WHO IS "THE REAL, THE TRUE, THE LIVING" JESUS?
Just sharing some thoughts on the LIVING Jesus (see https://thelivingjesuschrist.wordpress.com/)
“
from https://sharefaith.wordpress.com/2013/03/03/jesus-makes-god-real-to-me-2/
I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn’t, and live my life as if there isn’t and die to find out there is.”
from https://myjourneyofaith.wordpress.com/my-journey-of-faith/
“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 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. 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 patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
― C.S Lewis, Mere Christianity
from
Web Sites: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007E2WXW0http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005GGMAW4 and http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=la_B005GGMAW4_sr?rh=i%3Abooks&field-author=Craig+Lock&sort=relevance&ie=UTF8&qid=1374375740
The submitter’s blogs (with extracts from his various writings: articles, books and new manuscripts) are at http://sharefaith.wordpress.com and https://craigsblogs.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/craigs-list-of-blogs-updated-sept-2011/
Other Articles are available at: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/user/15565 and http://www.ideamarketers.com/library/profile.cfm?writerid=981
Publishing Guidelines:
We hope that the following thoughts may be interesting, informative, helpful and especially thought-provoking to your e-zine readers, or on your web site. This piece (as with all my writings) may be freely reproduced electronically or in print (with acknowledgement to the sources, thanks). If it helps others “out there” in any way on the ‘amazing journey of life’, then we’re very happy.
“We share what we know, so that we all may grow.”
#
C.S. Lewis on Jesus Christ: Lord, Liar or Lunatic?
“God does work in amazing ways”
“What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
Submitter’s Thoughts:
I am fascinated by the life and immense spirit of Jesus, as well as the controversy and varying beliefs about this most written about “figure” in human history. So in my research for my latest Amazon book The Spirit of a True Champion: A Look into the Mind of Jesus Christ, I came across these thoughts of CS Lewis on the www, so thought I’d share. No matter what you may or may not believe… enjoy
Is Jesus Christ a Legend, Lunatic, Liar, or Lord and GOD?
In his famous book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis makes this statement, “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 a man who says he is a poached egg–or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool 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.”
Jesus could only have been one of four things: a legend, a liar, a lunatic–or Lord and God. There is so much historical and archeological evidence to support his existence that every reputable historian agrees he was not just a legend. If Jesus were a liar, why would he die for his claim, when he could easily have avoided such a cruel death with a few choice words? And, if he were a lunatic, how did he engage in intelligent debates with his opponents or handle the stress of his betrayal and crucifixion while continuing to show a deep love for his antagonists? Christ said he was Lord and God. The evidence supports that claim.
(My thought, I need to study the above statement/claim in more depth…purely for myself)
Here are some of the key claims Jesus made about himself.
The Claims of Jesus
Christ claimed to live a sinless life
Jesus could look at a crowd of people angry at his claims to share God’s nature and ask, “Which of you can point to anything wrong in my life?” Even more amazing is that none of them could give a reply! No human being has ever lived a sinless life, except for Jesus Christ.
John 8:28-29 “So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know who I am and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.’”
John 8:46-47 “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
Jesus Christ claimed to be the ONLY way to God
Not one of several ways, but the one and only way. Not to teach the way, but to be the way to God. Nobody has ever made claims like that before and backed them, but Jesus did through his love, balanced life, and miracles.
John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.”
Matthew 11:27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
Note: No other world religious leader, such as Buddha, Confucius, or Mohammed ever made this claim.
Christ claimed to have shared the glory of God in Heaven
Jesus claimed to have pre-existed the people he spoke with. The apostle John–who shared bread with Jesus–wrote that Jesus was with God in the very beginning, and that “all things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” (John 1:1-5)
John 17:5 “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”
This is a claim distorted by groups like the Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Jesus Christ claimed to be able to forgive sins
(my note : indirectly. Also see *)
One of the reasons that the Jewish leaders were so angry with Jesus was his continual practice of forgiving people’s sins. The religious leaders understood clearly that since sins were rebellion against God Himself, only God could forgive sins.
Luke 5:20-21 “When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.’ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, ‘Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’”(emphasis: web author)
Luke 7:48-49 “Then Jesus said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ The other guests began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’”
Christ claimed to be a Heavenly king
Luke 22:69 “But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”
Luke 23:1-3 “Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, ‘We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king.’ So Pilate asked Jesus, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ ‘Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied.”
John 18:36-37 “Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.’ ‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate. Jesus answered, ‘You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’”
Christ claimed to be able to give everlasting life
Jesus didn’t just tell people how they could find everlasting life, or deepen their own life experience. He actually claimed to give life himself.
John 6:40 “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 6:47 “I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.”
John 10:28-30 “I give [my followers] eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die…’”
Jesus claimed that he would die and come back to life
John 10:17 “Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father–and I lay down my life for the sheep. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life–only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
John 12:32-33 “‘But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.’ He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.”
John 16:16 “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”
Luke 18:31-33 “Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, ‘We are going up into Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.’”
Christ claimed that he would return again to judge the world
* (my thought: Yet Jesus also claimed that only God could judge)
Matthew 24:27-30 “So as the lightening comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man… At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.”
Matthew 25:31-32 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep and the goats.”
Mark 14:61-62 “Again 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.’”
From: http://www.allaboutgod.com/jesus-christ.htm
http://www.ccci.org/how-to-know-god/who-is-jesus-god-or-just-a-good-man/index.htm
http://www.jonathantweet.com/religionlewisonj.html
‘The Spirit of a True Champion: A Look into the Mind of Jesus Christ’ is already available at
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007E2WXW0
Craig’s various books on Jesus and the “Spiritual journey” are available at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=la_B005GGMAW4_sr?rh=i%3Abooks&field-author=Craig+Lock&sort=relevance&ie=UTF8&qid=1374375740
The various books that Craig “felt inspired to write” are available at:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005GGMAW4
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=la_B005GGMAW4_sr?rh=i%3Abooks&field-author=Craig+Lock
https://www.createspace.com/pub/simplesitesearch.search.do?sitesearch_query=%22craig+lock%22&sitesearch_type=STORE (paperbacks)
http://www.creativekiwis.com/index.php/books and http://goo.gl/vTpjk
All proceeds go to needy and underprivileged children –
MINE!
“Together, one mind, one life (one small step at a time), let’s see how many people (and lives) we can encourage, impact, empower, enrich, uplift and perhaps even inspire to reach their fullest potentials.”
PPS
A life lived in the spirit of Christ will never die!
As my good friend, Lindsay ‘the Prophet’ often says: “Get yourself right with Jesus, man!”
from https://sharefaith.wordpress.com/2013/11/25/c-s-lewis-on-jesus-christ-lord-liar-or-lunatic-3/
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp-stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:14-16 New King James Version (NKJV)
“I believe in Christianity, as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
– CS 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 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. 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 patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
― C.S Lewis, Mere Christianity
Web Sites: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007E2WXW0 http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005GGMAW4 and http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=la_B005GGMAW4_sr?rh=i%3Abooks&field-author=Craig+Lock&sort=relevance&ie=UTF8&qid=1374375740
The submitter’s blogs (with extracts from his various writings: articles, books and new manuscripts) are at http://sharefaith.wordpress.com and http://craigsblogs.wordpress.com and http://craiglock.wordpress.com
Other Articles are available at: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/user/15565 and http://www.ideamarketers.com/library/profile.cfm?writerid=981
Publishing Guidelines:
We hope that the following thoughts may be interesting, informative, helpful and especially thought-provoking to your e-zine readers, or on your web site. This piece (as with all my writings) may be freely reproduced electronically or in print (with acknowledgement to the sources, thanks). If it helps others “out there” in any way on the ‘amazing journey of life’, then we’re very happy.
“We share what we know, so that we all may grow.”
#
C.S. Lewis on Jesus Christ: Lord, Liar or Lunatic?
“God does work in amazing ways”
“What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
Submitter’s Thoughts:
I am fascinated by the life and immense spirit of Jesus, as well as the controversy and varying beliefs about this most written about “figure” in human history. So in my research for my latest Amazon book The Spirit of a True Champion: A Look into the Mind of Jesus Christ, I came across these thoughts of CS Lewis on the www, so thought I’d share. No matter what you may or may not believe… enjoy
Is Jesus Christ a Legend, Lunatic, Liar, or Lord and GOD?
In his famous book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis makes this statement, “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 a man who says he is a poached egg–or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool 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.”
Jesus could only have been one of four things: a legend, a liar, a lunatic–or Lord and God. There is so much historical and archeological evidence to support his existence that every reputable historian agrees he was not just a legend. If Jesus were a liar, why would he die for his claim, when he could easily have avoided such a cruel death with a few choice words? And, if he were a lunatic, how did he engage in intelligent debates with his opponents or handle the stress of his betrayal and crucifixion while continuing to show a deep love for his antagonists? Christ said he was Lord and God. The evidence supports that claim.
(My thought, I need to study the above statement/claim in more depth…purely for myself)
Here are some of the key claims Jesus made about himself.
The Claims of Jesus
Christ claimed to live a sinless life
Jesus could look at a crowd of people angry at his claims to share God’s nature and ask, “Which of you can point to anything wrong in my life?” Even more amazing is that none of them could give a reply! No human being has ever lived a sinless life, except for Jesus Christ.
John 8:28-29 “So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know who I am and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.’”
John 8:46-47 “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
Jesus Christ claimed to be the ONLY way to God
Not one of several ways, but the one and only way. Not to teach the way, but to be the way to God. Nobody has ever made claims like that before and backed them, but Jesus did through his love, balanced life, and miracles.
John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.”
Matthew 11:27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
Note: No other world religious leader, such as Buddha, Confucius, or Mohammed ever made this claim.
Christ claimed to have shared the glory of God in Heaven
Jesus claimed to have pre-existed the people he spoke with. The apostle John–who shared bread with Jesus–wrote that Jesus was with God in the very beginning, and that “all things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” (John 1:1-5)
John 17:5 “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”
This is a claim distorted by groups like the Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Jesus Christ claimed to be able to forgive sins
(my note : indirectly. Also see *)
One of the reasons that the Jewish leaders were so angry with Jesus was his continual practice of forgiving people’s sins. The religious leaders understood clearly that since sins were rebellion against God Himself, only God could forgive sins.
Luke 5:20-21 “When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.’ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, ‘Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’”(emphasis: web author)
Luke 7:48-49 “Then Jesus said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ The other guests began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’”
Christ claimed to be a Heavenly king
Luke 22:69 “But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”
Luke 23:1-3 “Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, ‘We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king.’ So Pilate asked Jesus, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ ‘Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied.”
John 18:36-37 “Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.’ ‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate. Jesus answered, ‘You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’”
Christ claimed to be able to give everlasting life
Jesus didn’t just tell people how they could find everlasting life, or deepen their own life experience. He actually claimed to give life himself.
John 6:40 “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 6:47 “I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.”
John 10:28-30 “I give [my followers] eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die…’”
Jesus claimed that he would die and come back to life
John 10:17 “Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father–and I lay down my life for the sheep. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life–only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
John 12:32-33 “‘But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.’ He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.”
John 16:16 “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”
Luke 18:31-33 “Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, ‘We are going up into Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.’”
