Jesus: Madman, Conman, or God.

“C.S. Lewis”

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. 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 the 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. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. 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 patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. . . . Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God.”

-Mere Christianity, 55-56

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Madman, Conman, or He’s telling the truth: You decide.

• 'I and the Father are one.' Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, 'I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?' 'We are not stoning you for any of these,' replied the Jews, 'but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God' " (John 10:30-33).

• Before the Chief Priests and the whole Sanhedrin. Caiaphas the High Priest asked him: " 'Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?' 'I am,' said Jesus. 'And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven' " (Mark 14:61-62 NIV)

• Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58)

• “But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” (John 10:38)

• “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” (John 17:5)

• And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” (Only God has the authority to forgive sins, the ancient Jews understood this) (Matthew 9:2)

• “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me”. (Matthew 28:18)

• “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25)

Is religion just a something for the weak?

“It is no longer about my strength, only His.”

— Ab

Marx: religion as, “the opiate for the masses”.

Even though today we have taken this phrase out of its original context, with perception being what it is, the question remains, is religion (Christianity) an opiate for the masses?  

Opiates are an artificial means to a high used to ease or escape some current affliction for temporary relief.  So the question is…   

Is Christianity artificial?  

Many would say: YES. Ironically, Marx would not.  In fact, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that Karl Marx wasn’t an atheist, but rather, just against God.  However, the argument that Christianity is a “fake” is a difficult one to make given today’s scholarship.  We may disagree on is Jesus Divine or not, but to say He was completely invented is an argument that no longer holds its ground. (For more on this watch the video: I don’t believe in God because I think it was all made up.)

Is religion a “high”? 

For some, Yes.  Religion is just another feel good pill, or, something I do to make myself feel better.  While a relationship with God does provide much consolation, it’s not about this.  And if we get hooked on the consolations, then Marx is right. If we are in it merely just to feel good, then we may need to reexamine our motives just as if we would if we were in a marriage merely to feel good.  There is so much more. God doesn't want us to get hooked on the feel good, he wants us to get hooked on Him, just as your spouse doesn’t want you to get hooked on him/her just because they make you feel good… but because you love them.

Is religion an escape?

Religion is about as far away from an escape as San Diego is from say… Pluto.  In fact, a relationship with God is the anti-escape. It’s more like a giant 1000x magnifying mirror that reveals even the most hidden blemishes and blackheads of our soul. It only when we see them, that can we remove them once and for all. God will provide the tools (and this doesn’t always feel good).  

Do you really think she did it just for a high or to escape?

Is religion temporary?  

For many of us… unfortunately, it is.  We are temporary creatures.  Hot/cold, in/out, micro attention spans, bored easily and disenchanted even easier.  In fact, everything is temporary: our relationships, our ups our downs, the good things, the bad things, our life, our cultures, our universe and everything in it… is temporary.  The only thing that is not temporary… is God, and your soul.

Freud: religion as, wishful thinking.

Freud speculated that it was our early, collective psychology of - neediness - that projected the “illusion” of an idyllic, benevolent, loving father, to comfort us from the harsh realities of life, protect us from our violence, and forgive us of our guilt.

And he was probably right… about countless ancient myths, beliefs and their deities.  But this is not Jesus. Jesus was a living, breathing, historical, figure who walked the earth at a specific time, in a specific place, was recorded and followed to this very day.  Jesus is no psychological projection just as Abraham Lincoln is no projection.

However, isn’t it interesting that Freud, the father of psychology, identified our deepest psychological need to be loved, to be comforted, to be protected, and to be forgiven. It is the human condition.

The Real Illusion

Maybe it is not God that our psychology projects, but rather the image of strength that is the illusion. We are unceasingly bombarded by these images… aren’t these the artificial, the escapes, the opiates of the masses? And maybe it’s when we can shed this image, like throwing down a heavy armor, and are - ok in our weakness - that God can finally get through to the flesh, un-impeded. And once he is in, he brings his strength with Him. And then we are strong. And it is in this sense, that God is for the weak.

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Is Christianity just another myth, fairytale or legend?

Christianity was made up for power, control and money.  

When asked, why do you think Christianity was made up, the most common answer I get is: for power, control and money.  But this cannot be the answer simply because, It’s impossible. Historically, the church wasn’t in any position to have any sort of power, control or money until, at the very earliest, the mid 5th century. That’s four hundred years (or more) after the death of Christ.  So that’s like saying that today, I want to start a movement to gain control, power or money… 400 years from now.

AS a matter of fact, in those first 400 years, the followers of of Christ, or, the way, as it was called, were only met with ridicule, censorship, persecution and brutal death. I could see dying for something I believed to be true, but would you die a horrible death for something you knew was a lie?

Without a doubt, there were times throughout history where human beings in the church did abuse her power for control and money, as persons in any sort of authority whether it be police, medical or academic have done so.  But this does not therefore nullify all law, medicine, or education. But to say that Christianity itself was invented for this purpose… is not only impossible, but disregards history.  

Do you think he was following a fairytale

So where did it come from?

In order to see why something was founded, a good place to start is with its founder and the founding principles.  So if Christianity was founded for power, control or money, we should see indications of that in the founder and his precepts. The founding principles of Jesus of Nazareth and Christianity are:

Turn the other cheek  

Love your enemy

Love everyone else as you love yourself

Forgive infinitely

Blessed are the meek, the peacemakers, the righteous  

If you want to be the first, be last, the servant of all 

Work for treasures in heaven, not on Earth

Beware of the deceitfulness of riches

Sell what you have and give to the poor

If you have two of something, give one to the poor.  

Feed the hungry

Give drink to the thirsty 

Clothe the naked 

Shelter to the homeless

Visit the sick, the widows, and the imprisoned

Do these sound like the founding precepts of a movement seeking power, control and money?

We may say, yes, well Jesus and the early church had it right, but the “institution” ruined it many years later.  Then at least we can agree that it wasn’t all made up, and lets save that other debate for another time.

In peace.