In a recent Demolition Squad article we saw how well established Jesus is in the historical record. History indeed shows Jesus as a man whose life and death had a huge impact on the communities, governments, and religions around him. So what was it about Jesus that produced these momentous tremors on the historical seismograph? The answers can be found in the four accounts of the life of Jesus: the gospels.

Now the four gospels of the New Testament claim to be based on eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus. The thing is, as far as historians can tell, none of the four gospels were written in the location they were set in. Countries like Syria (Matthew) and Egypt (Mark) are thought likely locations for the origin of these texts, so also is the Greek city of Ephesus (John). The Gospel of Luke may well have been written in Rome or Antioch and yet in the opening of his book Luke says that his writing is based on accounts, “handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses.”

Well it is all very nice claiming eyewitness testimony you might say, but isn’t it a far simpler explanation to conclude that actually the origins of these books show that these so-called accounts are fabricated stories, made up far away from where the events supposedly took place?

To begin to answer this objection we must first take into account the style of writing of the gospels. Scholars agree that the gospels are presented to us as straightforward historical account. That is, they are full of facts such as names of places and names of people etc. Tom Clancy may fill his novels to the brim with every last detail but historical fiction didn’t bother with such exactitude. It just wasn’t the way it was done. The story was much more important that than the finer points. However, historical account was very much concerned with the facts.

Well, of course, showing that the style was historical account in no ways shows that what we have is a faithful account. What is does show however is that the authors were presenting their accounts to their readers as history. In that age historians thought that history had to be written during the time when eyewitnesses of the historical events were still available to be cross-examined. Polybius – a 2^nd C. BC Greek historian – said that the role of the historian was “to believe those worthy of belief and to be a good critic of the reports that reach him.” The obvious benefit of this is that names, dates, people involved etc. – these could all be corroborated or disputed by the eyewitnesses themselves. In this way, the gospels leave specifics to be examined.

Ronin, with Robert De Niro

In the film Ronin, there’s a great scene the where CIA agent Sam, played by Robert De Niro, confronts Spence (Sean Bean) who claimed to be have been in the SAS. Spence is defending his tactics and Sam isn’t buying it so he pushes him on his story. “What’s the colour of the boathouse at Hereford?”, he demands. Spence falters, his story crumbling as a detail that would have been known to him if he had ever been around the SAS training base caught him out. Spence wasn’t in Hereford, he didn’t train with the SAS, he didn’t know the details.

Richard Bauckham published a book in 2006 called Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. One brilliant piece of research highlighted in this book looks at the difference between Jewish names in Palestine in the 1^st Century, and Jewish names in Egypt in the 1^st Century. The popular names were different for the two countries despite common culture and language.  An author writing in 1^st Century Egypt, who had no knowledge of Palestine, would simply not know this information. Yet, when we read the Biblical accounts we see two things. Firstly, the frequency of the names used throughout the Gospels correlates extremely well to the names recorded by wider history from Palestine at that time.

Secondly, and quite incredibly, the popular names are well qualified. Let me explain. In my GCSE maths class there were four Jonathans in the room, and we all sat next to each other on purpose. To our 16-year old minds it was hilarious when our teacher would shout “Jonathan!” and we would all simultaneously express complete innocence. But it didn’t work when our surnames were snarled at us from the front.

Similarly, when we see a popular name mentioned, like Simon (most popular in Palestine at the time) we see a qualifier e.g. Simon Peter or Simon the Zealot. That is how a guy called Simon would have been known to his friends, because there were many Simons around. But someone with a less popular name wouldn’t need a qualifier, and indeed, the gospels show this too.

The fact is that the gospels are full of precise details that scholars have since verified as authentic. We see place names, distances, and the names of people involved all matching up. The four gospels were presented and accepted in the 1^st Century as true historical accounts. 2000 years on after much research our studies still continue to show how incredibly trustworthy these documents are. The evidence has been shown to be sound and now it is up to each of us to decide if we will accept Jesus for who he, and history, says he is.

