The Joshua House
a missional community of worship following Jesus...

So I watched a couple of very interesting interviews on CBC’s The Hour recently, one with Tony Campolo and the other with Franklin Graham, that’s right, son of the well-known Billy Graham.  Each is unique and perhaps helpful in it’s own way but I thought I would post them both here and ask the question:

Who do you think most likely got George S. (host of The Hour) to personally look further into the real Jesus?  What about the rest of watching Canadians?

Both seem to be on the same side but take a very different approach, so who was being more missional?  More faithful/relevant to the gospel?

Tony?  Franklin?  Neither?  Both?  A little of both?  A lot of both?

Tony Campolo on The Hour

Franklin Graham on The Hour 

I’d love to hear your thoughts! 

The next two Sunday nights will tie in nicely with our Lost Tomb of Jesus discussion as we will be exploring the story of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus according to the gospel of John. As opposed to what James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici would have you believe the gospel of John paints an incredible picture of the events leading up to and including the reality of Jesus (God with us) being murdered on a cross by the Romans and then three days later rising again, defeating both death and the power of sin over mankind.

This Sunday we will be looking at John 17 & 18.  For those who saw Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, chapter 17 starts on the walk to the olive garden late in the night where he prays with his friends and on his own moments before being arrested.  In chapter 18 Jesus is confronted by the Jewish high priest and the most power man in the region, the Roman governor Pilate.  He is the guy who is famously quoted as asking, in true greco-roman form, the question, "what is truth?"

Read it beforehand and come join us discuss this most amazing beginning to the Christian Easter story told throughout the ages.

General Info
Date: Sunday, April 1st
Time: 6-7:30pm
Where: Terra Nova Co-op common room

Food
Dessert/Coffee/Tea

Children
Glenda

Here is a very helpful short article written by Scott McKnight in response to this whole issue, enjoy:

Scott McKnight: A Boring Box of Bones

Well, we had a pretty interesting night on Sunday as we tackled this emerging Da Vinci Code-ish movie-documentary called The Lost Tomb of Jesus by James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici (I’ve said that name so much lately that I think I’ve become an expert at pronouncing it). 

I would say our group was comprised of Christians, those seeking to possibly be Christians and those who would not consider themselves Christians.  A pretty interesting group of people when you throw a controversial thing like The Lost Tomb of Jesus into the mix.  The evening started with the usual yummy desserts, coffee and tea, moved into a time of singing and worship with the kids, followed by an exit of the kids to their JHKids time and an entrance of a clip of the epilogue from the movie-documentary in question.  After watching said 10 minute clip we adults entered into a good but at times feisty discussion about the issues raised by Jacobovici’s find.

People shared their general thoughts about the argument presented by Cameron and Jacobovici as well as their experiences with other people talking about the movie-documentary in other settings, i.e. work, school, friends, etc.  But the fun stuff didn’t happen until we began to enter into the question of, "what implications does such an archaeological find have for Christian theology and doctrine today?"  Some Christians felt that we should not hide our heads in the sand on such a find but rather with eyes wide open and biblical discernment in hand seek to find whatever truth could be uncovered in such a discovery, if there was any to begin with.  Other Christians, understandably, felt the whole idea of even talking about such an issue in a "church" setting could be tantamount to blasphemy.  Others (Christian and non alike) mentioned either their possible belief in or strong doubts about the assertions made by Jacobovici and company.

Overall, most everyone I hope (even the Christians who toyed with the idea that I might be blaspheming God by even discussing this movie-documentary, which by the way does clearly imply a complete denial of both the bodily resurrection and ascension of Jesus, a non-negotiable doctrine and truth held by The Joshua House and historical, orthodox Christianity…sorry had to get that out!), enjoyed the time together and the value that such a discussion brought to us all.

As I explained later to some of the attendees, this night was a prime example of The Joshua House’s value of "cultural engagement" in action.  We value engaging culture for the sake of transforming it into the likeness of God’s Kingdom.  We don’t just say this on our web site to sound cool, we are actually trying to work this out in our community’s life and learning more each day.

In conclusion, I thank God for this opportunity to begin this conversation with Christians and non alike on some of the core beliefs we hold to as followers of Jesus today.  Moreover, I pray for wisdom in learning to see and use things like The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Tomb of Jesus, etc. not so much as a threat to be defeated (although there are times for that) but rather as means by which to listen to and interact with people on behalf of the gospel and for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.

More to come…

This Sunday we will be discussing the recent movie-documentary called The Lost Tomb of Jesus.  The so-called "Naked Archaeologist" Simcha Jacobovici and well known movie producer James Cameron (known for movies like Alien, Terminator, Titanic, etc.) team up to give us astonishing new archaeological evidence that the gospel according to Dan Brown (aka The Da Vinci Code) might be closer to the truth than we first thought.  Even after that poor excuse for a movie.

This Sunday we will be viewing a 10 minute clip from the movie-documentary and then discussing the implications of such a find for the historical, orthodox Christian faith.

• For when it will be on this week and for trailers, clips, etc. you can go to VisionTV The Tomb

• For an intelligent and concise response from a respected Christian apologetics organization called Reasons to Believe go here.  (You’ll need RealPlayer to listen to this)
  

General Info
Date: Sunday, March 11th
Time: 6-7:30pm
Where: Terra Nova Co-op common room

Food
Dessert/Coffee/Tea 

Children
Deborah