"I am not ashamed of the gospel,
for it is the power of God for the salvation
of everyone who believes."
Romans 1:16
Does it matter what you believe?
Martin Luther seemed to think so. He was willing to put it all on the line to confront what was false and open up the discussion about what was true.
Martin Luther seemed to think so. He was willing to put it all on the line to confront what was false and open up the discussion about what was true.
Some would say, "It doesn't matter, as long as you're sincere." But what if you're sincerely wrong? Someone I know sincerely believed that his cancer would not be helped by chemotherapy or radiation therapy; instead he should drink copious amounts of a type of naturopathic tea (I believe it was called Essiac). Sadly, it did nothing and he's been buried for several years now. There were doctors who injected pregnant mothers with thalidomide, sincere in their beliefs that it was helpful, rather than harmful. There are many who have suffered as a consequence.
So it is NOT enough to be sincere. You need to be sincere AND right, especially in the really big stuff. If there is an afterlife, then that would qualify as "big stuff". And if there isn't, then you only have this one life, so getting that right would be "big stuff" too.
Some people expend significant time and energy preparing for retirement: pensions, stock market, RRSPs, health care, real estate. They research, they invest, they monitor. If, by reason of amazing health and good fortune, we enjoy 40 years of retirement, it is considered outstanding! Sadly, I've also known friends and colleagues who diligently planned ... and then unexpectedly died within 6 months before or 6 months after their retirement date. The reality is that retirement is not inevitable ... but death is.
Yet rarely do we spend the same kind of resources to settle the question of eternity. So often I hear comments like "Well, I feel ..." or "In my heart, I believe ..." but almost never "Well, I did some research and here's what I found ..." The infamous Ben Shapiro loves to say "The facts don't care about your feelings!"
Belief systems often purport to have things to say about the afterlife. Atheism (yes, it's a belief system) claims there is no God, and nothing afterward. Islam promises paradise for the faithful. Hinduism describes the process of reincarnation; do it again until you get it right. Since there is no empirical evidence for any of these claims, they must be accepted by faith.
Christianity, at first glance, seems to be "more of the same". There's a heaven for good people and a hell for bad people. But on closer scrutiny, the Bible says more. Yes, heaven is real and so is hell. Jesus mentioned hell frequently; it was clear he believed it was a real place. But here's the thing: heaven, the Bible teaches, isn't for good people; it's for perfect people. (Wait ... what?) And hell wasn't originally intended for people at all. It was designed for Satan and the angels who followed him in his rebellion against God. The Bible goes on to say that the human race, in Adam and Eve, rebelled against God too, so we are all, by default, headed for hell ... unless someone perfect intervenes for us.
And that's what happened; the perfect Jesus took our place, took our punishment, took our death in our place ... and God offers us His perfection in exchange! So the only ones who get into heaven are not the worthy, but those who accept God's generous, loving, free offer and are made worthy in Jesus Christ!
This is distinctly different from all other religions. Every other religion teaches "If you DO this, you can be saved." Christianity teaches "Because Jesus Christ has DONE it, this is the ONLY way you can be saved."
Now, we can't prove empirically that Christianity is true. But it stands or falls solely on the person of Jesus Christ, and he was a historical figure, so if we prove him a fraud, we could at least eliminate Christianity from the plethora of options.
Jesus said, in John 14:6, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me." He didn't claim to be a way or a truth; He said He was THE way and THE truth. No one comes to the Father except through Him. That means Buddhism won't do it, Hinduism won't do it, Islam won't do it; it's Jesus or nothing, according to Jesus's own claims. He also claimed to be the Son of God, which is what qualifies him to be the Way. So if we are honestly searching for the truth, we need to decide between "It's Jesus Christ, and all else is false" or "Jesus Christ is a fake and Christianity is nonsense" and we move on to our flavour of preference.
Here, at least, we can apply empirical analysis, since Jesus was a real person with measurable claims. C. S. Lewis stated that
"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice ... You can shut him up for a fool; you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us."
So to simplify, here are the positions:
1. Jesus was a liar, who was out to take advantage of those who would fall for his wild stories. If that is true, we ought to do everything possible to expose him as a fraud and gag his followers.
2. Jesus was a mentally ill megalomaniac, who actually believed the claims he made. If that is true, we still ought to expose him, but with compassion, and gently educate his followers.
3. Jesus is exactly who He claims to be; the Son of God who came to be the Saviour of mankind. If this is true, we ought to reject all else and grant Him our worship, our obedience, our very lives.
Two "hostile" atheistic individuals who examined the evidence and wrote about their discoveries are Lee Strobel (The Case For Christ) and J. Warner Wallace (Cold Case Christianity). Strobel was an investigative legal editor for the Chicago Tribune, who set out to disprove Christianity when his wife became a follower of Jesus Christ. Warner Wallace was a homicide detective specializing in cold cases, who decided to put his significant skill set to work disproving Christianity. I own both books, and they are definitely worthwhile reads, since we can't possibly do all the evidence justice in a short blog post.
