Ehrman Article--Comments

I feel I must respond to a few comments made in The Washington Post article on Bart Ehrman [see the link below for the article]. Ehrman is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute and was once a conservative evangelical. Text criticism, according to his own testimony, drove him to agnosticism.

• He tells a packed auditorium at the university of North Carolina that while many would say Jesus was either a liar, lunatic, or Lord, there is a fourth option--legend. His religion class is one of the most popular on campus. Isn't it sad that he is propagating an "agnostic" gospel to college students who usually revere the college professor and take what he says to be "gospel."
• He is quoted in the article as telling the class: "In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, you find no trace of Jesus being divine." Is that so? What about His own testimony that He is the Son of Man? What about His miracles? What about His own statements that He came to fulfill the Law? What about the voice of God at His baptism? What about His statements about His authority? What about demons' testimony? It may be true that He never said, "I am God," in the Synoptics, but there is strong testimony in them of His divinity.
• "In Mark," Ehrman is quoted as saying, "Jesus is terrified on the cross." Is that so? I get no sense of that by reading Mark 15. He firmly answers in the affirmative when asked by the religious leaders if he is the King of the Jews [v. 2]. His calm is remarkable before Pilate [v. 5]. There is no hint of his being terrified as Ehrman is reported to claim. His only statement from the cross in Mark is the cry: "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" This is believed to be the cry of the terrible separation between the Father and Son as Jesus took our sins upon Himself. The centurion is also amazed at Jesus' demeanor upon the cross as he says, "Truly this Man was the Son of God!" Ehrman's overstatement is remarkable.
• As in his book, Misquoting Jesus, there is emphasis upon the ending of Mark, the "woman caught in adultery" passage in John 8, and the Trinitarian passage of 1 John 5. If Mark's Gospel ended at v. 8 [which I believe it did], there is still testimony of Christ's resurrection, and the other Synoptic Gospels [Matthew and Luke] report resurrection appearances. The "woman caught in adultery" passage may not belong in John 8, but even if the passage is inauthentic [which is highly debatable], does the lack of that passage make Jesus less compassionate? There is no question that the so-called Johannine Comma is not part of the original text of 1 John, but there is more than adequate evidence for the Trinity in the rest of Scripture.

It seems that Ehrman's crises of belief really came to a head when he began to doubt God in the midst of the Ethiopian famines of the 1980s. The problem of a good God and the reality of suffering has been one that has been debated for centuries. Simply put, because of sin there is suffering, but the good God is with His children in the midst of their suffering. His own Son suffered; we will suffer.

Ehrman no longer attends church and doubts whether God pays attention. He calls himself a "happy agnostic;" he drives a BMW, is a poplular teacher, lecturer, author, etc. etc. etc. He believes when you die, there is nothing. It is unfortunate; it is sad. He is wrong. What bothers me most is that his students, late teens and early 20s in age, hear him and probably often believe him. I wonder how many of his students have embraced Ehrman's agnostic views. That's why I encouarge high school seniors to NEVER take a religion course on a secular university campus. There are many teaching just like Ehrman. Parents take note!

I appreciate the fact the story quotes Darrell Bock of Dallas Theological. "Even if I don't have a high-definition photograph of the empty tomb to prove Christ's resurrection, there's the reaction to something after Christ died that is very hard to explain away . . . How did these illiterate, improverished fishermen create such a powerful religion? I can appreciate people feel differently. But sometimes I wonder if we are not all guilty of asking the Bible to do too much."

Bock is also quoted as saying that the same evidence that brought Ehrman to doubt God strengthened his belief in God. Amen! Well said.