From Chapter 5 – Was Jesus Divine? © 2020 by Emory Lynn.
In his time there were miracles that Jesus could have performed, and many would say he should have performed, for which no known natural or logical explanation could possibly suffice. A Godly Jesus would have had inside, supernaturally derived information that would have been of enormous enlightenment and benefit to mankind. The disclosure of such information would have come to prove that Jesus was the Christ of Christianity. However, the New Testament and early Christian writings fail to present any evidence that Jesus ever corrected a single aspect of any erroneous worldview about physical reality. What if Jesus had taught that God’s creations extended unimaginably farther than anyone could see in the night sky, and that the earth was just a very tiny speck in all of creation? Imagine the amazement if Jesus had said that the heavenly bodies did not move around the earth; the earth moved around the sun; the earth was not at the center of an unimaginably large universe; the earth did not rest on pillars; it was shaped like a ball rather than a flat disk; it was impossible to see all parts of the earth from any single place; there were great oceans covering most of the earth; far across these oceans were millions of people with cultures far different from their own.
Christian apologists might say that such information wasn’t particularly important; it would not have affected the daily lives or the welfare of mankind. However, the Bible tells us that one of the reasons Jesus performed miracles was to help people, and the prevailing worldview was laden with erroneous beliefs that severely affected human welfare:
- Microorganisms, generally much too small to see (bacteria, viruses, parasites and toxic fungi), were natural causes of diseases that were thought to be God’s punishment for sin.
- There was no knowledge that diseases could be transmitted to humans by life forms such as mosquitoes, fleas, lice, mites, ticks and rodents.
- Neurological and developmental disorders that cause abnormal behavior were all too often mistaken for demonic possession.
Imagine the extent of human suffering that Jesus could have easily eliminated had he taught the multitudes that personal hygiene and sanitation were crucial in stopping the spread of most diseases; that to reduce diseases transmitted by vermin, people should avoid attracting them with an unclean environment; and that many disorders that caused aberrant behavior were not the work of demons and should not be treated as such.
The seventh chapter of Mark portrays a Jesus who did not understand the problem of food borne illness. Around Jerusalem, Pharisees and Jewish scribes had noticed that some of Jesus’ disciples were ignoring Jewish tradition by eating without washing their hands or doing other things to insure that their food was clean before being eaten. Pious Jews did not eat unless food was washed and cooking and eating utensils were washed and their hands were thoroughly washed. This was a tradition passed down by Jewish elders without an understanding of the practical benefit. They would not have understood the diseases that could be transmitted through food. When Jesus was confronted about his disciples’ neglect, he chastised his accusers for abiding by the traditions of man rather than living by the laws of God. When the disciples asked about the Jewish tradition, Jesus chastised them too: “Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out in the draught …” (Mark 7:18). It’s evident that Mark’s Jesus did not understand that infections and diseases could be caused by bacterial, viral, fungal or parasitic agents that could enter the body through the mouth—salmonella, E. coli, botulism, brucellosis, cholera, hepatitis, leptospirosis, giardia and many other health offenders. The Mark evangelist who penned these verses would not have known better. The Christ of Christianity would have known better. Following this guidance from Jesus could have resulted in illness or an early death, not to mention epidemics on a community or regional scale.
It took mankind nearly two millennia after Jesus’ ministry to figure out much of this. In the meantime, billions of people suffered or died from preventable diseases they did not understand—diseases that the Christ of Christianity would have clearly understood and should have included in his ministry of love and healing.
