what is the most embarrassing verse in the bible i do not mean the verses in the gospel of mark where
we read a man asked jesus good teacher what must i do to inherit eternal life jesus said
to him why do you call me good no one is good but god alone jesus clearly denies he is god
this is hugely embarrassing to christians nor do i mean the verse in ezekiel chapter 23 which reads
she lusted after lovers with genitals as large as a donkeys and emissions like those of a horse
no i don't mean either of those let me tell you what i do mean when i was a committed christian
some some time ago i enjoyed reading the beautifully written books by c.s lewis
now i don't mean the chronicles of narnia those classic novels for children but his theological
works he has rightly been acclaimed as the greatest christian apologist of the 20th century
my personal favorite is the famous screwtape letters a satirical novel written as a series
of letters from a senior demon screwtape to his nephew a junior tempter named wormwood so as to
advise him on methods of securing the damnation of a british gent known only as the patient
arguably the most important work of 20th century christian apologetics is mere christianity
you know i first read that when i was 16 in which c.s lewis tries to avoid denominational
controversies in order to explain what he sees as the fundamental teachings of christianity
in one significant respect lewis and i cross paths
intellectually speaking since even before i committed my life to christ i had read the
new testament closely and discovered what lewis termed the most embarrassing verse in the bible
here is his explanation of the problem and he writes say what you like we shall be told
the apocalyptic beliefs of the first christians have been proved to be false it is clear from
the new testament that they all expected the second coming in their own lifetime
and worse still they had a reason and one which you will find very embarrassing their master had
told them so he shared and indeed created their delusion he said in so many words this generation
shall not pass until all these things be done and he was wrong he clearly knew no more about the end
of the world than anyone else it is clearly the most embarrassing verse in the bible that's ceres
lewis in his book the world's last end and other essays page 97. now this embarrassing verse nearly
stopped me from becoming a born-again christian but i put the issue to one side and converted
to christianity anyway i was entranced by the idea that god loved me so much that he died for
my sins a mistaken notion i have since rejected let's look at the passage in more detail as it is
found in the gospel of mark chapter 13 verse 30 is the problem text read it yourself in context and
ask yourself what it means so stop the video now and read the passage in the description below
truly i tell you this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place
that is the destruction of the jerusalem temple in jerusalem and the second and the the coming of the
son of man in great power and glory in other words the second coming that's mark chapter 13 verse 30
which i hope you've read the reverend keith ward who is professor of divinity at oxford university
calls verse 30 a mistake which is so central so clear and so glaring that it is very hard indeed
to deny that it is there that's from his vision to pursue page 16. in a disarmingly autobiographical
passage he writes various christians have wriggled and squirmed to avoid this point i have done it
myself but every wiggle and every squirm is strained implausible and in the end deceitful
what the sentence says is plain enough it is only because we know it is false that we
look for some other interpretation to save the appearance of truth so it is suggested
that this generation means this age between the birth of jesus and the end of the world
so it could be as long as you like after all one peter says a thousand years is as one day to god
but if you can play with words like that anything can be true when jesus says surely i am coming
soon in revelation 22 20 he means surely i am coming in quite a long time at least 2 000 years
if you can believe that you can believe anything things can mean the opposite of
what they say end quote i can personally confess to much wriggling and squirming on this issue
and it is a sort of comfort to realize that some of the best minds in christendom
this professor at oxford have wriggled and squirmed to
the next person to comment on this verse is the distinguished new testament scholar professor
james dunn from durham university he says uh this on the verse it looks very much as though jesus
thought the end was imminent within the lifetime of his own generation and then in brackets he puts
mark 9.1 and parallels 1330 where this generation can only refer to the contemporaries of jesus
that's from unity and diversity in the new testament and inquiry into the character
of earliest christianity by jimmy dunn page 349 the famous british philosopher bertrand russell
in his book why i am not a christian also argues quote i am concerned with christ as he
appears in the gospel narrative he certainly thought that his second coming would occur
in clouds of glory before the death of all the people who were living at his time
there is a great there are a great many texts that prove he believed that his coming would happen
during the lifetime of many then living that was the belief of his earliest followers and it was
a good and it was the basis of a good deal of his moral teaching end quote i like to search out new
testament commentaries by reputable scholars and look up the passage on mark 13 to see what it says
if memory serves me right i estimate that over 90 percent of the 30 plus commentaries
i have read agree that there is a significant error in this passage not all scholars however
attribute the mistake to jesus however some say the mistake the mistaken imminent eschatology
has been attributed to jesus by the early church and that jesus himself taught either an entirely
futurist eschatology at a date unknown or that the future age to come was completely realized
in his ministry personally i cannot countenance the possibility that a prophet of god
could be an error about such a matter and so on a priori theological grounds the error must lie
with the gospel writer and the early church rather than jesus but the fact remains
as c.s lewis rightly said it is the most embarrassing verse in the bible till next time