“Who is Jesus?”It’s the most important answer a person will ever give to a question.
Most of us are familiar with former atheist/Narnia author, C.S. Lewis’, famous “trilemma” recorded in his classic apologetic, Mere Christianity:
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.
It may surprise some who are not familiar with the gospel accounts that the question of “Who is Jesus?” is nothing new. In 1st century Palestine people were asking the same question people are asking today: “Who IS this guy??”
In their book, Putting Jesus in His Place, Robert Bowman & J. Ed. Komoszewski write, “Interpretations of Jesus are fraught with bias. He’s a powerful figure people want on their sides – and they’re willing to re-create him in their image to enlist his support….Frankly, it’s hard to escape the feeling that our culture has taken Jesus’ question, ‘Who do you say that I am?’, and changed it to ‘Who do you want me to be?”
Not sure who Jesus is? For one, he is a gentleman; he will not impose himself on you, but allows every human being to decide for themselves who he is.
Read Mark’s & John’s biographies (gospels) of Jesus in an easy-to-read translation. Try either the New Living Translation or the New English Translation. Both are solid. Then, check out Philip Yancey’s award-winning, The Jesus I Never Knew, Lee Strobel’s, The Case for the Real Jesus, or Josh & Sean McDowell’s short classic, More than a Carpenter. What you will find is a man so real, yet so fascinating, only God could have thought him up.
Set aside others’ opinions. Honestly investigate Christ’s claims, and see if you don’t begin to hear the Lion of Judah roar.
I customarily do not address politics in this publication. We all have our convictions and opinions where politics is concerned.
Having said that, the issue of religious freedom is a bipartisan issue clearly supported by the United States Constitution – and I have no reluctance for speaking to, or defending, that freedom.
The big news last week was the attack on religious freedom by two U.S. Senators. The person under religious attack was Russell Vought, President Trump’s nominee for deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Russell Vought is an alumni of Wheaton College, a strongly evangelical Christian school. Approximately a year and a half ago, a Wheaton professor, Dr. Larycia Hawkins stated that Muslims and Christians worship the same God – which is, according to the message of the Bible vs. the message of the Quran, blatantly false. (For a brief explanation of the exclusivity of the world’s major religions click here.) While still a professor at Wheaton, Hawkins had written, “I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God.”
Wheaton College terminated Dr. Hawkins. As you can imagine, a firestorm of debate ensued. One of the editorials written in the weeks that followed Dr. Hawkins’ termination was one by Mr. Vought explaining the discrepancy between Islamic and Biblical theology. You can read that editorial here.
At Mr. Vought’s confirmation hearing last week, two Senators – Bernie Sanders & Christopher Van Hollen Jr. – asked probing questions about Mr. Vought’s Christian faith. But they didn’t stop there. What followed was an overt attack on Mr. Vought’s Christian faith and how, in the senators’ opinion, Mr. Vought’s faith makes him unqualified to serve in public office. The attack on Vought’s Christian faith was done under the guise that his Christian faith might impede his ability to treat people fairly. You can view the the exchange between Sanders & Vought below. It’s less than 3 minutes in length.
And, speaking of Christianity, Senator Christopher Van Hollen Jr., offered this convoluting comment. Speaking to Mr. Vought, he says,
“I think it is irrefutable that these kinds of comments suggest to a whole lot of Americans that, number one . . . you are condemning people of all faiths. I’m a Christian, but part of being a Christian in my view is recognizing that there are lots of ways that people can pursue their God. . . .
I’m happy the senator said, “…in my view…” Because, clearly, the Senator is sorely unfamiliar with his Bible. He is justified in saying that “there are lots of ways that people can pursue their God.” No one disagrees with that. However, according to the Bible, there’s only one way to know the God of the Bible: through faith in his son, Jesus Christ.
The Huffington Post defended Sanders’ statements, creating their own version of logic. The author, James Zogby, wrote:
It is Vought, not Sanders who has used a religious test to support the firing of a tenured professor. His demonstrated intolerance is a disturbing trait for someone in public service. Vought may claim that all are “worthy of dignity and respect regardless of their religious beliefs”, but when it came to Professor Hawkins, a fellow Christian, Vought behaved quite differently, precisely because her description of her faith did not comport with his narrow interpretation of Christian theology.
