May 12

Who Do You Say That I Am?
John 7

Western civilization is largely founded on Jesus Christ.  Therefore we cannot avoid the question:  just who is this Jesus?  This passage shows us that the answers we hear today are nothing new. 
He's a good man
This is a popular attitude.  After all, look at all the neat things he had to say!  There are only two things wrong with it:

  • It's false.  He never claimed to be a "good guy"; he claimed to be God in the flesh.
  • It ignores the consequences of ignorance.  Just because I believe the bomb won't explode doesn't mean the bomb agrees with me.
He's leading the people astray
This is a theory that is returning in popularity. One of the great difficulties of modern humanism is the character of its opponents. If you were to read the popular press, the Christian (AKA "right wing fundamentalist" -- to demonize you must label) is a raving lunatic. The theory is wonderful; the facts are to the contrary. Most Christians are, in fact, the "salt of the earth." If this is so, how can the humanist explain it? The only possible hypothesis is that while Christians are good people, they have been led astray.
This too falls on its face. What does it mean, "to lead astray?" Have you ever seen a group of people who were led astray and became more righteous? It is self-contradictory. How can this be?
He has a demon (in modern terms, he's nuts)
This theory at least has the virtue of simplicity. In its original version -- the demon -- it certainly explained Jesus' power. Again, however, it falls apart upon examination of the facts. If there is any one thing modern psychiatry tells us, it is that religion must be a neurosis -- after all, these people are not facing reality. So then, what is the diagnosis of Jesus of Nazareth? Read his words; are they not the words of a man eminently sane, intelligent and shrewd? If he's a nut case, why did he not go the way of all other nut cases -- powerful in the flesh, forgotten when he's gone?
The theories fail because they are false.  The Son of Man remains because He is Truth itself.  The only question that counts has only one answer that works.