Lee Strobel - In Defense of Jesus: Investigating Attacks on the Identity of Christ

Much of the history of Christianity has been devoted to domesticating Jesus, to reducing that elusive, enigmatic, paradoxical person to dimensions we can comprehend, understand, and convert to our own purposes. So far it hasnt worked.

Catholic priest Andrew Greeley

Can anybody show me the real Jesus?

from a song by Canadian rock band downhere

A t first glance, there was nothing unusual about Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, California. There were the expected rows upon rows of grave markers, some festooned with flowers, others with small American flags hanging limp in the still winter air. I meandered through the property and soon came upon a gently sloping hillside and there, standing sentry over a wide expanse of grass, was a solitary three-foot headstone. Its stunning inscription: In Memory of the Victims of the Jonestown Tragedy.

Beneath the ground were the remains of more than four hundred Californians who had followed the siren call of self-proclaimed messiah Jim Jones down to the jungles of South America to build a paradise of racial equality and harmony. Believing his creed of love and equal opportunity, beguiled by his charisma and eloquence, they put their complete faith in this magnetic visionary.

His most audacious boast: he was the reincarnation of Christ the real Jesus.

The pilgrims, intent on living out Joness doctrine of peace and tolerance, arrived in a remote rainforest of Guyana, only to realize over time that he was building a hellish enclave of repression and violence. When a visiting U.S. congressman and a contingent of journalists threatened him with exposure, Jones ordered them ambushed and killed before they could leave on a private plane.

Then Jones issued his now-infamous command: all of his followers must drink cyanide-laced punch. Syringes were used to squirt the poison into the mouths of infants. Those who refused were shot. Soon more than nine hundred men, women, and children were in the contorted throes of death under the scorching sun, and Jones ended his own life with a bullet to the head.

The bodies of 409 victims, more than half of them babies and children, were shipped back to California in unadorned wooden caskets and buried at Evergreen Cemetery. In the nearly thirty years since the Jonestown tragedy, few have come to visit.

On this day, I stood in silence and reverence. As I shook my head at this senseless loss, one thought coursed through my mind: Beliefs have very real consequences.

These victims believed in Jones. They subscribed to his utopian vision. His dogma became their own. But ultimately the truth is this: Faith is only as good as the one in whom its invested.

Who Is Jesus?

Search for Jesus at Amazon.com and youll find 175,986 books and, yes, now one more. Google his name and in a blink of the eye youll get 165 million references. Invite people to tell you who they think the real Jesus is as Jon Meacham and Sally Quinn did at Newsweeks website On Faith just before Christmas in 2006 and youll soon be buried in an avalanche of wildly disparate opinions, as these eye-opening excerpts demonstrate:

• We dont know many historical facts concerning Jesus, but apparently he was a rabbi who was an example of compassion. Since then he has been exploited by Christians, particularly Americans.
• Jesus is real, in the sense that he exists for those who want him to exist.
• By todays standards, Jesus was a liberal.
  • Jesus was one of a thousand Jews murdered by the Romans for threatening Roman rule.
  • Jesus is my personal Higher Power. He helps me stay sober one day at a time.
  • Jesus was Everyman. His name could have as well been Morris. Too bad he was in male form this time around. Better luck next time.
  • I believe Jesus is the Son of God. I believe I am a Son of God.
  • Even strict Christians consider Jesus the Son of God only in a symbolic way.