The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

CHRISTIANS throughout the world are currently reflecting on the death, burial and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ during the Holy Week. In his classic little book titled More Than a Carpenter, American Christian apologist Joshua McDowell said that Jesus entered the human race in a small Jewish community 2,000 years ago, yet people everywhere still remember Him.

More books have been written about this Jewish carpenter from Nazareth than on any other person in recorded history. Indeed, Bahamian independence was achieved 1973 years after the time of Christ, which underscores His centrality to Bahamian history. Bahamians, even those of the secular persuasion, should ask themselves this important question: Which individual has made the most important, seminal contribution to The Bahamas?

Many Bahamians would automatically mention the name Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling, the nation’s first prime minister, who led the nation to Majority Rule and Independence; and was responsible for building many of our national institutions. Others might argue that it is Sir Milo B Butler. A few might mention Sir Stafford Sands or Sir Roland Symonette. And then there are probably others who would mention the name Sir Randol Fawkes. As important as these prominent Bahamians were in building the modern Bahamas, all of them failed collectively to measure up to the infinite stature of Jesus Christ.

What Jesus has done for The Bahamas is infinitely greater than what the foregoing National Heroes have accomplished. Indeed, without Jesus, there would be no Bahamas to begin with. When the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus discovered Guanahani in the New World on October 12, 1492, he renamed the Arawak inhabited island San Salvador, which means Christ the Saviour.

Like his Spanish sponsors King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella, Columbus was a Catholic. The Spanish monarchy wanted to establish a base in the New World, with the aim of expanding its financial tentacles. There were religious motivations, although Columbus and the Spanish brought a holocaust to the indigenous peoples throughout the West Indies. King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella were also responsible for terrorising the Jewish people within their domain after introducing the Spanish Inquisition in 1478. But let’s get back to Jesus -- the focal point of Bahamian history. Had Christianity not existed, it is doubtful that the events on October 12, 1492 would’ve occurred -- a series of providential events that would eventually lead to European slaveholders carrying across the Atlantic Ocean millions of our West African ancestors to the New World. When H G Wells was asked which person had left the most permanent impression in history, he replied that it was Jesus. Bear in mind that Wells was an atheist. The historical evidence for the existence of Jesus Christ is incontrovertible.

Concerning the resurrection, sceptics such as Venturini and Kirsopp Lake all failed to refute it. According to McDowell, as a sceptic he was unable to refute Christianity because he was unable to explain away the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Of the eleven apostles of the Lord, only one, John, died a natural death. The remaining ten died as martyrs for their belief in the resurrection of their Lord. As the noted New Testament theologian George Eldon Ladd said concerning the resurrection, “the only rational explanation for these historical facts is that God raised Jesus in bodily form.” Undoubtedly, the Bahamian sceptic who loves science would retort that science disproves the resurrection. McDowell was spot on when he pointed out that the matter pertaining to the resurrection is outside the realm of scientific proof.

One cannot use the scientific method to prove that Sir Lynden and the Progressive Liberal Party defeated the United Bahamian Party in 1967, as science is “based on observation, the gathering of data, hypothesising, deduction, and experimental verification...” Like the issue of Pindling and the historical events surrounding Majority Rule, the Bahamian sceptic will have to utilise the legal-historical method instead. While the aforementioned great Bahamian National Heroes are still in their graves, Jesus Christ is alive, having defeated death on our behalf. Bahamians need not die in their sins. There’s redemption at the foot of the cross. Each Bahamian should reflect on what Christ has accomplished for this country. After all, it is He -- not Sir Lynden or Sir Milo or Sir Randol -- who is the focal point of Bahamian history.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport, Grand Bahama

April 5, 2023.