CONSIDER THE SOURCE AND IGNORE THE FOLLY OF BIBLICAL SCHOLARS

The Jesus Seminar, a group of 200 biblical "scholars" last week concluded six years of voting on the accuracy of those statements attributed in the Gospels to Jesus.

Their conclusions? Most of the words attributed to Jesus likely were made up by later authors.

The Jesus Seminar members depict a prophet-sage Jesus who told parables and made succinct comments, but never spoke many of the words that have become pulpit favorites and have shaped the thoughts and actions of Americans for generations.

I'm certain these seminarians think their work to counteract those who take literally the Bible particularly the words of Christ will have broad repercussions. But I doubt it will.

These are the same liberal "men of God" who debate such things as whether it's appropriate to ordain homosexuals and the "virtue" of socialism/communism." They also question Christian tenets of the Trinity, Immaculate Conception and the fallen state of man.

The American public gradually has become weary of these "broad-minded" clergy who have made themselves irrelevant with their loose interpretations of God and morality.

Those people, who spend their lives trying to water down the Scriptures and escape orthodox Christianity's inherent accountability, have little credibility with those of us who use our own experience and intuition as evidence of the Bible's reliability.

When considered only as a historical document, the words of the Bible recorded over several centuries by dozens of writers from every possible educational and social background convey a strikingly constant theme. It's a theme that, in the Old Testament, points clearly toward a coming Messiah who would establish a new covenant between Holy God and fallen mankind.

To read Messianic passages from Isaiah, for example, it's hard to imagine the book was written by a Jewish prophet centuries before Jesus was born. It doesn't take a "Bible scholar" to conclude that historical accounts of Jesus' life, whether biblical or secular, are consistent with the Old Testament prophesy.

Why is it so hard to believe, if you hold the world view that there is an omniscient Creator who has the ability to inspire the writings of man, that He would use Isaiah's hand to pen His words?

But I doubt the concern of the Jesus Seminar members is with the Bible as a whole, as much as it is with those Scriptures that hold man accountable to a holy, just God.

The group has stirred controversy since its first meetings in 1985, when its members voted down the apocalyptic voice of Jesus when he is quoted as saying he will return one day to a world filled with turmoil.

Scholars felt that the doomsaying words were put on the lips of Jesus to bolster hopes of gospel writers about 30 to 60 years after his lifetime.

I can understand these scholars' concern. When one considers the unfailing track record of biblical prophesies, such "fire and brimstone" messages could be cause for some anxiety.

How convenient it is to simply call yourself a biblical scholar, have a six-year meeting with like-minded souls, then vote to determine the words were only the fabric of the writers' own religious biases and wishful thinking.

It's curious how these Bible scholars determined what were Jesus' words, apparently to be paid attention to, and what were the words of the particular gospel writer.

They dropped red and pink beads into a ballot box for "probable or possible authentic" sayings. Gray and black beads were used for sayings that allegedly reveal the "theological bias of the gospel authors" or the "beliefs of beleaguered early Christians," but not necessarily the messages of the historical Jesus.

Thus "enlightened," the scholars "blacked out" most of the Gospel of John. What a system! In an instant, with the simple cast of a ballot, the seminarians no longer have to be accountable to Jesus' admonitions and instructions that might make them uncomfortable.

Only one saying in John received a pink vote (4:44) that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

In other words, throughout Jesus' life on earth, his only words that one of his closest friends, John, and those who associated with him, were able to "get right" in their accounts, were those that happened to be utterly devoid of controversy.

The group black-beaded parts of John that include 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life," and 14:6: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

In John, Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd ... I am the light of the world ... I am the bread of life." That, Robert Fortna, a member of the group from Vassar College said, "is mostly the work of the author."

Robert Funk, founder of the Jesus Seminar, acknowledged in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that his group has critics. "Televangelists on talk shows say it's the work of the devil," Funk said.

Nice technique Bob. The public's perception of "televangelists" is one thanks to people like Funk and, largely, the media of doomsayers who are only out to "fleece their flock." Funk implies that only the televangelists, and those "silly enough to believe as they do," would question the Jesus Seminar's work.

I think Funk needs to adjust his perspective. What God-fearing person of any Christian affiliation wouldn't label the seminar's mission the "work of the devil?" Their votes, after all, undermine the very passages of the Bible that define God's new covenant with man.

It certainly would be reasonable to assume that robbing God's most beloved creation, man, of God's plan of redemption as outlined in the Holy Scriptures, would head the devil's list of priorities.

My suggestion to those men and women who might be concerned with the results of the Jesus Seminar's work is this: Learn which pulpits these liberal "scholars" are espousing their views from and avoid them like sin.

As far as their "findings," which conclude that John wasn't able to repress his biases enough to accurately record more than a single saying of his God, Jesus, I say: Consider the source and ignore this group's folly.