At some point, everyone who hears about Jesus, must answer the question of who or what they believe Him to be. We all have to answer the exact same question Jesus posed to His disciples… “I know what others say about me, but who do YOU say that I am?” (Mt. 16:13-16; Mk. 8:27-29; Lk. 9:18-20).
We can’t just brush Him aside, saying He was a good, moral teacher and philosopher. We can’t just give lip service to Him and say that he was a prophet who spoke truth but no more than that. In His repeated claims to be God, Jesus of Nazareth did not leave those options open to us.
Someone who claims to be the Creator of the entire cosmos is only one of three things.
1. Liar. He knew His claims were not true, but led people to believe He was the Son of God, intentionally deceiving everyone around Him. Liars and deceivers on this scale can in no way be considered good, or moral, and their teachings should not be trusted or followed.
2. Lunatic. He was deranged and mentally unstable, and actually believed He was the eternal God who created all things. We can all be a little bit crazy from time to time, but lunatics on this scale have no grasp on reality, and therefore cannot be good philosophers nor can any “prophecy” they give be trusted.
3. He is who He said He is – Lord of all.
True Christianity is not a blind faith. It is not a baseless belief system. We have evidence. Belief or trust in anything requires faith. And in the case of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, faith and reason are not at odds.
I’m not a pushy, belligerent Christian who gets upset when people disagree with me about Jesus. Nor do I believe that people who disagree with me are my enemies in any way! I just want people to know who I believe Jesus to be – that He is who He said He is and He offers forgiveness, grace, and mercy to those who trust in Him. My job is to tell people the bad news of our condition apart from Christ; that we are willful rebels against God, because of this we are headed towards inevitable, eternal punishment we rightly deserve, and We are hopelessly unable to do anything whatsoever to save ourselves. And then to share the good, hope-filled news of what Jesus Christ has done on our behalf to rescue us from that eternal doom. He died in our place, for our sins, taking the full punishment we deserve. His Resurrection from the grave proves that He did what He Said He would do. Trusting in Him and His work gives us eternal life with God.
Romans 10:9-10 …because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
If you haven’t yet placed your faith in Christ and chosen to follow Him because you are still processing and and wrestling with the facts and claims, I get it (though I went to church as a kid, I was agnostic all through my teens, into my early twenties). It’s a lot to process and is the most important decision of someone’s life. God is big enough and gracious enough to handle our doubts and questions. The truth will shine through all scrutiny. Or, if you are hesitant because of some past hurt or trauma from the church or people who called themselves Christians… trust me I do understand! Don’t let the wrong, misguided, or sinful actions of another person keep you from the one true God. So, by all means, wrestle through that, work through those issues, even pray and ask God to reveal Himself through His gospel. But what we can’t do is dismiss Jesus as merely a teacher or profit or philosophical leader.
There is a little, inexpensive book I would like to recommend to you. It really helped me answer some questions I had. It’s not a heavy or heady book, and it’s definitely not exhaustive of all of the facts, but it did help me a lot. And if you have questions about the historicity of the Bible and Jesus of Nazareth, I believe it would be a big help to you as well.
“More Than A Carpenter” by Josh McDowell
As always, I’m available for questions or discussion anytime. If I don’t know the answers (and I for sure don’t know them all), we can find them together. May the God of grace bless us as we seek Truth.