C.S. Lewis made this argument famous about the divinity of Christ: Jesus is either a liar, lunatic, or he is Lord. What this means is that Jesus in the Bible claimed to be Lord. If you accept that Jesus actually claimed this, then these are the only three options for Jesus: He claimed to be the Son of God, even though he knew full well that he wasn’t. He was a liar or deceiver. He honestly thought he was the Son of God out of self-delusion, which makes him a lunatic. Or he was indeed who he claimed to be–our Lord. Many Christians, including myself, find this argument quite compelling, as long as you believe that the Bible accurately records Jesus’ teachings/words. Remember, Jesus didn’t write any of the Four Gospels, his followers did. This is one flaw many people find in this argument for the divinity of Jesus. They hold out the possibility that Jesus never made these claims for himself, but his followers later attributed these notions to him. However, I believe that Jesus did indeed make these claims, so the argument is solid for me. We don’t have this problem with Paul. Paul actually wrote some letters, and those letters written by his own hands are contained in the Bible. As a result, I think this argument is even stronger for Paul than it is for Jesus. Let me lay out why I think this, and anyone who sees a fallacy in my logic, I’d like to hear it. Some people try to pit Paul against Jesus, saying that Paul’s gospel of salvation contradicts Jesus’ gospel of the kingdom of God. For example, Paul’s gospel emphasizes that one needs to only believe in Jesus Christ as Lord in order to be saved. They would say it is hard to find such notions in the Gospels (except the book of John, which is a completely different topic). Jesus, on the other hand, seems to have a message more about how we ought to live, and if we don’t forgive, or if we don’t feed the hungry, we won’t be saved. Much of the Church’s theology of salvation, sin, the Old Testament Law, and explanation of what the...

Last night, one of the Bible stories that I read to Naomi and Rachel was the story of the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with perfume using her hair. Simon, the owner of the home where this occurred, is disappointed that Jesus is letting such a sinful person carry out such behavior. Jesus’ reply made me think of the messages of my recent posts. I know some may be growing tired of hearing about hell, judgment, wrath, sin, the Fall, etc. It certainly isn’t uplifting material. Or is it? Jesus’ reply was, “Those who have been forgiven much, love much.” There is worry today among church leadership about decline in church attendance, giving, etc. Statistics show that most denominations are declining in almost every statistical item that can be quantified. This may or may not be a bad thing. (I think outward statistical progress doesn’t necessarily reflect inward progress.) I do, however, think that in general, there is one factor of enormous importance that is indeed affecting a decline among “church-going Christians.” Because we don’t realize how much we’ve been forgiven, we don’t seem to love God very much. Even if you disregard numerical statistics, take a look around the average church today. Where is the passion for Jesus? Do you see it in the eyes of the congregation as they worship? Do you see it in their insatiable hunger for pouring through God’s Word? Do you see it in a renewed fervor to abandon their life of comfort and live as Christ lived? Do you see it in their tireless efforts to share salvation with friends, co-workers, neighbors? In efforts to revive such passion, many churches resort to programs and motivational efforts–most of which, when they are unmasked, appear little more than gimmicks. “Let’s change the style of music to something more contemporary and up-beat!” “Let’s start up small groups!” “Let’s run a stewardship campaign!” “Let’s focus sermons more on life-application!” “Let’s offer coffee, a casual atmosphere, and savvy media!” I”m not saying that any of these things are bad in and of themselves. In fact, I like many of these things. What I fear, however, is that churches are trying to make these things like silver bullets–they...