Zogby’s logic is myopic and erroneous. Dr. Hawkins was teaching non-Christian doctrine at an expressly evangelical Christian college, and was not running for public office. (I would invite Mr. Zogby to try and teach non-Islamic doctrine at an Islamic school and see what happens next.) Comparing the two stories is an argument based on Zogby’s errant logic, biased opinion and gross ignorance of the biblical gospel.
“Religious freedom is such a fundamental liberty that the framers of our Constitution enshrined it in the First Amendment. That’s why it’s so disturbing that Trump continues to pack his administration with appointees like Russell Vought, whose views threaten that very freedom.”
Once again, every world religion is given a pass – except Christianity. The hypocrisy was deafening. And the world noticed.
Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention responded to Sanders’ comments. He said:
Senator Sanders’ comments are breathtakingly audacious and shockingly ignorant — both of the Constitution and of basic Christian doctrine. Even if one were to excuse Senator Sanders for not realizing that all Christians of every age have insisted that faith in Jesus Christ is the only pathway to salvation, it is inconceivable that Senator Sanders would cite religious beliefs as disqualifying an individual for public office in defiance of the United States Constitution. No religious test shall ever be required of those seeking public office. While no one expects Senator Sanders to be a theologian, we should expect far more from an elected official who has taken an oath to support and defend the Constitution.
Sen. James Lankford (I’ve met Senator Lankford) warned that Sanders’ comments come “dangerously close to crossing a clear constitutional line for how we evaluate qualifications for public service.” He continued,
“The First Amendment is crystal clear that the federal government must protect every American’s right to the peaceful and free exercise of religion. We cannot say we have the free exercise of religion and also require people to practice their faith only in a way that government officials prefer.”
Emma Green, writing for the secular publication, The Atlantic, defended Vought:
It’s one thing to take issue with bigotry. It’s another to try to exclude people from office based on their theological convictions. Sanders used the term “Islamophobia” to suggest that Vought fears Muslims for who they are. But in his writing (in his editorial for Wheaten College), Vought was contesting something different: He disagrees with what Muslims believe, and does not think their faith is satisfactory for salvation. Right or wrong, this is a conviction held by millions of Americans—and many Muslims might say the same thing about Christianity.
As you can imagine, Twitter blew up over this story. NYT Best-Selling author, Eric Metaxas, tweeted,
“What [Sen. Sanders] did was in fact so bad, and so un-American, that we should be demanding his resignation. It is a stunning moment in our history.”
And the conservative news site, The Federalist, disseminated all the jargon by tweeting simply, “Senator Sanders doesn’t think Christians are fit for public office.”
“…a worldview that affirms all other worldviews to be true is a contradiction in and of itself because it is evidently not true that all worldviews can be simultaneously true… The issue is that when you hold certain beliefs, you are espousing a particular worldview, and that worldview is inevitably at odds with other worldviews… You claim to embrace tolerance, but you are in fact being intolerant of Mr. Vought simply because of his freely chosen religious beliefs. That is hypocrisy.”
Senator Sanders exposed his true motive during the hearing. He has little interest in religious freedom – if you’re a Christian. Additionally, he has no concept of the fundamental differences between world religions. Finally, he is accusing Mr. Vought of making daily decisions based on his convictions when he is doing the very thing: deciding to attack Mr. Vought based on his own convictions. Religious or not, do we not all live our lives based on fundamental principles in which we strongly believe?
Let me be perfectly clear – if this story were turned around 180 degrees, and an evangelical Christian Senator had attacked the religious convictions of a political nominee representing a different religion, I would be writing the same opinion piece on behalf of the individual who was being marginalized and harassed. If you don’t like someone’s religious faith or worldview – and they’re running for public office – don’t vote for them. But, we must never personally attack them because of their faith or suggest they are less of a person solely because they don’t hold to the same convictions/worldview we do.
The moment we allow this to take place in government is the moment Religious Freedom will be a thing of the past.
I titled this blog “Freedom of Religion? Yes. Freedom of Biblical Christianity? Not so much.” Here’s why: (1) I use the term “biblical Christianity” because the term “Christian” is widely used and, as such, means different things to different people. For instance, in this blog both, Dr. Hawkins and Senator Van Hollen Jr., refer to themselves as Christians while, apparently, holding to doctrines not taught in the Bible. (2) While some might prefer to remove religious principles from any and all decisions made by those serving in public office, it is logically impossible to divorce someone’s decisions from what they believe – we’re not robots.