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The great, British philosopher Bertrund Russell once said,

“Historically it is quite doubtful whether Christ ever existed at all, and if He did we do now know anything about Him.”

Why I Am Not A Christian

Jesus Christ is arguably the most influential man in the whole of human history. So, outside of the Bible – which incidentally is an incredibly reliable document – what kind of evidence is there that Jesus ever existed? Is dear old Mr. Russell right? Is there any extra-biblical evidence for Jesus?

Well, yes, there is.

Non-Christian History

Jesus was born in Bethlehem and grew up in Nazareth under the watch of the Roman Empire, which covered much of Europe, Northern Africa, and parts of the Middle East. So what did the Romans, the rulers of the day, have to say? Here’s Tacitus, probably the best Roman Historian in the world:

“Christus … suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus.”

This small excerpt is part of a longer piece on how the Romans treated the early Christian church. Tactitus, writing in the second half of the 1^st Century, corroborates Biblical facts about Jesus and the birth of the early church.

A popular objection to the Biblical record may be, “The early Christians made up the stories about Jesus because they needed to spread their false message.” Well, Tacitus and the Romans didn’t need to spread the message. Quite the opposite; they wished the Christians didn’t exist! This is simply an honest historical account of the facts.

Another group of people not exactly tickled by the arrival of Jesus were the Jews. So let’s see what the Jewish historical record says.

Here we have Josephus. Writing in the early 90s (first Century) this Jewish Historian says:

“Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct to this day.”

Hmm. Jesus, Pilate … the extra-biblical record does seem to be emerging clearly.

Christian History

We also have records from Christians. We have the Bishop of Rome, Clement, here writing to the church in Corinth:

“The Apostles received the Gospel for us from the Lord Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ was sent forth from God. So then Christ is from God, and the Apostles are from Christ.”

Or how about Ignatius? Just one of the many Christians murdered in Rome. He wrote of the crucifixion, as did Justin Martyr. In fact, both of these men quote facts, places, and names – all things easily checked by their readers.  Additionally, both of these men were martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ.

It was the 16^th Century French mathematician, Blaise Pascal, who said, “I believe those witnesses who get their throats cut.”

That’s the thing. These historical records were composed by people who didn’t have much to gain but plenty to lose. Reputation, peace, or even their lives were at stake.

So, back to Mr Russell. You may not want Jesus to have existed for any number of reasons but the plain facts of the matter are that the historical record has overwhelming evidence for the remarkable life of Jesus Christ. As one New Testament scholar has put it, “The theory of Jesus’ non-existence is now effectively dead as a scholarly question.”

If Jesus didn’t exist then we don’t need to deal with him seriously. But he did exist and his life challenges us today. Will we ignore him, or will we brave further investigation of the man who has changed human history more than anyone else in all time?

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Or, ‘Who designed the Designer?’ This is the central argument of Richard Dawkins’ book The God Delusion, and as such, has become something of a steaming hot potato in recent years. Since the Big Bang exploded onto the scene in the 1960s, we’ve known that the universe had a beginning. The Bible has been saying that all along, but Science now agrees. The universe therefore needs an explanation – we can no longer say that the universe is just there, like a brute fact.

But why? Why can’t we just accept that it’s just there? Why do we need to find an explanation?

Imagine you were walking through town and you bobbed down a back alley. In the floor in front of you you saw a small translucent glowing orb. Would you just shrug your shoulders and slope on by? Of course not. You’d at least try and play futuristic football with it.

Now imagine that translucent glowing orb was the size of a house …

Now imagine it was the size of a universe …

The universe needs an explanation. Both atheists and theists are stuck with the question of how things started.

The atheist would say that the universe created itself out of nothing. That sounds impressive, but we’ve known since The Sound of Music that, “nothing comes from nothing; nothing ever could.” Julie Andrews taught us that, and she is practically perfect in every way.

The atheist might then whip out The Multiverse – something for which there is absolutely no evidence, and which, besides, only begs the question: ‘Who created The Multiverse?’ Nothing? Julie Andrews? Don’t be so foolish.