Christ claimed that he would return again to judge the world
* (my thought: Yet Jesus also claimed that only God could judge)
Matthew 24:27-30 “So as the lightening comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man… At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.”
Matthew 25:31-32 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep and the goats.”
Mark 14:61-62 “Again 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.’”
From: http://www.allaboutgod.com/jesus-christ.htm
http://www.ccci.org/how-to-know-god/who-is-jesus-god-or-just-a-good-man/index.htm
http://www.jonathantweet.com/religionlewisonj.html
‘The Spirit of a True Champion: A Look into the Mind of Jesus Christ’ is already available at
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007E2WXW0
Craig’s various books on Jesus and the “Spiritual journey” are available at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=la_B005GGMAW4_sr?rh=i%3Abooks&field-author=Craig+Lock&sort=relevance&ie=UTF8&qid=1374375740
The various books that Craig “felt inspired to write” are available at:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005GGMAW4
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=la_B005GGMAW4_sr?rh=i%3Abooks&field-author=Craig+Lock
https://www.createspace.com/pub/simplesitesearch.search.do?sitesearch_query=%22craig+lock%22&sitesearch_type=STORE (paperbacks)
http://www.creativekiwis.com/index.php/books and http://goo.gl/vTpjk
All proceeds go to needy and underprivileged children –
MINE!
“Together, one mind, one life (one small step at a time), let’s see how many people (and lives) we can encourage, impact, empower, enrich, uplift and perhaps even inspire to reach their fullest potentials.”
PPS
A life lived in the spirit of Christ will never die!
As my good friend, Lindsay ‘the Prophet’ often says: “Get yourself right with Jesus, man!”
C.S. Lewis on Jesus Christ: Lord, Liar or Lunatic?
“God does work in amazing ways”
“What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
Submitter’s Thoughts:
I am fascinated by the life and immense spirit of Jesus, as well as the controversy and varying beliefs about this most written about “figure” in human history. So in my research for my latest Amazon book The Spirit of a True Champion: A Look into the Mind of Jesus Christ, I came across these thoughts (excellent) of CS Lewis on the www, so thought I’d share in a “spirit of enlightenment” (together with some of my own thoughts and comments on these writings).No matter what you may or may not believe… enjoy
C.S. Lewis on Jesus Christ: Lord, Liar or Lunatic
C.S. Lewis was an amazing author and a brilliant man. Generally considered one of the brightest apologists of the 20th Century, Lewis has a uniquely practical approach to God and His ways. His supreme applicability and warm, casual tone of writing make reading most of his works a pleasure, while his fascinatingly simple approach to big issues and fiercely-debated topics makes his works worthy of both reading and re-reading.
C.S. Lewis’ Take on God, Jesus, and the Universe
The way it is
Article Title: “THE TWO… OR THREE JESUS’S”: Teacher… Prophet…or God? Thoughts of CS. Lewis on Jesus Christ: Lord, Liar or Lunatic?
Shared by: craig
Category (key words): Religion, spirituality, Jesus, Jesus Christ, God, faith, Christianity, CS Lewis, religious questions, hope, possibilities, inspiration
Submitter’s web sites: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007E2WXW0http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005GGMAW4 and craig’s various books on Jesus and the spiritual; journey are available at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=la_B005GGMAW4_sr?rh=i%3Abooks&field-author=Craig+Lock&sort=relevance&ie=UTF8&qid=1374375740
Craig’s various blogs (with extracts from his various writings: articles, books and new manuscripts) are at http://www.sharefaith.wordpress.com http://www.jesusthoughts.wordpress.com http://craigsblogs.wordpress.com and http://craiglock.wordpress.com
Other Articles are available at:http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/user/15565 andhttp://www.ideamarketers.com/library/profile.cfm?writerid=981
Publishing Guidelines:
We hope that the following thoughts may be interesting, informative, helpful and especially thought-provoking to your e-zine readers, or on your web site. This piece (as with all my writings) may be freely reproduced electronically or in print (with acknowledgement to the sources, thanks). If it helps others “out there” in any way on the ‘amazing journey of life’, then we’re very happy.
“We share what we know, so that we all may grow.”
#
C.S. Lewis on Jesus Christ: Lord, Liar or Lunatic?
“God does work in amazing ways”
“What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
Submitter’s Thoughts:
I am fascinated by the life and immense spirit of Jesus, as well as the controversy and varying beliefs about this most written about “figure” in human history. So in my research for my latest Amazon book The Spirit of a True Champion: A Look into the Mind of Jesus Christ, I came across these thoughts (excellent) of CS Lewis on the www, so thought I’d share in a “spirit of enlightenment” (together with some of my own thoughts and comments on these writings).No matter what you may or may not believe… enjoy
C.S. Lewis on Jesus Christ: Lord, Liar or Lunatic
C.S. Lewis was an amazing author and a brilliant man. Generally considered one of the brightest apologists of the 20th Century, Lewis has a uniquely practical approach to God and His ways. His supreme applicability and warm, casual tone of writing make reading most of his works a pleasure, while his fascinatingly simple approach to big issues and fiercely-debated topics makes his works worthy of both reading and re-reading.
C.S. Lewis’ Take on God, Jesus, and the Universe
The way it is
“The present state of things is this…the natural life in each of us is something self-centered, something that wants to be petted and admired, to take advantage of other lives, to exploit the whole universe. And especially it wants to be left to itself: to keep well away from anything better or stronger or higher than it, anything that might make it feel small. It is afraid of the light and air of the spiritual world, just as people who have been brought up to be dirty are afraid of a bath. And in a sense, it is quite right. It knows that if the spiritual life gets hold of it, all its self-centeredness and self-will are going to be killed and it is ready to fight tooth and nail to avoid that.” –Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
Who Jesus is & why He matters
“…Among the…Jews there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if He was God. He claims to forgive sins. He says He has always existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time. Now let us get this clear. Among Pantheists, like the Indians, anyone might say that he was a part of God, or one with God: there would be nothing very odd about it. But this man, since He was a Jew, could not mean that kind of God. God, in their language, meant the Being outside the world Who had made it and was infinitely different from anything else. And when you have grasped that, you will see that what this man said was, quite simply, the most shocking thing that has ever been uttered by human lips.
One part of the claim tends to slip past us unnoticed because we have heard it so often that we no longer see what it amounts to. I mean the claim to forgive sins: any sins. Now unless the speaker is God, this is really so preposterous as to be comic. We can all understand how a man forgives offences against himself. You tread on my toe and I forgive you, you steal my money and I forgive you. But what should we make of a man, himself un-robbed and un-trodden on, who announced that he forgave you for treading on other men’s toes and stealing other men’s money? Asinine fatuity is the kindest description we should give of his conduct. Yet this is what Jesus did. He told people that their sins were forgiven, and never waited to consult all the other people whom their sins had undoubtedly injured. He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the party chiefly concerned; the person chiefly offended in all offences. This makes sense only if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin. In the mouth of any speaker who is not God, these words would imply what I can only regard as a silliness and conceit unrivalled by any other character in history.
Yet (and this is the strange, significant thing) even His enemies, when they read the Gospels, do not usually get the impression of silliness and conceit. Still less do unprejudiced readers. Christ says that He is ‘humble and meek’ and we believe Him; not noticing that, if He were merely a man, humility and meekness are the very last characteristics we could attribute to some of His sayings.
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 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. 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 patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” –Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
The difference Jesus makes
“What are we to make of Jesus Christ? This question…has, in a sense, a frantically comic side. For the real reason is not what are we to make of Christ, but what is He to make of us? The picture of a fly sitting deciding what it is to make of an elephant has comic elements about it. But perhaps the questioner meant what are we to make of Him in the sense of “How are we to solve the historical problem set us by the recorded sayings and acts of this Man?” This problem is to reconcile two things. On the one hand you have got the almost generally admitted depth and sanity of His moral teaching, which is not very seriously questioned, even by those who are opposed to Christianity….
The other phenomenon is the quite appalling nature of this Man’s theological remarks. You all know what I mean, and I want rather to stress the point that the appalling claim which this Man seems to be making is not merely made at one moment of His career. There is, of course, the one moment which led to His execution. The moment at which the High Priest said to Him, “Who are you?” “I am the Anointed, the Son of the uncreated God, and you shall see Me appearing at the end of all history as the judge of the Universe.”….
On the one side clear, definite moral teaching. On the other, claims which, if not true, are those of a megalomaniac, compared with whom Hitler was the most sane and humble of men. There is no half-way house and there is no parallel in other religions. If you had gone to Buddha and asked him “Are you the son of Brahman?” he would have said, “My son, you are still in the vale of illusion.” If you had gone to Socrates and asked, “Are you Zeus?” he would have laughed at you. If you had gone to Mohammed and asked, “Are you Allah?” he would first have rent his clothes and the cut your head off. If you had asked Confucius, “Are you heaven?” I think he would have probably replied, “Remarks which are not in accordance with nature are in bad taste.” The idea of a great moral teacher saying what Christ said is out of the question. In my opinion, the only person who can say that sort of thing is either God or a complete lunatic suffering from that form of delusion which undermines the whole mind of man. If you think you are a poached egg, when you are looking for a piece of toast to suit you, you may be sane, but if you think you are God, there is no chance for you….
The things He says are very different from what any other teacher has said. Other say, “This is the truth about the Universe. This is the way you ought to go,” but He says, “I am the Truth, and the Way, and the Life.” He says, “No man can reach absolute reality, except through Me. Try to retain your own life and you will be inevitably ruined. Give yourself away and you will be saved.” He says, “If you are ashamed of Me, if, when you hear this call, you turn the other way, I also will look the other way when I come again as God without disguise. If anything whatever is keeping you from God and from Me, whatever it is, throw it away. If it is your eye, pull it out. If it is your hand, cut it off. If you put yourself first you will be last. Come to Me everyone who is carrying a heavy load, I will set that right. Your sins, are wiped out, I can do that. I am Re-birth, I am Life. Eat Me, drink Me, I am your food. And finally, do not be afraid, I have overcome the whole Universe.” That is the issue.” –God in the Dock, C.S. Lewis
Why this matters to YOU: The individuality of God’s love via Christ
God…has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. He does not have to deal with us in the mass. You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He had ever created. When Christ died, he died for you individually just a much as if you had been the only man in the world. –Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
The change in the way things are
“When you are not feeling particularly friendly but know you ought to be, the best thing you can do, very often, is to put on a friendly manner, and behave as if you were a nicer person than you actually are. And in a few minutes, as we have all noticed, you will be really feeling friendlier than you were. Very often the only way to get a quality in reality is to start behaving as if you had it already.
Now, the moment you realize, “Here I am, dressing up as Christ,” it is extremely likely that you will see at once some way in which as that very moment the pretence could be made less of a pretence and more of a reality. You will find several things going on in your mind which would not be going on there if you were really a son of God. Well, stop them. Or you may not realize that, instead of saying your prayers, you ought to be downstairs writing a letter, or helping your wife to wash-up. Well, go do it.
