Say What!

If you will permit me a slight detour from my usual devotional thought, this week I want to share something more along the lines of a commentary. This past weekend I took a small group from my church to San Diego to see a Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Museum of Natural History in Balboa Park. We had a nice time aside from the two hour traffic delay due to a fatal accident, but here is what I wanted to share.

As we were going through the exhibit I was reading about when the Dead Sea Scrolls were first found and to my surprise I read these words, "Within a fairly short time after their discovery, historical, paleographic, and linguistic evidence, as well as carbon-14 dating, established that the scrolls and the Qumran ruin dated from the third century B.C.E. to 68 C.E." Now at first glance there seems to be nothing strange but did you notice the dating in this quotation? It reads B.C.E and C.E. rather than B.C. and A.D. I don't know how long I have been out of the loop but were you aware that this is supposedly the new standard in dating? We are now supposed to say B.C.E - Before Common Era and C.E. - Common Era.

I have to tell you I was appalled to read this. My question is, "Why is the world so afraid of Christ?" As far as I am concerned all this new dating is a feeble attempt to run from Christ. Are we to believe now that Christ no longer influences our world? Is this another feeble attempt at political correctness? Is this another attempt to bury the resurrected Lord? I don't know. I guess some will feel I am getting all worked up over nothing but to me it is more. It is just another way our world is trying to silence Christ, but I know he can never be silenced. His message of truth and salvation will continue to be proclaimed by all those who know and love Him until he returns again to silence all those who refused to believe.

That's my word.
Pastor Sheldon