Questions Christians Hope no one will Ask #4

4. Everyone knows that Jesus was a good man and a wise teacher, why try to make him into the Son of God, too?

For the purposes of this Youth Corner, I am following the questions out of the book “The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask”, but that doesn’t mean these topics always come up as questions. Sometimes they just come up as comments, and if we haven’t thought about, studied, or discussed them much it becomes awkward to address. This one usually is made as a comment like: “If Jesus had any idea that people today were trying to turn him into some kind of a god and that they were actually worshiping him, he’d be rolling over in his grave.” Ignoring the irony of a comment like that, take a step back first and realize for someone who doesn’t know the bible, or hasn’t studied Jesus’ life, it’s a legit comment to make or question to ask. After all, don’t we say similar things about Gandhi, Martin Luther, Mary the mother of Jesus, or Mother Teresa. However, we know Jesus was different…and we need to be sharing and educating people in a loving way.

The New Testament was written 15-70 years after Jesus’ death and Christians were already worshiping him. Movies (where many people get their info instead of studying the facts) like “The Da Vinci Code” misrepresent with false claims that it wasn’t till the Council of Nicaea 300 years later.

First, every NT writer refers to Jesus as the Christ or Messiah, all of them! Second, Paul (the earliest writer) & John (latest) refer to Jesus as “the Son of God”, “the Savior”, “the Lord”, and even “God”. Third they also encourage followers to believe/trust, pray, and worship him. What does that mean…within 20 years (NOT 300) of Jesus’ death we have written confirmation people worshiped him as Lord. Not to mention Jesus’ refers to himself as “the Son of Man” 82x, which is a title He called himself, yet only 3 or 4 times was he called that by others. Even critics agree this is accurate. Read Daniel 7:13-14 & Mark 14:61-62, to see there was no question Jesus claimed to be the Savior.

There is so much more that can be said on this topic, but I believe C.S. Lewis sums it up best to say Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord. If someone doesn’t believe Jesus was the Son of God, then there is no way when presented with the evidence that they can claim he was a good teacher. The claim has to be both or neither, you simply cannot have one without the other.

Remember the more we study & discuss, the better chance we have of fulfilling the instruction of 1 Peter 3:15 “Always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and respect”. #GloryToGod