You see what is happening. That Christ Himself, the Son of God, who is man (just like you) and God (just like His Father) is actually at your side and is already at that moment beginning to turn your pretence into a reality. This is not merely a fancy way of saying that your conscience is telling you what to do. If you simply ask your conscience, you get one result: if you remember that you are dressing up as Christ, you get a different one. There are lots of things which your conscience might not call definitely wrong (especially things in your mind) but which you will see at once you cannot go on doing if you are seriously trying to be like Christ. For you are not longer thinking simply about right and wrong: you are trying to catch the good infection from a Person. It is more like painting a portrait than like obeying a set of rules. And the odd thing is that while in one way it is harder than keeping rules, in another way it is far easier.
The real Son of God is at your side. He is beginning to turn you into the same kind of thing as Himself. He is beginning, so to speak, to inject His kind of life and thought…into you: beginning to turn the tin soldier into a live man. The part of you that does not like it is the part that is still tin.”–Mere Christianity: C.S. Lewis
When you first begin…
“In reality…it is God who does everything. We, at most, allow it to be done to us. In a sense you might even say it is God who does the pretending. The Three-Personal God [God as the Trinity], so to speak, sees before Him in fact a self-centered, greedy, grumbling, rebellious human animal. But He says, “Let us pretend that this is not a mere creature, but our Son. It is like Christ in so far as it is a Man, for He became Man. Let us pretend that it is also like Him in Spirit. Let us treat it as if it were what in fact it is not. Let us pretend in order to make the pretence into a reality.” God looks at you as if you were a little Christ. : Christ stands beside you to turn you into one. I daresay this idea of divine make-believe sounds rather strange at first. But, is it so strange really? Is not that how the high thing always raises the lower? A mother teaches her baby to talk by talking to it as if it understood long before it really does….” –Mere Christianity: C.S. Lewis
Is Jesus Christ a Legend, Lunatic, Liar, or Lord and GOD?
In his famous book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis makes this statement, “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 a man who says he is a poached egg–or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool 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.(emphasis: web author)”
Jesus could only have been one of four things: a legend, a liar, a lunatic–or Lord and God. There is so much historical and archaeological evidence to support his existence that every reputable historian agrees he was not just a legend. If Jesus were a liar, why would he die for his claim, when he could easily have avoided such a cruel death with a few choice words? And, if he were a lunatic, how did he engage in intelligent debates with his opponents or handle the stress of his betrayal and crucifixion while continuing to show a deep love for his antagonists? Christ said he was Lord and God. The evidence supports that claim.
Here are some of the key claims Jesus made about himself.
The Claims of Jesus
Christ claimed to live a sinless life
Jesus could look at a crowd of people angry at his claims to share God’s nature and ask, “Which of you can point to anything wrong in my life?” Even more amazing is that none of them could give a reply! No human being has ever lived a sinless life, except for Jesus Christ.
John 8:28-29 “So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know who I am and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.’”
John 8:46-47 “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
Jesus Christ claimed to be the ONLY way to God
Not one of several ways, but the one and only way. Not to teach the way, but to be the way to God. Nobody has ever made claims like that before and backed them, but Jesus did through his love, balanced life, and miracles.
John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.”
My Comment (quick)
True , as Jesus’s concept of God, “The Father” (as was his relationship with “The Father” ) was unique to him, as was Muhammad’s concept of Allah was unique to him… and my concept of what is God is to me… and you can choose what God, Infinite/Ultimate Source means to you!). BTW the concept/term of God as “Father” (and having a “personal relationship” is unique to the Christian faith).
Matthew 11:27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
Note: No other world religious leader, such as Buddha, Confucius, or Mohammed ever made this claim.
(My Comment:
As regards Jesus’s claim: “I and the Father are one.” Jesus had the ultimate intimate relationship with God, the Father. However, each ONE of us can be as close to Infinite Source as we want to (it will all depend upon our own beliefs and life experiences), as we all have a Spirit of God within us…as well as the immense power of choice: to live our lives depending on God, the Ground of All Being….to the degree we submit to a Higher Power…another dimension/realm”
“We are all earthly beings on a spiritual journey”… or is that meant to be the other way around?)
Christ claimed to have shared the glory of God in Heaven
Jesus claimed to have pre-existed the people he spoke with. The apostle John–who shared bread with Jesus–wrote that Jesus was with God in the very beginning, and that “all things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” (John 1:1-5)
John 17:5 “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”
This is a claim distorted by groups like the Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Jesus Christ claimed to be able to forgive sins
One of the reasons that the Jewish leaders were so angry with Jesus was his continual practice of forgiving people’s sins. The religious leaders understood clearly that since sins were rebellion against God Himself, only God could forgive sins.
Luke 5:20-21 “When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.’ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, ‘Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’”(emphasis: web author)
Luke 7:48-49 “Then Jesus said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ The other guests began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’”
Christ claimed to be a Heavenly king
Luke 22:69 “But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”
Luke 23:1-3 “Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, ‘We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king.’ So Pilate asked Jesus, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ ‘Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied.”
John 18:36-37 “Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.’ ‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate. Jesus answered, ‘You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’”
Christ claimed to be able to give everlasting life
Jesus didn’t just tell people how they could find everlasting life, or deepen their own life experience. He actually claimed to give life himself.
John 6:40 “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 6:47 “I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.”
John 10:28-30 “I give [my followers] eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die…’”
Jesus claimed that he would die and come back to life
John 10:17 “Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father–and I lay down my life for the sheep. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life–only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
John 12:32-33 “‘But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.’ He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.”
John 16:16 “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”
Luke 18:31-33 “Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, ‘We are going up into Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.’”
Christ claimed that he would return again to judge the world
Matthew 24:27-30 “So as the lightening comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man… At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.”
Matthew 25:31-32 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep and the goats.”
Mark 14:61-62 “Again 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.’”
(My comment on the thoughts of CS Lewis: Is Jesus fully God revealed?
Why not contemplate, meditate on this “great” question, which has caused such division and enmity between peoples, cultures and civilizations for centuries. Or even better “ go directly to the Ultimate Source, The Ground of All Being (God, Allah) in prayer (perhaps even through Jesus as a conduit – “very easy and a nice chat”) and ask the question yourself of “The Father”. … and each one of us will get a different answer…because we are all unique with different beliefs and life experiences…which is great !
In brief, for me, Jesus, like our concept of God, the Creator) is what He means (or represents) to us…thus what we choose to make Him…
and I choose to expand my horizons….as widely as is “humanly” possible)
Sourced from: http://www.allaboutgod.com/jesus-christ.htm
http://www.ccci.org/how-to-know-god/who-is-jesus-god-or-just-a-good-man/index.htm
http://www.jonathantweet.com/religionlewisonj.html
Shared by craig (“Information and Inspiration Distributor, Incorrigible Encourager and People-builder”)
“The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ would take the slums out of people, and then they would take themselves out of the slums. The world would mould men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behaviour, but Christ can change human nature.” ― Ezra Taft Benson, 27thPresident of the US
The various books* that Craig “felt inspired to write” are available at:http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005GGMAW4 andhttp://www.creativekiwis.com/amazon.html
‘The Spirit of a True Champion: A Look into the Mind of Jesus Christ’ is already available at
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007E2WXW0
PPS
As my good friend, Lindsay ‘the Prophet’ often says: “Get yourself right with Jesus, man!”
“Make Jesus your best friend and you’ve got it made!”
– anon
A life lived in the spirit of Christ will never die!
“For me, God is a Creative Presence (far greater and deeper than my own consciousness). A Presence that I can experience on earth and allows me to be all that I am able to become.”
– craig
PPS
Is Jesus God?
IS JESUS GOD?
Here a few thoughts that came to me at 4.30am today 5th March 2012… so am sharing?
Can Jesus be “God” in human form?
This is one of the great questions puzzling so many people and what creates controversy between Christianity and Islam (and even among Christian “believers”)
Through his sheer enthusiasm and evangelic zeal, the teachings of St Paul regarding the “absolute” divinity of Jesus ultimately won over the beliefs of the disciples and family who actually knew Jesus. And this strand of Christianity, (Paul’s “brand” rather than that of Jesus’s half-brother James) led to it being where the faith is today…(though many aspects/beliefs have always been and still are being challenged!
Here are a few thoughts of mine on this highly controversial subject (from research, but mostly Spirit)…
Jesus did NOT claim to be God, but a conduit TO “The Father” (“Follow me…I am the way, the truth and the light!”! Yet Jesus saw himself as separate from “the Father”, a unique term/concept to the Christian faith (although he had a uniquely intimate relationship with the “Father” as “Son of God” and “son of Man” ) . Jesus continually called on the Father in prayer to accomplish what he could not accomplish on his own. He lived a life totally dependent on this God and in total submission to the will of the Father
And so can we!
God, Infinite Spirit, The Creator of Life, Ground of All Being is beyond our human comprehension. Yet the life of ONE person, Jesus is a, ONE “manifestation” (big word, eh) of God, Ultimate Source, ie ALL that is GOOD!
Thus the “person” of Jesus is a symbol of hope to so many people throughout the globe. Jesus Christ is focus (a focal point) for one’s faith, “something” on which to hang, to pin one’s faith. It’s an “anchor …
and like us each ONE of us can CHOOSE to live a life of faith dependant on God…as well as striving for the ultimate ideal to which we can possibly aspire
And each ONE of us can choose to have the mind, the mindset …in a word the consciousness of Jesus… to achieve what may appear impossible things in your own life!
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” – Romans 12:2
“Spirit controls your mind.” Romans 8:6
“Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus.” – Phillippians 2:5
“But we can understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.”
“Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible.”
A final quick thought…
For me the person and the spirit of Jesus is MY path to this God of the Universe and He is the doorway…and that’s my reality… and my experience!
“There is neither east nor west, tribe nor ethnicity, male or female, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist. Christian nor Jew. There is only a God-filled humanity.”
“Let not our beliefs, but our shared humanity define us.”
– c
“The task ahead of you can always be overcome by the power within you…and the often seemingly difficult or even “impassible”) path ahead of you is never as steep with the great spirit that lies within you.”
“We have it within; but we get it all from without. There is a well-spring of strength, wisdom, courage and great imagination within each one of us; but once we draw on this truth, it gets watered from without, by a Higher Source – the Ultimate Source of Life and Love, which is God, the very Ground of our Being.”
“Our Greatest Good is perhaps not to share our material possessions, our money and ‘riches’ with others, but through faith in other people, to so lay the foundation to reveal the rich treasure that lies within themselves.”
The various books* that Craig “felt inspired to write” are available at: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005GGMAW4http://www.creativekiwis.com/amazon.html and his various books on Jesus and the spiritual journey are available at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=la_B005GGMAW4_sr?rh=i%3Abooks&field-author=Craig+Lock&sort=relevance&ie=UTF8&qid=1374375740
‘The Spirit of a True Champion: A Look into the Mind of Jesus Christ’ is already available at
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007E2WXW0
Craig’s various blogs (with extracts from his various writings: articles, books and new manuscripts) are at http://www.sharefaith.wordpress.com http://www.jesusthoughts.wordpress.com http://craigsblogs.wordpress.com and http://craiglock.wordpress.com
“Get your next ‘fix’ from Jesus. It costs you nothing…except for his life!”
