Martian Visitor VII

A MARTIAN EXAMINES CHRISTIANITY by Arthur Levett, Page 43
Chapter VII The Martian Examines The NEW TESTAMENT “ May I see the second part of your Bible? ” asked the Martian, as he handed the Old Testament back to the Rabbi. The Fundamentalist handed him his bible and pointed out where the New Testament began. The Martian turned the pages. “ I notice,” he said, “ that this part makes repeated references to the old part. It does not reject the old part then? ” “ No,” said the Priest, “ it tells of the same God, but in this part of the book you will read the story of how He sacrificed Himself and brought salvation to us.” “ Oh, this,” said the Martian, “ is an account of the saviour about whom you spoke earlier? ” “ Yes,” said the Modernist, “ and it is on the actions and the teachings of this perfect man that we have founded our religion, the Christian religion as it is called. When you come to examine the philosophy and precepts of the New Testament, you will find that we are justified in accepting them as the teachings of a great and good man whose followers we are. We do not believe that he was the son of God except as we are all sons of God; but we believe he was endowed with the Godlike spirit; and as followers of his precepts we call ourselves Christians and our religion Christianity.” Page 44 “ The Modernist is not a Christian,” said the Priest. “ Oh, yes I am,” replied the Modernist, “ for I follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who is called the Christ.” “ Christ? ” echoed the Martian. I take it you get your word Christian from that. Was this man named Christ? ” “ Oh, no,” said the Modernist; “ Christ is from a Greek word which means the Anointed. It is the same as the Hebrew word ‘ Messiah,’ which means the Anointed of God. When he lived he was known as Joshua ben Joseph, but he is known to us by the Greek form of Joshua - that is, Jesus.” “ And it is the story of this god-man that I find in the second part of this book? ” “ That is correct,” said the Priest. “ I would like to examine it,” said the Martian. “ Still, if he is the same god as described in your Old Testament and is unchanging, I cannot understand how he can be different in one part of the book from what he is in the other, especially as you say the entire book was inspired by him.” “ He is the same God and he is not different,” said the Fundamentalist. “ ‘ He is the same yesterday and to-day, and for ever.’ ” “ Your statements are puzzling,” said the Martian, “ but perhaps an examination of the second part of the book will make the matter clear to me.” “ You have the book,” said the Fundamentalist, “ and I repeat that everything in that Book is true, the first part as well as the last part, and that it does not matter to me what you may pick out. God, who inspired that Book, is a just, merciful, and loving Father to us all.” Page 45 The Martian gazed at the Fundamentalist with a curious expression, then glanced through the book. “ I see that this part of your Bible opens with accounts of the life of the man called Jesus.” “ Yes, He is our Saviour, Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, the Christ, and the Redeemer,” said the Priest. The Martian continued his examination of the book. “ There are four accounts, I notice.” “ They are the Gospels; they were written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.” The Modernist shook his head. “ You doubt that statement? ” asked the Martian. “ I do not agree with my friend that they were written by these disciples.” “ Why do you doubt that? ” asked the Martian. “ Because we have investigated the origin of these books,” replied the Modernist, “ and we find from statements contained in them that they could not have been written by men who were contemporary with Jesus. For example, if you examine them you will find that, while they relate many of the same episodes, they describe a number of them as taking place under different circumstances and in different places. If we critically study these accounts, we find that they were written long after the events they describe, from traditions which were handed down. ¹ They contradict each other so much that it is plain they cannot all be true and could not have been written by men who saw the things described.” “ He is wrong,” said the Fundamentalist. “ These books were written by those inspired men and they are all four true.” The Martian thumbed over the pages. “ I do find strange contradictions here. You say they all refer to the same man? ” “ Yes,” said the Priest. “ They all tell of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and of His life, of His works, and of His death.” ¹ A short History of Christianity (Reinach), translated by Florence Simmonds (Putnam, 1922). Page 46 “ I am interested in the genealogy of your God-man,” said the Martian. “ This genealogy, as given in the first chapter of the account according to Matthew, goes back through the father and grandfather and so on, through Solomon to David. ² When I turn to the Gospel according to Luke I find his ancestry is traced through Nathan to David. ³ Were Solomon and Nathan the same man? ” “ Nathan was the brother of Solomon,” said the Modernist. The Martian continued: “ It would appear from these genealogies that according to Matthew Joseph’s father was Jacob, and according to Luke he was Heli; according to Matthew his grandfather was Matthan, and according to Luke Matthal. These two might be the same name mis-spelled, but his father according to Matthew was Eleazer, and according to Luke was Levi. Then the names after that are practically all different until we come to David. I note your Christ had twenty-six intervening ancestors according to Matthew, and forty-one according to Luke. Do you say these are both true? ” “ Yes, we do,” said the Fundamentalist and the Priest. “ No, I do not,” said the Modernist. “ I merely seek information,” said the Martian. “ I find that in your book Matthew, it is said your saviour god was born in the days of Herod the King, ⁴ while your Luke narrator says he was born when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. ⁵ Did these two men reign at the same time? ” ² Matt. i. 6. ³ Luke iii. 23 - 31. ⁴ Matt. ii. 1. ⁵ Luke ii. 2 - 7. Page 47 “ No,” said the Modernist. “ History tells us that Cyrenius was not governor of Syria until some years after the time of Herod.” “ I observe,” said the Martian, “ that according to Matthew the young child and his mother were taken to Egypt and were there until the death of Herod; ⁶ that when Herod died Joseph arose and took the young child and his mother and came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth.” “ That is true,” said the Fundamentalist. “ But I find in Luke ⁷ that when the days of his mother’s purification were accomplished they brought the child to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, and when they had performed all these things they returned to their own city of Nazareth. I cannot understand how he could be in Egypt and in Nazareth at the same time.” “ We have the explanation,” said the Priest. “ Then I notice,” said the Martian, “ that, according to an account in the first chapter of Mark, immediately after Jesus was baptised he went in the wilderness and was there for forty days. ⁸ In the Gospel according to John it says that the third day after his baptism there was a marriage at Cana of Galilee, and he was called with his disciples to the marriage. ⁹ Was Galilee in the wilderness? ” “ No,” answered the Modernist, “ it was not.” “ Here it states in Matthew,” continued the Martian, “ that he preached a sermon on a mountain to his disciples; ¹⁰ in Luke it says he stood in the plains and delivered this sermon to a great multitude of people.” ¹¹ “ Both accounts are true,” said the Fundamentalist. “ The mere fact that we cannot understand all that is in the Bible or fathom its mysteries has kept it as the centre of interest and devotion generation after generation. ⁶ Matt. ii. 14 - 23. ⁷ Luke ii. 22. ⁸ Mark i. 12, 13. ⁹ John ii. 1, 2. ¹⁰ Matt. v. 1, 2. ¹¹ Luke vi. 17. Page 48 If, therefore, at this hour I had it in my power to clear up every mystery connected with it, I would leave it absolutely untouched, for the wisdom of God has planned it as it is, and it is sufficient for me.” “ I am afraid it is not quite so for me,” remarked the Martian with a smile. He resumed: “ In Mark I find that your saviour was crucified at the third hour of the day, ¹² while in John his crucifixion is said to have occurred about the sixth hour. ¹³ “ Reading further,” continued the Martian, “ I note that your saviour was betrayed by one of his disciples named Judas, who was paid thirty pieces of silver for the betrayal. I read in Matthew that he brought these thirty pieces back to the chief priests, ¹⁴ but later on in this book it says he purchased a field with the reward of his iniquity.” “ Then I find,” went on the Martian, “ that according to matthew he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and went and hanged himself; ¹⁵ but in the first chapter of the Acts it says he fell headlong and burst asunder in the midst and all his bowels gushed out.” ¹⁶ “ The accounts have all been carefully studied by our theologians,” said the priest, “ and have been found not to conflict in any way. It is only my Church, as the only true Church of God, that has, by divine guidance, been able to interpret correctly what might appear to be conflicting accounts here and there throughout His Holy Word.” “ That is not true,” retorted the Fundamentalist. “ A full view of Christ and His teachings can be obtained only by taking the four Gospel accounts together, as Matthew views Christ from the standpoint of a king, Mark from the standpoint of a servant, Luke from the standpoint of the Son of Man, and John from the standpoint of the Son of God. That is why they intentionally differ.” ¹² Mark xv. 25. ¹³ John xix. 14, 18. ¹⁴ Matt. xxvii. 3. ¹⁵ Matt. xxvii. 5. ¹⁶ Acts i. 18. Page 49 “ I think I understand,” said the Martian, “ and perhaps I need seek no further.” “ But I want you to note,” said the Modernist, who had listened impatiently, “ the moral sentiments and the wonderful teachings of the man Jesus. I disagree with my friends here. I know there are many contradictions in the New Testament as well as in the Old, and that the statements cannot all be true. Nevertheless, I would ask where could you find precepts of a higher order, a nobler code of ethics? And so I say it is immaterial whether or not the Bible is historically true. We have here the philosophy of a great and good teacher. Whether these precepts be those of the man to who we ascribe them or emanate from others, they are worthy of being followed. We Modernists are therefore more concerned with the principles of Christianity than with unimportant discrepancies of narration. This is why we call ourselves Christians and Christianity our religion.” “ Your religion then is a philosophy of life? ” asked the Martian. “ I presume you might call it that,” answered the Modernist, “ for we do not believe in the virgin birth nor in the miracles said to have been performed by Jesus, except possibly in a figurative sense. His example as a teacher and his character as portrayed are our models.” “ And is it your contention that it is to the precepts and characterizations contained in this book that you must look in order to live a just and upright life? ” “ It is our contention that in Christianity alone can be found the true philosophy of life,” said the Modernist. Page 50 “ Then suppose we examine this life of Jesus as that of one who should be our model,” said the Martian. “ Yes,” said the Modernist, “ examine into his life and you will see how noble he was and how one should emulate him as closely as possible.” “ Are there other books that I may consult in forming an idea of his character? ” asked the Martian. “ No, I am sorry to say he is not mentioned in any authentic ancient literature outside the Bible.” “ Am I to understand,” asked the Martian, “ that no contemporary historians or writers deemed it of sufficient importance to mention this wonderful occurrence, this amazing appearance of a god upon your planet? ” “ You are correct in your understanding,” replied the Modernist. “ Then we must form our judgement from the Bible alone? ” “ Yes,” said the Fundamentalist, “ but you will find more than enough to convince you of His ineffable goodness and sublimity which we cannot hope to approach. He teaches charity, benevolence, and self-sacrifice; to despise the needs of this world, and think only of the Heaven wherein our souls will have everlasting life.” Chapter VIII The Martian Examines The Characters of The Christian Saviour Chapter VI The Martian Examines The OLD TESTAMENT Home: Chapter I The Martian Visits The Earth