So anyway, there are 3 responses that we, as Christians, can make to the question of ‘Who created the Creator?’

The first is one made popular by philosopher, Alvin Plantinger. Plantinger shows that causality (things causing other things) only comes into effect once time and space are in place – so when the universe has already been created. By way of weak analogy, hitting a six only has meaning within the game of cricket.

The second thing we can say is that for something (a) to be the best explanation of something else (b), we don’t need to have an explanation of the original something (a). So,  if I go to Wetherspoons for a full English, for the chef to be the best explanation of the cooked meat, I don’t need to check his family tree and guarantee his ancestors. When the waitress dumps the plate in front of me, I don’t exclaim: ‘Well who created the chef?!’ That sort of behaviour doesn’t go down very well in Wetherspoons.

Finally, and maybe most crucially, we can say this: that when you say that God needed a creator, you’re talking about a created God, and Christians don’t believe in created Gods. The Biblical view isn’t that God was created, but that he is eternal.

So when someone asks ‘Who created the Creator?’ The answer is simple: nobody. You have to hit a brick wall somewhere, and if that brick wall isn’t God, then it’s simply nothingness. And you wouldn’t want to disagree with Julie Andrews. I’ve heard she has quite a temper.

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The water hit the dirt floor with a puff of dust as the cold, clear liquid splashed onto the surrounding stones. The three dirty men watched the last drops trickle from the skin, at once stupefied and angry.

- – - – - – - – -

The fall had been an especially dry one. Earlier that evening, as the men sat in the cave resting from another day of raiding enemy bivouacs and capturing their scouting parties, the talk inevitably turned to food and drink, which always seemed in short supply. A mother’s cake, a wife’s roast lamb, or a choice wine from an uncle’s vineyard … somehow, the nostalgia sated the hunger, rather than increase it.

This time, even their commander broke in to the conversation: “By God, I would love to drink from the well that I used to visit as a boy. Its water was cold, refreshing, and sweet. What I wouldn’t give for a drink of that water right now.”

“I think I’ll go look for some game for tonight’s meal. You two layabouts, why don’t you come with me?”
The fact that he actually entered into the banter that evening raised eyebrows. His three captains shared sideways glances with each other and one nodded to the mouth of the cave.

Outside the cave, the three big men didn’t even have to speak. They knew what their mission would be tonight. They put on their light armour, took their short swords, and an empty waterskin. The well of Bethlehem was on the other side of the main force of the enemy’s encampment — this wouldn’t be an easy task but it was worth it. They loved that man, and if just one of them returned with the skin, it was worth it to serve their commander for this simple wish.

- – - – - – - – -

It took the men a moment to register what had just happened. As the final drop fell to the dirt seemingly in slow motion, their mouths began to form a response — a rebuttal — a …

Instead David silenced them with a terse, “How am I supposed to drink this!? Far be it from me to drink it — the blood of my men!”

The conversations, the banter, the arguments, it seemed that even the dogs eating scraps around the fire — all went silent as the actions of the Three and the words of the Commander began to sink in. The power of the moment was lost on no one.

The three men, weary yet still reeling from the adrenaline, took up their positions beside their leader and dutifully began to unroll their beds. They would sleep beside him tonight, as every other night. Guards were posted at the mouth of the cave. Tomorrow was another day, and once again the assembled men would battle for the their commander and their Lord God.

- – - – - – - – -

Where are you, men?

Are there other men in your life that you would give your life for? Are you living and serving with a group of men that have your back and you would trust with your life? Let this challenge and inspire you: Find brothers that you trust, men that will go to battle with you and for you.

Men that would risk their lives just to see the thirsts of your life fulfilled.

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Read this: Daniel, Ch 5.

Rap this:
The king was called Belshazzar
But we’re gonna call ‘im Shazz-ar.
He said, “I am a dazzler,
Am go’n dazzle all the Kasbah.
We’ll be drinkin’ good wine;
Be a stinkin’ good time.
Am go’n take it further
When they say, ‘Don’t take it that far!’ “

He invites a thousand,
They’se all A-list glitterati.
Includes his wives and girlfriends,
‘Cause no way they’ll miss the party!
His dad was Neb’ kanezz-ar
It’s bad for poor old Shazz-ar
Livin’ in the shadow of
Ol’ Neb, who was a smarty.