– my good friend, Lindsay ‘The Prophet’
Do not be defined by the limits that hold us down; but by the bright opportunities that lie ahead”
“Jesus is the human face of God”
“Together, one mind, one life at a time, let’s see how many people we can impact, empower, uplift and encourage to reach their fullest potentials.”
C.S. Lewis on Jesus Christ: Lord, Liar or Lunatic?
“God does work in amazing ways”
“What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
Submitter’s Thoughts:
I am fascinated by the life and immense spirit of Jesus, as well as the controversy and varying beliefs about this most written about “figure” in human history. So in my research for my latest Amazon book The Spirit of a True Champion: A Look into the Mind of Jesus Christ, I came across these thoughts (excellent) of CS Lewis on the www, so thought I’d share in a “spirit of enlightenment” (together with some of my own thoughts and comments on these writings).No matter what you may or may not believe… enjoy
C.S. Lewis on Jesus Christ: Lord, Liar or Lunatic
C.S. Lewis was an amazing author and a brilliant man. Generally considered one of the brightest apologists of the 20th Century, Lewis has a uniquely practical approach to God and His ways. His supreme applicability and warm, casual tone of writing make reading most of his works a pleasure, while his fascinatingly simple approach to big issues and fiercely-debated topics makes his works worthy of both reading and re-reading.
C.S. Lewis’ Take on God, Jesus, and the Universe
The way it is
“The present state of things is this…the natural life in each of us is something self-centered, something that wants to be petted and admired, to take advantage of other lives, to exploit the whole universe. And especially it wants to be left to itself: to keep well away from anything better or stronger or higher than it, anything that might make it feel small. It is afraid of the light and air of the spiritual world, just as people who have been brought up to be dirty are afraid of a bath. And in a sense, it is quite right. It knows that if the spiritual life gets hold of it, all its self-centeredness and self-will are going to be killed and it is ready to fight tooth and nail to avoid that.” –Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
Article Title: “THE TWO… OR THREE JESUS’S”: Teacher… Prophet…or God? Thoughts of CS. Lewis on Jesus Christ: Lord, Liar or Lunatic?Submitter’s web sites:http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007E2WXW0 andhttp://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005GGMAW4
Craig’s blogs (with extracts from his various writings: articles, books and new manuscripts) are athttp://sharefaith.wordpress.com andhttp://craigsblogs.wordpress.com andhttp://craiglock.wordpress.com
Other Articles are available at:http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/user/15565 andhttp://www.ideamarketers.com/library/profile.cfm?writerid=981
Publishing Guidelines:
We hope that the following thoughts may be interesting, informative, helpful and especially thought-provoking to your e-zine readers, or on your web site. This piece (as with all my writings) may be freely reproduced electronically or in print (with acknowledgement to the sources, thanks). If it helps others “out there” in any way on the ‘amazing journey of life’, then we’re very happy.
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C.S. Lewis on Jesus Christ: Lord, Liar or Lunatic?
“God does work in amazing ways”
“What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
Submitter’s Thoughts:
I am fascinated by the life and immense spirit of Jesus, as well as the controversy and varying beliefs about this most written about “figure” in human history. So in my research for my latest Amazon book The Spirit of a True Champion: A Look into the Mind of Jesus Christ, I came across these thoughts (excellent) of CS Lewis on the www, so thought I’d share in a “spirit of enlightenment” (together with some of my own thoughts and comments on these writings).No matter what you may or may not believe… enjoy
C.S. Lewis on Jesus Christ: Lord, Liar or Lunatic
C.S. Lewis was an amazing author and a brilliant man. Generally considered one of the brightest apologists of the 20th Century, Lewis has a uniquely practical approach to God and His ways. His supreme applicability and warm, casual tone of writing make reading most of his works a pleasure, while his fascinatingly simple approach to big issues and fiercely-debated topics makes his works worthy of both reading and re-reading.
C.S. Lewis’ Take on God, Jesus, and the Universe
The way it is
“The present state of things is this…the natural life in each of us is something self-centered, something that wants to be petted and admired, to take advantage of other lives, to exploit the whole universe. And especially it wants to be left to itself: to keep well away from anything better or stronger or higher than it, anything that might make it feel small. It is afraid of the light and air of the spiritual world, just as people who have been brought up to be dirty are afraid of a bath. And in a sense, it is quite right. It knows that if the spiritual life gets hold of it, all its self-centeredness and self-will are going to be killed and it is ready to fight tooth and nail to avoid that.” –Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
Who Jesus is & why He matters
“…Among the…Jews there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if He was God. He claims to forgive sins. He says He has always existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time. Now let us get this clear. Among Pantheists, like the Indians, anyone might say that he was a part of God, or one with God: there would be nothing very odd about it. But this man, since He was a Jew, could not mean that kind of God. God, in their language, meant the Being outside the world Who had made it and was infinitely different from anything else. And when you have grasped that, you will see that what this man said was, quite simply, the most shocking thing that has ever been uttered by human lips.
One part of the claim tends to slip past us unnoticed because we have heard it so often that we no longer see what it amounts to. I mean the claim to forgive sins: any sins. Now unless the speaker is God, this is really so preposterous as to be comic. We can all understand how a man forgives offences against himself. You tread on my toe and I forgive you, you steal my money and I forgive you. But what should we make of a man, himself un-robbed and un-trodden on, who announced that he forgave you for treading on other men’s toes and stealing other men’s money? Asinine fatuity is the kindest description we should give of his conduct. Yet this is what Jesus did. He told people that their sins were forgiven, and never waited to consult all the other people whom their sins had undoubtedly injured. He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the party chiefly concerned; the person chiefly offended in all offences. This makes sense only if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin. In the mouth of any speaker who is not God, these words would imply what I can only regard as a silliness and conceit unrivalled by any other character in history.
Yet (and this is the strange, significant thing) even His enemies, when they read the Gospels, do not usually get the impression of silliness and conceit. Still less do unprejudiced readers. Christ says that He is ‘humble and meek’ and we believe Him; not noticing that, if He were merely a man, humility and meekness are the very last characteristics we could attribute to some of His sayings.
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 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. 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 patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” –Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
The difference Jesus makes
“What are we to make of Jesus Christ? This question…has, in a sense, a frantically comic side. For the real reason is not what are we to make of Christ, but what is He to make of us? The picture of a fly sitting deciding what it is to make of an elephant has comic elements about it. But perhaps the questioner meant what are we to make of Him in the sense of “How are we to solve the historical problem set us by the recorded sayings and acts of this Man?” This problem is to reconcile two things. On the one hand you have got the almost generally admitted depth and sanity of His moral teaching, which is not very seriously questioned, even by those who are opposed to Christianity….
The other phenomenon is the quite appalling nature of this Man’s theological remarks. You all know what I mean, and I want rather to stress the point that the appalling claim which this Man seems to be making is not merely made at one moment of His career. There is, of course, the one moment which led to His execution. The moment at which the High Priest said to Him, “Who are you?” “I am the Anointed, the Son of the uncreated God, and you shall see Me appearing at the end of all history as the judge of the Universe.”….
On the one side clear, definite moral teaching. On the other, claims which, if not true, are those of a megalomaniac, compared with whom Hitler was the most sane and humble of men. There is no half-way house and there is no parallel in other religions. If you had gone to Buddha and asked him “Are you the son of Brahman?” he would have said, “My son, you are still in the vale of illusion.” If you had gone to Socrates and asked, “Are you Zeus?” he would have laughed at you. If you had gone to Mohammed and asked, “Are you Allah?” he would first have rent his clothes and the cut your head off. If you had asked Confucius, “Are you heaven?” I think he would have probably replied, “Remarks which are not in accordance with nature are in bad taste.” The idea of a great moral teacher saying what Christ said is out of the question. In my opinion, the only person who can say that sort of thing is either God or a complete lunatic suffering from that form of delusion which undermines the whole mind of man. If you think you are a poached egg, when you are looking for a piece of toast to suit you, you may be sane, but if you think you are God, there is no chance for you….
The things He says are very different from what any other teacher has said. Other say, “This is the truth about the Universe. This is the way you ought to go,” but He says, “I am the Truth, and the Way, and the Life.” He says, “No man can reach absolute reality, except through Me. Try to retain your own life and you will be inevitably ruined. Give yourself away and you will be saved.” He says, “If you are ashamed of Me, if, when you hear this call, you turn the other way, I also will look the other way when I come again as God without disguise. If anything whatever is keeping you from God and from Me, whatever it is, throw it away. If it is your eye, pull it out. If it is your hand, cut it off. If you put yourself first you will be last. Come to Me everyone who is carrying a heavy load, I will set that right. Your sins, are wiped out, I can do that. I am Re-birth, I am Life. Eat Me, drink Me, I am your food. And finally, do not be afraid, I have overcome the whole Universe.” That is the issue.” –God in the Dock, C.S. Lewis
Why this matters to YOU: The individuality of God’s love via Christ
God…has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. He does not have to deal with us in the mass. You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He had ever created. When Christ died, he died for you individually just a much as if you had been the only man in the world. –Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
The change in the way things are
“When you are not feeling particularly friendly but know you ought to be, the best thing you can do, very often, is to put on a friendly manner, and behave as if you were a nicer person than you actually are. And in a few minutes, as we have all noticed, you will be really feeling friendlier than you were. Very often the only way to get a quality in reality is to start behaving as if you had it already.
Now, the moment you realize, “Here I am, dressing up as Christ,” it is extremely likely that you will see at once some way in which as that very moment the pretence could be made less of a pretence and more of a reality. You will find several things going on in your mind which would not be going on there if you were really a son of God. Well, stop them. Or you may not realize that, instead of saying your prayers, you ought to be downstairs writing a letter, or helping your wife to wash-up. Well, go do it.
You see what is happening. That Christ Himself, the Son of God, who is man (just like you) and God (just like His Father) is actually at your side and is already at that moment beginning to turn your pretence into a reality. This is not merely a fancy way of saying that your conscience is telling you what to do. If you simply ask your conscience, you get one result: if you remember that you are dressing up as Christ, you get a different one. There are lots of things which your conscience might not call definitely wrong (especially things in your mind) but which you will see at once you cannot go on doing if you are seriously trying to be like Christ. For you are not longer thinking simply about right and wrong: you are trying to catch the good infection from a Person. It is more like painting a portrait than like obeying a set of rules. And the odd thing is that while in one way it is harder than keeping rules, in another way it is far easier.
The real Son of God is at your side. He is beginning to turn you into the same kind of thing as Himself. He is beginning, so to speak, to inject His kind of life and thought…into you: beginning to turn the tin soldier into a live man. The part of you that does not like it is the part that is still tin.”–Mere Christianity: C.S. Lewis
When you first begin…
“In reality…it is God who does everything. We, at most, allow it to be done to us. In a sense you might even say it is God who does the pretending. The Three-Personal God [God as the Trinity], so to speak, sees before Him in fact a self-centered, greedy, grumbling, rebellious human animal. But He says, “Let us pretend that this is not a mere creature, but our Son. It is like Christ in so far as it is a Man, for He became Man. Let us pretend that it is also like Him in Spirit. Let us treat it as if it were what in fact it is not. Let us pretend in order to make the pretence into a reality.” God looks at you as if you were a little Christ. : Christ stands beside you to turn you into one. I daresay this idea of divine make-believe sounds rather strange at first. But, is it so strange really? Is not that how the high thing always raises the lower? A mother teaches her baby to talk by talking to it as if it understood long before it really does….” –Mere Christianity: C.S. Lewis
Is Jesus Christ a Legend, Lunatic, Liar, or Lord and GOD?
