Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Eeek! Misinformation

Hi! Let's just go right ahead and assume that Jesus Christ existed, as represented in the Bible. I say let's assume because there are some discrepancies between the historical facts and the Biblical documentation, and then there's the whether you believe that guy was the son of God discussion. I am not trying to talk anyone into or out of any particular viewpoint concerning Jesus and his status as a deity or messiah. Promise. But. Just because the Bible is an old book does not make it a history book. This whole the Jews killed Jesus is driving me nuts. I make no claims to Biblical scholarship but the Jews did not kill Jesus. He was arrested by the government in part for claiming to be King of the Jews. Certainly the people who arrested, tried, convicted, and executed him were likely Jewish. But that's like saying every time we execute people in the US that the Christians killed him/her since our country is predominately Christian.
After the "Passion of the Christ" raised controversy, in particular Jewish groups complaining that the movie implied a Jewish plot to kill Jesus, something Christian authorities and scholars agree is incorrect, I had a co-worker ask why they were so concerned since the movie was "historical". I corrected that it was "Biblical". And I have since learned that many Biblical scholars find the movie inaccurate.
Well, here we go again. I learn on DCist this morning that Delegate Frank Hargrove said to the Daily Progress, "Are we going to force the Jews to apologize for killing Christ? Nobody living today had anything to do with it. It would be far more appropriate in my view to apologize to the Upper Mattaponi and the Pamunkey”.
I actually have a bit queued up about slavery and reparation so I'll leave that piece of it for now. I love parallels and comparisons, even faulty ones, but this drives me nuts. What Jews are you planning to ask for apology? (And why does it make more sense to apologize to the native peoples than slaves?) This makes as much sense as the gentleman from Oregon comparing our Iraq policy to "Star Trek". (Watch "The Daily Show" - It's astounding.) You won't be asking "the Jews" for an apology because they did not kill Christ. The government and the country that existed back in BC no longer exists. So, you will have to, as they say, get over it.