this help?”
I nodded dubiously, my ego not liking the implication that my mind couldn’t comprehend the physics. Though in retrospect they were almost assuredly correct, after all there is a 2,000 year gap in my education.
“OK, as we discussed,” Aaron continued. “Time travel hasn’t really added anything to the debate on whether or not there is a God and/or if Jesus is his son.”
“Oh sure,” Jacob interjected. “Time travel has validated some parts of the Bible and refuted others. For example, Jesus was born on September 22, 4 BCE, not December 25, 1 CE. And eleven years prior to the census described in the Gospel of Luke. But Jesus was still born in Bethlehem, in the home of Joseph’s uncle. Whether Mary was really a Virgin or not, who can say.”
“Wait a minute,” I interjected. “I will concede that it would have been impossible to explain to the early Hebrews how the earth and universe were really made. But now you are talking about the New Testament, the core of the Christian faith. That has to be 100% true, or it’s all a big sham. I mean if Mary didn’t ride in on a donkey, give birth in a stable, with angels singing, and etc., then it’s all a bunch of bull, period!”
The Professor started chuckling again and Jacob said to Aaron. “Wow, Grandfather really is from the Dark Ages.”
At this point, I was seriously considering smacking one of my multi-millennial grandkids.
“Sorry Grandfather,” Jacob quickly apologized, undoubtedly sensing my mood. “It is just that the Bible doesn’t mention how Mary got to Bethlehem, or angels singing in the manger. Those are traditions that have developed over the ages as writers and poets each added their own creative flare to the story.”
“The Gospel of Luke,” the Professor added, “As with each of the four Gospels, is not a historical account of the life of Jesus. The word Gospel, means the Good News. The Gospels are simply the proclaiming of Jesus’ ministry to a specific audience. For example, the Gospel of Matthew was written for a Jewish audience; while Mark, the oldest of the Gospels, was written for the Romans. The Gospels were based on oral traditions and a couple historical accounts, three actually, that didn’t even survive the first century, and that have only recently been re-discovered using time travel. Anyway, the authors of the Gospels would understandably change aspects of the story to better relate them to the experiences of the new audience. That, combined with the fact that they sometimes use different sources, is why they sometimes contradict each other.”
“What?” I replied, understandably confused. While a Bible scholar I am not, you can’t be dragged to a Baptist church by your parents for 18+ years without picking up something. So I am pretty sure that I would have remembered any obvious contradictions.
“Well James, once again you grew up in the Theological Dark Ages,” the Professor replied. “You grew up thinking of the Bible as one complete book when in fact it is really 66 books, give or take a book or two depending on whose version of the Bible you are talking about, written by over 40 different authors. Because you think of it as one book, some of the contradictions are difficult to pick up on because your brain naturally rationalizes the differences. For example, the Gospel of Matthew, which as I said was written for a Jewish audience, spends a lot of time talking about how important Jewish law is; where the Apostle Paul in his letters, which were actually written several decades before Matthew, argued that Christians should not follow the Jewish law at all. The most obvious contradiction is that in the Gospel of John, Jesus is resurrected on Saturday, where in the other Gospels it is on Sunday. The Gospels also disagree on who was there first, and what happed immediately after Jesus’ resurrection.”
“If the books of the Bible don’t agree with one another,” I replied exasperated. “Then how can they possibly be written by God!” I was getting a little frustrated at this point, and can you really blame me?
“Well James,” the Professor replied. “Even in your time, actually well before your time, the consensus amongst theologians is that the Bible is divinely inspired, not dictated. Saint Augustine wrote extensively on this. When the New Testament canon, the 27 books of the New Testament, was eventually finalized the church leaders were quite aware of the discrepancies, and were not overly troubled by them. You have to remember that the people of that time were not as concerned about having all the facts correct, like they are in your day. And of course light years from our standards in the 41st century. To them it was the meaning that was important. They recognized these books as being legitimate sources on the teachings of Jesus, and when you study them as a whole you get a better understanding of God.”
“So you see Grandfather,” Aaron interjected. “Even the New Testament isn’t a completely accurate account of Jesus’ ministry. Of course you can say the same thing of other famous people of the time, like Julius Caesar.”
“Maybe,” I retorted. “But Caesar wasn’t claiming to be a God.”
The Professor laughed and replied, “But Julius Caesar did claim to be a God. Or at least to be a direct descendant of the Gods, as did many of the Roman Emperors after him. It just never really caught on, historically speaking that is.”
My head was beginning to hurt at this point. This traveling to the future, while amazingly cool, was not turning out quite as I expected.
“We can spend weeks discussing the Bible, years even,” the Professor stated. “But we have other things to discuss. So let’s just leave it at this, the Bible has no more or less factual discrepancies then other accounts of its time, and that such discrepancies, at least by themselves, don’t invalidate the respective text. Now, Aaron, please continue.”
“So Grandfather,” Aaron said. “As I was saying, even with time travel, well time transmitting, we cannot adequately respond to your query. However, in your request you did ask, sort of, to have a conversation with your future descendants about whether or not God exists, based on the scientific evidence of the day. So if it is OK with you. That is what we propose to do…it’s kind of my RE project.”
“RE project?”
“Yeah RE, Religious Education. This is my senior RE project at JPM Academy.”
“Your project is to talk with me about whether or not God exists?” I asked incredulously.
“Well Grandfather you are a special case, being the school’s…”
“Aaron!” the Professor barked. “The parameters of this time disturbance!”
“Oh, sorry Professor,” Aaron replied. “But it’s not like any of this is going to change the time stream. I mean, either way Grandfather is still going to become…”
“That is beside the point,” the Professor retorted. “Now you only have thirty-five minutes left, so you better move things along.”
“OK Professor. So Grandfather…” Aaron began, but I cut him off.
“Wait a minute, what do I become?” My mind was in a whirl. Did I become some famous scientist? Did I perhaps invent A.I? I couldn’t help but wonder what it was that I would do. “What did you mean when you said, being the schools…what?” I pressed. “Did I found the school or something? Is it named after me?”
The Professor shot Aaron a reproachful look. That was it, I thought. JPM Academy, James Peter Matthews Academy – their school was named after me. Wow, I thought. I must do something pretty awesome to get a school named after me.
“OK James,” the Professor stated in a firm voice. “We, for your own benefit, are not going to tell you anything about your future.”
“Because if I know too much, I could disrupt the time stream?”
“Actually no,” the Professor surprisingly replied. “In the tri-timeline scans we account for that possibility, we could let you read your complete bio now, and it wouldn’t significantly change your future. No, we will not tell you anything about your future, because it would literally make your life less exciting, for you that is. It is kind of like watching a baseball game in which you already know what the outcome will be. It’s just not as
much fun. So Aaron, please continue. We have a little over thirty minutes left.”
“Right. So Grandfather, are you ready to talk about the nature of God based on the scientific knowledge of our day?”
I nodded my head, and Aaron then began talking more excitedly as the Professor and Jacob retrieved their time transmitters. “So Grandfather,” Aaron began, “As I was saying, when it comes to God and Jesus time travel hasn't really proved or disproved anything. The most you can say is that we’ve confirmed that Jesus did exist and was a religious leader – but in the 21st century you pretty much knew that as well. So what is the 41st century view on God and Jesus? Well, first the basics. The number of people that profess to believe in some sort of divine being is approximately 95%, compared to approximately 90% in your time. Which as far as we can tell, mankind’s belief in the divine has always hovered around 90%. The real change is that now 61% of the human race classifies themselves as Christian, almost twice as many as in your time – 24% are Muslim, approximately the same as the 21st century. And the remaining 10% are comprised of Jews, Hindus, and some new religions, which of course you have never heard of, like the Farlandtologists.”
“Now, while these numbers are interesting. They basically just tell the same story, that 90% of the