In his famous book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis makes this statement, “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 a man who says he is a poached egg–or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool 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.(emphasis: web author)”
Jesus could only have been one of four things: a legend, a liar, a lunatic–or Lord and God. There is so much historical and archaeological evidence to support his existence that every reputable historian agrees he was not just a legend. If Jesus were a liar, why would he die for his claim, when he could easily have avoided such a cruel death with a few choice words? And, if he were a lunatic, how did he engage in intelligent debates with his opponents or handle the stress of his betrayal and crucifixion while continuing to show a deep love for his antagonists? Christ said he was Lord and God. The evidence supports that claim.
Here are some of the key claims Jesus made about himself.
The Claims of Jesus
Christ claimed to live a sinless life
Jesus could look at a crowd of people angry at his claims to share God’s nature and ask, “Which of you can point to anything wrong in my life?” Even more amazing is that none of them could give a reply! No human being has ever lived a sinless life, except for Jesus Christ.
John 8:28-29 “So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know who I am and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.’”
John 8:46-47 “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
Jesus Christ claimed to be the ONLY way to God
Not one of several ways, but the one and only way. Not to teach the way, but to be the way to God. Nobody has ever made claims like that before and backed them, but Jesus did through his love, balanced life, and miracles.
John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.”
My Comment (quick)
True , as Jesus’s concept of God, “The Father” (as was his relationship with “The Father” ) was unique to him, as was Muhammad’s concept of Allah was unique to him… and my concept of what is God is to me… and you can choose what God, Infinite/Ultimate Source means to you!). BTW the concept/term of God as “Father” (and having a “personal relationship” is unique to the Christian faith).
Matthew 11:27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
Note: No other world religious leader, such as Buddha, Confucius, or Mohammed ever made this claim.
(My Comment:
As regards Jesus’s claim: “I and the Father are one.” Jesus had the ultimate intimate relationship with God, the Father. However, each ONE of us can be as close to Infinite Source as we want to (it will all depend upon our own beliefs and life experiences), as we all have a Spirit of God within us…as well as the immense power of choice: to live our lives depending on God, the Ground of All Being….to the degree we submit to a Higher Power…another dimension/realm”
“We are all earthly beings on a spiritual journey”… or is that meant to be the other way around?)
Christ claimed to have shared the glory of God in Heaven
Jesus claimed to have pre-existed the people he spoke with. The apostle John–who shared bread with Jesus–wrote that Jesus was with God in the very beginning, and that “all things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” (John 1:1-5)
John 17:5 “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”
This is a claim distorted by groups like the Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Jesus Christ claimed to be able to forgive sins
One of the reasons that the Jewish leaders were so angry with Jesus was his continual practice of forgiving people’s sins. The religious leaders understood clearly that since sins were rebellion against God Himself, only God could forgive sins.
Luke 5:20-21 “When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.’ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, ‘Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’”(emphasis: web author)
Luke 7:48-49 “Then Jesus said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ The other guests began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’”
Christ claimed to be a Heavenly king
Luke 22:69 “But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”
Luke 23:1-3 “Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, ‘We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king.’ So Pilate asked Jesus, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ ‘Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied.”
John 18:36-37 “Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.’ ‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate. Jesus answered, ‘You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’”
Christ claimed to be able to give everlasting life
Jesus didn’t just tell people how they could find everlasting life, or deepen their own life experience. He actually claimed to give life himself.
John 6:40 “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 6:47 “I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.”
John 10:28-30 “I give [my followers] eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die…’”
Jesus claimed that he would die and come back to life
John 10:17 “Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father–and I lay down my life for the sheep. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life–only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
John 12:32-33 “‘But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.’ He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.”
John 16:16 “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”
Luke 18:31-33 “Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, ‘We are going up into Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.’”
Christ claimed that he would return again to judge the world
Matthew 24:27-30 “So as the lightening comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man… At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.”
Matthew 25:31-32 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep and the goats.”
Mark 14:61-62 “Again 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.’”
(My comment on the thoughts of CS Lewis: Is Jesus fully God revealed?
Why not contemplate, meditate on this “great” question, which has caused such division and enmity between peoples, cultures and civilizations for centuries. Or even better “ go directly to the Ultimate Source, The Ground of All Being (God, Allah) in prayer (perhaps even through Jesus as a conduit – “very easy and a nice chat”) and ask the question yourself of “The Father”. … and each one of us will get a different answer…because we are all unique with different beliefs and life experiences…which is great !
In brief, for me, Jesus, like our concept of God, the Creator) is what He means (or represents) to us…thus what we choose to make Him…
and I choose to expand my horizons….as widely as is “humanly” possible)
Sourced from: http://www.allaboutgod.com/jesus-christ.htm
http://www.ccci.org/how-to-know-god/who-is-jesus-god-or-just-a-good-man/index.htm
http://www.jonathantweet.com/religionlewisonj.html
Shared by craig (“Information and Inspiration Distributor, Incorrigible Encourager and People-builder”)
“The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ would take the slums out of people, and then they would take themselves out of the slums. The world would mould men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behaviour, but Christ can change human nature.” ― Ezra Taft Benson, 27thPresident of the US
The various books* that Craig “felt inspired to write” are available at:http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005GGMAW4 andhttp://www.creativekiwis.com/amazon.html
‘The Spirit of a True Champion: A Look into the Mind of Jesus Christ’ is already available at
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007E2WXW0
PPS
As my good friend, Lindsay ‘the Prophet’ often says: “Get yourself right with Jesus, man!”
“Make Jesus your best friend and you’ve got it made!”
– anon
A life lived in the spirit of Christ will never die!
“For me, God is a Creative Presence (far greater and deeper than my own consciousness). A Presence that I can experience on earth and allows me to be all that I am able to become.”
– craig
PPS
IS JESUS GOD?
Here a few thoughts that came to me at 4.30am today 5th March 2012… so am sharing?
Can Jesus be “God” in human form?
This is one of the great questions puzzling so many people and what creates controversy between Christianity and Islam (and even among Christian “believers”)
Through his sheer enthusiasm and evangelic zeal, the teachings of St Paul regarding the “absolute” divinity of Jesus ultimately won over the beliefs of the disciples and family who actually knew Jesus. And this strand of Christianity, (Paul’s “brand” rather than that of Jesus’s half-brother James) led to it being where the faith is today…(though many aspects/beliefs have always been and still are being challenged!
Here are a few thoughts of mine on this highly controversial subject (from research, but mostly Spirit)…
Jesus did NOT claim to be God, but a conduit TO “The Father” (“Follow me…I am the way, the truth and the light!”! Yet Jesus saw himself as separate from “the Father”, a unique term/concept to the Christian faith (although he had a uniquely intimate relationship with the “Father” as “Son of God” and “son of Man” ) . Jesus continually called on the Father in prayer to accomplish what he could not accomplish on his own. He lived a life totally dependent on this God and in total submission to the will of the Father
And so can we!
God, Infinite Spirit, The Creator of Life, Ground of All Being is beyond our human comprehension. Yet the life of ONE person, Jesus is a, ONE “manifestation” (big word, eh) of God, Ultimate Source, ie ALL that is GOOD!
Thus the “person” of Jesus is a symbol of hope to so many people throughout the globe. Jesus Christ is focus (a focal point) for one’s faith, “something” on which to hang, to pin one’s faith. It’s an “anchor …
and like us each ONE of us can CHOOSE to live a life of faith dependant on God…as well as striving for the ultimate ideal to which we can possibly aspire
And each ONE of us can choose to have the mind, the mindset …in a word the consciousness of Jesus… to achieve what may appear impossible things in your own life!
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” – Romans 12:2
“Spirit controls your mind.” Romans 8:6
“Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus.” – Phillippians 2:5
“But we can understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.”
“Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible.”
A final quick thought…
For me the person and the spirit of Jesus is MY path to this God of the Universe and He is the doorway…and that’s my reality… and my experience!
“There is neither east nor west, tribe nor ethnicity, male or female, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist. Christian nor Jew. There is only a God-filled humanity.”
“Let not our beliefs, but our shared humanity define us.”
– c
“The task ahead of you can always be overcome by the power within you…and the often seemingly difficult or even “impassible”) path ahead of you is never as steep with the great spirit that lies within you.”
“We have it within; but we get it all from without. There is a well-spring of strength, wisdom, courage and great imagination within each one of us; but once we draw on this truth, it gets watered from without, by a Higher Source – the Ultimate Source of Life and Love, which is God, the very Ground of our Being.”
“Our Greatest Good is perhaps not to share our material possessions, our money and ‘riches’ with others, but through faith in other people, to so lay the foundation to reveal the rich treasure that lies within themselves.”
The various books* that Craig “felt inspired to write” are available at: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005GGMAW4 andhttp://www.creativekiwis.com/amazon.html
‘The Spirit of a True Champion: A Look into the Mind of Jesus Christ’ is already available at
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007E2WXW0
“Get your next ‘fix’ from Jesus. It costs you nothing…except for his life!”
– my good friend, Lindsay ‘The Prophet’
Do not be defined by the limits that hold us down; but by the bright opportunities that lie ahead”
“Jesus is the human face of God”
Craig’s various articles are available at:http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/user/15565 andhttp://www.ideamarketers.com/library/profile.cfm?writerid=981(Personal growth, self help, writing, internet marketing, spiritual, ‘spiritual writings’ (how ‘airey-fairey’), words of inspiration and money management, how boring now, craig!)
“We share what we know, so that we all may grow.”
“Together, one mind, one life at a time, let’s see how many people we can impact, empower, uplift and encourage to reach their fullest potentials.”
I am fascinated by the life and immense spirit of Jesus, as well as the controversy and varying beliefs about this most written about “figure” in human history. So in my research for my latest Amazon book The Spirit of a True Champion: A Look into the Mind of Jesus Christ, I came across these thoughts (excellent) of CS Lewis on the www, so thought I’d share in a “spirit of enlightenment” (together with some of my own thoughts and comments on these writings).No matter what you may or may not believe… enjoy
C.S. Lewis on Jesus Christ: Lord, Liar or Lunatic
C.S. Lewis was an amazing author and a brilliant man. Generally considered one of the brightest apologists of the 20th Century, Lewis has a uniquely practical approach to God and His ways. His supreme applicability and warm, casual tone of writing make reading most of his works a pleasure, while his fascinatingly simple approach to big issues and fiercely-debated topics makes his works worthy of both reading and re-reading.