If Jesus was a liar, we can understand that he would enjoy the "ride" for a while; free meals and stays in followers' houses, a fair bit of attention and notoriety. But if he was looking to increase that, why did he say such difficult things, that even his present followers began to leave? (John 6:66)
And then there's the issue of crucifixion. The Romans had perfected this torture device to exact the most pain from the victim, while extending the suffering for days. Anyone who was knowingly creating a false persona would NOT hold on to the deception in the face of crucifixion. The "Jesus as a liar" argument is a washout.
So what about Jesus as a madman? Gary R. Collins, Ph. D., stated that there were several things to indicate that he was in his right mind:
Now, we can't prove empirically that Christianity is true. But it stands or falls solely on the person of Jesus Christ, and he was a historical figure, so if we prove him a fraud, we could at least eliminate Christianity from the plethora of options.
Jesus said, in John 14:6, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me." He didn't claim to be a way or a truth; He said He was THE way and THE truth. No one comes to the Father except through Him. That means Buddhism won't do it, Hinduism won't do it, Islam won't do it; it's Jesus or nothing, according to Jesus's own claims. He also claimed to be the Son of God, which is what qualifies him to be the Way. So if we are honestly searching for the truth, we need to decide between "It's Jesus Christ, and all else is false" or "Jesus Christ is a fake and Christianity is nonsense" and we move on to our flavour of preference.
Here, at least, we can apply empirical analysis, since Jesus was a real person with measurable claims. C. S. Lewis stated that
"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice ... You can shut him up for a fool; you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us."
So to simplify, here are the positions:
1. Jesus was a liar, who was out to take advantage of those who would fall for his wild stories. If that is true, we ought to do everything possible to expose him as a fraud and gag his followers.
2. Jesus was a mentally ill megalomaniac, who actually believed the claims he made. If that is true, we still ought to expose him, but with compassion, and gently educate his followers.
3. Jesus is exactly who He claims to be; the Son of God who came to be the Saviour of mankind. If this is true, we ought to reject all else and grant Him our worship, our obedience, our very lives.
Two "hostile" atheistic individuals who examined the evidence and wrote about their discoveries are Lee Strobel (The Case For Christ) and J. Warner Wallace (Cold Case Christianity). Strobel was an investigative legal editor for the Chicago Tribune, who set out to disprove Christianity when his wife became a follower of Jesus Christ. Warner Wallace was a homicide detective specializing in cold cases, who decided to put his significant skill set to work disproving Christianity. I own both books, and they are definitely worthwhile reads, since we can't possibly do all the evidence justice in a short blog post.
If Jesus was a liar, we can understand that he would enjoy the "ride" for a while; free meals and stays in followers' houses, a fair bit of attention and notoriety. But if he was looking to increase that, why did he say such difficult things, that even his present followers began to leave? (John 6:66)
And then there's the issue of crucifixion. The Romans had perfected this torture device to exact the most pain from the victim, while extending the suffering for days. Anyone who was knowingly creating a false persona would NOT hold on to the deception in the face of crucifixion. The "Jesus as a liar" argument is a washout.
So what about Jesus as a madman? Gary R. Collins, Ph. D., stated that there were several things to indicate that he was in his right mind:
- He was an emotionally healthy individual; he did not demonstrate inappropriate emotions
- He spoke clearly, powerfully and eloquently; he demonstrated no thinking disorders or irrationality
- He had deep and abiding relationships; he exhibited no unsuitable behaviours.
Jesus wasn't lying when he stated his claims, and he wasn't crazy either. But just because someone says something is true doesn't make it true. We would want some evidence to back it up. If I tell you I'm married, you don't have to believe me just because I wear a wedding band and have a marriage certificate. But if I have those things AND a reputation of being truthful AND a pile of witnesses who were there at the wedding AND more witnesses who had done life together with us over the past 29 years, the claim becomes pretty reliable.
Jesus's claims are far more significant; he didn't claim to be a messenger from God, he claimed to BE God! "Whoa, Mike! That's crazy talk!" you respond. In Mark chapter 2, verses 1-12, we find the record of Jesus healing someone who had been paralyzed for some time. Interestingly, his first response is to the friends' faith, and he says, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." Since only God can forgive an offense against God, Jesus was either blaspheming (not typical of him) or claiming to be God (right in line). The religious leaders observing this were outraged at his apparent blasphemy. Jesus responds, "So that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins ..." and then turns to the paralytic and says, "Take up your stretcher and walk!" and he does.
If I tell someone their sins are forgiven, there's nothing to see to prove that my declaration has come true. But if I tell a paralyzed person to walk, you'll know very shortly if I'm a fraud! Jesus demonstrates his authority in the spiritual realm by exhibiting his power over the physical realm. He healed the blind, the lepers, the hemorrhaging, the lame. He calmed storms and he raised the dead to life. And ultimately, he himself rose from the dead, proving that he was who he said he was, and that he can do for you what he said he can. No one in history has ever been or done anything like Jesus. He stands unique among all others.
Martin Luther decided there was more to the Jesus of the Bible than stale and abusive religion. I asked Jesus to be my Saviour and Lord many years ago, and am still learning what it means to be his follower; I've never regretted that decision. You can do the same!
