Reading: Tall Tales About Jesus (Slides)

Tall Tales About Jesus
by David Feddes

 
Jesus died in Japan?

•      It is said that after Jesus grew up in Galilee, he came to Japan. He returned to Galilee at age 33 and began preaching a heavenly kingdom: namely, Japan.

•      When opposition arose, Jesus left Galilee and returned to the town of Shingo, near beautiful Lake Towada. Jesus’ brother, Isukiri, was crucified instead of Jesus.

•      Jesus became a rice farmer, married, and raised a family. He died at age 106 and was buried there. Souvenirs are for sale.

Ahmadiyya sect of Islam: Jesus buried in Kashmir

Jesus buried in Kashmir?

•  The Ahmadiyya sect of Islam says Jesus was crucified but did not die. He only swooned.

•  Jesus revived in the cool tomb and was cured of his wounds by a special ointment.

•  Jesus fled Palestine and journeyed toward India, to what is today Kashmir. He later died naturally of old age and was buried there.

•  Jesus was also named Youza Asouph, and you can leave donations at his burial place.

•  About 20 million people follow this view.

Islam: Jesus wasn't God, didn't die

•      The Koran (600 years after the fact), says Jesus was born of a virgin, did amazing miracles, and was a great prophet.

•      Jesus did not claim to be God’s Son and was not crucified. God would not let his prophet suffer such pain and disgrace.

•       Someone else—Judas—was made to look like Jesus and was crucified.

•      Jesus went directly to heaven, and will return to judge the world and establish Islam.

Mormons: Risen Jesus came to  Western Hemisphere

Hindu or Buddhist Jesus

•      Many Hindu shrines and homes include an image of Jesus. Some Hindus fit Jesus to Hindu thinking and make him an avatar or one among the millions of Hindu gods.

•      Some Buddhists, such as the Dalai Lama, see Jesus as a fully enlightened being or as a high-level bodhisattva whose aim was to share Buddhist enlightenment with others.


Jesus married Mary Magdalene. Their descendants ruled France. Jesus was a prophet, not divine.

• Dan Brown claims this is based on ancient documents.
• Church leaders invented Jesus’ deity and Trinity at the Council of Nicea in 325.
• Before that, “Jesus was viewed by his followers as a mortal prophet… a great and powerful
man, but a man nonetheless.”

Gospel of Mark

•   The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (1:1).

•   Evil spirits: “You are the Son of God.” (3:11)

•   The high priest asked, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” “I am,” said Jesus.  (14:61)

•   “Surely this man was the Son of God.” (15:39)

•   These things were written a few decades after Jesus’ resurrection; eyewitnesses were still alive. Jesus’ deity was not invented in 325 at Nicea.

Gospel of John

•     In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. (1:1,14)

•     “I and the Father are one.” (10:30)

•     “… you, a mere man, claim to be God.” (10:33)

•     “My Lord and my God.” (20:28)

•     These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (20:31).

Gospel of Judas

• Judas was a hero, not a traitor. Judas alone among the twelve disciples understood Jesus.

• Jesus secretly told Judas his real message: the physical world is evil, bodies are bad, and people have an inner divine self, which needs to escape the prison of the body to fulfill its divine destiny.

• Jesus told Judas to hand him over to die, to help him sacrifice his physical man and liberate the true spiritual self, the divine being within.

• Jesus did not die for our sins. He died to get rid of his body and humanity. His body did not rise. Bodies are bad! Resurrection would be tragedy.

History of Booth?

Gnostic nonsense about Judas

•  The Gospel of Judas was written by Gnostics about 150 years after Judas betrayed Jesus.

•   It’s like someone publishing History of Booth in 2015, claiming to have secret knowledge that 150 years earlier, in 1865 Lincoln privately asked John Wilkes Booth to shoot him.

•  A Gnostic sect called Cainites made a hero of Cain, the murderer of Abel.

•  What if publishers of History of Booth came from a group called the Arnoldites, devoted to  Benedict Arnold as an American hero. Would anybody take such nonsense seriously?


Non-biblical stories about Jesus

•   Some books were piously meant but were not God’s Word. Infancy Gospel of Thomas offers childhood tales, without directly denying key doctrines.

²The boy Jesus makes clay birds and causes them to fly (later mentioned in Koran).

² A child hurts Jesus and is struck dead.

•   Some books were heretical and denied central truths.  Gospel of Judas teaches Gnostic heresy. So does Gospel of Thomas.

Adding new Scriptures

•      Muslims added the Koran. Muslims say the writings of Moses, David, and Jesus were revealed by God. The Koran adds to biblical writings and “corrects” alleged corruptions that crept into the Bible over the years.

•      Roman Catholics added the Apocrypha, holy tradition, and the pope’s pronouncements.

•      Christian Scientists added Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.

•      Mormons added the Book of Mormon.

Seventh Day Adventist declaration

We consider the biblical canon closed. However, we also believe, as did Ellen G White's contemporaries, that her writings carry divine authority, both for godly living and for doctrine. Therefore, we recommend:

1) That as a church we seek the power of the Holy Spirit to apply to our lives more fully the inspired counsel contained in the writings of Ellen G White, and

2) That we make increased efforts to publish and circulate these writings throughout the world.

Books from angels?

•   Book of Mormon says God has a body and had sex with Mary. It teaches salvation by good behavior. It was written 1800 years after NT.  Smith claimed he got it from the angel Moroni.

•   Koran, written 600 years after NT, says Jesus was not God and did not die on the cross. Muhammad claimed he heard from the angel Gabriel.

•   Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8) 

•   Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. (2 Cor 11:14)

Satan the counterfeiter

•   Jesus is such a gripping figure, and Satan is such a busy counterfeiter, that all sorts of stories exist about Jesus.

•   The New Testament gospels emphasize:

✞    Jesus as fully God while fully human.

✞    Jesus’ atoning death and victorious resurrection.

•   Jesus’ divine person and saving work are what we most need—and thus what Satan denies.

Hearing, seeing, touching

•      That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. (1 John 1:1)

•      We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. (2 Peter 1:16)

Inspired eyewitnesses

•       New Testament eyewitnesses were trustworthy people who spoke from firsthand experience.

•       On top of that, they had the Holy Spirit’s inspiration and guidance to make them totally trustworthy in everything they wrote about Jesus.

•       “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.” (John 15:26-27)