C.S. Lewis’ Take on God, Jesus, and the Universe
The way it is
“The present state of things is this…the natural life in each of us is something self-centered, something that wants to be petted and admired, to take advantage of other lives, to exploit the whole universe. And especially it wants to be left to itself: to keep well away from anything better or stronger or higher than it, anything that might make it feel small. It is afraid of the light and air of the spiritual world, just as people who have been brought up to be dirty are afraid of a bath. And in a sense, it is quite right. It knows that if the spiritual life gets hold of it, all its self-centeredness and self-will are going to be killed and it is ready to fight tooth and nail to avoid that.” –Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
Article Title: “THE TWO… OR THREE JESUS’S”: Teacher… Prophet…or God? Thoughts of CS. Lewis on Jesus Christ: Lord, Liar or Lunatic?
Submitter’s web sites: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007E2WXW0 and http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005GGMAW4
Craig’s blogs (with extracts from his various writings: articles, books and new manuscripts) are at http://sharefaith.wordpress.com and http://craigsblogs.wordpress.com and http://craiglock.wordpress.com
Other Articles are available at: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/user/15565 and http://www.ideamarketers.com/library/profile.cfm?writerid=981
Publishing Guidelines:
We hope that the following thoughts may be interesting, informative, helpful and especially thought-provoking to your e-zine readers, or on your web site. This piece (as with all my writings) may be freely reproduced electronically or in print (with acknowledgement to the sources, thanks). If it helps others “out there” in any way on the ‘amazing journey of life’, then we’re very happy.
“We share what we know, so that we all may grow.”
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C.S. Lewis on Jesus Christ: Lord, Liar or Lunatic?
“God does work in amazing ways”
“What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
Submitter’s Thoughts:
I am fascinated by the life and immense spirit of Jesus, as well as the controversy and varying beliefs about this most written about “figure” in human history. So in my research for my latest Amazon book The Spirit of a True Champion: A Look into the Mind of Jesus Christ, I came across these thoughts (excellent) of CS Lewis on the www, so thought I’d share in a “spirit of enlightenment” (together with some of my own thoughts and comments on these writings).No matter what you may or may not believe… enjoy
C.S. Lewis on Jesus Christ: Lord, Liar or Lunatic
C.S. Lewis was an amazing author and a brilliant man. Generally considered one of the brightest apologists of the 20th Century, Lewis has a uniquely practical approach to God and His ways. His supreme applicability and warm, casual tone of writing make reading most of his works a pleasure, while his fascinatingly simple approach to big issues and fiercely-debated topics makes his works worthy of both reading and re-reading.
C.S. Lewis’ Take on God, Jesus, and the Universe
The way it is
“The present state of things is this…the natural life in each of us is something self-centered, something that wants to be petted and admired, to take advantage of other lives, to exploit the whole universe. And especially it wants to be left to itself: to keep well away from anything better or stronger or higher than it, anything that might make it feel small. It is afraid of the light and air of the spiritual world, just as people who have been brought up to be dirty are afraid of a bath. And in a sense, it is quite right. It knows that if the spiritual life gets hold of it, all its self-centeredness and self-will are going to be killed and it is ready to fight tooth and nail to avoid that.” –Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
Who Jesus is & why He matters
“…Among the…Jews there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if He was God. He claims to forgive sins. He says He has always existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time. Now let us get this clear. Among Pantheists, like the Indians, anyone might say that he was a part of God, or one with God: there would be nothing very odd about it. But this man, since He was a Jew, could not mean that kind of God. God, in their language, meant the Being outside the world Who had made it and was infinitely different from anything else. And when you have grasped that, you will see that what this man said was, quite simply, the most shocking thing that has ever been uttered by human lips.
One part of the claim tends to slip past us unnoticed because we have heard it so often that we no longer see what it amounts to. I mean the claim to forgive sins: any sins. Now unless the speaker is God, this is really so preposterous as to be comic. We can all understand how a man forgives offences against himself. You tread on my toe and I forgive you, you steal my money and I forgive you. But what should we make of a man, himself un-robbed and un-trodden on, who announced that he forgave you for treading on other men’s toes and stealing other men’s money? Asinine fatuity is the kindest description we should give of his conduct. Yet this is what Jesus did. He told people that their sins were forgiven, and never waited to consult all the other people whom their sins had undoubtedly injured. He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the party chiefly concerned; the person chiefly offended in all offences. This makes sense only if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin. In the mouth of any speaker who is not God, these words would imply what I can only regard as a silliness and conceit unrivalled by any other character in history.
Yet (and this is the strange, significant thing) even His enemies, when they read the Gospels, do not usually get the impression of silliness and conceit. Still less do unprejudiced readers. Christ says that He is ‘humble and meek’ and we believe Him; not noticing that, if He were merely a man, humility and meekness are the very last characteristics we could attribute to some of His sayings.
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 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. 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 patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” –Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
The difference Jesus makes
“What are we to make of Jesus Christ? This question…has, in a sense, a frantically comic side. For the real reason is not what are we to make of Christ, but what is He to make of us? The picture of a fly sitting deciding what it is to make of an elephant has comic elements about it. But perhaps the questioner meant what are we to make of Him in the sense of “How are we to solve the historical problem set us by the recorded sayings and acts of this Man?” This problem is to reconcile two things. On the one hand you have got the almost generally admitted depth and sanity of His moral teaching, which is not very seriously questioned, even by those who are opposed to Christianity….
The other phenomenon is the quite appalling nature of this Man’s theological remarks. You all know what I mean, and I want rather to stress the point that the appalling claim which this Man seems to be making is not merely made at one moment of His career. There is, of course, the one moment which led to His execution. The moment at which the High Priest said to Him, “Who are you?” “I am the Anointed, the Son of the uncreated God, and you shall see Me appearing at the end of all history as the judge of the Universe.”….
On the one side clear, definite moral teaching. On the other, claims which, if not true, are those of a megalomaniac, compared with whom Hitler was the most sane and humble of men. There is no half-way house and there is no parallel in other religions. If you had gone to Buddha and asked him “Are you the son of Brahman?” he would have said, “My son, you are still in the vale of illusion.” If you had gone to Socrates and asked, “Are you Zeus?” he would have laughed at you. If you had gone to Mohammed and asked, “Are you Allah?” he would first have rent his clothes and the cut your head off. If you had asked Confucius, “Are you heaven?” I think he would have probably replied, “Remarks which are not in accordance with nature are in bad taste.” The idea of a great moral teacher saying what Christ said is out of the question. In my opinion, the only person who can say that sort of thing is either God or a complete lunatic suffering from that form of delusion which undermines the whole mind of man. If you think you are a poached egg, when you are looking for a piece of toast to suit you, you may be sane, but if you think you are God, there is no chance for you….
The things He says are very different from what any other teacher has said. Other say, “This is the truth about the Universe. This is the way you ought to go,” but He says, “I am the Truth, and the Way, and the Life.” He says, “No man can reach absolute reality, except through Me. Try to retain your own life and you will be inevitably ruined. Give yourself away and you will be saved.” He says, “If you are ashamed of Me, if, when you hear this call, you turn the other way, I also will look the other way when I come again as God without disguise. If anything whatever is keeping you from God and from Me, whatever it is, throw it away. If it is your eye, pull it out. If it is your hand, cut it off. If you put yourself first you will be last. Come to Me everyone who is carrying a heavy load, I will set that right. Your sins, are wiped out, I can do that. I am Re-birth, I am Life. Eat Me, drink Me, I am your food. And finally, do not be afraid, I have overcome the whole Universe.” That is the issue.” –God in the Dock, C.S. Lewis
Why this matters to YOU: The individuality of God’s love via Christ
God…has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. He does not have to deal with us in the mass. You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He had ever created. When Christ died, he died for you individually just a much as if you had been the only man in the world. –Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
The change in the way things are
“When you are not feeling particularly friendly but know you ought to be, the best thing you can do, very often, is to put on a friendly manner, and behave as if you were a nicer person than you actually are. And in a few minutes, as we have all noticed, you will be really feeling friendlier than you were. Very often the only way to get a quality in reality is to start behaving as if you had it already.
Now, the moment you realize, “Here I am, dressing up as Christ,” it is extremely likely that you will see at once some way in which as that very moment the pretence could be made less of a pretence and more of a reality. You will find several things going on in your mind which would not be going on there if you were really a son of God. Well, stop them. Or you may not realize that, instead of saying your prayers, you ought to be downstairs writing a letter, or helping your wife to wash-up. Well, go do it.
You see what is happening. That Christ Himself, the Son of God, who is man (just like you) and God (just like His Father) is actually at your side and is already at that moment beginning to turn your pretence into a reality. This is not merely a fancy way of saying that your conscience is telling you what to do. If you simply ask your conscience, you get one result: if you remember that you are dressing up as Christ, you get a different one. There are lots of things which your conscience might not call definitely wrong (especially things in your mind) but which you will see at once you cannot go on doing if you are seriously trying to be like Christ. For you are not longer thinking simply about right and wrong: you are trying to catch the good infection from a Person. It is more like painting a portrait than like obeying a set of rules. And the odd thing is that while in one way it is harder than keeping rules, in another way it is far easier.
The real Son of God is at your side. He is beginning to turn you into the same kind of thing as Himself. He is beginning, so to speak, to inject His kind of life and thought…into you: beginning to turn the tin soldier into a live man. The part of you that does not like it is the part that is still tin.”–Mere Christianity: C.S. Lewis
When you first begin…
“In reality…it is God who does everything. We, at most, allow it to be done to us. In a sense you might even say it is God who does the pretending. The Three-Personal God [God as the Trinity], so to speak, sees before Him in fact a self-centered, greedy, grumbling, rebellious human animal. But He says, “Let us pretend that this is not a mere creature, but our Son. It is like Christ in so far as it is a Man, for He became Man. Let us pretend that it is also like Him in Spirit. Let us treat it as if it were what in fact it is not. Let us pretend in order to make the pretence into a reality.” God looks at you as if you were a little Christ. : Christ stands beside you to turn you into one. I daresay this idea of divine make-believe sounds rather strange at first. But, is it so strange really? Is not that how the high thing always raises the lower? A mother teaches her baby to talk by talking to it as if it understood long before it really does….” –Mere Christianity: C.S. Lewis
Is Jesus Christ a Legend, Lunatic, Liar, or Lord and GOD?
In his famous book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis makes this statement, “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 a man who says he is a poached egg–or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool 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.(emphasis: web author)”
Jesus could only have been one of four things: a legend, a liar, a lunatic–or Lord and God. There is so much historical and archaeological evidence to support his existence that every reputable historian agrees he was not just a legend. If Jesus were a liar, why would he die for his claim, when he could easily have avoided such a cruel death with a few choice words? And, if he were a lunatic, how did he engage in intelligent debates with his opponents or handle the stress of his betrayal and crucifixion while continuing to show a deep love for his antagonists? Christ said he was Lord and God. The evidence supports that claim.
Here are some of the key claims Jesus made about himself.
The Claims of Jesus
Christ claimed to live a sinless life
Jesus could look at a crowd of people angry at his claims to share God’s nature and ask, “Which of you can point to anything wrong in my life?” Even more amazing is that none of them could give a reply! No human being has ever lived a sinless life, except for Jesus Christ.
John 8:28-29 “So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know who I am and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.'”
John 8:46-47 “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
Jesus Christ claimed to be the ONLY way to God
Not one of several ways, but the one and only way. Not to teach the way, but to be the way to God. Nobody has ever made claims like that before and backed them, but Jesus did through his love, balanced life, and miracles.
