There was a time when challenging the tenets of the Christian faith was seen as daring, rebellious, taboo, anti-establishment. That time was about 40 years ago. Since that time, various wannabe stars, starlets, artists and musicians have piled on the bandwagon and have denigrated the Christian faith.

My faith.

It’s been done so much that it’s almost silly when you see someone try to be edgy by bashing Christianity. Dude, that’s been done so much it’s camp.

While it is an insult to my faith and to me, we do live in a country where you are free to have your own faith or lack of faith and where you can express it in most any way you please. Like it or not, that is the America we live in.

Periodically, archeologists and/or the news media claims to have found some artifact that proves Christianity is a hoax. What is it about Christianity that drives these people nuts? I mean, it’s not like they are just digging and happen to find something. No, they actively search for things, proof if you will, that will undermine the basic tenets of our faith. Funny, you don’t see them running around the world and parading in front of cameras to disprove any other of the worlds religions.

Why is that?

How come we don’t see archeologist and the news media running to do stories about how the Hindu religion is fake or Islam is a total sham?

Why is it that people who profess faith in Jesus are often looked down upon as hicks, rubes or simpletons by the elites and the media…well, unless you happen to be African-American and named Obama…but people who practice other faiths do not receive such disparaging coverage?

Anyway, you get the point.

I was reading CNN.com today and came across a CNN/TIME story about some tablet that has been found that, when translated:

it announces the raising of a messiah after three days in the grave. If true, this could mean that Jesus’ followers had access to a well-established paradigm when they decreed that Christ himself rose on the third day — and it might even hint that they could have applied it in their grief after their master was crucified.

In other words, if the tablet is genuine and if it says what it says, then the idea of Jesus rising from the dead after three days was not a new concept, so therefore something fishy might be up. Maybe the disciples made it up.

The article goes on to talk about people who doubt the translation and even points out that the Gospels rely on eye witness accounts of seeing and talking to Jesus.

After reading the article I’m left wondering if the writers even understand the basics of the Christian faith. They end with this:

But, as often happens in such cases, they seem better disposed to a slightly toned-down assertion: in this case, that the Gabriel tablet does indicate a very rare instance of the idea that a messiah might suffer — a notion introduced in Judaic thought centuries before by the prophet Isaiah but which supposedly went out of style by Jesus’ time. If that more modest theory gains traction, it will forge a link between a trend in first-century Judaism and one of Christianity’s galvanizing thoughts — that God might throw in his lot with a suffering or even murdered man — that could contribute to a growing mutual understanding.

See, that is what the world wants to believe and will allow you to believe. They want you to believe that Jesus was a good man who suffered and even that he was blessed by God, but they don’t want you to believe that Jesus was the Son of God. That is too much for them, yet it is the cornerstone of our faith. There is no redemption of sins, there is no salvation if Jesus was just a man. The fact that he was the perfect Son of God and that God loved us enough to sacrifice His only Son is crucial. It shows the depths of Gods love for us and Christ’s death provided the perfect sacrifice to atone for our sins.

The reason I titled the post “That’s Some Courage You’ve Got There…” is because as mentioned earlier, it’s almost camp to make fun of Christianity or to attempt to poke holes in our faith. Everybody does it. Can you imagine, just imagine if TIME ran a similar story about Islam? Say, like the very provable fact that Muhammad married a 6 year old girl and consummated the marriage when she was only 9.

The riots. The mayhem. The deaths.

It would go on for years. TIME would be forced to apologize. Editors would be fired. Lives ruined.

I’m not advocating denigrating other peoples religions, but look, at some point you have to acknowledge the total hypocrisy of science and the media. If proving Jesus married a prostitute, had kids, never died, or if he died, never rose from the dead because the disciples got the groovy idea from a stone tablet is news worthy, then why not aspects of other religions?

Maybe, just maybe it’s because TIME knows that Christians will do nothing but send in a few letters or maybe boycott the magazine for a while. No big deal. But offending Muslims? Now you’ve got yourself a whole new ballgame.

Here’s an idea: how about covering real news stories and asking tough questions of our do nothing Congress instead of trying to disprove or cast doubt on my faith.

That’s some courage you’ve got there.