We all have convictions, beliefs and principles that drive our daily decisions and make us who we are. Senator Sanders, here, defends Islamic faith, while attacking Christian faith. If this is true (and I don’t see any other way to interpret it), then Senator Sanders – and those who defend his statements – represent those who, according to their words, believe in the freedom of religion – as long as it’s not the Christian faith.
In sum, if Senator Sanders were to read a Bible I suspect he would never have attacked Mr. Vought’s Christian faith. For, he would see in the gospels that, although Jesus clearly states he is the only way to God, he never imposed his convictions on a single person. On the contrary, he preached the truth and left the decision to trust him solely up to the listener, even when his message resulted in many people choosing to no longer follow him. Jesus never compromised the truth of his message (and this made him a lot of enemies), but he treated all people equally, with love and respect.
My spirit is crushed,….Where then is my hope?” Job 17:1, 15
“My spirit is crushed,….Where then is my hope?” Honest statement. Honest question.
It’s one of the reasons I love reading the Bible. It’s unsanitized, unedited, raw, and brutally honest. When Job made his statement, and asked his question, he had recently buried all ten of his children. With ten fresh graves most likely within sight, Job was “at the end of his rope.”
I was beginning my sophomore year in high school when my parents divorced. In the months that followed, my dad, on occasion, would take me with him to bars. I was only 15 years old at the time, but I can remember watching my dad, and folks around us. Some laughed with friends, while others sat with blank stares on their faces like… well, like my dad.
Country music superstar, Toby Keith, offers spot-on insight from his hit, Hope on the Rocks:
Where do they go? They come here – to drown in their sorrow and cry in their beer. They’re in need of a mindbender – I’m a bartender. At the end of the day, I’m all they’ve got. Hope on the rocks.
This blog isn’t about getting drunk. It’s about what (Who) we reach for when we’ve lost hope.
Some revert to eating, or shopping, or busy-ness, or (fill in the blank.) But here’s what satan doesn’t tell you in the scripted music videos: The stories you hear in hit songs rarely, if ever, end up with a happy ending with a pretty bow on top. (The home in which I grew up is a testimony to this.) Furthermore, after one’s mind “un-bends” from the alcohol and they find none of their circumstances have changed, what’s next? Another mindbender? The emotional & physical effort to forget, over time, simply becomes a mental treadmill that leads nowhere.
“Where, then, is my hope!”, (cries Job…and us)
“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness,” says the old hymn. Job may have lived in antiquity, but he was a human being just like you and me. When hopelessness visited his house he had a choice to make. Against the advice of friends and family he made his choice: I will hope in [God];…For I know that my Redeemer lives, (13:15; 19:25)
And there it is – the pivotal truth that sets biblical Hope apart from all others.
I like bartenders. They’re kind and compassionate people. (And I like Toby Keith, by the way. A lot.) A bartender can pour your favorite drink and help you forget about your problems. But (1) when we sober up our problems haven’t gone anywhere, and (2) most importantly, a bartender can’t die our our sins. Only one Person could – and did – do that. Driven by unfathomable love for us, Christ died on a bloody cross, and then conquered hopelessness by rising from the dead three days later.
“Every worldview has four elements: (1) Where did we come from? (2) What is our problem/What went wrong? (3) What is the solution? (4) How will things end up? Biblically, this is categorized as creation, fall, redemption and restoration.”
“Notice, [in the Bible] you have all the parts of a good story: beginning, conflict, conflict resolution, ending.” (Gregory Koukl; The Story of Reality)
Interestingly, following Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, when the two men on their way to Emmaus had questions about Jesus in Luke 24, Jesus, himself (not yet recognizable to them), rather than explaining the events that had only recently transpired, began explaining the events of the past few days in light of the greater story, “beginning with Moses and the prophets.”
The Bible’s story is still the best explanation and answer to the questions listed above by Koukl. Further, author/theologian, Graeme Goldworthy, writes, “It is my deep conviction that every part of the Bible is given its fullest meaning by the saving work of Christ, who restores a sinful, fallen creation and makes all things new.” (According to Plan)
“…many have come to believe something very odd about Christianity: that it is anti-science, anti-reason, anti-progressive phenomenon fueled by blind faith. That is not Christian faith at all!” (Former atheist, Josh McDowell. Indeed, former atheist, Lee Strobel, a Yale grad, rightly describes Christianity as an “intelligent faith.”)
