End of Christianity?

If you ever wondered how close "the end times" might be, you just needed to flip on CNN tonight. They've spent the entire evening talking about the supposed archaeological find that calls the very fundamentals of the Christian faith into question.

A controversial new documentary, made by Hollywood director, James Cameron, claims to have discovered the tomb of Jesus and his family. The documentary, due for release today, has already created uproar by claiming that it has found the bones of Jesus Christ. This is a finding which, if true, would attack one of the fundamentals of Christianity. The story goes back more than 25 years, to a quiet Jerusalem suburb called Talpiot. Construction workers were gouging out foundations when the earth gave way to reveal a 2,000 year old cave containing a number of stone caskets.Israeli archaeologists finally deciphered the writing on the tombs and found the names, which included Yeshua, or Jesus, son of Joseph and Mary. The makers of this documentary claim new DNA tests show the bones belong to Jesus and that the tombs show Jesus had a son called Judah. The evidence has apparently been enough to convince at least one senior academic in America, James Tabor, who is the Chair of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina.

I guess we could be grateful that finally the news media have stopped talking so much about Anna Nicole Smith or Britney Spears. However, this load of hooey is very close to the tabloid fodder. CNN reporters are giving statistics on the number of Christians in the world --- and how this will question the entire basis of their faith. Could it be the fall of Christianity? What if Christians have been deceived for centuries? What if Jesus never rose from the grave or ascended into heaven? Then everything that mankind has believed in for centuries is in question. Heck, even our calendar would be in question!

This is serious business folks. This is what the Bible warns us about. It is the seemingly logical and scientifically supporting "findings" that seem to call into question the very basis of our beliefs. Now perhaps you and I are mature enough in our faith not to be deterred by such nonsense. But I have to admit to being more than a little concerned about the vast numbers of baby Christians, who have never, ever matured --- who've been allowed to languish in their faith most of their lives. I'm concerned that they'll be dissuaded by these news stories. I'm concerned that what little faith they have will be rocked by their ignorance of the truth and their exposure to this garbage.

So now the Christian faith worldwide will be faced with this crap being shown in our movie theaters. Watch and see if the masses of Christians, probably getting discounts for their church groups ... will all flock to see this. You think I'm being cynical? This is just like the Da Vinci Code --- which was another load of Hollywood hooey created to make money by confusing people with distortions and perversions of truth. Folks, they're coming at us fast and furious. Better get your Bibles and get grounded in God's Word ... lest we all get sucked into this mess!