John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.”
My Comment (quick)
True , as Jesus’s concept of God, “The Father” (as was his relationship with “The Father” ) was unique to him, as was Muhammad’s concept of Allah was unique to him… and my concept of what is God is to me… and you can choose what God, Infinite/Ultimate Source means to you!). BTW the concept/term of God as “Father” (and having a “personal relationship” is unique to the Christian faith).
Matthew 11:27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
Note: No other world religious leader, such as Buddha, Confucius, or Mohammed ever made this claim.
(My Comment:
As regards Jesus’s claim: “I and the Father are one.” Jesus had the ultimate intimate relationship with God, the Father. However, each ONE of us can be as close to Infinite Source as we want to (it will all depend upon our own beliefs and life experiences), as we all have a Spirit of God within us…as well as the immense power of choice: to live our lives depending on God, the Ground of All Being….to the degree we submit to a Higher Power…another dimension/realm”
“We are all earthly beings on a spiritual journey”… or is that meant to be the other way around?)
Christ claimed to have shared the glory of God in Heaven
Jesus claimed to have pre-existed the people he spoke with. The apostle John–who shared bread with Jesus–wrote that Jesus was with God in the very beginning, and that “all things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” (John 1:1-5)
John 17:5 “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”
This is a claim distorted by groups like the Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Jesus Christ claimed to be able to forgive sins
One of the reasons that the Jewish leaders were so angry with Jesus was his continual practice of forgiving people’s sins. The religious leaders understood clearly that since sins were rebellion against God Himself, only God could forgive sins.
Luke 5:20-21 “When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.’ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, ‘Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?'”(emphasis: web author)
Luke 7:48-49 “Then Jesus said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ The other guests began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?'”
Christ claimed to be a Heavenly king
Luke 22:69 “But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”
Luke 23:1-3 “Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, ‘We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king.’ So Pilate asked Jesus, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ ‘Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied.”
John 18:36-37 “Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.’ ‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate. Jesus answered, ‘You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.'”
Christ claimed to be able to give everlasting life
Jesus didn’t just tell people how they could find everlasting life, or deepen their own life experience. He actually claimed to give life himself.
John 6:40 “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 6:47 “I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.”
John 10:28-30 “I give [my followers] eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die…'”
Jesus claimed that he would die and come back to life
John 10:17 “Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father–and I lay down my life for the sheep. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life–only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
John 12:32-33 “‘But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.’ He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.”
John 16:16 “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”
Luke 18:31-33 “Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, ‘We are going up into Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.'”
Christ claimed that he would return again to judge the world
Matthew 24:27-30 “So as the lightening comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man… At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.”
Matthew 25:31-32 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep and the goats.”
Mark 14:61-62 “Again 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.'”
(My comment on the thoughts of CS Lewis: Is Jesus fully God revealed?
Why not contemplate, meditate on this “great” question, which has caused such division and enmity between peoples, cultures and civilizations for centuries. Or even better “ go directly to the Ultimate Source, The Ground of All Being (God, Allah) in prayer (perhaps even through Jesus as a conduit – “very easy and a nice chat”) and ask the question yourself of “The Father”. … and each one of us will get a different answer…because we are all unique with different beliefs and life experiences…which is great !
In brief, for me, Jesus, like our concept of God, the Creator) is what He means (or represents) to us…thus what we choose to make Him…
and I choose to expand my horizons….as widely as is “humanly” possible)
Sourced from: http://www.allaboutgod.com/jesus-christ.htm
http://www.ccci.org/how-to-know-god/who-is-jesus-god-or-just-a-good-man/index.htm
http://www.jonathantweet.com/religionlewisonj.html
Shared by craig (“Information and Inspiration Distributor, Incorrigible Encourager and People-builder”)
“The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ would take the slums out of people, and then they would take themselves out of the slums. The world would mould men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behaviour, but Christ can change human nature.” ― Ezra Taft Benson, 27th President of the US
The various books* that Craig “felt inspired to write” are available at: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005GGMAW4 and http://www.creativekiwis.com/amazon.html
‘The Spirit of a True Champion: A Look into the Mind of Jesus Christ’ is already available at
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007E2WXW0
PPS
As my good friend, Lindsay ‘the Prophet’ often says: “Get yourself right with Jesus, man!”
“Make Jesus your best friend and you’ve got it made!”
– anon
A life lived in the spirit of Christ will never die!
“For me, God is a Creative Presence (far greater and deeper than my own consciousness). A Presence that I can experience on earth and allows me to be all that I am able to become.”
– craig
PPS
IS JESUS GOD?
Here a few thoughts that came to me at 4.30am today 5th March 2012… so am sharing?
Can Jesus be “God” in human form?
This is one of the great questions puzzling so many people and what creates controversy between Christianity and Islam (and even among Christian “believers”)
Through his sheer enthusiasm and evangelic zeal, the teachings of St Paul regarding the “absolute” divinity of Jesus ultimately won over the beliefs of the disciples and family who actually knew Jesus. And this strand of Christianity, (Paul’s “brand” rather than that of Jesus’s half-brother James) led to it being where the faith is today…(though many aspects/beliefs have always been and still are being challenged!
Here are a few thoughts of mine on this highly controversial subject (from research, but mostly Spirit)…
Jesus did NOT claim to be God, but a conduit TO “The Father” (“Follow me…I am the way, the truth and the light!”! Yet Jesus saw himself as separate from “the Father”, a unique term/concept to the Christian faith (although he had a uniquely intimate relationship with the “Father” as “Son of God” and “son of Man” ) . Jesus continually called on the Father in prayer to accomplish what he could not accomplish on his own. He lived a life totally dependent on this God and in total submission to the will of the Father
And so can we!
God, Infinite Spirit, The Creator of Life, Ground of All Being is beyond our human comprehension. Yet the life of ONE person, Jesus is a, ONE “manifestation” (big word, eh) of God, Ultimate Source, ie ALL that is GOOD!
Thus the “person” of Jesus is a symbol of hope to so many people throughout the globe. Jesus Christ is focus (a focal point) for one’s faith, “something” on which to hang, to pin one’s faith. It’s an “anchor …
and like us each ONE of us can CHOOSE to live a life of faith dependant on God…as well as striving for the ultimate ideal to which we can possibly aspire
And each ONE of us can choose to have the mind, the mindset …in a word the consciousness of Jesus… to achieve what may appear impossible things in your own life!
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” – Romans 12:2
“Spirit controls your mind.” Romans 8:6
“Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus.” – Phillippians 2:5
“But we can understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.”
“Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible.”
A final quick thought…
For me the person and the spirit of Jesus is MY path to this God of the Universe and He is the doorway…and that’s my reality… and my experience!
“There is neither east nor west, tribe nor ethnicity, male or female, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist. Christian nor Jew. There is only a God-filled humanity.”
“Let not our beliefs, but our shared humanity define us.”
– c
“The task ahead of you can always be overcome by the power within you…and the often seemingly difficult or even “impassible”) path ahead of you is never as steep with the great spirit that lies within you.”
“We have it within; but we get it all from without. There is a well-spring of strength, wisdom, courage and great imagination within each one of us; but once we draw on this truth, it gets watered from without, by a Higher Source – the Ultimate Source of Life and Love, which is God, the very Ground of our Being.”
“Our Greatest Good is perhaps not to share our material possessions, our money and ‘riches’ with others, but through faith in other people, to so lay the foundation to reveal the rich treasure that lies within themselves.”
The various books* that Craig “felt inspired to write” are available at: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005GGMAW4 and http://www.creativekiwis.com/amazon.html
‘The Spirit of a True Champion: A Look into the Mind of Jesus Christ’ is already available at
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007E2WXW0
“Get your next ‘fix’ from Jesus. It costs you nothing…except for his life!”
– my good friend, Lindsay ‘The Prophet’
Do not be defined by the limits that hold us down; but by the bright opportunities that lie ahead”
“Jesus is the human face of God”
“Jesus is my rock, my guiding star”
“Together, one mind, one life at a time, let’s see how many people we can impact, empower, uplift and encourage to reach their fullest potentials.”
C.S. Lewis Quotes – God
“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 patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. “
– Mere Christianity, pages 40-41.
“My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? “
– Mere Christianity
Jesus: Liar, Lunatic, Lord?
A talk given to the Christian Union of the London College of Communication. 1st May 2008.
From http://www.cc-vw.org/articles/jesustrilemma.htm
1. The God Delusion
Richard Dawkins must surely be Britain’s grumpiest atheist, our very own Darwinian Victor Meldrew, screeching ‘I don’t believe it’ at anyone who will listen. If you have read his recent book The God Delusion you may have enjoyed him harrumphing his way through modern religion, vanquishing the faithful by the power of ridicule and rhetoric alone (for there is little in the way of scientific rigour). Some, including me, have been a little perplexed by a number of his so called ‘arguments’.
For example, neither the Jews nor Jesus, we are told, cared anything for non-Jews (I suspect Dawkins has never read the Gospels). Others may have been a bit disappointed by the way he suggests Catholic parents are worse than paedophiles, or that all believers (including, it would seem, Jews) are infected by a virus – not the happiest of images, given that Jews were once described as a viral infection themselves.
It would be a mistake, however, to take Dawkins as seriously as he takes himself. Hence the conceit of John Cornwell’s short, light and imaginative book Darwin’s Angel, in which the author takes on the persona of an angel ‘special to natural historians and biologists’ and, in 21 brief chapters, flits in and out of the many holes in Dawkins’ argument. According Dawkins a respect that he denies others, the angel gently points out:
1. the poverty and bias of his sources;
2. his double standards (damning theologians for picking and choosing texts and then… picking and choosing texts);
3. his wilful blindness (dismissing theology as an intellectual discipline before criticising religious people for not attempting to answer serious questions);
4. his dubious assumptions (the universe is complex, therefore God must be more complex still);
5. his logical non sequiturs; his historical illiteracy; his complete ignorance of the Bible and
6. his charming optimism (a world ruled by science and atheism will be utopian, don’t you know?).
Cornwell highlights particular areas of Dawkins’ arguments that are flawed. So he picks up the uncritical deference to certain authorities – “I wondered about bringing in Russell from the outset, as if he were a self-evident expert on the matter [of intelligence]. Russell was surely an important figure in philosophy or mathematics, but didn’t he also say some pernicious things outside his area of expertise…? For example: ‘Women are on the average stupider than men.’ Just because Bertrand Russell says something doesn’t mean to say that it’s true.” – and Dawkin’s uncritical ignorance of other authorities – “Your book is as innocent of heavy scholarship as it is free of false modesty. I note that the author most often cited is yourself….”
