Basic Instinct' Director Paul Verhoeven: Jesus Was Son of Mary and Roman Rapist

Fox News posted this in the news today--

In his upcoming biography of Jesus, "Basic Instinct" director Paul Verhoeven will make the shocking claim that Christ probably was the son of Mary and a Roman soldier who raped her during the Jewish uprising in Galilee, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Catholic League President Bill Donohue called Verhoeven's claim "laughable."

"Here we go again with idle speculation grounded in absolutely nothing," Donohue told FOXNews.com. "He has no empirical evidence to support his claim, which is why they say 'may have.'"

Donohue also mocks the fact that Verhoeven — best known for directing the famous Sharon Stone crotch scene in "Basic Instinct" — reportedly worked on the book for 20 years only to come up with a "probably."

"He's been working 20 years trying to sell this argument and hasn't come up with anything. This won't make a dent with Christians, nor with scholars somewhat wary of the biblical account. It's a European version of Hollywood. He should go back to Sharon Stone's legs."

The 69-year-old Dutch-born director, who also directed "Showgirls" — starring Elizabeth Berkley in one of the most panned films of the '90s — and sci-fi action hits like "Total Recall" and "RoboCop," as well as the sci-fi bust "Starship Troopers," claims he and co-biographer Rob van Scheers have written the most realistic portrayal of Jesus ever published.

The book, which also states that Christ was not betrayed by Judas Iscariot, one of the 12 original apostles of Jesus, as the New Testament states, will be published in the Netherlands by Amsterdam-based Meulenhoff in September, according to the Reporter.

Verhoeven is in discussions for an English-language version, the show business newspaper reported.

Over the years, Verhoeven, who is Catholic and holds a doctorate in mathematics and physics from the University of Leiden, was a regular attendee of the Jesus Seminar, which was co-founded by the late religion scholar Robert W. Funk. The seminar called into question miracles and statements attributed to Jesus.

"The Jesus Seminar was big in the '80s and somewhat in the '90s," Donohue said. "They have been very controversial in challenging the accepted biblical account of Jesus. The goal is to question the divinity of Christ — to say he was nothing but a happy carpenter who worked at Lowe's or Home Depot."

Verhoeven, who turns 70 in July, reportedly has had a lifelong ambition to make a film about Jesus, based on scientific research. Verhoeven decided to write the book to raise interest in the project, according to the Reporter.

Calls to Verhoeven's representatives were not immediately returned.

Transition

“But we’ve never done it that way before” said one congregant to the new young pastor. These are words of death to any church or movement

Change is inevitable and change almost always involves a paradox. As one thing falls away, something new is created to take its place. Just as our bodies change and develop as we get older so does everything else around us: our thoughts and emotions, our relationships, our finances, and our health. Change is a basic ingredient of life.

But with change comes uncertainty, an unpredictability and that disrupts our stability and alters our life Change requires us to behave or respond in a new and different way. Doing something different often makes us uncomfortable.

Change may (and often does) require having to give something up. So our initial reaction to change is to try and ignore it, avoid it, resist it, or stop it. Transitition is what we do when a change comes

If change involves letting go of one trapeze bar in order to grab hold of another, the space in between - where you're left hanging in that nowhere place - is called transition.

Change is the event; transition is the passage, the becoming. In marriage it’s the time you learn how to be with this person you have married. If there is the death of a spouse it’s the time you learn to live alone.Transition means coming to terms with the new environment in which you find yourself.

The challenge for the Jesus Freaks born and raised in a Christian influenced— modernistic society is how to transition the church and the gospel in to a culture that has changed.

For instance, in the 60’s and 70’s people were searching for answers. Many turned to spirituality but found the promises made by gurus, Baghwan’s, and ascended masters falling hopelessly short in their promise to put us in touch with “the light”. But Jesus who said, “I am the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father but by me” delivered on his promise and put us in contact with God. All we needed for a revival was to some how draw a crowd and preach the truth. People responded in droves.

But that doesn’t really work anymore. All are seekers but most don’t know it. What I mean by that is for the past 25 years, schools, clubs, even churches have spent millions of dollars, and expended countless amount of energy trying to build Brittany and Sean’s self esteem. The result is there is little awareness of sin and need for Christ. Sin is for bad people and “we are not bad people”.

On top of that, society has created a culture of no consequences. In the 60’s or 70’s if a student misbehaved in class the teacher collared him and escorted him to the principal’s office (something I am familiar with). There the child’s parents were called and the trouble maker sent home, or suspended. Today, a teacher cannot place a hand on a student, for fear of a lawsuit. If a he is somehow able to coerce the kid to the principal’s office and the parent’s called, usually (my wife is a teacher) the parent’s are livid at the school!

