Some Thoughts on Unexplained Details, ‘Long Story Short,’ Red Ferraris and the Authenticity of the Gospels

You’ve no doubt had the experience of conversing with somebody who, while telling you about something exciting or puzzling or perhaps sad, adds an interesting but otherwise not obviously relevant detail:

“So I decided to head on over there to see for myself and there’s this really long red light where I saw a guy with a mustache driving a gorgeous red 1962 Ferrari GTO, and you know, by the time I got there, I was wondering why I came in the first place.” Can you spot the rabbit hole? The wild goose chase?

The guy with the mustache in the gorgeous Italian sports car has nothing to do with the point of the story, but it does add a touch of authenticity.

Even so, the fact remains that after all, the guy was sitting at that irritatingly long red light and red 1962 Ferrari GTOs generally are beautiful (and quite rare these days!) for people who appreciate such things, but that’s not what the purpose of the story is, right? It gets mentioned because it really did happen.

Thus it is with a number of “unexplained allusions” in the Gospels, according to Erik Manning of Is Jesus Alive?, such as Jesus’ reference to the brothers James and John as “Sons of Thunder.” This detail is never explained, but there it is. Is it significant? Manning assesses the possibilities:

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Now This Is A Real 1962 Ferrari GTO!

Well, actually, it’s my prized model of a 1962 Ferrari GTO, which, along with the 1964 Corvette Grand Sport sitting nearby in the bookshelf display, captures my vision of automotive perfection, especially on a race track like Sebring or LeMans.

This GTO was almost the perfect sports car – beautifully sensuous lines, amazing speed for its day, an intoxicatingly shreiking V-12, and rare as only Enzo Ferrari could make them. One sold not long ago for $48 million!

Ok, Mark, that’s enough of this hedonism, this is HillFaith, not Car & Driver!

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