Faith in resurrection is unshaken

Local ministers see little fallout from 'Lost Tomb' speculation

The resurrection is secure - at least that is the confident conclusion of local ministers who will be preaching the gospel of Christ risen from the dead today as Christians worldwide celebrate Easter.

Last month's Discovery Channel documentary, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus," created a media buzz and thrust speculation about Jesus' resurrection - the crux of Christianity - into the forefront of popular culture.

In Christian culture, however, the hubbub has been little more than a blip.

According to filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici, ossuaries found in the tomb in Jerusalem held the remains of Jesus of Nazareth and a few disciples and family members, possibly including a wife, Mary Magdalene, and a son, Judah. DNA findings and statistical evidence led to Jacobovici's conclusion.

But that conclusion, churches say, is false.

"It's pretty much ridiculous," said the Rev. Susie Merrin of St. Patrick's Episcopal Church in Bigfork. "There's no proof there."

Other pastors who have investigated the claims agree. Most, like Pastor Clint Theline of Faith Baptist Church in Kalispell, say the archaeological find doesn't agree with the Bible and is therefore not what it appears to be.

"We're fundamental Baptists, and we follow the word exclusively," he said of his congregation. "We feel pretty grounded as far as the Word is concerned. We don't put up with those goofy things."

But arguments against Jacobovici's claim come from outside the Bible as well.

"Serious research" conducted by Christian and secular scholars "all pretty much dismisses it as tabloid kind of stuff," said Pastor John Bent of Christ Lutheran Church in Whitefish.

"There have always been those that have been looking for a chance to make a buck," he said. "That kind of stuff makes money."

Most felt the evidence Jacobovici presented was insufficient.

"Given the religious experiences of the last 2,000 years, if something such as the bones of Jesus were found, religious tradition holds that relics … because they are so faith-inspiring, and also, there are always miracles attributed to them, one would wonder … how one would really ascertain they really were the supposed bones of Jesus?" said Father Victor Langhans of St. Matthew's Catholic Parish in Kalispell.

If the ossuary did, at one time, hold Jesus' bones, traditional Christian belief in a physical resurrection would receive its death blow, some claim. The filmmaker, however, maintains that Christian theology would remain unaffected - that the resurrection or the later ascension to heaven could have been spiritual instead of bodily.

Onle local pastor agreed that Christianity's basis is a resurrection that is not necessarily physical.

"Our faith is not based on the skin and bones and flesh person coming out of the tomb. It is based on a very different encounter with Christ after his death," said the Rev. Glenn Burfeind of First Presbyterian Church in Kalispell.

"My faith is not based on the physical resurrection of Jesus, but it is based on a resurrection."

That belief is what's important, Merrin agreed.

"It just doesn't make any difference," she said. "Things like that just don't impact what we're doing in our belief in Christ and our belief in being transformed in Christ's love and being agents of that transforming love in the world."

Other believers, however, would struggle to reconcile their faith with fact if the ossuary was proved to belong to Jesus.

"I think it would have a major impact on Christianity. I think people would walk away, because their faith is based on a physical resurrection," said Pastor John Ulrich of Lakeside Community Chapel.

"Christianity is based on the fact that Jesus is the only person that claims to also be the Son of God, and therefore the only person that has been raised from the dead in that manner," he added. "That then becomes the foundation of the faith, and if you take that away, he was just a good man who said a lot of good things."

Richard Whittet, senior pastor of Kalispell Foursquare Church, saw little evidence in the Jesus tomb story to challenge belief in a physically resurrected Jesus. It's a belief that skeptics have tried to prove wrong for nearly two millennia, he said.

"The facts about Jesus' resurrection were very well-accepted until the 300s, and then people started coming up with other theories," he said.

Originally, he said, the sheer number of witnesses - more than 500, according to Paul's first letter to the Corinthians - convinced many that Jesus really had risen from the dead.

"The spread of Christianity in the first century was just dramatic," Whittet said. "You'd have to have some pretty strong evidence to change any of that."

Of course, even eyewitness testimony didn't eliminate challenges to the claim that Jesus had risen.

"This challenge to Christ and his resurrection is not new," said Pastor Bill Myers of the Little Brown Church in Bigfork.

Jerusalem's priests and Pharisees - who would lose their religious authority if the story of the resurrected Christ was true - immediately went on the defensive. But, Bent said, that defense was weak at best.

According to the Gospel of Matthew, the story they concocted was that the disciples somehow managed to steal Jesus' body from the tomb. But how, Bent asked, could a band of disciples scattered and hiding after Jesus' arrest overpower the Roman guards on site?

"When you evaluate that, it's an absurd cover-up," he said. "But cover-ups usually are."

This is simply the latest attempt to deny the resurrection, said Dick Bishop, executive pastor at Kalispell Christian Center.

"From the very first year after his resurrection, there were stories about fraud and that it was fake and all of this," he said. "And it's just another one of those that will be proven to be that."

Jacobovici's claim will have no more impact on Christianity than other attempts to discount the resurrection, Myers said.

"Over the years, people have challenged Christ's resurrection," he said. "And what has it done to the church? Nothing. Because the church has continued to grow."

Merrin agreed.

"It's just one other little glitch that doesn't make a difference," she said. "And who's going to focus on that when we can make a real difference in the world?"

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com