Without any intro, here’s their argument: —————————————————————— THE WORLD’S NOT GOING TO HELL If there was anyone who was humble who walked this earth, it was Jesus. The Son of the Most High God was born as a helpless baby. He didn’t own any earthly possessions. He was ridiculed, but turned the other cheek. He allowed himself to be crucified by merciless men, asking God to forgive them all the while. Over and over, He reminded us to show mercy. His big procession was on a lowly donkey. Over and over, He didn’t want it to leak out that He was the Son of God. He was a man of humility. As followers of Christ, we are to do the same. So many people today in the name of Jesus arrogantly go around, trying to convert people to Christianity–as if they know the truth and everyone else is in darkness. How arrogant! Do Christians have a monopoly on truth? Isn’t God’s truth sprinkled in other places–in other faiths–as well? Didn’t Jesus die for the sins of the entire world? These Christians claim that if you don’t convert, you’ll go to hell. Does this sound like Jesus’ teachings? Is that what Jesus would do? ——————————————————————– The world is going to hell? That sounds judgmental, doesn’t it? In today’s world, any such assertion will be met with quite a bit of resistance. The root of that resistance will be: that can’t be God’s way. If there is a God, He loves everyone. If He inflicts wrath like that, surely He isn’t a good God! But is that how Scripture looks at God’s wrath–that it makes Him no longer good or righteous? Look at Romans 3:5-6: The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking in human terms.) May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world? Yes, the gospel says that we are all worthless sinners (Romans 3:10-12) and we are all under God’s judgment. Who said the Gospel was good news again? Sheesh! Well, this isn’t the entire message of the Gospel. The Gospel teaches that when Jesus died for the sins of the world, God’s judgment is stayed. That doesn’t mean that...

In my previous post, I started by stating that this “new” Christianity states that we should be cautious to judge things up to Scripture, since quite a few parts of Scripture appear flawed/misguided in their understandings of God. That’s why I commented to Melena that I chose not to use the words of Paul in my last post. I know that there are those who might dismiss what Paul has to say, because they see some of his teachings as contradictory to what Jesus taught. So I wanted instead to study Jesus’ own words as much as possible, since we hadn’t addressed the issue of this blog post yet. So what does this “better” Christianity have to say about Scripture and Jesus? ——————————————————————————— TRUST JESUS, NOT THE BIBLE The idea goes something like this: Jesus is the fullest revelation of God, not the Bible. Jesus is the word of God (John 1:14), not the Bible. The Old Testament tried its best to describe who God is, how He acts, what He wants from us. But it was written by people who didn’t have the knowledge of God given to us by Jesus, and therefore they attribute things to God that aren’t really in His character. And it’s not just them that do this. Even in the New Testament, various authors in their zeal of God over-reach themselves. People like Paul, for example, who is trying his best to understand what it means that Jesus has come in the flesh and how we should respond to that truth. But we also have something better than the writings of people before Christ and the people after Christ (who are humans like the rest of us). We have the very words of Christ himself! Paul wasn’t the Son of God. Paul didn’t die for our sins. Paul isn’t the Way, the Truth, the Life. He didn’t come down from heaven. He isn’t our Savior, and he isn’t the Messiah. Jesus is! So, sure, it’s great to read what Paul or Old Testament writers had to say–just like it’s great to read what any Christian philosopher has to say down the centuries. But we aren’t to trust Paul or his words with our...

Ok, so here’s the start of some blog posts that I promised a little while back to unpack some of the beliefs being presented today–claims for a “better” Christianity. Before I get into the first one about “not judging”, let me say that we must judge these “new” claims by Scripture. I believe it’s clear that they don’t stand up. But part of this “new” Christianity states that we should be cautious to judge such things up to Scripture, since quite a few parts of Scripture appear flawed/misguided in their understandings of God. In effect, these people are judging Scripture and find it to be lacking. This illustrates one of the points I will present in this blog that people who say “don’t judge,” create impossible criteria for what it means to “judge.” In fact, it is quite ironic that, when I was told that “my” view of Christianity (as if I’ve come up with something new) and my attitude was narrow-minded, judgmental, and arrogant, the very people telling me that I was judging were doing exactly that–and to an even greater degree. In other words, I did in fact “judge” their positions by stating that I completely disagree with their positions on matters that I believe are central to the Christian faith, and that I firmly believed they go completely against the whole of Scripture. I made judgments on their positions, for sure, but did not belittle them as persons in doing so. In return, those who would say that we shouldn’t judge responded by making judgments not only on my positions (which is completely fair and appropriate), but also belittling who I am as a person when they stated I was judgmental, arrogant, and narrow-minded for believing that Jesus is the only way, for example. This is what too often happens by those who say “Don’t judge.” When someone tells you that you are judging–by saying this, they are now judging (and not just judging your beliefs, but sometimes even your motivation, intelligence, or character). The reason for this circular conundrum is a misunderstanding of what Jesus means by “Don’t judge.” Almost anything we say is considered a “judgment.” By this definition, that last statement itself is...