Many students understand all too well the power they have and some hold some teachers hostage with an accusation of sexual abuse. Immediately, that teacher will be placed on administrative leave and will have to prove himself innocent rather than the student prove the teacher guilty. It could mean his career.

I was talking to a High School teacher the other day about this issue of consequences. When he talks to kids about rules, or penalties, they almost always have a “What if” clause.

All that to say that culture has changed radically which creates for us a huge challenge to take the timeless truth of scripture and transition them into this next generation. It is a challenge that we have never faced before in a predominately Christian influenced culture. This will require, pioneer spirit, courage as the church birth in a Christian influenced culture and framed by modernist thinking will no doubt criticize, ostracize, and resist the change—screaming deception! Deception! Most of all the transition needs leaders. People who see clearly what is essential doctrinally, scripturally and cannot be negotiated in any culture, and what must go.

You and I both know that God is capable of defending His truth and does a better job of it than you or me, but oif we do not get on top this problem of transition soon, the Jesus Freaks could be the last Christian generation

The Pastor's Inner War

One of the occupational hazards of pastoring is when people leave your church. We remind ourselves that Judas left Jesus and Peter denied Him, and encourage ourselves that we're not every body's cup of tea. Some are more spiritual about it and just move on without missing a step, others, like me, who are not gifted or charismatic teachers, and whose confidence is solely rooted in the Lord, take it very personal. It's hard not to when the folks leaving say "We just don't receive from you, pastor", or, "I am ADD and my attention span isn't very long", or "I really question your calling as a pastor".

I (we?) tend to question my calling, or if I heard God's leading as I prayed over a passage I was to teach or If we've ever really heard God at any time at all!

But I am encouraged by a passage of scripture one of my associates shared with me from 1 Corinthians 1 "For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles" (vv 21-23).

Like many of us, the apostle Paul couldn't make people happy either! The Jews came looking for a sign, the gentiles wisdom and he failed to meet either's expectations! So even the great evangelist, thinker, pastor, preacher the apostle Paul experienced the same problem we pastors do.

So I climb back into the pastoral saddle this morning determined once again to preach the whole counsel of God chiefly because the great need in the church today is not to get more Christians in the church but to get the word of God in to those who do come. 2Ti 4:3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

To my pastor friends who fight the same battle as I do "Don't give up the fight! Preach the word! Don't give in to the temptation to water down the scriptures just to keep people in the pews. Don't be boring but teach the full counsel of God!

The Culture of Entitlement is What Killed Stephanie

We live in an entitlement culture and it makes sharing the gospel very difficult. Yale Daily News reports "Here at Yale, graduate students claim entitlements to a union, health care for dependents and faculty position assurances, all on top of a free education, generous stipends and benefits. Affirmative-action policies entitle racial minorities to advantages in applying to universities and getting jobs over equally qualified candidates. Medicaid and welfare programs entitle the poor to health care, monthly income and food stamps. The ripe age of 65 entitles today's senior citizens to Social Security's benefits and Medicare's health insurance and prescription drugs. Federal subsidies entitle American farmers and agribusinesses to more than $20 billion in corporate welfare each year. The government hands out, and predictably, the people take."

The problem is that an entitlement culture denies individual responsibility and creates handy excuses for failure. Obese people and smokers claim entitlements to financial compensation by McDonald's and Philip Morris for damage caused by personal indiscretion. Crusaders for excuses like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan blame societal racism for the problems that plague the inner city rather than engage in a meaningful critique of a culture that perpetuates low expectations.

Bible study is ineffectual in a culture of entitlement. Most ask, "why do I need to know the bible?, I can just Google the information I need" In a culture of entitlement there are few if any consequences--we design our own life. And concerning God, it's Burger King "Have it your way" Terms like "sin" and "judgment" gets the same response as the RCA Victor dog!

This article written by Naomi Lakritz appeared January 9, 2008 in the Calgary Herald. I thought it was insightful. It's titled "The culture of entitlement is what killed Stefanie"

The killing of Stefanie Rengel is proof the chickens hatched by the child-centred education philosophy have come home to roost.

The 14-year-old Toronto girl was stabbed to death near her house on New Year's Day, allegedly because of an adolescent love triangle. A 15-year-old girl and her 17-year-old boyfriend face first-degree murder charges. The girl reportedly had told her boyfriend that she wanted Stefanie dead.

