Part 2: Putting the Trial of Jesus on Trial
This post includes two sections. The first section explores the question: "Which is more important: Faith or Understanding?" Note, I live in Utah. Members of the Mormon Church hold that their church is The True Church and that the General Authorities have the correct understanding of Christ.
The second section examines Good Friday and the trial of Christ.
Faith v. Understanding
I was listening to local religious authorities pounding the message of faith. During the lecture the following question popped in my mind:
"Which is more important: faith or understanding?"
While religious authorities tend to emphasize faith over understanding, my mind screamed that understanding is more important than faith.
Faith without understand is superstition. People who hold faith over understanding throw themselves and their loved ones to the winds.
The religious authorities fire back that it is an act of hubris to think that my flawed mind is capable of understanding the mind of God!
But I am not claiming that I am understand God. In my previous post I pointed out that the ideas I have about God are not God.
I am a human. My mind can only understand things at a human level.
While I do not claim to understand God, I can understand the things that other humans say about God.
Since the self-declared authorities are human. I can understand and judge the things they say.
As I study the world, I can't help but notice that religious authorities say radically different things about God.
The authorities often say contradictory things.
Authorities have a long history of saying self serving things about God.
The authorities have a long history of saying things that are verifiably false.
I know that the ideas that I have about God are not God. Since churches were created by people. I am quite certain that the ideas that churches have about God are not God.
There is a gap between our minds and the world. The thoughts I have about cats is not a cat.
I do not claim to understand God, but I can understand the things that people say about God.
People tend to say contradictory and self serving things when they talk about God.
Now on to the trial of Christ
Good Friday is the Ultimate Crime Drama
The focus of Good Friday is the trial of Jesus. It is a very interesting trial as it deals with mans relation with God.
I like to approach this trial as a piece of speculative fiction.
The speculative question behind the trial is: What would happen if the authorities of the church met God face to face?
The answer, of course, is that the self-declared representatives of God would fail to recognize God. Even worse, the authorities would see God as a threat to their authority and would condemn God.
The Christian Bible presents the story of Jesus as a biography. There are numerous hints that Jesus might be the Messiah.
Out of fear, the authorities arrest Jesus and put him on trial.
The trial centers on the question of who speaks for God.
The trial investigates the claim that Jesus is "The Son of Man" which apparently is a reference to God. The court convicts Jesus of blasphemy then crucifies Jesus.
The trial hinges on a paradox. If Jesus was the Son of Man as claimed, then the authorities committed blasphemy when the convicted Jesus.
If Jesus was not the Son of Man; then the authorities were correct in their action.
This is why the trial and crucifixion of Jesus is such an interesting trial.
The trial of Jesus raises thousands of intriguing philosophical discussions. I decided to delete my exploration of these ideas.
What If Jesus Never Existed?
People did not keep good records two thousand years ago. Not surprisingly the archeological record does not independently verify the trial.
So, it is possible that Christ did not exist.
I think that this possibility adds layer of complexity to the trial.
This means that one can approach The Bible and really concentrate on the ideas in The Bible.
The question at the heart of the New Testament is simply: What would happen if God took on human form and came to the earth?
The same thing that happened in the days of Christ would happen today.
If God came to earth, our religious authorities would, in an effort to conserve their authority, reject Christ. Our political authorities, in an effort to conserve power, would reject Christ. Our business community would reject Christ. Christs closest disciples would try to disassociate from Christ in the time of need. Above all, the people would denounce and cast aspersions at Christ.
The core concept is true even if the Bible was speculative fiction.
After reading the Bible as speculative fiction the core question becomes: Did God take on Human Form as Jesus Christ? If so, then the Bible doesn't just tell the story of men putting a man on trial, the Bible tells the story of man putting God on trial.
Conclusion
This post had two parts. I questioned: Which matters more: Faith or Understanding.
I concluded that faith without understanding is superstition. So, it is wise to seek understanding before committing one's self to faith.
The second section examined the trial of Jesus as speculative fiction. Examining the story as speculative fictions elevates the story from being a typical crime drama to the story of man putting God on trial.
This vantage point might help people develop a deeper understanding of the ideas in The Bible.