A MARTIAN EXAMINES CHRISTIANITY
by Arthur Levett, Page 43

Chapter VII
The Martian Examines The NEW TESTAMENT
“ May I see the second part of your Bible? ” asked the Martian, as he handed the Old Testament back to the Rabbi.
The Fundamentalist handed him his bible and pointed out where the New Testament began. The Martian turned the pages.
“ I notice,” he said, “ that this part makes repeated references to the old part. It does not reject the old part then? ”
“ No,” said the Priest, “ it tells of the same God, but in this part of the book you will read the story of how He sacrificed Himself and brought salvation to us.”
“ Oh, this,” said the Martian, “ is an account of the saviour about whom you spoke earlier? ”
“ Yes,” said the Modernist, “ and it is on the actions and the teachings of this perfect man that we have founded our religion, the Christian religion as it is called. When you come to examine the philosophy and precepts of the New Testament, you will find that we are justified in accepting them as the teachings of a great and good man whose followers we are. We do not believe that he was the son of God except as we are all sons of God; but we believe he was endowed with the Godlike spirit; and as followers of his precepts we call ourselves Christians and our religion Christianity.”

Page 44
“ The Modernist is not a Christian,” said the Priest.
“ Oh, yes I am,” replied the Modernist, “ for I follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who is called the Christ.”
“ Christ? ” echoed the Martian. I take it you get your word Christian from that. Was this man named Christ? ”
“ Oh, no,” said the Modernist; “ Christ is from a Greek word which means the Anointed. It is the same as the Hebrew word ‘ Messiah,’ which means the Anointed of God. When he lived he was known as Joshua ben Joseph, but he is known to us by the Greek form of Joshua - that is, Jesus.”
“ And it is the story of this god-man that I find in the second part of this book? ”
“ That is correct,” said the Priest.
“ I would like to examine it,” said the Martian. “ Still, if he is the same god as described in your Old Testament and is unchanging, I cannot understand how he can be different in one part of the book from what he is in the other, especially as you say the entire book was inspired by him.”
“ He is the same God and he is not different,” said the Fundamentalist. “ ‘ He is the same yesterday and to-day, and for ever.’ ”
“ Your statements are puzzling,” said the Martian, “ but perhaps an examination of the second part of the book will make the matter clear to me.”
“ You have the book,” said the Fundamentalist, “ and I repeat that everything in that Book is true, the first part as well as the last part, and that it does not matter to me what you may pick out. God, who inspired that Book, is a just, merciful, and loving Father to us all.”

