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Adam Terrell
Foundations for a Christian Worldview (FCW)

Jesus is Liard

Billions of people still believe in Jesus after millennia of skeptics that have sought to disprove Christianity.  This is because the Scriptures (upon which Christianity is based) are logically and morally sound.  Even the way they have been copied and translated over the ages is completely logical and has stood scrutiny over the test of time.  Someone has said, "The Bible is an anvil that has worn out many hammers."

There are many people who say that Christianity is based on legends.  That is, the only evidences Christians have for their faith are old documents that are not 100% reliable.  The parts about Jesus being God and everything are just facts that got blown out of proportion.  "His claims to deity [are] but a legend. This is the belief that what actually happened was that His enthusiastic followers, in the third and fourth centuries, put into His mouth words He would have been shocked to hear and would have repudiated."1

There are very few people who attempt to deny that Jesus ever even existed.  There are references to him in other ancient documents such as in a work by Flavius Josephus who has been mentioned in previous essays.  He gives an account of Jesus' trial and crucifixion.  There is no place in history where two people wrote at the same time of the same person if that person did not exist.  This is just as likely as two people having the same dream at the same time.

Still others say that, yes, Jesus existed, but what He said was just mystical babble—what He said was just mysterious talk that meant something that no one could really understand; it is too cryptic to make sense.  If this approach is true, how can the average person understand Him as they do?  If someone said, "You cannot understand what I am saying," and was apparently serious about this claim, would this person be credible?  No, and neither is this view.

So if Jesus was not a legend, and what He said can be comprehended, was He telling the truth?  There is an inconsistent view that says this.  Jesus cannot be just a good teacher.  He is either who He said, or terribly evil.  Josh McDowell puts it plainly, "[If] He was a liar, then He was also a hypocrite because He told others to be honest, whatever the cost, while He himself taught and lived a colossal lie.  More than that, He was a demon, because He told others to trust Him for their eternal destiny.  If He couldn't back up His claims and knew it, then He was unspeakably evil. Last, He would also be a fool because it was His claims to being God that led to His crucifixion."²  If Jesus was a liar, he could not be anyone to be even slightly admired.

There is one other alternative view of Jesus.  It would not be lying if Jesus really thought He was God.  You do not call an insane person a liar; you rightly call him insane.  He does not know what he is saying because of this fact.  This alternative does not work because the people closest to Him, the apostles, went and died for His sake.  They saw Him do miracles and were so convinced that they were willing to be persecuted, tortured, and put to death.  If Jesus had been a lunatic, He would not have God's powers.  He would have tried to ascend into heaven and fallen back down.

Then the only thing left is that Jesus requires the earth's worship.  Actually, he already has His creation's worship.  "'I tell you,' he replied, 'if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out'" (Luke 19:40).  He just wants man's now.  If God seems jealous, it is because He is.  Jealousy is not wrong if it is a legitimate desire.  God is omnipotent; He can do whatever he wants and still be in the right.  It is not wrong for God to want something that rightfully belongs to Him anyway, especially since He has bought mankind twice; He created us, and then He bought us again.

So there are just five possibilities for Jesus' identity, but why do fundamental Christians believe that Christianity is the only true religion?  Why are there not more paths to God?  First of all, (though it makes little difference to those who do not believe the Bible) the Bible says so.  It says in John 14:6, "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'"

Another reason that Christianity is most likely to be true is because it actually provides the only logical basis for truth which is the existence of a Creator, God.  There are doctrines and beliefs that say nothing is true (and they start with this single "truth.")  Yet the existence of God explains many of life's mysteries, such as the universe's beginning (matter, time, and space), and the only possible explanation for logic—law.

Let this serve as an illustration.  Suppose you asked an atheist to show you something, a number, the number 3.  He goes to get a chalkboard and some chalk.  He proceeds to write the number out.  "There," he says.  You promptly pick up the eraser sitting on the board and erase it.

"I just got rid of the number 3," you say quizzically.  The atheist draws the number again.  You erase it yet again.  Are you repeatedly creating and destroying the number 3?  No, atheists cannot account for higher things; simple things that everyone knows exist, such as numbers.

So there is a God.  Why is the Christian God the true one?  Though this does not conclusively prove that Christianity is the only way, the Scriptures that have been copied and translated over the ages serve as a strong truth-boost for the message of the Gospel.  The Jews recognize some of these same Scriptures yet overlook all of the prophesies about the Messiah which perfectly describe Jesus (Isaiah 53).

Covering the last of the three, monotheistic religions, Islam, one can appeal to something that every human being has—a conscience.  "Con-science" literally means "with-knowledge."  God placed in every person a basic knowledge of right and wrong.  Compare an Islamic nation with a Christian nation.  The United States, a Christian nation (at least at its founding), has done more good deeds for the world than Islam has done bad deeds.  Christianity produces missionaries; Islam produces terrorists.  Both of these groups are encouraged by the respective religions.  The Bible says to treat enemies with love; the Koran says to kill them.  "Believers!  Make war on the infidels who dwell around you.  Let them find harshness in you."³ 

However Christianity is viewed, the subject cannot be lightly pushed aside.  It is either everything or nothing.  As C. S. Lewis says, "Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important."4

Bibliography

1Marden, Matt.  www.handballmates.com/copysite/cy00019.html.  Retrieved on May 29, 2008.

²McDowell, Josh.  www.greatcom.org/resources/areadydefense/ch21/default.htm.  Retrieved on June 1, 2008.

³Koran, Sura 9:123.

4Lewis, C. S.  (1970.)  God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics, pp. 101.  Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing.