Have you read any of Bill O’Reilly’s “Killing” series of books? Killing Kennedy, Killing Lincoln, and Killing the Mob are all among the titles. O’Reilly’s book, Killing Jesus: A History (published in 2013) is an attempt to write a detailed fictional account of Jesus’ death that remains true to the actual history of the event.
Candida Moss is a professor of New Testament and early Christianity at the University of Notre Dame. She is also a critic of Killing Jesus. Shortly after the book came out, she appeared on O’Reilly’s TV show to debate some salient points. She also published a blog post at CNN online, entitled, “Five Things Bill O’Reilly Flubs in ‘Killing Jesus.'” You can find the article at http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/04/five-things-bill-oreilly-gets-wrong-in-killing-jesus/
Ms. Moss is guilty of several flubs of her own in pointing out O’Reilly’s flubs. I’d like to point out two.
The professor says that Paul was not a Christian. Rather, he remained a Jew. The word, “Christian,” she asserts, was not used until the end of the first century C.E. (that’s A.D. for non-professorial types) One does not need to be a professor of the New Testament to know that upon his conversion by Christ, Paul was all about following and proclaiming and living for Christ. Yes, his heritage was Jewish, but his faith was Christian. In addition, Acts 11:26 declares that followers of Jesus were first called Christians at Antioch (this is the early 40s A.D. at the latest)
Secondly, the author declares that the Pharisees were not self-righteous bloviators. Again, this belief ignores what Scripture plainly says, including the Pharisees’ propensity for boasting and bragging about their high-achieving outward expressions of faith (Luke 18:9-12). Throughout the Gospels, Jesus ‘words make clear what the Pharisees were like, and it isn’t a flattering portrait. Read Matthew 23 and try to mesh Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisees as “hypocrites” and “blind guides” and “whitewashed tombs” with the thought that the Pharisees weren’t all that bad.
There’s more. Check it out for yourself.
Here is yet another example of how important it is to make sure your faith is firsthand. Don’t rely on secondhand faith, on what others have to say. Read the Scriptures for yourself, and the Holy Spirit will work to strengthen your faith and increase your trust in the Lord.
To paraphrase Jesus, “Make sure you take out the flub(s) in your own eye before pointing out the flub in someone else’s eye.”
In Christ,
Pastor Stephen Luchterhand
Candida Moss is a professor of New Testament and early Christianity at the University of Notre Dame. She is also a critic of Killing Jesus. Shortly after the book came out, she appeared on O’Reilly’s TV show to debate some salient points. She also published a blog post at CNN online, entitled, “Five Things Bill O’Reilly Flubs in ‘Killing Jesus.'” You can find the article at http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/04/five-things-bill-oreilly-gets-wrong-in-killing-jesus/
Ms. Moss is guilty of several flubs of her own in pointing out O’Reilly’s flubs. I’d like to point out two.
The professor says that Paul was not a Christian. Rather, he remained a Jew. The word, “Christian,” she asserts, was not used until the end of the first century C.E. (that’s A.D. for non-professorial types) One does not need to be a professor of the New Testament to know that upon his conversion by Christ, Paul was all about following and proclaiming and living for Christ. Yes, his heritage was Jewish, but his faith was Christian. In addition, Acts 11:26 declares that followers of Jesus were first called Christians at Antioch (this is the early 40s A.D. at the latest)
Secondly, the author declares that the Pharisees were not self-righteous bloviators. Again, this belief ignores what Scripture plainly says, including the Pharisees’ propensity for boasting and bragging about their high-achieving outward expressions of faith (Luke 18:9-12). Throughout the Gospels, Jesus ‘words make clear what the Pharisees were like, and it isn’t a flattering portrait. Read Matthew 23 and try to mesh Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisees as “hypocrites” and “blind guides” and “whitewashed tombs” with the thought that the Pharisees weren’t all that bad.
There’s more. Check it out for yourself.
Here is yet another example of how important it is to make sure your faith is firsthand. Don’t rely on secondhand faith, on what others have to say. Read the Scriptures for yourself, and the Holy Spirit will work to strengthen your faith and increase your trust in the Lord.
To paraphrase Jesus, “Make sure you take out the flub(s) in your own eye before pointing out the flub in someone else’s eye.”
In Christ,
Pastor Stephen Luchterhand
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