Page 45
The Martian gazed at the Fundamentalist with a curious expression, then glanced through the book. “ I see that this part of your Bible opens with accounts of the life of the man called Jesus.”
“ Yes, He is our Saviour, Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, the Christ, and the Redeemer,” said the Priest.
The Martian continued his examination of the book. “ There are four accounts, I notice.”
“ They are the Gospels; they were written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.”
The Modernist shook his head.
“ You doubt that statement? ” asked the Martian.
“ I do not agree with my friend that they were written by these disciples.”
“ Why do you doubt that? ” asked the Martian.
“ Because we have investigated the origin of these books,” replied the Modernist, “ and we find from statements contained in them that they could not have been written by men who were contemporary with Jesus. For example, if you examine them you will find that, while they relate many of the same episodes, they describe a number of them as taking place under different circumstances and in different places. If we critically study these accounts, we find that they were written long after the events they describe, from traditions which were handed down. ¹ They contradict each other so much that it is plain they cannot all be true and could not have been written by men who saw the things described.”
“ He is wrong,” said the Fundamentalist. “ These books were written by those inspired men and they are all four true.”
The Martian thumbed over the pages. “ I do find strange contradictions here. You say they all refer to the same man? ”
“ Yes,” said the Priest. “ They all tell of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and of His life, of His works, and of His death.”

¹ A short History of Christianity (Reinach), translated by Florence Simmonds (Putnam, 1922).

Page 46
“ I am interested in the genealogy of your God-man,” said the Martian. “ This genealogy, as given in the first chapter of the account according to Matthew, goes back through the father and grandfather and so on, through Solomon to David. ² When I turn to the Gospel according to Luke I find his ancestry is traced through Nathan to David. ³ Were Solomon and Nathan the same man? ”
“ Nathan was the brother of Solomon,” said the Modernist.
The Martian continued: “ It would appear from these genealogies that according to Matthew Joseph’s father was Jacob, and according to Luke he was Heli; according to Matthew his grandfather was Matthan, and according to Luke Matthal. These two might be the same name mis-spelled, but his father according to Matthew was Eleazer, and according to Luke was Levi. Then the names after that are practically all different until we come to David. I note your Christ had twenty-six intervening ancestors according to Matthew, and forty-one according to Luke. Do you say these are both true? ”
“ Yes, we do,” said the Fundamentalist and the Priest.
“ No, I do not,” said the Modernist.
“ I merely seek information,” said the Martian. “ I find that in your book Matthew, it is said your saviour god was born in the days of Herod the King, ⁴ while your Luke narrator says he was born when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. ⁵ Did these two men reign at the same time? ”

² Matt. i. 6.
³ Luke iii. 23 - 31.
⁴ Matt. ii. 1.
⁵ Luke ii. 2 - 7.

Page 47
“ No,” said the Modernist. “ History tells us that Cyrenius was not governor of Syria until some years after the time of Herod.”
“ I observe,” said the Martian, “ that according to Matthew the young child and his mother were taken to Egypt and were there until the death of Herod; ⁶ that when Herod died Joseph arose and took the young child and his mother and came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth.”
“ That is true,” said the Fundamentalist.
“ But I find in Luke ⁷ that when the days of his mother’s purification were accomplished they brought the child to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, and when they had performed all these things they returned to their own city of Nazareth. I cannot understand how he could be in Egypt and in Nazareth at the same time.”
“ We have the explanation,” said the Priest.
“ Then I notice,” said the Martian, “ that, according to an account in the first chapter of Mark, immediately after Jesus was baptised he went in the wilderness and was there for forty days. ⁸ In the Gospel according to John it says that the third day after his baptism there was a marriage at Cana of Galilee, and he was called with his disciples to the marriage. ⁹ Was Galilee in the wilderness? ”
“ No,” answered the Modernist, “ it was not.”
“ Here it states in Matthew,” continued the Martian, “ that he preached a sermon on a mountain to his disciples; ¹⁰ in Luke it says he stood in the plains and delivered this sermon to a great multitude of people.” ¹¹
“ Both accounts are true,” said the Fundamentalist. “ The mere fact that we cannot understand all that is in the Bible or fathom its mysteries has kept it as the centre of interest and devotion generation after generation.