Stefanie's friend, Victoria Ham, told Toronto media she didn't understand how anyone could "crush someone so filled with joy. Why would anyone want to put out that light?"

Well, Victoria, for so many years now, teachers, parents and the other adults who people kids' lives have been busy telling them how special they are, without the kids first having to do anything to prove it. These adults have walked on eggshells around an entire generation of children, afraid of saying anything the least bit untoward because it might damage kids' self-esteem.

In the process, they've abdicated their duty to teach what's right and what's wrong. Instead, everyone must be non-judgmental, which means anything goes. Every child must exist in this egalitarian specialness defined only by the fact of being present and breathing.

Competition is seen as bad, so it was eliminated, and everyone on the team, from the top athlete to the klutz, gets a trophy, negating the healthy idea that one must put in the requisite hard work in order to walk away with a prize.

Consequences are mere shadows of their former selves, either eliminated or so diluted as to be utterly ineffectual. All this for fear of harming children's egos.

These are the tenets of the child-centred philosophy, which is often symbolized by a classroom in which kids sit at desks arranged so they face each other, their backs to the teacher who is on the periphery "facilitating" the learning experience. What greater metaphor could there be for the folly of this focus on the child as supreme authority, than a classroom in which the teacher becomes an appendage instead of the central figure?

My introduction to child-centred learning occurred when a Grade 1 teacher explained that my son would not be taught grammar. "We believe it's hurtful for a child to be told he's writing something the wrong way," she said.

This was a few years before teachers opted to switch from red pencils to purple to mark papers because "red" so jarringly screams "error!"

When you've gone through childhood with everyone constantly telling you how special you are, even though you've done nothing at all to earn it, you develop a supreme sense of entitlement that dictates because you're so special, you can do exactly as you please. You don't even have to worry about failing a math test any more, because the teacher will let you take it over again and she'll record the higher of the grades.

Whenever horrible things like Stefanie's murder occur -- and they seem to be occurring far more often than they used to -- there is much speculation as to root causes. Violence on TV, video games, single-parent households all get blamed. This speculation misses the point. If a child has received a good moral grounding, has learned that actions have consequences, that he has a collective responsibility to value others as much as he values himself, and understands that praise is won through hard work, then a video game, a TV show or whatever the root cause du jour is, isn't going to throw him for a loop.

But if he has passed through childhood receiving high praise for the mere act of inhaling and exhaling every day, he is going to be entitled. Carried along on the momentum of an exaggerated sense of his own wonderfulness, he won't see why he should face consequences, or why there should even be any.

Fatally stab a classmate because you want her out of your way? Why not? Toss a cat in the microwave, as did a group of Camrose teens this week? Sure, why not? Bully a classmate to the brink of suicide? Why not, if you feel like it?

After all, the world revolves around you. Haven't the adults been telling you that since you were born? Well, it must be true then. What reason would you have to doubt it when the message you've been getting is consistent across the board and down the years?

Undoing all the damage done in the name of self-esteem is going to be huge -- it's gone on so long. But we must continue to find news ways to present the old truths of Scripture "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" It will take a wrestling of the reigns from the hands of the culture on entitlement, but we must fight the fight.

Great Fear

I am teaching through the book of Acts and am in chapter 5 right now, and the story of Ananias and Saphira. If you remember, they brought a financial gift to the apostles from a land sale deal. But they were struck dead! Not because God didn't appreciate the gift, or because it's wasn't sufficient, but because the led people to believe that the gift given was the entire amount from the sale of the property. They were hoping to gain a little status at God's expense. But God will not be mocked and the both croaked!

What intrigues me to this passage is vs 11 where it says "Great came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things." because in the previous chapter, after the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the healing of the lame man at the Gate Beautiful, and the rapid growth of the church, chapter 4:33 describes this young body of believers as having great power and great grace.

And with the addition of "great fear" the picture is complete and God is now truly free to do his best work.

You see great power without great fear (respect or reverence for God) is a dangerous thing. History tells us that much from tyrants like Hitler, Stahlin and in our time Saddam Hussein. Great grace without the fear of God makes holiness and sanctification just theological terms. But when you have power and grace balanced by reverence for God then you are, as they say in the automobile business, "hitting in all 8 cylinders"

Look at what happened in vv 12-17: Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,

The church grew like never before, and the fair weather believers were culled out from the genuine disciples (vs 13), and expectations were high.

So my question for those who want to reach a lost world for Jesus is what's wrong with preaching a little "hell" once in a while? Seems today many shy away from words like, repentance, judgment, condemnation and hell. Some go as far as to remove the cross since it may communicate an offensive message. Others have deconstructed the word "hell" to mean something other than an eternal place of torment for non believers.

