What They Think of Us: Plastic Jesus

This is a repost with a link to a version of the song.

Plastic Jesus is an American folk song written by Ed Rush and George Cromarty in 1957, some also attribute Ernie Marrs as a writer. Ed Rush has stated that the inspiration for the song came from a religious radio station from Del Rio, Texas which "sold the most outrageous stuff imaginable, all with magical healing properties." Every city in America probably has such a shop, selling tacky religious trinkets and doodads. In Birmingham, we had Prophet Carlisle who sold scented candles and healing oils. Christians need to assiduously separate themselves from such crap. There is no reason to give the unbelievers ammunition for their sarcasm.

Plastic Jesus has been recorded by multiple artists. Additional verses continue to be added about Mary, Joseph, the Apostles, Moses, Buddha, Krishna, and on and on and on. Here is the original song. Read more about it on Wikipedia.

I don't care if it rains or freezes
'Long as I got my plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Through my trials and tribulations
And my travels through the nations
With my plastic Jesus I'll go far

Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
I'm afraid He'll have to go
His magnets ruin my radio
And if I have a wreck He'll leave a scar

Riding down a thoroughfare
With His nose up in the air
A wreck may be ahead, but He don't mind
Trouble coming He don't see
He just keeps His eye on me
And any other thing that lies behind

Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Though the sunshine on His back
Make Him peel, chip and crack
A little patching keeps Him up to par

When I'm in a traffic jam
He don't care if I say "damn"
I can let all my curses roll
Plastic Jesus doesn't hear
'Cause he has a plastic ear
The man who invented plastic saved my soul

Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Once His robe was snowy white
Now it isn't quite so bright
Stained by the smoke of my cigar

If I weave around at night
And policemen think I'm tight
They never find my bottle, though they ask
Plastic Jesus shelters me
For His head comes off, you see
He's hollow, and I use Him for a flask

Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Ride with me and have a dram
Of the blood of the Lamb
Plastic Jesus is a holy bar

Another version of the song. And another. There are many.

Religious Place Names

Glennahaglish, Ireland: This place incorporates the Irish word “eaglais” which translates as “church.”

Saqqara, Egypt: This place name reflects the name of the ancient Egyptian hawk-headed god of death, Sokar or Seker. HIs name is believed to be derived from the ancient Egyptian phrase “sy-k-ri,” which means “hurry to me.”

Pihana - a- ka -lani, Hawaii State, United States of America: The Hawaiian word “lani” translates as “heaven,” “sky,” or “king” and “pihana” means “a gathering place.”  Pihana was used as a temple site for the sacrifice of war captives to the king’s Hawaiian deities. It was a “gathering place of the supernatural.”

Braganca, Portugal: Walled settlements began to appear in this area in about 1000 to 700 BCE, Brigantia, “the elevated one,” was a Celtic goddess whose name is believed to have come from the Proto-Indo-European words “bhrg hnti” meaning “high,” “lofty,” or “elevated.”

Luang Prabang, Laos: The Lao words “Phra Bang” translate as “royal Buddha image.” The city-state already existed when it entered history in 698 CE when it was conquered by a Tai prince.

The Importance of Archeology

“ In a letter to Biblical Archeology Review (May - June 2016, professor Amihai Mazar of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem states, “If we would have to rely on archeology alone, we would not be able to say anything about Israel until the ninth century B.C.E., except the one mention in the Merneptah Stele in the late 13th century.”    

The Bible mentions cities and peoples otherwise unknown to history, Speaking about unidentified Iron and Bronze Age settlements, Professor Mazar believes that “It is only the Biblical tradition that provides clues to the identity and context of these archeological phenomena.”

One of the cultures mentioned by the Bible which archeology and history declared to be mythological was the Hittite Empire. That is, until the Hittite capital, Hattusas, was identified near Bogas Koy, Turkey in 1884. It was then realized that other ruins discovered in 1834 were also Hittite.  

Opinions about the historicity of the Bible vary wildly depending on numerous factors: educational level, religious background, preconceived biases, etc.  They range from the utterly ridiculous, "2/3 0f Bible is fictional," to the extreme literalist, to the skeptical, to those who give a somewhat grudging acknowledgment.

Ken Ham, writing on the website, Answers in Genesis, quotes from a letter he received from the Smithsonian Institution in response to a question about the historicity of The Flood recounted in Genesis. ’In the best analysis, the Bible is a religious book, not an historical document.’

The historicity of the Bible is the message of the massive apologetic work The Bible as History, written by Werner Keller. Dr. Keller recounts thousands of archeological and scientific items which point to the fact that the Bible is accurate in its historical assertions. Kings and cultures are mentioned in the Bible in the same order and historical context as established by secular sources. The cultural contexts spoken of are consistent with known facts.

The apparent historicity of the Bible is not proof of the truth of the religious claims of Christianity or of Judaism. It does, though, add to the overwhelming evidence pointing toward that truth.