Dear Sir,
We shared a table together at the banquet last Wednesday night. As I was engaged in a conversation to my left, I noticed the use of the name, "Jesus," repeatedly coming from across the table. For some unknown reason, you were using this venue to spread your vitriolic attack on the person of Christ and His church. Unfortunately, I was unable to give your discussion (monologue) any real attention because of the conversation that I was already involved in and because my wife was squeezing my hand to the point of pain, soundlessly warning me not to get involved.
As best I could understand, you were making the point that Christianity was not a real religion because it had no real ideas of its own. You started with the all-too worn idea that every single Christian holiday was actually co-opted from other religions. The date of Christ's birth, for example, was not really on 25 December, but was in March. The reason the church celebrates it in December is because they stole an existing holiday from another religion to subvert these people and force them to follow a false god. And that was only the start.
The real crux of your argument was that Jesus was not real. In fact, you made the point of telling everyone that Jesus wasn't even really His name. It was Joshua ben Joseph since Jesus is the Greek version of Joshua. How foolish, you said, that all these people hold the name of Jesus in high honor when that wasn't even really His name. [Here's one place where I wish I would have been able to respond. Sure, we know that Jesus is not the Hebrew name for our Savior. But Joshua wasn't either. To be technically accurate, we should call Him "Yeshua." But, does this matter? No body ever screamed out at the Oscars, "Wait, John Wayne is not his real name! It is Marion!"]
The next point that you went on about was that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was all "stolen" from the Egyptian Osiris myths. Thousands of years before Joshua ben Joseph was even born, you said, people believed in a god called Osiris who was crucified and who died and who was resurrected. This discussion went on for a while, but I couldn't hear all of it. I did hear the end, though, when you said, "This shows that all the stories about Jesus aren't real. They were just copied from another religion." [Note to readers: All the while, my wife had a death-grip on me to prevent a scene in the middle of a banquet of peers. If I had been able to respond, I probably wouldn't have been permitted to.]
So, since I couldn't respond to you at the moment, and since I have to admit that my best responses are always formulated after-the-fact anyway, here's what I wish I could have shared with you that night:
Sir, I find everything that you have said fascinating. I'm not sure what spiritual beliefs you hold, since you have spent this entire time expressing doubt and undue crticism to one particular religious group without offering any alternative of your own. But, if I may, can I share what I believe?
I believe in change. Not the change that President Obama proclaimed in 2008, but the change I see in the lives of other people. I may not be a scholar and intellectual giant as you are. I certainly haven't studied the myths of Osiris or the other co-opted beliefs of Christianity. But, I have seen change, and this is what I believe in.
I have seen change in the life of a girl who was extremely promiscuous and who drank to excess. Every weekend found her in a different bed. Every night was another bout with alcohol. It was party after party after party with no direction and no meaning in her life. But then she found Jesus, and her life changed. She no longer lives to party but lives for Him. She no longer offers her body to be used by others, but offers her body in service to Him, reaching out to the homeless and the sick and the elderly to show them love. She no longer allows alcohol to rule her life, but allows the Spirit to fill her daily. I saw the difference in her eyes when she came up out of the river I baptized her in. I saw the difference in her life and the way she has continued to live for Jesus. A life changed. Drastically, totally, and completely changed. Not because she believed in a myth stolen from another religion or based her religion on what she was told. But changed because of Who she met one night two years ago.
Or what about this man who was rejected by his parents. Who was told that by both of them that they didn't love him. Who was beaten by his father to "make him tough." Who all his life was rejected by those around him and told that he was worthless and a waste of time. This man quit school because a principal told him that he was just wasting his time and would never graduate and was probably going to go to jail anyway. This man who was thrown out of his father's house and who was rejected by his whole family. This man who was lost and alone. But, then, he found Jesus, and his life changed. Rather than being told that he was worthless and unloveable, he found love in the eyes of One who told him that he was worth dying for. He found love in a church family who supported him and told him that he was worthy, that he was important, that his life could have meaning. I watched as this young man found a good job, married his girlfriend, and is trying to make a life for her and his young daughter. I see the change in his bearing, in his appearance, in his character. This man's life changed because he found Someone who loved him just for who he was.
Now, sir, you can try to tell me that Jesus is not my Savior's name. You can try to prove to me with a scholar's learning that Christianity stole the legend of Osiris and applied it to Jesus. You can try to impress me with your criticism of the Bible and prove to me that it is wrong. But, you can't argue the change. You can't argue the fact that this Jesus who you say never existed has changed the lives of many, many people I know, myself included. You can't argue the fact that we, like the Apostle John in 1 John 1 says, are eyewitnesses of this fact. We know Jesus is real because we have touched Him, heard Him, talked with Him, lived with Him, and been loved by Him.
So, take that, you pompous and arrogant religious know-it-all, and please pass the salt.
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