Tehillah Generation Chapel
Daily Manna
Friday, May 20, 2016
Topic: The empty tomb 46
Reading: Matthew 27:57-66, 28:1-15
Scripture: He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee. (Luke 24:6)
Note: Barbara Thiering, an Australian biblical scholar and theologian, described the life of Jesus in the most uncomplimentary manner in her book, _Jesus the Man: New Interpretations from the Dead Sea Scrolls._ Her thesis were born primarily out of obvious intellectual dishonesty, steeped deeply in personal hatred and a passion driven by an inordinate desire to destroy the Church and weaken the faith of believers in a way that could fairly be described as wicked, self-serving and satanic.
This is what the woman scholar, whose main preoccupation in life is the study of the Scriptures, said about Jesus, “He was born out of wedlock to a woman of Qumran’s royal priestly line, befriended outcasts, and performed no miracles. He was crucified with Simon Magus and Judas Iscariot at Qumran, but survived by snake venom that rendered him unconscious. Jesus then married twice, to Mary Magdalene and Lydia of Philippi, fathering three children. After wandering the Mediterranean, he died in obscurity in Rome.”
Such distinctly insane views from someone who earned her living from studying and teaching others in the Scriptures, seemed so shocking, absurd and tangentially off track, measured against all the four narratives of the Gospels which had their foundations in proven historical evidence. These shocking wild untruths cooked out of extraordinary fantasy fiction, without historical basis is a seeming attempt at reconstruction of the history of Christianity from the unfounded allegations of one person’s unproven imaginations.
No wonder that Thiering’s thesis received not much attention, recognition and acknowledgement from her peers in the academic community. The scepticism and contempt with which her thesis were treated to, was deserving of anyone in pursuit of blind academic adventure with the sheer purpose of casting insinuations and denigrating the proven truth. Her works were completely shrouded in intellectual dishonesty, receiving no credence from any serious scholar for her elaborate and extraordinary fantasy that seems to inspire more of comic relief than anything of value.
Food for thought: If the devil failed to stop Christ from going to Calvary on our behalf, no lies, fantasies and imaginations of man can ever prevail against the Church.
Declaration: And I say unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matt 16:18)
©Author: Rev Fred Aboe
