The Easter story: myth vs faith

Orville Taylor, Contributor

It takes a whole heap of faith for someone to be a Christian, and once again, we complete our Easter rituals on Resurrection Sunday. As irreverent as it might sound, we really have little evidence of all the biblical tales, including the Transfiguration and Ascension.

What right do Christians have to believe that Jesus' body was not simply sneaked away by his disciples in order to perpetuate the belief in his immortality? How different is this from the Rastafarians, who assert that Haile Selassie I is not dead and, thus, no one can point out the location of his tomb and remains?

Indeed, none of the four Gospels seem to agree with each other as regards the number, or identity, of personnel present when he was risen. In fact, much of the stories regarding Jesus' activities leading to his torture and execution have to have been speculation and third-hand information. Has anyone ever wondered where the scripture writers got the account of Jesus' temptation in Matthew 4:1-11 since he and Satan were totally alone? He was also alone as he prayed in Gethsemane, while the others slept, we know that he was fretting and asked for the cup to be taken from him.

Preaching lies

Apart from these leaps of faith, some pastors unwittingly preach lies. For example, Jesus chased no gambler from the temple, didn't say children would have children in the last days, and the Bible didn't say he prayed in the garden. Nonetheless, isn't the Bible just another history book, written in favour of its writers' heroes? Now, if in our own short history, we can have so many different accounts of the 1938 labour riots and some of the eyewitnesses are still alive, what embellishment could have taken place in 2,000 years or in the 30 to 70 years that the Gospels took to be written after Jesus' Ascension?

As for the comparison with Rastafari, do you know that in terms of its influence, Rastafari has proportionally given Christianity 'donkey lengths'? In just 80 years since the crowning of Haile Selassie, Rasta's membership globally is tens of thousands.

Those of us schooled in the notion of the Bible being the infallible Word of God have marvelled for years about Jesus' miracles, and there were 37 recorded among the four Gospel writers. For those Christians who like to 'bun out' drinking, his turning of water into wine in John 2:1-11 must be a noisome fact. Jesus turned up at the wedding at Cana with his mother, Mary, who remarked to him, "Likka dun!" After reproaching her that she should have linked him earlier, he proceeded to convert gallons of water into wine. Other more mundane miracles include the withering of the fig tree, in Matthew 21:18:22 and Mark 1:12-14; the feeding of the multitude from five loaves and two fishes, well chronicled in Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, and John 6:1-15, and the ethereal walking on water shortly afterwards.

Chasing out of demons

His chasing out of demons on several occasions is often explained by psychologists. More incredible and mind-boggling are the myriad healing episodes, especially of the persons born with infirmities, the remote healing of the centurion's servant, cleansing of lepers and many others. Yet, his greatest has to be the raising of the dead. These include the widow's son in Nain, recorded in Luke 7:11-17; Jairus' daughter in Matthew 9:18, Mark 5:21-24, and Luke 8:40-42; and, of course, the famous Lazarus, whom he told to come forth in John 11:1-45.

Now, if one has ever seen the tricks performed by magicians, such as David Blaine, Kriss Angel and the awesome Steven 'Dynamo' Frayne, it is easy to wonder if Jesus, with 20 years of his life missing, might not have learned a trick or two while he was in a recondite location, being schooled in the arts of the Magi. After all, the term 'magi', which refers to the wise men, who visited him as an infant, means magician, or person who knows secret arts, and not wise man in the sense of King Solomon, his ancestor.

The three aforementioned magicians have levitated; that is, 'floated' several feet above the ground. Angel and Frayne have walked on water, and the latter does some weird things such as floating above a crowd in Brazil, and shrinking a cell phone and putting it into a beer bottle. Frayne is scary, as he touches fruits and ripens them, makes different coconuts on the same bunch produce various beverages, changes Fanta into Coke, passes his finger through coins, channels water through his fingers, and teleports himself some 50 yards to the roof of another building in a split second. He even took an empty box of cereal from a child on the street and somehow partially refilled it with the exact stuff the child was eating.

What will they say?

One cannot help but wonder what the public will be saying centuries later when people talk of him (assuming, of course, that Jesus does not come before). And while it is true that none of the modern magi ever claim to heal the sick or raise the dead, it might be shocking to some Christians that there are other non-Christian religions where stories abound of their holy men doing precisely these. However, since I am not trying to spread their religions, I invite pastors to research these themselves as they lead their flocks.

Symbolically, today is the most significant day in Christendom, because it is when Jesus conquered death, rose triumphantly, and saved the world. However, let us not forget that all this is not based on proof; it is the substance of faith. And despite all the logical reasons why one could doubt everything we have been taught, some still elect to believe.

The real believer is not one who denies the possibility that there are alternative explanations for what Jesus is and what he did. It is he who accepts this and still chooses to believe.

Blessed Easter.

Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in sociology at the UWI and a radio talk-show host. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.