Some have found a crisis of faith in this present darkness. A lot of bad theology has had to be discarded. Unfortunately, so often, the baby has been thrown out with the bathwater. Some end up throwing out theology altogether. What they fail to see is they are throwing out also sensibility thinking they are only discarding the spiritual in an enlightened age as they are thrown out of the boat simply because it got rocked.
David Falk is an Egyptologist who recently has tackled one such now critic but former fundamentalist in his latest popcorn episode where he surveys YouTube videos on his own channel to give a much better-balanced view of the landscape rightly connecting the false dichotomy many make in the extremities of biblical minimalism against its supposed alternative in biblical maximalism. Yet, in the middle somewhere, truth stands firm to the end! I invited Dr. Falk for an interview on another podcast for the very same reason. A previous guest touted a rather poor attempt at “proving the Exodus” by David Rohl in his “Patterns of Evidence” documentary which lacks much actual genuine evidence for the Exodus being historical.
Rohl’s attempt is a bit more of the hysterical side of extremes. While the production quality is stellar in comparison to most Christian attempts at media, unfortunately, the scholarship is not. Falk was able to handily show why Heiser and many others have come to question Rohl’s sad attempt to shift history some three centuries and ignore much of the pertinent scholarship. I would advise one to visit Dr. Falk’s channel often when needed. He has a multiple-part series on evidence for the Exodus.
Most of those familiar with Dr. Heiser know of his current condition dealing with pancreatic cancer, yet even he has felt the need to post recently addressing some of this nonsense. There is an important middle-of-the-road approach whereby we can discard a lot of the materials that are outside reasonable logic while at the same time holding onto what makes the best sense of the data without losing one’s faith. Faith and reason while for some at opposite ends of the spectrum must not be oppositional. One can have reasons (and reasoning) to believe! The Keith Whitelam’s of the critical world may continue to paint a bedlam of Christianity that does not exist for those who have delved into academia and found footholds. When the biblical account is given its fair due amid the extant evidence available, it can be held high without driving the bus off into the ditches of the extreme descents many had veered off into and careened down into deep ravines often needing miraculous deliverance to just die. One can find more about the data points briefly surveyed in A Biblical History of Israel.
Currently, it would seem the idea that to live the “good life” one is only to experience what is “good” while all else invisibly by the powers of heaven are thwarted from touching God’s “anointed ones” is finally get its due in the court of public opinion once more. Apparently, though, the Covid-19 pandemic has dealt a serious blow with some major figures falling out of favor with their followers over failed dramatics. Their antics have failed to bring any measure of success against the virus’s spread. One’s theology will get tested in times like these.
However, it should make us return to our roots to grow stronger. Seed in the good soil remains and is found faithful and productive regardless of what one faces. Seed by the wayside grow fast but wither when tested. That is why it is called “faith.” Faith is required when one is being tried to choose to find reason to hold onto when all else seems lost.
Many find in Paul’s Corinthian correspondences much ado about spiritual gifts riffing off other aspects in the Pauline corpus about the powers. However, they fail to get behind his gospel’s true power as I argued in my MA thesis found in the weakness humanity finds itself mired in in this life. Some question Paul’s character because of all the woes he faced in ministry as if that was a mark of cursed life. Such living (according to them) is hardly the blessed life they wish to embrace and exude. Paul brushes them off readily.
A possible defense is one can see how much Paul has gone through, and yet through it all, he remains standing while others tout that they have “victory in Jesus” simply because they have avoided any such tragedies because of some apparent divine favor that protects them to ward off all evil. This mentality has become their way of escape into their delusional utopia that is more a fairy tale than having any sense of reality. [So many pastors and Christians have needlessly died during the pandemic for not protecting themselves as an act of “supposed” faith.] They remain free from trials while Paul is free through them and despite them showing that no matter what the world throws at him, nor even the powers, by God’s grace he is still standing having fully experienced the afflictions associated with a life in ministry totally sold out to Christ. He has counted the cost and is willing to pay the price!
If one is to follow Christ in the measure Jesus embodied the faith as Paul did, one can only expect the world to mount attacks against God’s coming kingdom in the here and now even as we all await the not yet that comes in the Parousia. Paul can stand still (Ps 46:10) through any amount of calamity and survive the waves in turbulent times as Peter did with Jesus riding them. Now that is a marked difference! Victory is not free from conflict—it is freedom won despite conflict!
