Summer Reading

I am hoping to get a decent amount of reading done this summer. I just finished two books and thought they are worth comment. Holy Blood, Holy Grail is the non-fiction "research" work by Michael Baigent that is foundational to the Davinci Code. So here is the super simplified summary of their findings. . . Of the four Gospels, John is the only one that can be trusted to any extent, however, the Apostle John did not write it. Lazarus, brother of Mary and Martha was the author and the whole raising from the dead thing was actually no death at all but an elaborate initiation to Jesus special club. Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany (Laz sister) was the same person and was married to Jesus which made Lazarus Jesus' brother-in-law. Jesus didn't die on the cross, mainly because the injuries inflicted during the scourging and crucifixion were not life threatening. The amazing thing is that at the end of the book, Baigent says that this is all a hypothesis that cannot be proven in any way, shape, or form. Yet in the next breath, he says that he knows that this is accurate and the Priori of Scion (secret society) has the proof although he has no idea what that proof is or what it looks like because no one is willing to tell him what it is.

The other book is The Phoenix Affirmations by Eric Elnes. What I initially thought would be an encouraging and engaging read turned out to be one of the weakest and watered down statements of biblical faith I have read in a long time. Essentially, this is a movement out of Phoenix of "progressive" pastors who are trying to unify religious, seekers, and anyone who is "open." Again, the super simplified summary is that the doorway of Jesus for salvation is a very good way but not the exclusive way. God is more concerned about how you express your love for God, yourself, and others than what you do with the person of Jesus. He seems to imply that everyone on a genuine "faith" journey experiences salvation no matter who it’s focused on. His main concern is the inclusion and affirmation of the gay and lesbian lifestyle into the Christian community. He compares the importance of this issue with that of slavery. Interesting thing about the book is that right now the author and a handful of others are doing a walk across the country to promote the affirmations and at the end of the walk, they are going to nail the affirmations to the doorway of America in D.C. (in the spirit of Martin Luther and the Wittenberg door).

These are two very different books coming from two very different authors, one of faith and one agnostic at best. The common thread within these books are that they try to remake Jesus palatable and in our image. The assumption is that the Bible cannot mean what it says and that what it says cannot be trusted and we need to read between the lines to find the "path of Jesus." The integrity of the researched documents and poor exegesis of the Bible (especially in Phoenix) leads to a complete mess and a theology/philosophy that completely misses the heart of Jesus. As odd as it sounds, these two books work consistently together to draw people away from Jesus rather than toward Him.