In addition, I would encourage the reader to consider McDowell’s quote (above) in light of the arguments for God’s existence from the myriad of Ph.D.’s, scientists, and brilliant men and women, both living now and throughout history. (Significantly, some of the scientists and/or philosophers who argue for the possibility of a creator are not Christians, but are not afraid to admit that there appears to be a designer that exists outside time and space. See, for example: astronomer, Fred Hoyle, and philosopher, Antony Flew)
Biblically, Nicodemus, the disciples, Jesus’ siblings (in particular, James), Saul of Tarsus, the Greek philosophers on Mars Hill, and the Roman commanding soldier, Cornelius (just to name a few) were not gullible idiots. They were intelligent people who made intelligent decisions to place their faith in Christ. Luke, a physician, wrote in Acts 17, the Bereans “studied the scriptures daily to see if what Paul was teaching was true.” (emphasis mine)
Personally, like those mentioned above – and most anyone else who has considered the claims of Christ, I have no interest in fairy tales and fables where my faith is concerned. Nor should anyone else.
So, why doesn’t everyone in academic circles look with, at least, a degree of favor and open-mindedness at the biblical gospel?
McDowell continues, “I am reminded of Richard Lewontin, a renowned geneticist and evolutionary biologist who admitted that some things they propose about evolution is absurd, but he said we must accept these absurdities, because ‘we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.”
And there it is.
Indisputable proof for or against God’s existence is not a scientific issue. For God can be neither proved nor disproved in a laboratory. Rather, it’s philosophical and theological. Dr. John Lennox, professor of mathematics at Oxford University, is well respected throughout academia by people representing all philosophical, theological and scientific positions. Having been asked about some of Stephen Hawking’s atheistic opinions, Lennox replied, “Hawking is a brilliant, famous scientist. He [attended} Cambridge just ahead of me. I have no quibble with his science, [the problem is] what he deduces from it.” In other words, mere science, as biophysicist and former atheist, Alister McGrath, asserts is basically agnostic i.e. science neither proves nor disproves anything in regard to the existence of God. What science does is provide evidence, markers, clues, if you will. It’s up to the individual to develop their own conclusions, as former atheist, Antony Flew, famously cited, by “following the argument wherever it leads.” Does believing in God require faith? Absolutely. But, so does atheism.
While studying apologetics at Houston Baptist University, I wrote the following based on one of our assigned readings: “As one begins to study scholarly writing, it is not difficult to discover that philosophy serves (or, at least it should) as a sort of system of “checks and balances” for the sciences. It seems that, more and more, scientists, themselves, are becoming philosophers – perhaps they always have been. However, there is a danger to the lay person/non-scientist who is in the habit of not thinking things through. That danger is to “swallow whole” what the scientist presents as truth, when it is merely a philosophical opinion based on said scientist’s empirical findings.”
Allowing a “divine foot in the door” carries with it implications that affect our everyday lives. And, as is their right, many simply choose to reject or avoid those implications – even though those implications are liberating. McDowell shares that, in response to statements like the one cited above by Lewontin, “David Berlinski, who is a secular philosopher, defended the theists on this one, saying ‘If one is obliged to accept absurdities for fear of a Divine Foot, imagine what prodigies of effort would be required were the rest of the Divine Torso found wedged at the door… demanding to be let in?”
Planetary physicist, Robert Jastrow, once quipped, “For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance, he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”
Christianity is not anti-science. Rather, Christianity is evidenced by science. The deeper we search, both, outward and inward, we discover evidence for something beyond us – what Kierkegaard called the “Wholly Other.” McDowell cites as examples “the birth and order of the cosmos, DNA, RNA, transcription and proteins, and 3.1 Billion bits of information in every cell of our body.”
Science was given to us by God to serve as a method to discover him. Simply put, scientific findings are God’s “bread crumbs/clues along this path we travel called life.” And, in every clue, he is whispering, “I. Love. You.”
The full article by Josh McDowell can be viewed here.
For an additional well-documented, intelligent arguments for God’s existence click here, and here. The first was published on Yahoo! News, and originally written for Newsweek by University of Maryland professor, Robert Nelson. The second is written by career police homicide detective (and former atheist), J. Warner Wallace.
“Weeping may last for the night, but Joy comes in the morning.” (Ps 30:5)
In Sep., 2015, shortly after completing nine days in the Psychiatric Ward of our local hospital (I ended up there due to a cluster of triggers associated with my 19 year old son’s suicide), I sat in my counselor’s office and listened intently as he shared with me how to learn to “live” again. Completely broken, and possessing zero self-esteem, he lovingly said to me, “Part of running the race (of life) is encouraging your fellow runners.”
