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Why should we trust the words of the disciples in the New Testament, when they all ran away as soon as Jesus got into trouble?
Even the swiftest read through the Gospels makes clear that the close
friends of Jesus were singularly unimpressive on a number of occasions.
Jesus himself got frustrated with the disciples at their inability to
understand what he was trying to tell them. Twice they fell asleep at
the most critical time of Jesus’ life, despite his request for
them to pray for him. After Jesus was crucified, they made no attempt
to bury their friend, instead letting him go into a tomb owned by a
member of the same court that had condemned him to death.
Peter, who was singled out by Jesus to be the rock on which his future
church would be built, comes out especially badly in the New Testament.
Mark 8.33 records that Jesus said "Get behind me, Satan!" to Peter at
one time. The apostle Paul openly writes that Peter was "clearly in the
wrong” during discussions about theological issues (Galatians 2:
11). And most famously of all, Peter denies Jesus on three occasions in
the hours leading up to his crucifixion. Not that he is the only coward
on this momentous day: The Bible records that the men in were hiding in
fear during the crucifixion and it was the close female companions of
Jesus who found the empty tomb three days later.
Perhaps the greatest condemnation of the disciples is their doubt
– their lack of faith. Despite having followed Jesus for three
years and seen all his miracles, they clearly did not expect him to
rise from the dead. Jesus had explained the resurrection to them
several times (John 2: 18-22; 3: 14-18; Matthew 12: 39-41; 17:9) but
when push came to shove, they thought his death was the end of the
story. One of the disciples, who has gone down in history as Doubting
Thomas, didn't even believe his friends after they had seen Jesus alive
again!
With such a poor track record, it might indeed seem strange to take
seriously anything the disciples or their friends wrote in the Bible.
But actually, we should see it the other way round. Imagine that you
wish to make up a story that convinces people of a given truth. You and
your friends are a key part of the story - eyewitnesses to the
momentous events that you want to convince others actually happened.
In writing such a story, would you make yourself seem stupid, cowardly
and untrustworthy? Wouldn’t it be better and much more convincing
to portray yourself and your friends as heroes? And you certainly
wouldn't decide to have the women discovering the empty tomb - the key
proof of the whole story - when their evidence was not even accepted in
court at the time.
It is the refreshing honesty of the Gospels – the warts and all
portrayal of the main players apart from Jesus - that makes it so
believable. Most autobiographies make people look better than they are.
The Bible writers were prepared to embarrass themselves because the
story that they were relating - the life, death and resurrection of
Jesus - was far more important than any personal considerations of
image. And above all, the story they told was true! |
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Adapted
from “I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist” by
Norman Geisler and Frank Turek. See review on page xx |
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