Backsliding the code

Before I really get started, may I retell this story of an interview between Lee Strobel and Charles Templeton, a Christian-turned-agnostic. This interview was found in the book 'The Case for Faith' and the reason why I want to retell this here is because of the way the whole interview ended. Basically, Lee Strobel was examining the objections for faith in the book and the interview with Templeton was his first stop in this spiritual journey. Now I'm going to start at the point when they started talking about Jesus:

'He was,' Templeton began, 'the greatest human being who has ever lived. He was a moral genius. His ethical sense was unique. He was the intrinsically wisest person that I've encountered in my life or in my readings. His commitment was total and led to his own death, much to the detriment of the world. What could one say about him except that this was a form of greatness?'

I (Lee Strobel) was taken aback. 'You sound like you really care about him,' I said.

'Well, yes, he's the most important thing in my life,' came his reply. 'I...I...I,' he stuttered, searching for the right word, 'I know it may sound strange , but I have to say... I adore him!'

I wasn't sure how to respond. 'You say that with some emotion,' I said.

'Well, yes. Everything good I know, everything decent I know, everything pure I know, I learned from Jesus. Yes...yes. And tough! Just look at Jesus.He castigated people. He was angry. People don't think of him that way, but they don't read the bible. He had a righteous anger. He cared for the oppressed and the exploited. There's no question that he had the highest moral standard, the least duplicity, the greatest compassion, of any human being in history. There have been many other wonderful people but Jesus is Jesus.'

'And so the world would do well to emulate him?'

'Oh my goodness, yes! I have tried - and try is as far as I can go - to act as I have believed he would act. That doesn't meant I could read his mind, because one of the most fascinating things about him was that he often did the opposite thing you'd expect -'

Abruptly, Templeton cut short his thoughts. There was a brief pause, almost as if he was uncertain whether he should continue.

'Uh...but...no,' he said slowly, 'he's the most...' he stopped, then started again, 'In my view,' he declared, 'he is the most important human being who has ever existed.'

That's when Templeton uttered the words I never expect to hear from him. 'And may I put it this way,' he said as his voice began to crack, 'I...miss...him!'
- The Case for Faith, page 21-22

Please bear in mind that Templeton was once a Christian who later declared himself to be an agnostic. This is one person who had followed Christ so wholeheartedly in the past and had came to backslide away from God. In fact, when I read this part, I could almost feel his pain after backsliding. In fact, the most painful way of existence is knowing that God exists, and yet refuse to acknowledge Him. Templeton, according to this interview, showed himself to be that way. He recognised that Jesus Christ existed and he recognised that Jesus Christ is the most important human being who ever existed. And implicit in his words, he recognised that Jesus Christ is God...

But speaking about this discrepancy between the Jesus of history and Jesus of faith, when people tried to separate this two apart, I would like to mention this book called the 'Da Vinci Code' written by 'dear favourite' Dan Brown. In the book, Dan Brown claimed that the bible is a product of man, not of God. And after that, he refused to use the bible to substantiate whatever claims he were to make. Basically, he relied on agnostic sources and sources which emerged a few hundred years after the life of Jesus to make his claims. In short, he summarised these sources into one good novel called the 'Da Vinci Code'. I have no interest in explaining to everyone about the historical reliability of the bible, nor dispute the claims of Dan Brown here. But I would say that the book is indeed a Godsend to the world. Why?

Now, look at it this way. We have a book that attempts to refute the bible as the God-inspired Words and also as reliable history too by summarising all the claims of other counter-sources. What does it mean? It means that for someone who is willing to examine the whole issue of historical reliability in the two books, once he can disprove one book, the validity of the other will be highly elevated. In layman's term, if I can counter and refute the argument put forth by Dan Brown, I'll be more able to establish the historical and theological reliability of the bible.

But one thing I must say: the study of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code will never be complete without the examination and the inclusion of the bible through the application of proper historical methods to test the sources as rigorously as possible. If one exclude the bible and take the claim of Dan Brown at face value, it will be as if like I'm only examining the evidence given by the prosecutors and ignoring altogether the evidence provided by the defendant.

In conclusion, before I retreat to my bed to catch some sleep, if one wants to know more about Christianity, he cannot neglect the bible and treat it with prejudices and bias. I would say that one ought to treat the whole issue with an open and neutral mind like a jury in exploring this issue of Dan Brown vs God. Needless to say, I have already placed my bet on one side...