From the DaVinci Code to Zeitgeist, the same old attacks are being made on Jesus’ divinity. Was Jesus divine? Something special? The Son of God?
The DaVinci Code says that the Church first decided to call Jesus divine at the Council of Nicea 325 AD. The first records that we have about the resurrection of Christ (meaning, His appearance to believers after his death and being placed in the tomb) were written within two decades of Jesus’ crucifixion. A guy who comes back from the dead (what other spiritual leader claims this–not as reincarnation, but as resurrection?) could comfortably called something divine, don’t you think? So the Council of Nicea claim from The DaVinci code is utter utter nonsense.
Also, in the Gospel narrative, all of the apostles were ready to quit the work–they went back to fishing, (literally!) after the death of Christ. They were downtrodden. Then they did a 180 degree turn and began to preach against all persecution and finally were killed for their belief. Because–why? Because they saw something that convinced them beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus was resurrected. This is all accepted as historical fact.
So:
- We have extremely early verifiable manuscripts and documents of eyewitnesses of the resurrection
- We have quite a few people who were willing to die for this testimony, creating a new world religion that exists until today
So, was Jesus divine? One thing we do know is that there was a resurrection! That would seem to end the debate.
(Ok, you ask, but is the Bible accurate?)