“Am Shazz the man, an’ am so baad!”
He looks to push the boat out.
“Not like ol’ dad ‘cause he went mad
And looked a fool with no clout.”
Ol’ Neb, he had a showdown
With God who brought him low down.
If Neb was wondrin’ who was boss,
Then he found out with no doubt!

But Shazz was like, “What’s with this thing?
C’mon, must be a phony!
A ‘God’ who’s bigger than the King-
So how’d I face my homies?
This ‘God’, needs to be shut down,
A bod who needs a put down.”
He did it and he flashed the bling
In front of all his cronies.

Now Judah, it bin’ treated rough,
Neb pillaged all its treasure.
He carted off the sacred stuff
To Babylon at leisure.
Bling’s no real valuation-
The thing’s God’s reputation.
And Shazz he dissed that right enough,
All through his night of pleasure.

So when the wine was flowin’
An’ they sorta got a swing on,
He set the party goin’,
Said, “Got somethin’ else to bring on.”
Shazz used all Judah’s treasures
As boozers’ drinkin’ measures.
They toasted local idols
‘Cause they’s somethin’ safe to cling on.

His pride got over heated,
Needin’ somethin’ doin’ drastic.
An’ arrogance, deep seated –
That’s a call for the fantastic.
Then where a lamp is standin,’
A hand appears, just hangin’.
The body bin deleted,
And it’s real, it isn’t plastic.

All eerie in that dim light,
Seems that somethin’creepy’s startin’;
A myst’ry note, is filled in by
The hand, before departin’.
And, dude, that spooky scrawl
Would prove the writin’ on the wall.
Four words in some weird lingo:
‘Mene mene tekel parsin’.

Graffiti quite outlandish,
Was too much for Shazz to take in.
He couldn’t understand it,
So, like Elvis, started shakin’.
No menu he could drop down
So wha’d he do, but flop down.
He found no-one to crack the code
No matter who he raked in.

Nobody was of any use
Except, that is, The Queen Mum.
Said, “Hail Oh King! Stay cool, hang loose.
We’ll find out what it means, son.
With riddles needin’ solvin’
There’s a man who needs involvin’.
His name is Dan; he’s all good news,
He even sees your dreams, hun.”

“He was the brains for your ol’ dad–
Your dad, the king, I’m sayin.”
(Did she say that to make him mad?
The obvious, she’s statin’.)
“He’s got more intel inside.
The gods sure yell for his side.”
So Dan gets called to Shazz’s pad
And Shazz thinks, “Wha’ do I pay him?”

Shazz says if Dan’s the real thing-
Achieves a resolution,
He’ll get the Gucci an’ the bling,
Be made an institution:
For word trace and translation
Offers third place in the nation.
But Dan says, “Thanks, no thanks Oh king,
No fee for the solution.”

“Ol’ Neb as king of thee known world
Was up himself, and big time.
But God made him look so absurd
It flipped him like a trip line.
He got the thing, the lesson
That God’s the King, no mess’n.
King Shazz, you know all this occurred
But you don’t give a fig, mind.”

“The Lord of Life, you dissed Him good;
The One who holds your future.
That’s why He spoke into the hood
And loud as any hooter.”
That fist, it’s got a punchline-
It’s, ‘he’ll be gone by lunchtime.’”
The Lord, Dan made it understood,
Is judge and prosecutor.

“‘Mene’; that means ‘numbered’ and
The days you got are zero.
‘Tekel’ means that you bin’ weighed.
You lightweight, you’re no hero.”
Four words have bin’ hand written.
Your world y’see is splittn’.
‘Parsin’ means ‘divided’ and
Two into one, you’ll see, go.”

