For a while now, a dispute has been raging between me and the author Gert Strydom, author of the poem Desmond Mpilo Tutu. In this poem, Gert accuses Tutu of denying the bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, going as far as saying that Tutu denies the fact that Jesus is God. It took me a very long time to get a reference from Gert as to his source(s) of Tutu. Where did he get his information? On what does he base these claims? In the process of questioning Gert, he has accused me of trying to ‘ban’ this poem. I want to state it categorically that I have never formally tried to ‘ban’ Gert’s work. I merely asked questions. Questions which did Gert did not answer with great eagerness and when he eventually did so, those answers did not convince me at all. I am very concerned about Gert. He is clearly living in a fantasy world. I certainly never had a hand in the removal of the poem (if and when it was removed I have no idea, but these are the claims that Gert made).
According to Gert, he based his poem on “a myriad” of information. But it was difficult to get as much as a simple internet link out of him as to where these sources are. This in itself was suspicious to me. Desmond Tutu has many enemies and if he ever denied the godly nature of Jesus of Nazareth, I have no doubt that it will be headlined in every newspaper from here to Beijing and everywhere in between. In the end, Gert seemingly based his lie that Tutu does not acknowledge Jesus as God on one piece of evidence; there is no “myriad” of sources, that claim is obviously also nonsense. I have googled this time and again, and only found a few pages on the internet supporting Gert’s claims. But let us focus on the one piece of ‘evidence’ that Gert used – a audio-visual piece of material for which he provided me with an internet link. The audio-visual opens with Desmond Tutu in the picture. This is what Tutu says in the very small part he plays in the whole audio-visual:
“When we say Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, you don’t believe that he got a kind of ecclesiastical lift that took him into the stratosphere. You, already in your mind, if you are a thinking Christian, realise that this is, language that is being used, figuratively. When we speak, even about, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, it is not, the revivication of, of a corpse. It is, speaking about a tremendous reality, that Jesus Christ is risen...”
On the basis of these words of Desmond Tutu, Gert Strydom draws the conclusion that Tutu does not acknowledge the godly nature of Jesus of Nazareth. Note that NOWHERE in this quotation does Tutu categorically deny that Jesus of Nazareth is the son of God. Now let us look as the part of Gert’s poem that I was critical about:
“......
Still he [Tutu] is the man who on national television,
and in the press has said
that Jesus Christ is but a mere myth,
that Jesus Christ was not resurrected,
that Jesus Christ was but a mere man
and one wonders about the relationship
that he Desmond Mpilo Tutu has
in his daily life with Christ,
about the relationship
that every Anglican has with Christ
and if they are Christians?
One wonder if the believe
in ancestral spirits,
the holding of séances
around fires
by witchdoctors,
has had an influence
in what Desmond Mpilo Tutu
believes about Jesus Christ,
believes about God?
....”*
Now look at the last sentence of Tutu’s quote again! Using a quotation where Tutu clearly says that “Jesus Christ is risen”, Gert Strydom goes on to say that Tutu denies that Jesus was ever resurrected! And not only that, Gert goes on and on, making all kinds of insinuations. Building myths. Spreading lies and hate.
So Desmond Tutu does not believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. He reads the passage figuratively. There are many parts of the Bible that is read that way by Christians every single day. In fact, according to the Bible, Jesus made use of indirect language Himself when He told parables.
Desmond Tutu does not deny that Jesus is God as Gert claims in his poem. Gert is spreading lies. If for any argument there is a “myriad” of information, it is for this one - There are many places where one can go and read up on Tutu’s believe in Jesus.
What then is it that Gert bases his lies on? What Desmond Tutu questions, is the bodily resurrection of Jesus. This does not mean that Tutu denies the godly nature of Jesus as Gert claims. In fact, there are many Christians who hold this point of view, and obviously many Christians who hold the opposite view. And why is this so? It is so, because the Bible gives us conflicting evidence as to the nature of Jesus after the resurrection.
While in the gospels, the reader is often left with the picture of a physically resurrected Jesus, one can simply go and read 1 Corinthians 15. Those interested should read the whole chapter but I want to highlight some parts:
verse 42 - 44 “So will it be with the ressurection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”
verse 50 “I declare to you, brothers and sisters, THAT FLESH AND BLOOD CANNOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.”
But those interested in the theology and the details of this whole debate should certainly go and read the whole chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians.
I would also like to point out something else in the Bible
Matthew 28:16 – 17 “Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
Some doubted! They SAW Jesus. They WORKED with Jesus HIMSELF. Jesus CHOSE them. They saw it all, but still, they had their doubts.
There are other examples as well in the Bible where Jesus’s disciples showed a lack of believe. But these are the people who Jesus handpicked. There were, in ancient times, also some of these champions of religion. But Jesus chose these ordinary men. Sinners. Doubters. Weak people.
It is absolutely amazing to me to see that, based on the fact that Desmond Tutu doubts in the physical resurrection of the corpse of the crucified Jesus, that Gert can conclude that Tutu denies that Jesus is God. There is no logic working there and I am left with the impression that Gert Strydom has not made these claims out of a genuine concern. It was done in a spirit of malice. Gert did not want to expose some type of truth, he wanted to hurt the image of Desmond Tutu by making assumptions and spreading lies. In the end, hurting the image of Mabooki and all involved here.
There is no consensus amongst Christians as to the nature of the resurrected Jesus. In fact, the very word that Saint Paul uses in the ancient texts, ‘pneuma’, is a word meaning ‘spirit’ or ‘ghost’. It is based on these things that Tutu makes the conclusion that the resurrection and the ascension stories in the gospels are not to be read literally.
Was the resurrected Jesus a physical being? Or does Jesus have a ‘spiritual body’ as the author of Corinthians suggest? I do not know the answer to this question. But what I do know, is that whether we believe, the one or the other, or whether we do not know what to believe, this does not make us terrible Christians and unfit to do the work of God, quite the contrary. I believe that Jesus still prefers weak and ordinary people to do His work, just like over 2000 years ago when Jesus walked the earth.
I believe that it is not for Gert Strydom to decide who is fit to be part of the kingdom of God and to do God’s work. People are called by God to do His work. There are really good examples in the Bible to illustrate this. God decides if one is fit, and Gert Strydom is not God. I have prayed for Gert Strydom and I believe that God will guide him on the roads that he must walk. I really have tried to mediate in this matter, but I have my limitations I suppose. This dispute was not some kind of ‘battle’ for me that I want or wanted to ‘win’. My biggest desire was that I wanted to analyse Gert’s creative process in the writing of his poem on Tutu because I had strong objections of the content. After struggling very long to get to where I am now, I feel satisfied that I got insights into how Gert came to make those claims. I object to it again, officially. For my part, however, I will not follow up on the matter, unless perhaps if Gert respond.
For my part, there are no hard feelings. I hope Gert can say the same but however the case may be, I desire peace and goodwill between myself and others, including Gert, and I wish him all the best in life.
* Extract from the poem “Desmond Mpilo Tutu” by Gert Strydom
(1631 Words)
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