The Mistakes of Jesus | Page 2

modern
standards, it is important that his status as God, or man, should be
revised. Loss of confidence in an erring idol is not loss of a true ideal.
When an iconoclast asserts that Jesus lacked supreme intelligence, the
natural question is, "How do you know that you are right in your

appraisal, 'lest haply ye be found even to fight against God'?" The
answer is that we do not claim omniscience, but merely request
everyone to use his or her own judgment, with intellectual honesty,
examining each act or saying of Jesus without regard to presupposed
ideas or tradition.
Scriptures Unauthentic
The consensus of scholarship has rejected the creation of the universe
in six days in 4004 B.C., science having proved the existence of the
world for millions of years. Higher Critics refuse to credit the book of
Genesis, according to the first chapter of which the trees, beasts and
fowls were created before man, but according to the second chapter
after man. It is not assuming too much for the humblest writer to say
that Moses was mistaken concerning many things he described in the
Pentateuch. It follows that if one important portion of the Bible is
untrustworthy, other parts of that same book may not be the infallible
Word of God. The New Testament, as well as the Old, may be
examined critically, and if the gospels contain numerous contradictions,
the statements of the authors on any point, including the life of Jesus,
are open to question. A conscientious person should reach conclusions
based upon the best knowledge obtainable from all sources.
If anyone is convinced that Jesus made mistakes, he is not necessarily
compelled to become an atheist. All other Gods that have been
worshipped by men have been found imperfect. The oft exposed errors
of Jehovah do not prevent Christians and Jews from professing belief in
God. Those who require support from outside themselves cling to the
symbol of deity though not thoroughly crediting any personality ever
described in any sacred scriptures. Except Jesus.
An Evolutionist passes beyond the negative denial of God to the
construction of a new philosophy in which Truth is his guide, Truth
being the nearest approximation to reality obtainable with our present
knowledge. Belief in the world as it is now, and as it is going to be, is a
sufficient creed.
Faith in Jesus

With Jesus entrenched in popular opinion, there is small probability
that faith in him will be shaken unless there is a preponderance of
evidence against his divinity. No one need abandon faith in Jesus until
convinced that something better has been found. No one should even
expose himself to heretical arguments unless he is a devotee of Truth.
Then only can he rejoice at a revelation of error in confidence that the
more nearly the universe is understood the better can man adjust
himself to his surroundings. A worshipper of Truth fears no destruction
of false gods, nor any facts that may cause him to throw over treasured
superstitions. He is willing to prove all things and hold fast to that
which is true. He rejoices when his idol is shattered, knowing that he is
approaching nearer to the true way of living, a way that Jesus did not
adequately explain.
Any attempt to censure the character of Jesus will meet with the
ridicule it deserves unless substantiated by documentary evidence. The
mere improbability of events contrary to natural laws does not destroy
the ethical value of the teachings of the Nazarene. Anything might have
happened in the eerie days of old; the critic must do more than deny the
historicity of Jesus and the inspiration of the Bible. To be convincing
he must derive from the scriptures in which Christians believe whatever
proof can be deduced to unveil the superstition of a redeeming Savior.
Documentary Evidence
The documents most generally accepted by Christians are those
collected in the King James Version of the Bible. The Apocrypha and
other early manuscripts are unreliable. None of the thirty or more
writers who described events around Jerusalem in Jesus' time gives any
account of his teachings. The only life of Jesus is found in the four
gospels; the numerous biographers of Christ have had no other reliable
source of information. It is deceptive for the publishers of revised
editions of the Bible to claim that "original manuscripts" have been
consulted. Not one of the original manuscripts is in existence, the
earliest extant dating from the fourth century A.D., while the most
ancient portion of the New Testament in any museum was transcribed
in the sixth century.

Accepting, therefore, the King James Version of the New Testament as
the most reliable source of information, the question arises as to what
portion of the chapters therein may be considered authentic. Scholars
have