That same night king Shazz got whacked,
(Or ‘killed’ in other versions).
And, as we said, his Empire cracked;
Half each to Medes and Persians.
It’s right, right on, not ‘off the wall’,
That pride might come before the fall.
That plastered wall was lightly scratched
With sober, deep assertions.
A plastered wall, but lightly scratched
With sober, deep assertions.

Amen.

 
You can find more Code Odes featuring Dan and Neb, in The Manual, vol 3, out now …

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Think about everything you do for God. Ever feel pretty good about it? Ever feel a bit annoyed when God doesn’t seem to bless you enough for what you do? I mean you probably give time, money and more to God right? And that’s a good thing yes? But what if God doesn’t want your begrudging offerings. What if God wants you?

Before Jesus was gave the ultimate sacrifice, humans made animal sacrifices. Why? To make themselves right with God. To atone. Who were these sacrifices for? I always assumed they were for God, but the wages of sin are death not sacrifice, and throughout the Old Testament (and repeated in the New by Jesus) God states that He is not happy with sacrifice, but instead desires mercy.

So what’s the issue? I think ultimately sacrifice becomes selfish. We start to think of what we give and forget why we give. This happened with the Israelites, who instead of sacrificing the right things tried to use sacrifice as a way of getting rid of their less valuable livestock. A deformed sheep they can spare but the healthy firstborn? That will cost, that will have implications.

And so we think about how much we sacrifice for God, how much we do for Him, whether it is enough to get away with, whether it costs too much. Our sense of justice skews towards ourselves – is it fair that I give this much ? We see what we do for God in terms of sacrifice but how accurate is this? Does it really compare to the sacrifice Jesus made so we could have new life? Isn’t there a better way?

Matt 9:13 ‘ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’

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I am a Christian. I believe in a magic sky clown that makes everything happen. Everything that happens is His will. Sometimes bad things happen, but that’s because He moves in mysterious ways – says so in the Bible.

I believe that this magic sky clown came to earth as a Jewish Zombie to tell us to obey Him. I believe that if we don’t believe in Him and obey his 10 Commandments, then we will be eternally punished in a lake of fire by devils with horns – says so in the Bible.

Beyond that, I don’t believe in Science. I don’t like words such as evidence of proof or logic. I have Faith. I’m happy with not knowing.

I don’t think they should teach evolution in school. I’m a Christian and therefore a creationist, and I believe that the world was created 6000 years ago with the appearance of age. Any so-called science that seems to contradict that is merely a test of faith from God. Don’t get me started on dinosaurs.

In addition, I hate the gays. I call them ‘the gays’. They will burn because they are gay. Same with Muslims. I don’t like Muslims. I don’t like anybody who disagrees with me. Because I know I’m right. I believe I have all the answers.

I’m a good person because I’m a Christian. If you’re not a Christian, you’re not a good person and, more than that, you can’t really understand what it means to be good. Only Christians can truly understand morality. I’m better than you.

You should just believe in God. Don’t think about it too much. Just believe, and come to church. You should do what I do and use religion as a crutch. Says so in the Bible.

_____

All the above statements are obviously moronic, but all of them are genuine accusations I’ve had thrown at me by friends. We are boundary setting at this early stage in our journey, and it’s probably important to lay out what we’re trying to do with this apologetics strand.

Some people are very anti-apologetics. The main objection raised is that nobody can be argued into heaven – that it requires God’s spirit to convert people. Now, that’s entirely true about the Holy Spirit, but it’s also a cop out. The paragraphs above show just how much misunderstanding exists about the Christian faith in our culture – a culture that labels itself as ‘enlightened’ about such things. Apologetics shouldn’t exist to argue anybody into anything. It should exist to help break down some of the intellectual barriers that people build up between themselves and Jesus. For example, if you are of the opinion that science has totally disproved God or that there’s no way that a good God could send people to hell, then you could have a vision of Jesus and it might not make any impact on you whatsoever – you’d simply find a way to dismiss it. The DS (Demolition Squad) has been set up to blow apart some of the misconceptions and overturn the dismissals.

