resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up - if in fact the dead to not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.”

If not for the resurrection, Christianity does not exist.

The Jesus Seminar gives primacy to “The Gospel of Thomas” over “The Gospel of John”.  This serves as a basis for their rejection of most of the canonical writings. Most of what they say about the life of Jesus they attest to other questionable sources.  The Secularists love this guy. They use him as a “scholar” to refute Christianity and justify their own bigotry and lack of historical and theological knowledge. He shows up on specials about religion and is much in demand during Christian high holidays.

He is in fact a charlatan, one of Paul’s “most pitiable”.  

Recommended for a more scholarly review of the historical Jesus and life in the 1^st century Mediterranean, I recommend Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined In His Own Time by Sarah Ruden, The Four Witnesses by Robin Griffith-Jones, The Historical Figure of Jesus by E.P. Sanders (arguably the best book on the historical Jesus) and From Jesus to Christ by Paula Fredriksen. These are true scholarly works and do not have the anti-Christian agenda of Crossan and the Jesus Seminar.