Lake Forest Councilman James Gardner's Anti-Christian views on Jesus Christ

Overview

Lake Forest Councilman James Gardner attacks all of the major tenets of Christianity as false on his website and in a book interview when he says "everything that everybody knows about Jesus turns out to be wrong, part of a myth or part of propaganda or just foolishness, sheer foolishness. Everybody who's ever written a book about Jesus has got all these errors in them."

Here is a summary of his comments: Jesus didn't die - he merely fainted and then was revived, Jesus wasn't one person but was a combination of multiple invidividuals living around that time, the gospels have been distorted by rival Christian groups, Jesus wasn't born from a virgin, Jesus wasn't born in Bethlehem, Jesus didn't live in Nazareth, Jesus was married, Jesus wasn't beaten, there wasn't a census, etc.

Gardner's "hidden" website

I was conducting more research on the members of our city council and found a link to a website that Councilman James Gardner was referenced to manage, www.JesusPolice.com. However, the website was currently working. So, I used my trusty website history site, www.archive.org and found the following link:

https://web.archive.org/web/20...

There is a lot of information on the website that Gardner listed - here are some highlights:

MOST COMMON ERRORS
- His Name Was Jesus Christ
- Born in Bethlehem
- Lived in Nazareth
- Mary Was a Virgin
- Jesus' Ministry was Only 1 to 3 Years
- Jesus Wasn't Married
- Jesus Was Nailed to the Cross
- Jesus Was Severely Beaten
- Jesus Died in 30 A.D.
- Jesus Was About 30 Years Old When He Died
- The Gospels Were Written in the 1st Century

He actively solicited comments, stating "Preference is given to comments that contain data and/or evidence, rather than mere opinion."

Gardner's Book

I found that Gardner also wrote a book entitled Jesus Who? Myth Vs. Reality in the Search for the Historical Jesus. According to Google: "The most comprehensive and systematic review of the life of the historical Jesus critically examines myth vs. reality concerning his birth, family, childhood, ministry, personal life, teachings, death, and resurrection. Provocative and challenging, but thoroughly researched and documented." https://books.google.com/books...

Amazon commenters said "Great start to deconstructing the historical Jesus" and "Challenges the Traditional Views."

He also wrote others, but I didn't have time to review them.

Gardner's Book Interview

I then followed the research trail and noticed Gardner had conducted an approximately 75 minute interview on this book; however, I found a recently posted YouTube video which summarizes his interview () - I transcribed the 2+ minute video as follows:

Interviewer: Please go to James's great website: www.jesuspolice.com or get his wonderful book "Jesus Who." What would you say was the most shocking thing you discovered about the historical Jesus?

James Gardner: That everything I knew was wrong. As a matter of fact everything that everybody knows about Jesus turns out to be wrong, part of a myth or part of propaganda or just foolishness, sheer foolishness. Everybody who's ever written a book about Jesus has got all these errors in them.

But if you believe he was killed by the Jews and then if he was hung, it's just not that he was crucified. Well, when you took him down from the cross, he wasn't really dead; therefore, what you call a resurrection is simply a resuscitation. Jesus, he fainted - they took him down - he got revived.

Joseph and Mary were two hot little Jewish kids. And they couldn't wait – they had promiscuous sex.

The wedding at Cana - the mother is bossing servants around. If it's his wedding, it makes a lot more sense. And this may just be another instance in which the original gospel has this as Jesus's marriage.

He wasn't from Nazareth. There is no town – it doesn't exist. But he's not from Bethlehem either.

There are several rival Christian groups purposely distorting the gospel and changing them or inserting things.

Jesus, he is not particularly attractive.

Jesus consists of portraits of several Joshuas who lived at that time. There's not a single Jesus. By the time the gospels are written down in the second century, these stories are just floating out there and they make one composite person out of them.

They made the mistake translating Mary who was a young girl. They translate that as a virgin.

The guys who write these Gospels come up with a story; so they're trying to say "Okay, what do we see in the Old Testament that we can make Jesus's life conform to? Over here it says Bethlehem – okay, let's put him in Bethlehem."

There was no census when Jesus was born – it's an obvious fabrication. People, when they had a census, people registered where they lived. Nobody went back to where they were born. No one in their right mind would bring a pregnant wife from Galilee to Bethlehem. It would've expose them to heat and rough terrain and robbers. It's just not what happens.

Matthew, Luke and John - they are answering criticisms that Jesus is an illegitimate child of Mary's adultery. Not only is he not a savior, but he didn't even have a father. He is cursed. And therefore, they decide to clarify that this is, you know, a virgin birth. If he is a savior and all the these other pagan saviors have virgin births, you've got to have a virgin birth.

Conclusion

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I am amazed at the audacity of an elected official to so brazenly attack the faith of those who believe in Jesus Christ. Would the "public" be so accepting if he had attacked other faiths, like Islam?

Also, one expert who reviewed Gardner's "research" says that it is based on writings from many decades ago that have been since proven inaccurate by archeology, let alone the Bible itself. Since he states a desire for "data and/or evidence," it makes one think that his ability to truly research matters needs to be examined, as his anti-Christian bias is so evident in his comments above.