But from the story of Ananias and Saphira, it seems to me a little "fear" is exactly what the church needs right now.

In the 70's there was a test performed with two lab rats. One was placed in a comfortable environment with all the food and water it desired. There was a little wheel in the cage and the rat could exercise when ever it wanted. It was placed in a maze and ever move the rat made was the right one and he was always rewarded with a prize. This rat grew to be a fluffy beautiful rat with bright eyes and coat.

The other rat was exposed to adverse conditions. He was deprived of food, water for long periods of time. He was placed on a tread mill and forced to run or walk for long periods of time without rest.

Then one day the scientists took both rats and placed them in a bucket of water. The rat that had been pampered all of it's life didn't try to save it's life. He just gave up and sank to the bottom and drowned. the other rat that had been exposed to extreme conditions swam for several days before it finally drown.

The point? Maybe for the good of our own spiritual development, we could use a few more sermons on the fear of the Lord, and the Holiness of God. Seems many feel the holiness of God is trumped by His grace. Like the guy in 1 Corinthians 5 who was messing around with one of his father's wives (not his mom!). He was bragging about how good God's grace was that he could do something that immoral and still be in favor with God and not be struck dead. But Paul told the leadership to deal with that problem publicly and severely because it was not a picture of God's grace at all.

You see folks, god's grace runs a parallel path with God's holiness. While God is full of mercy and grace he is at the same time holy. And it makes for a conundrum of sorts until you understand that the holiness of god and the grace of God meet at the cross. And when the spirit of god comes into a person, he is led by the Spirit towards Christlikeness or holiness. We will never achieve complete holiness until our glorification but we spend the rest of our lives becoming like Christ.

So "great grace, great power and great fear" It's a good balance. !

The Grinch Who Stole Easter

Well it's that time of year again. Not, bunnies, eggs, chocolate, and green shredded plastic in baskets and peeps. I mean it's that time of year again when Christians debate the origins of Easter, decide if it's pagan holiday and whether to celebrate the Lord's resurrection.

I did a little research on the origins of Easter and here is some interesting info:

Easter, is the day Christians commemorate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his Crucifixion. It's origins date to the beginnings of Christianity, and it is probably the oldest Christian observance after the Sabbath

Many cultural historians find, in the celebration of Easter, a convergence of the three traditions - Pagan, Hebrew and Christian.

According to St. Bede, an English historian of the early 8th century, Easter owes its origin to the old Teutonic mythology. It was derived from the name "Eostre," the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, to whom the month of April was dedicated. The festival of Eostre was celebrated at the vernal equinox, when the day and night gets an equal share of the day.

The English name "Easter" is much newer. When the early English Christians wanted others to accept Christianity, they decided to use the name Easter for this holiday so that it would match the name of the old spring celebration. This made it more comfortable for other people to accept Christianity.

But the Easter festival, as celebrated today, is also related to the Hebrew tradition, of Passover which is celebrated during Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew lunar year.

It was during this Passover in 30 AD that Christ was crucified under the order of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate when the Jewish high priests accused Jesus of "blasphemy". The resurrection came three days later, on the Easter Sunday.

The first Christians, were mostly Jewish and regarded Easter as a new feature of the "Pascha" or Passover." So it was observed in memory of the Messiah, as foretold by the prophets. It is equated with the proclamation of the resurrection. So for the early Christian believers, Passover turned out to be a unitive celebration in memory of the passion-death-and resurrection of Christ.

At the same time many of the pagan spring rites came to be a part of its celebration.This may have been because of the increasing number of gentile/non Jewish converts who could not totally break free of the influence of pagan culture of their forefathers.

This is what seems to bother most people. But despite the influence, there was an important shift in the spirit. No more was there glorification of the physical return of the Sun God. Instead the emphasis was shifted to the Sun of Righteousness who had won banishing the horrors of death for ever.

Some say Easter was Emperor Constantine's plan to Christianize the Roman nation so he took the pagan holidays and Christianized them. But the Feast of Easter was well established by the second century. But in the 4th century there arose a debate over the exact date of the Easter observance between the Eastern and Western Churches. The East wanted to have it on a weekday because early Christians observed Passover every year on the 14th of Nisan. But, the West wanted thought Easter should always be a Sunday regardless of the date.

