[9] Ex. x.x.xii, 27.

[10] Deut. vii, 16 et al.

[11] Jer. xix, 9 et al.

[12] Ex. xxii, 18.

[13] Lev. xxv, 44-46.

[14] Deut. xxi, 18-21; xiii, 6-9.

[15] Lev. i, 14-15.

[16] See the Old Testament.

[17] Luke iv, 16.

[18] Matt. xxvi, 63-64.

[19] Mark xv, 61-62.

[20] Luke xxii, 70.

[21] John iv, 25-26.

[22] John iii, 16.

[23] John viii, 24.

[24] Matt. xxv, 31-46.

[25] Mark iii, 29.

[26] Luke xiii, 3.

[27] Mark ix, 43.

[28] Matt. xxiii, 33.

[29] Mark xvi, 16.

[30] Matt. xxvi, 28.

[31] Matt. xxii, 14.

[32] Matt. vii, 14.

[33] Luke xiii, 24.

[34] Luke xxiii, 43.

[35] John xx, 23.

[36] John xiv, 16.

[37] Matt. xxvi, 53.

[38] Matt. xiii, 49.

[39] Matt. viii, 29.

[40] Luke iv, 34.

[41] Mark iii, 11.

[42] Mark xiii, 26.

[43] Mark xiv, 62.

[44] John i, 51.

[45] Matt. xvii, 9.

FALSE IMPRESSIONS

Jesus not only held mistaken ideas about theology, as anyone but a Fundamentalist must admit, but he often gave impressions about earthly affairs that were unreliable to say the least. Occasionally his statements were actual misrepresentations of fact.

_Jonah and the Whale_

"For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."[1]

Evidently Jesus believed the story of Jonah and the whale, as well as the tale of Noah's ark[2] both of which are now generally discredited.

Moreover, his prophecy regarding his entombment was inaccurate, for he was only two nights and one day in the heart of the earth, from Friday night to Sunday morning.

_End of the World_

Jesus was decidedly mistaken in his theory of the approaching end of the world.

"Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."[3] "Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come."[4] "There be some standing here which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom."[5] "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come ... Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pa.s.s, till all these things be fulfilled."[6] "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of G.o.d is at hand."[7] "So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pa.s.s, know that it is nigh, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pa.s.s, till all these things be done."[8] "The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of d.a.m.nation."[9]

Jesus was confident that the day of judgment was coming in the first century, but it has not come yet, nineteen hundred years later. This erroneous belief in the imminent end of the world had an important bearing upon his entire philosophy; for if the end of the world was so near it was far more important to prepare for life hereafter than to be concerned over mundane affairs. May we not view with doubt any of Jesus'

teachings that depended upon his mistaken conception of the duration of the world?