Apologetics is massively biblical. Both Elijah and Paul are seen debating with people of rival beliefs about the nature and reality of God. 1 Peter says this: Always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and respect. Always, Reason, Gentleness, Respect: If we ever develop a Demolition Squad sigil, maybe that could be our motto? It’s better than ‘God Hates Fags’, I’m sure you’ll agree.

The New Testament does not distinguish between apologetics and evangelism as though they were different activities. Little enough is said about “the evangelist”, but not a mention is made of “the apologist”! They had one approach in evangelism and its central feature was two-way dialogue. They listened seriously to what people were saying. They engaged with the cultural world of their hearers. They tried to understand their difficulties. Tuning in and finding their cultural and intellectual level, they set out to demolish opposing arguments before presenting the gospel in a convincing way, in terms their hearers could understand.

So that’s what we’re about. We’re just about ready to get started, I think….

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There is a man who stands in the town centre. He has done it for years. This photo is his latest sign.

What do you think? I mean, technically he’s not wrong is he? But is it the best emphasis given all the richness there is in God? Do we want to see half-hearted converts just hedging their bets in case the end of the world does appear sooner than they hoped?

Throughout the Bible we see God state that He desires mercy over sacrifice. Jesus even repeats this mantra to the Pharisees, imploring them to learn what it means. What’s more merciful – to scare people into the kingdom? Or to remind them of alternative ’100% guaranteed “Biblical facts”? Like whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Like the fact that in Jesus we are new creations. Like faith, hope and love?

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Every few months I try to splash out on a decent bottle of single malt. This week, it felt like the right time to purchase a cheeky bottle. The labels stood in front of me like proud statues boasting of a better result than their neighbours. I’d never tasted Singleton, probably due to its £26 price. However, I’d been putting a fair shift in during recent times and thought I’d treat myself.

The young lad at the checkout scanned my evening meal and the single malt through, which all came to around £60. As I left Tesco, I felt the need to check the receipt and found the whisky had gone through twice! I strolled calmly to customer service where I received an apology, a refund and something incredible. Part of the Tesco customer policy is to refund double the difference where someone is overcharged. It dawned on me as I returned to my car: Tesco had effectively given me a top quality bottle of single malt for free.

Before I set off, my excitement got the better of me. I called my two close friends and let them know the incredible news. Both men arrived at my house an hour later, where we enjoyed a bottle of Singleton courtesy of Tesco.

However, as I sipped my deluxe nightcap, I pondered a challenging question. Would I have asked my friends to join me for a whisky if I had bought the bottle myself? Truthfully, not a chance. The reason I shared so willingly, was because I was given it for free and I felt it was right to share it. Why then, do I hesitate to share the wonderful Christian message to those who are desperate for meaning in their lives? After all, the story of Jesus came to me freely, and it cost God a lot more than a bottle of single malt.

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

- Romans 10:14

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Have you ever heard a friend say, “I’d like to believe in Jesus but …”?

Perhaps you’re at the pub with your mates or having lunch with a colleague. The conversation turns to you and your faith and suddenly it feels like something a little deeper. You share a little bit, unsure of how far to really push it. And your mates, being mates, push back.

There are a thousand and one ways to find Jesus and just as many obstacles that can get in the way of Him. For some people they’d love to believe in Jesus, they really would, but they have this [intellectual barrier] [emotional barrier] [why-should-I-care barrier] (delete as appropriate).

Christian Vision for Men is all about introducing men to Jesus. To do that sometimes a little boulder removal is necessary. A little bit of heavy lifting is required to remove the obstacles that obstruct people’s view of Jesus.

That’s why CVM has set up the Demolition Squad.

1 Peter 3:15 instructs us to “Always be prepared to give a defence of the hope that you have to those that ask.” The Demolition Squad aims to help equip you guys on the front line to do just that.

Comedian Andy Kind and Apologist Jonathan Sherwin will be spearheading this new division of CVM. Over time resources, blogs, podcasts, talks – you know the drill – will be produced.

So, what do you think? Drop us a line if you’d like to set up a Demolition Squad training day in your area and stand by for announcements of new events and resources coming very soon.

In the mean time, leave a comment and help shape this new project.

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