To solve this problem the emperor Constantine called the Council of Nicaea in 325. The question of the date of Easter was one of its main concerns. The council decided that Easter should fall on Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. But fixing up the date of the Equinox was still a problem. The Alexandrians, noted for their rich knowledge in astronomical calculations were given the task. And March 21 was made out to be the perfect date for spring equinox.

The dating of Easter today follows the same. Accordingly, churches in the West observe it on the first day of the full moon that occurs on or following the Spring equinox on March 21., it became a movable feast between March 21 and April 25.

Still some churches in the East observe Easter according to the date of the Passover festival.
The preparation takes off as early as on the Ash Wednesday from which the period of penitence in the Lent begins. The Lent and the Holy week end on the Easter Sunday, the day of resurrection.

So regardless if Easter has it roots in Paganism or not I don't care. It is a time when I call to remembrance the Lord's death and resurrection for my sins and hopelessness. And Even if it is a converted Pagan holiday, It is only right. Like me what was once the enemies' has been converted into something giving glory to God.

Do folks enjoy this holiday...For He is Risen..Indeed He is Risen

Preaching or A Conversation

This last week, I attended a preaching practicum taught by Dr. Art Azurdia at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon. The class was limited to 8 pastors (from varying theological and educational backgrounds), and each of us was assigned a passage of scripture to teach from the book of Ruth.

Art began the class by asking what we hoped to gin from the class. Most wanted to improve their study and delivery but one pastor confessed he struggled with whether preaching or the lecture format was the best form of communication. He felt the best learning style involved interaction and resembled a conversation.

While I echo my friend's concern, and like him, have struggled with the whole "lecture--talking head" thing, as I look at the New Testament, I see that John the Baptist preached. Jesus went around to cities and villages teaching and preaching. Peter preached on the day of Pentecost when 3,000 came to Christ, and as you read the book of Acts, preaching seemed to be the main means the apostles used to communicate the truth of Christ's death and resurrection.

Paul in the book of 1Corinthians said in 1Co 1:21 "For since in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom did not know God, God was pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save the ones believing".

The opposition to preaching comes largely from the Emergents who among other things are reacting to the Seeker Friendly movement which focused upon image over content; the marketing of the church, and, on the other end of the spectrum, the celebrity pastor driven churches.

Now if retention of information is a goal of pastors, I readilyagree that preaching may not be the best form of communicating. But the problem with "conversation" is potential to become egocentric and to stray away from important theological truths.

So what's the answer? Do we as the Emergents suggest move to small house groups where people discuss and discover or do we hold the party line of Evangelicalism and limit the transmission of information to preachers?

The answer is both. We need groups where the word is discussed and skilled leaders facilitate conversation. Personally, I am involved with several groups that use this format and I have found it much to my liking and my learning style. But we also need the preaching of the word, by a skilled exegete and careful speaker.

Let me illustrate my point. A guitar depends on 6 strings to generate sound. Each string covers a particular audio range from High--midrange--to low notes. When played together they generate a very pleasing sound. For purposes of this illustration each of those strings represent an aspect of the church. Small groups, Sunday school, book discussion groups, Substance behavioral meetings, bible study, etc. But the guitar needs to be tuned to sound good and so a standard note called A440 is the note guitars and all instruments through out the word are tuned to. In other words A440 in France is the same note in Spain or America.

And I see preaching as A440 that all the other bible studies and ministries must tune to. And so that preaching must be true to the text and what the author intended to say.

At the preaching practicum all of us gave good sermons but very few of us said the the author said. We all interposed some of our own "sermon points". For instance, the section of Ruth I dealt with spoke of Naomi's hardship and numerous statements "God dealing harshly with me?". I began the message with the statement "I don't struggle with why bad things happen to good people, but rather, why do bad things happen to God's people". While it was a good sermon and my point biblically substantiated, it wasn't what the text was dealing with! The text was dealing with adversity being applied by a loving God to Naomi and Ruth to get them to move from Moab to Bethlehem where Ruth and Naomi's problems would be solved and God's will accomplished because Messiah, who was in the lineage of Ruth was to be born in Bethlehem.

So preaching is not to be replaced by a more effective means of transmitting information or conversation, conversation is to be held in tune by solid biblical teaching. The clear proclamation of scriptures are the standard that holds conversation in line.

So here's how it works at CCS. We have small group, mothers groups, men's groups, womens groups and other groups. They talk, share, discuss, learn and pray. But the pulpit is reserved for the proclamation of God's word. Not textual messages or topical messages but exegetical messages where what the integrity author of a letter or gospel or book is presented.

That, I think, is a good balance between preaching and conversation. while I love the mystery of God and cannot deny it; we walk in truth not in mystery