In other words, you will rediscover joy in helping others rediscover theirs.
Allow me that privilege now.
One of the most influential Christian minds of the 20th century was CS Lewis. The following two paragraphs are taken from his book, “A Grief Observed,” written after the loss of his wife:
“No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid…”
“At other times it feels like being mildly drunk, or concussed. There is a sort of invisible blanket between the world and me. I find it hard to take in what anyone says. Or perhaps, hard to want to take it in. It is so uninteresting. Yet I want the others to be [around] me. I dread the moments when the house is empty…”
Because of the Cross and the Empty Tomb, our loved ones who have passed on before us are more alive than we are.Alive! Joyful. Free of sickness and disease. In the very presence of Jesus Christ. The Lamb who is our Shepherd. The Alpha and Omega. The Almighty.
On the cross, Jesus proclaimed, “It is finished.” On the throne in Revelation, he proclaims, “It is done.” We live in the “in between.” But, because of the blood Christ shed at Calvary, we have hope not only for the future, but for the present as well. Blessed be his name!
And, until that day we meet him either through death, or when the cosmos peels back for his return, he is whispering to us, “I’ve got this. Trust me.”
“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace,” Jesus told his closest friends the night before he would die for us. “In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.”
I was reading your “Suicide and the Bible”..and I just have a question. I’m genuinely curious to know what you think about this. So you’re saying nowhere in the Bible does it say suicide will send you to hell. You did call it murder (of yourself) however, which is sin. We are supposed to ask for forgiveness for all of our sins, so what if someone commits this “murder.” And dies instantly and didn’t get the chance to ask for forgiveness?
Here was my response:
That is a very good – and common – question.
Fortunately, the Gospel makes it perfectly clear that, at the moment we profess our faith in Christ, we are redeemed, purchased by Christ’s blood, and seen, in God’s eyes, as 100% righteous and holy (2 Cor 5:17, 21).
The answer to your particular question comes down, actually, to a different (but related) question: Can a child of God lose their salvation?
Clearly, the Scriptures state we cannot. Paul describes our salvation as a gift: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” A gift is something we receive, not earn. And since we did nothing in our power to earn it (Christ, alone, earned it for us on the cross) there is nothing we can do to un-earn it, or lose it. In short, you will find no list of sins in the Bible that cause us to lose what was purchased for us by Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes the sin of un-confessed daily sin.
Further, Jesus uses the phrase, “born again”, to give us insight into this miracle called eternal life. It is significant that Jesus chooses to use this particular phrase. Consider this: regardless of how badly we may treat our parents, we can never not be their child. In other words, we can never be “un-born” as their children. Likewise, we can never be “un-born again” as a child of God. Our position in Christ is based on God, not us. And our heavenly Father’s grip on us is eternal; it can’t be undone. Read on…
Jesus continues this truth in John 10 where, speaking of “his sheep” (those who have, at some point in their life, professed their faith in him) says, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”(vss 28-29) In short, our eternity in heaven with God is as sure as God’s Word is sure.
Moving from the theological to the practical, a brief word:
There is another side of this issue that is not often enough addressed. That’s the issue of a medically diagnosed Mental Illness (a genuine misfiring of the brain’s chemical make-up; a form of insanity.) Information and data about the disease of Mental Illness is readily available from many reputable web sites such as the Mayo Clinic, the American Psychiatric Association, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness. When someone dies of cancer, we never question that a sinful – it wasn’t their fault they contracted cancer. Yet, there is a stigma attached to a person dying with a medically diagnosed Mental Illness. A person posted the following comment to one of my posts: “From a mental health perspective, depression is an illness. There should be no stigma attached to death from any illness. “
FYI – I included the following at the bottom of my original blog, Suicide and the Bible. I include it here again.
NOTE: If you have been, or are, suicidal, please do not misconstrue my intent here by interpreting this blog as it being ok to take your life since the Bible clearly says, if you’ve professed your faith in Christ, you will go to heaven. Suicide is never the answer to one’s problems. I know from personal experience the devastation suicide has on a family and friends. If you are depressed and/or suicidal, get help immediately. Talk to someone – anyone. Help and hope are available in abundance. (Click here for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.) The sole purpose of this blog is to give peace to those of us who have been forced to live through this horrific tragedy.
