A Theologically Significant Conversation
Part of my mission for Opening Blind Eyes is to minister to the staff as well as the inmates. Sometimes officers seek me out to share prayer requests for themselves and their families. At times I engage in spiritually significant conversations with non-Christian officers. Let me share a recent example.
A Muslim officer oversaw the chapel as a short-term replacement. He told me that Muslims await Jesus’ return. He explained that Muslims do not believe that Jesus died. Instead, God took him up to heaven as he had done with Elijah. He added that the Romans crucified the wrong person.
I assured him that Christians also await Jesus’ return. But my training as an ancient historian led me to believe it was very improbable that Jesus did not die. The courtroom is a good model for an historian. If the prosecution and the defense agree on certain things, these things are likely to be true. For example, they might agree that a crime took place at a certain time and location but disagree on the identity of the perpetrator. From this I conclude that it was likely that a crime took place at this certain time and location.
Both early Christians and early Jews were opponents. They agreed that there was a man known as Jesus of Nazareth. They concurred that he worked wonders (Christians claimed he was a miracle worker while Jews maintained he was a magician). Both granted that some of his followers claimed that he was the Messiah. Both agreed that he was crucified by the Romans and placed in a tomb. Both concurred that the body was missing from the tomb (Christians asserted that God resurrected Jesus from the dead while Jews argued that the disciples stole the body).
Therefore, it is very probable that Jesus of Nazareth was a man who worked wonders. His followers claimed the he was the Messiah. He was crucified by the Romans and his tomb was empty. It was not until 700 years later that Mohamed claimed that contrary to the claims of Jesus’ contemporary prosecutors and defenders, Jesus did not die.
The officer and I parted on good terms and he agreed to think about our conversation. I look forward to spiritually significant conversations with him, with other officers and with inmates.
Thanks for your prayers and support that sustain this ministry.
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