by Steve Klein
(via A Christian's Voice)
On Monday, June 26, 2000, ABC television aired a program entitled "In
Search of Jesus." The program was hosted by Peter Jennings and billed itself
as an effort to look at the life and times of Jesus from an historical perspective. In the
program, Jennings traced places and events in Jesus' life, from His birth through the
resurrection, pausing along the way for input from modern "scholars"
as to what really happened.
The program was a farce from beginning to end. It relied heavily on the pseudo-scholarship
of Jesus Seminar liberals who flatly reject the Scriptures as an accurate historical
record of the events they record. They call miraculous portions of the Bible "myths" and compare them to the fanciful stories
contained in Greek mythology. Among the show's more notable errors was the observation of
more than one "scholar" that Jesus was crucified in
an effort by the Jews to appease Pilate. The Jewish leaders, you see, were concerned that
Pilate might indiscriminately slaughter Jews to keep the peace which Jesus' activities
threatened.
We're told that it was really Pilate who insisted on crucifying
Christ; the Jews were just caught in the middle. The fact that the gospel accounts say
exactly the opposite was not even presented. Of course, the Scriptures teach that it was
the Jews who sought to take Christ (Mark 14:1-2).
Pilate sought to release Jesus, but when the Jews began to raise a tumult, Pilate
acquiesced to their demand to "crucify Him"
(Matthew 27:24; Luke 23:4, 13-24). In our modern world
of political correctness, Peter Jennings could not afford to find out that Jews were
responsible for killing the Son of God (cf. Acts 2:36).
So, he didn't.
Later in the show, we're told that Jesus did not die as a sacrifice for the sins of
mankind (Hebrews 10:10-12; John 1:29), but rather as a martyr
seeking to find justice for the poor and downtrodden - "like
Martin Luther King and Gandhi." Again, the Jesus that Jennings "found" was one who was thoroughly modernized. In
short, this supposed search for Jesus was nothing but an extended effort to revise history
to fit modern sensibilities and ideals, Only this time, the history being revised was not
the history of the American Revolution or slavery. It was sacred history - the inspired
record of the life of God's Son (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16-17). The
result of such an effort could never be to find the actual Jesus, but to obscure our view
of Him. What can modern liberal scholars and Peter Jennings know
about Jesus that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John didn't know? The gospel writers stand
alone in history as qualified recorders of Jesus' life. Anyone searching for Jesus, need
only to consult their accounts of Him.
Most adults with any knowledge of the Bible could probably discern that "In Search of Jesus" was not aimed at presenting Jesus
from a Biblical perspective at all. The day after the program aired, ABC News conducted a
poll in which they asked, "How has the media treated
Jesus?" 16.7% said
that the media "exaggerated Jesus' impact". 15% said that the media treated Jesus "truthfully."
But a whopping 68.2% said that the media had "devalued" Jesus. There is no doubt that the media has
successfully influenced many people away from accepting Biblical truth, but right now the
majority of people can still see what the media is trying to do. But what about the next
generation? God help us to "be watchful" and "to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered
to the saints" (Jude 3).
Editor's note: I didn't watch the show. However, what is reported here is in line with
what I have come to expect from the media and so called "scholars."
1. We need to realize that news people are looking for something that is attractive,
exciting, different -- to be "news worthy" in their
mind.
2. I've come to view "scholars" --who call themselves such to be an arrogant
group, feeling they KNOW SO MUCH! I've studied under some "Religious Professors"
who were just there, it appeared to me, as critics of the Bible and anything that claimed
to be Absolutely TRUE! How arrogant for people 2000 years from the scene to THINK they
know more than the "witnesses"! Don't be surprised. We'll see more and more, I
suspect.
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Page last updated: March 03, 2003