No Matter What
Contributor Writer: Nick Shelton
Could your faith withstand anything? What if archaeological
evidence disproved something in the Bible? What if parts of The Da Vinci
Code turned out to be true?
If scholars proved many of the plots in The Da Vinci Code to be fact, I
am sure that this would send a lethal blow to many Christians’ faiths.
Recently in Israel, there actually have been several discoveries of ancient relics that date back to Jesus’ time. One of which is a stone box called an ossuary that supposedly held the bones of James, the brother of Jesus. (As you probably know, James is also mentioned as being head of the church during the time that the book of Acts). An inscription on the ossuary reads: “James, The son of Joseph, The Brother of Jesus” One can imagine the significance of finding such an item that contains the bones of a kinsman of Jesus.
Many archeologists considered this find priceless. However, it was not an archaeologist who found this coveted artifact, but it was actually found by a Jewish man that had the artifact stored in his home since the late 1970’s. When this Jewish man realized what he had, he leased the artifact out to museums for a hefty price tag. Since the ossuary was immediately put on display at museums, the ossuary was never heavily studied. Even though no exhaustive research was done, scholars agreed that the box dated back to Jesus’ time and was genuine.
A couple of months later, another Biblical artifact was discovered
– it was a remnant of Solomon’s temple. The sacred relic was
put on sale with a price of a million dollars. Experts began to get suspicious,
however, when they traced the seller of this artifact back to the same Israeli
man that found James’ ossuary. Authorities investigated this man,
suspecting that he had had looted these two costly archaeological treasures
(stealing valuable artifacts from archeological digs is quite common in
the Middle East). Upon searching his apartment, authorities found a workshop
that the man had used to make fake archaeological evidence. The room was
filled with drills for designing inscriptions, charcoal and other carbon
containing materials that could make the objects appear to date back to
Jesus’ time; plus dirt from archeological sites that would make the
objects look like they came straight from an archeological dig.
This man was able to fool many experts for years and was able to make millions
of dollars in the process. The shocking part is that this scam was done
inside a small apartment by one man with a limited budget. Could you imagine
what could happen if a whole team of Harvard scholars who had millions of
dollars to spend teamed up to create such a work? This Israeli man was committing
this crime for the sole purpose of money, but what is stopping someone from
doing something like this to try to disprove something the Bible or the
existence of Jesus? Don’t think Satan doesn’t have something
up his sleeve.
Will something like this ever happen? I think the Da Vinci
Code could be the first step in swinging people’s perception of the
Bible. Who knows, this may be how the antichrist mentioned in scripture
will get some people to believe in him instead of God.
We need to ask ourselves, “Is our faith able to withstand seeing the
lies portrayed in The Da Vinci Code film?” Could our faith remain
strong if “experts” discovered archeological evidence contrary
to the Bible?
Everyday in our lives, we need to know without a doubt that
God is reigning over us and He is far great than we could ever imagine.
If we let our faith dwindle, our walk with Him will be tarnished by everyday
activities such as watching movies, reading books, viewing the nightly news,
and living in the sinful culture.
It is vital that we have the Bible as the chief form of guidance for our
life. When we know God is in control and have total faith in His word, we
continue to live as He has called us to do – no matter what is going
on in the world around us.
One day, we may experience persecution for our beliefs. There
may even be false evidence that comes to light that contradicts the Bible.
We must be confident in knowing that the Bible is the Truth. We must know
that if we keep our faith that God will reward us with blessings beyond
what we could ever imagine.
Who knows what will be next in Satan’s attack for the church? But
if we keep a firm faith in God’s word, we know we will be able to
withstand all the lies that this world tells us.