Cornwell also highlights some of the more over-the-top claims made by Dawkins – that religious education is child abuse, that he expects there to soon be a scientific “theory of everything”, and that religious people are less clever than atheists. Cornwell rightly points out, Dawkin’s “question ‘Why is there anything rather than nothing?’ is not a final bid for evidence but a quest for meaning or sense that has begun in a moment of wonder that there is anything at all. You ridicule the quest because you do not seem to understand it. If you understood it, you would not ridicule it even if you felt unable to go there yourself. That you do not understand it is shown by the fact that you actually think that this ‘argument for God’ is an argument for the ludicrous anthropomorphic deity that rightly appals you.” More important, while dancing through this intellectual wasteland, our angel remains composed, wry, teasing, treating Dawkins’ anger and invective with wit and delicacy, never descending to the depths that his charge does. In so doing, he reminds us that the best way to respond to Victor Meldrews is not to match outrage with outrage but, rather, to bless their curses, gently poke fun at their self-righteous fury and smile at their apoplexy. Responding in such a way is unlikely to win someone like Dawkins over, or even cool them down. But it may, at least, help to turn demonisation back into deliberation.
2. The Da Vinci Code
Then there is of course Dan Brown’s “Da Vinci Code”…
The New York Times described it as a ‘riddle-filled, code-breaking, exhilarating, brainy thriller’. Apparently, it became the ‘biggest selling adult hardback fiction book of all time’, according to The Daily Telegraph. Published in April 2003, The Da Vinci Code has already sold more than 25 million copies, that’s nearly 250,000 copies a week.Needless to say its made Dan Brown a multi-millionaire.
How can a novel – a work of fiction – have such an impact? The Da Vinci Code is a thriller presented as an historical novel. It is fiction and yet it seeks to convince the reader that it is based on fact. Nicky summaries the book like this:
“Through its characters, The Da Vinci Code asserts that ‘almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.’ The Catholic Church has kept the facts hidden through force and terror. Jesus was in fact married to Mary Magdalene (who was the head apostle). The Holy Grail is not the chalice used at the last supper but the womb of Mary Magdalene who bore Jesus’s daughter, whose name was Sarah. Their descendants became Kings of France. Jesus was not the Son of God. He was a mortal prophet, a great and powerful man of staggering influence who inspired millions to a better life. He was also a radical feminist. He was a good man who was deified by the pagan emperor Constantine in AD 325.
Prior to that, no one believed Jesus was divine. At the Council of Nicaea in AD 325, Constantine upgraded him into a deity. He became the Son of God by a narrow vote. This turned Jesus, the mortal prophet, into a deity. Constantine’s motive was to give power to the Roman Catholic Church.”[1]
If you want to read a simple critique of the Da Vinci Code, I’d recommend Darrell Bock’s, Breaking the Da Vinci Code (Nashville, Thomas Nelson, 2004) and Ben Wetherington’s, The Gospel Code (Downers Grove, IVP, 2004).
Let me make three brief responses to the Da Vinci Code.
2.1 It is not original
To a large extent Dan Brown has plagiarised material from The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, published in 1982, and is being sued by its authors Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln. Leigh told the Daily Telegraph after issuing the writ: “It’s not that Dan Brown has lifted certain ideas because a number of people have done that before. It’s rather that he’s lifted the whole architecture – the whole jigsaw puzzle – and hung it on to the peg of a fictional thriller.” Brown’s work of fiction is based on earlier works of fiction including obscure and heretical mystical writings of the 3rd and 4th Centuries. So its not original.
2.2 It is not factual
Brown alleges there is evidence of an earlier version of Christianity than the one we have in the NT. He relies on the Dead Sea Scrolls found at Qumran from 1947 and the Nag Hammadi documents found in Egypt in 1945. He claims their content has been kept secret by the church. The fact is you can buy a copy in any good bookstore and neither source offers any substantiation to his claims what so ever. There is absolutely nothing in the Dead Sea Scrolls about Christianity. Period.
Brown also relies on documents about a secret society, the Priory of Sion that supposedly protected the secret about Jesus family. In fact they are forgeries, actually written in the 1960’s by an anti-Semitic Frenchman Pierre Plantard who was jailed for fraud in 1953. In 1993 Plantard admitted before a French judge that he had fabricated all the documents relating to the Priory of Sion.
Ironically Brown ignores the very New Testament writers who were actually eyewitnesses of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus – who saw these historical events and were willing to die rather than deny what they had seen. Remember the NT was written in an era of intense persecution. The Jewish authorities saw the Christians as heretical and the Roman authorities increasingly saw them as seditious.
So the Da Vinci Code is not original and it is not factual.
2.3 It is not surprising
Why would so many people prefer a work of fiction to the truth? Not surprising perhaps that Jesus Christ is the most written about, the most filmed, the most debated, the most loved and perhaps most hated person in history. There have always been myths, and from time to time new ones emerge. The Da Vinci Code is just another myth. It is not original, it is not factual and it is not surprising.
3. What are we to make of Jesus Christ?
“What are we to make of Jesus Christ? What are we to make of Him in the sense of “How are we to solve the historical problem set us by the recorded sayings and acts of this Man?” This problem is to reconcile two things.
3.1 The wisdom of his moral teaching
On the one hand, you have got the almost generally admitted depth and sanity of His moral teaching, which is not very seriously questioned, even by those who are opposed to Christianity. There seems to be a general agreement that in the teaching of this Man and of His immediate followers, moral truth is exhibited at its purest and best. It is not sloppy idealism, it is full of wisdom and shrewdness. The whole thing is realistic, fresh to the highest degree, the product of a sane mind. That is one phenomenon.
3.2 The nature of his theological claims
The other phenomenon is the quite appalling nature of this Man’s theological remarks. There is, of course, the one moment which led to His execution. The moment at which the High Priest said to Him, “Who are you?” “I am the Anointed One, the Son of the uncreated God, and you shall see Me appearing at the end of all history as the judge of the Universe”. But that claim, in fact, does not rest on this one dramatic moment. When you look into His conversation you will find this sort of claim running through the whole thing. For instance, He went about saying to people, “I forgive your sins”. Now it is quite natural for a man to forgive something you do to him. Thus if somebody cheats me out of five pounds it is quite possible and reasonable for me to say, “Well, I forgive you, we will say no more about it”. What on earth would you say if somebody had done you out of five pounds and I said, “That is all right, I forgive him”? Sometimes the statements put forward the assumption that He, the Speaker, is completely without sin or fault. This is always the attitude. “You, to whom I am talking, are all sinners”, and He never remotely suggests that this same reproach can be brought against Him. He says again, “I and the Father are one… before Abraham was born, I am”, and remember what the words “I am” were in Hebrew. They were the name of God, which must not be spoken by any human being, the name which it was death to utter. That is the other side. On the one side clear, definite moral teaching. On the other, claims which, if not true, are those of a megalomaniac, compared with who, Hitler was the most sane and humble of men.
3.3 No parallels with other religions
There is no half-way house and there is no parallel in other religions. If you had gone to Buddha and asked him “are you the son of Bramah?”, he would have said, “My son, you are still in the vale of illusion”. If you had gone to Mohammed and asked, “Are you Allah?”, he would have rent his clothes and then cut your head off. If you had asked Confucius, “Are you Heaven?”, I think he would have probably replied, “Remarks which are not in accordance with nature are in bad taste”. The idea of a great moral teacher saying what Christ said is out of the question. In my opinion, the only person who can say that sort of thing is either God or a complete lunatic suffering from that form of delusion which undermines the whole mind of man… We may note in passing that He was never recognised as a mere moral teacher. He did not produce that effect on any of the people who actually met Him. He produced mainly three effects – Hatred – Terror – Adoration. There was no trace of people expressing mild approval.” What are we to do about reconciling the two contradictory phenomena?
3.4 The reliability of the New Testament
One attempt consists in saying that the Man did not really say these things, but that His followers exaggerated the story, and so the legend grew up that He had said them. This is difficult because His followers were all Jews, that is, they belonged to that nation which of all others was most convinced that there was only one God – that there could not possibly be another. It is very odd that this horrible invention about a religious leader should grow up among the one people least likely to make such a mistake. On the contrary we get the impression that none of His immediate followers or even of the New Testament writers embraced the doctrine at all easily. Another point is that on that view you would have to regard the accounts of the Man as being legends. Now, as a literary historian, I am perfectly convinced that whatever else the Gospels are, they are not legends. I have read a great deal of legend and I am quite clear that they are not the same sort of thing. They are not artistic enough to be legends. From an imaginative point of view, they are clumsy, they don’t work up to things properly. Most of the life of Jesus is totally unknown to us, as is the life of anyone else who lived at that time, and no people building up a legend would allow that to be so. Apart from bits of the Platonic dialogues, there are no conversations that I know of in ancient literature like the Fourth Gospel.
There is nothing, even in modern literature, until about a hundred years ago when the realistic novel came into existence. In the story of the woman taken in adultery, we are told Christ bent down and scribbled in the dust with His finger. Nothing came of this. No one has ever based any doctrine on it. And the art of inventing little irrelevant details to make an imaginary scene more convincing is a purely modern art. Surely the only explanation of this passage is that the thing really happened. The author put it in simply because he had seen it.
3.5 The evidence for the resurrection
Then we come to the strangest story of all, the story of the Resurrection. It is very necessary to get the story clear. I heard a man say, “The importance of the Resurrection is that it gives evidence of survival, evidence that the human personality survives death”. On that view what happened to Christ would be what had always happened to all men, the difference being that in Christ’s case we were privileged to see it happening. This is certainly not what the earliest Christian writers thought. Something perfectly new in the history of the Universe had happened. Christ had defeated death. The door which had always been locked had for the very first time been forced open. This is something quite distinct from mere ghost-survival. I don’t mean that they disbelieved in ghost-survival. On the contrary, they believed in it so firmly that,
on more than one occasion, Christ had to assure them that He was not a ghost. The point is that while believing in survival they yet regarded the Resurrection as something totally different and new. The Resurrection narratives are not a picture of survival after death, they record how a totally new mode of being has arisen in the Universe. Something new had appeared in the Universe; as new as the first coming of organic life. This Man, after death, does not get divided into “ghost” and “corpse”. A new mode of being has arisen. That is the story. What are we going to make of it?
4. Choose your hypothesis: Liar, Lunatic or Lord?
The question is, I suppose, whether any hypothesis covers the facts so well as the Christian hypothesis. That hypothesis is that God has come down into the created Universe, down to manhood – and come up again, pulling it up with Him. The alternative hypothesis is not legend, nor exaggeration, nor the apparitions of a ghost. It is either lunacy or lies. You must accept or reject the story. The things He says are very different from what any other teacher has ever said. Others say, “This is the truth about the Universe. This is the way you ought to go”, but Jesus says, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No man can reach absolute reality, except through Me” … “Do not be afraid, I have overcome the whole Universe”. That is the issue.
“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 be either 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. 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” Jesus: Liar, Lunatic, Lord? What are we to make of Him? “the real question perhaps is not what are we to make of Christ, but what is He to make of us?”
With grateful thanks to C.S. Lewis, Nicky Gumble and John Cornwell.
P.S. One Solitary Life
This is what James Hudson wrote as long ago as 1926,
“Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.
He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself…
While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a center piece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.
I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.”
From http://www.cc-vw.org/articles/jesustrilemma.htm
and shared by craig
The various books that Craig ‘felt inspired to write’ are available at: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005GGMAW4 and http://www.creativekiwis.com/amazon.html
WHO IS "THE REAL, THE TRUE, THE LIVING" JESUS? 
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