⁶ Matt. ii. 14 - 23.
⁷ Luke ii. 22.
⁸ Mark i. 12, 13.
⁹ John ii. 1, 2.
¹⁰ Matt. v. 1, 2.
¹¹ Luke vi. 17.

Page 48
If, therefore, at this hour I had it in my power to clear up every mystery connected with it, I would leave it absolutely untouched, for the wisdom of God has planned it as it is, and it is sufficient for me.”
“ I am afraid it is not quite so for me,” remarked the Martian with a smile. He resumed:
“ In Mark I find that your saviour was crucified at the third hour of the day, ¹² while in John his crucifixion is said to have occurred about the sixth hour. ¹³
“ Reading further,” continued the Martian, “ I note that your saviour was betrayed by one of his disciples named Judas, who was paid thirty pieces of silver for the betrayal. I read in Matthew that he brought these thirty pieces back to the chief priests, ¹⁴ but later on in this book it says he purchased a field with the reward of his iniquity.”
“ Then I find,” went on the Martian, “ that according to matthew he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and went and hanged himself; ¹⁵ but in the first chapter of the Acts it says he fell headlong and burst asunder in the midst and all his bowels gushed out.” ¹⁶
“ The accounts have all been carefully studied by our theologians,” said the priest, “ and have been found not to conflict in any way. It is only my Church, as the only true Church of God, that has, by divine guidance, been able to interpret correctly what might appear to be conflicting accounts here and there throughout His Holy Word.”
“ That is not true,” retorted the Fundamentalist. “ A full view of Christ and His teachings can be obtained only by taking the four Gospel accounts together, as Matthew views Christ from the standpoint of a king, Mark from the standpoint of a servant, Luke from the standpoint of the Son of Man, and John from the standpoint of the Son of God. That is why they intentionally differ.”

¹² Mark xv. 25.
¹³ John xix. 14, 18.
¹⁴ Matt. xxvii. 3.
¹⁵ Matt. xxvii. 5.
¹⁶ Acts i. 18.

Page 49
“ I think I understand,” said the Martian, “ and perhaps I need seek no further.”
“ But I want you to note,” said the Modernist, who had listened impatiently, “ the moral sentiments and the wonderful teachings of the man Jesus. I disagree with my friends here. I know there are many contradictions in the New Testament as well as in the Old, and that the statements cannot all be true. Nevertheless, I would ask where could you find precepts of a higher order, a nobler code of ethics? And so I say it is immaterial whether or not the Bible is historically true. We have here the philosophy of a great and good teacher. Whether these precepts be those of the man to who we ascribe them or emanate from others, they are worthy of being followed. We Modernists are therefore more concerned with the principles of Christianity than with unimportant discrepancies of narration. This is why we call ourselves Christians and Christianity our religion.”
“ Your religion then is a philosophy of life? ” asked the Martian.
“ I presume you might call it that,” answered the Modernist, “ for we do not believe in the virgin birth nor in the miracles said to have been performed by Jesus, except possibly in a figurative sense. His example as a teacher and his character as portrayed are our models.”
“ And is it your contention that it is to the precepts and characterizations contained in this book that you must look in order to live a just and upright life? ”
“ It is our contention that in Christianity alone can be found the true philosophy of life,” said the Modernist.

Page 50
“ Then suppose we examine this life of Jesus as that of one who should be our model,” said the Martian.
“ Yes,” said the Modernist, “ examine into his life and you will see how noble he was and how one should emulate him as closely as possible.”
“ Are there other books that I may consult in forming an idea of his character? ” asked the Martian.
“ No, I am sorry to say he is not mentioned in any authentic ancient literature outside the Bible.”
“ Am I to understand,” asked the Martian, “ that no contemporary historians or writers deemed it of sufficient importance to mention this wonderful occurrence, this amazing appearance of a god upon your planet? ”
“ You are correct in your understanding,” replied the Modernist.
“ Then we must form our judgement from the Bible alone? ”
“ Yes,” said the Fundamentalist, “ but you will find more than enough to convince you of His ineffable goodness and sublimity which we cannot hope to approach. He teaches charity, benevolence, and self-sacrifice; to despise the needs of this world, and think only of the Heaven wherein our souls will have everlasting life.”

Chapter VIII The Martian Examines The
   Characters of The Christian Saviour

Chapter VI      The Martian Examines
   The OLD TESTAMENT

Home: Chapter I The Martian Visits The Earth