Many atheists claim that Jesus never lived. Muslims and Jews, as well as some Buddhists and even some atheists, say He lived, but He was just a good, moral teacher. However, Christians claim He was God incarnate (in the flesh). Who’s right? Either Jesus never made claims to divinity, in which case He was a good moral teacher or a legend, or He did, making Him either the world’s most wicked sinner, the most insane person of all time, or the God-in-flesh worthy to be worshipped.
Let’s make some predictions based on the models of each possibility and see which model best describes Jesus.
If He never existed, we would expect to find no reference to Him, except for writings that were clearly meant to be legends. We would find nothing dedicated to Him, no books written by Him, no people flocking to hear Him preach, and no evidence He lived.
If He were a good, moral teacher, we would expect evidence for His existence, but no claims to divinity, such as accepting worship, forgiving sins, performing miracles, etc.
If He were a liar, the world’s most wicked sinner, we would expect Him to serve Himself first. Everyone who knew Him would despise Him. No one would willingly follow Him.
However, He would make claims of divinity. However, He would not back it up.
If He were a lunatic, we would expect Him to lose control over His emotions easily, although at times, He might be able to keep Himself under control.
However, if His claims to divinity are confirmed, we have to choose either to worship Him or not to worship Him. One test is miracles, for only one outside of the universe can perform miracles. Another is prophecy, for only one outside of the time continuum can accurately predict the future. Now that all five models have boldly made their predictions, let us look at the evidence.
Evidence for Jesus’ existence comes from the ever-popular historian Josephus, who said in Antiquities of the Jews that Jesus was “a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man,” However, despite this, He never believed Jesus was the Messiah, or Chosen One. Another passage from the same story records James’ martyrdom, describing James as Jesus’ brother. That alone would satisfy some standards of proof for proving someone’s existence from a historical note. Two other historians who mention Jesus would be Cornelius Tacitus and Pliny the Younger. This makes a minimum of three nonbiblical historians confirming Jesus really did exist.
Did He make claims to Divinity? The texts recording some of Jesus’ life would be the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. All of these record some of Jesus’ claims to be God. They couldn’t be legends because there wasn’t enough of a gap between the events and the recording, at most thirty years.
So the evidence says Jesus really did claim to be God. Was He lying, mistaken or right?
The same documents that record the parts of His life describe how He never served Himself first. If there was one seat left at the baseball park, according to the descriptions of the Gospels, He would only take it if no one else wanted it. Not exactly the kind of thing we would expect from someone who claimed to be God to be self-serving.
Could He have been mistaken? Could He have thought He was God? No. The reason is because an insane person would not always be able to control his or her emotions. We rarely see outbursts of emotions from Jesus. There are two outbursts of emotions that come to mind. The first is Lazarus’ funeral, when Jesus wept. It is understandable that he would cry at his dear friend’s funeral. The only other outburst is when Jesus was at the temple which was being used as a marketplace. This
is an understandable outburst. His Name was being dishonored. He made it clear that His House, the church, was to be used for worship, not for making money.
By the way, the New Testament by far exceeds any standard of proof ever made to establish certainty of historical accuracy. In contrast to secular history, which sometimes has only one or, at the best, several documents with a gap of almost a thousand years between the events and the copies, the New Testament has over twenty thousand, with a gap between the events and the first copies being only a couple decades. Quite a feat, considering the lack of people who could read and write, the fact that the printing press wasn’t invented yet, that Jesus was in no extraordinary position, and the strict writing procedure for Scriptures. Any mistake, whether a letter was omitted, added, or even in the wrong space, would mean the scroll would be destroyed.
Let’s make some predictions based on the models of each possibility and see which model best describes Jesus.
If He never existed, we would expect to find no reference to Him, except for writings that were clearly meant to be legends. We would find nothing dedicated to Him, no books written by Him, no people flocking to hear Him preach, and no evidence He lived.
If He were a good, moral teacher, we would expect evidence for His existence, but no claims to divinity, such as accepting worship, forgiving sins, performing miracles, etc.
If He were a liar, the world’s most wicked sinner, we would expect Him to serve Himself first. Everyone who knew Him would despise Him. No one would willingly follow Him.
However, He would make claims of divinity. However, He would not back it up.
If He were a lunatic, we would expect Him to lose control over His emotions easily, although at times, He might be able to keep Himself under control.
However, if His claims to divinity are confirmed, we have to choose either to worship Him or not to worship Him. One test is miracles, for only one outside of the universe can perform miracles. Another is prophecy, for only one outside of the time continuum can accurately predict the future. Now that all five models have boldly made their predictions, let us look at the evidence.
Evidence for Jesus’ existence comes from the ever-popular historian Josephus, who said in Antiquities of the Jews that Jesus was “a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man,” However, despite this, He never believed Jesus was the Messiah, or Chosen One. Another passage from the same story records James’ martyrdom, describing James as Jesus’ brother. That alone would satisfy some standards of proof for proving someone’s existence from a historical note. Two other historians who mention Jesus would be Cornelius Tacitus and Pliny the Younger. This makes a minimum of three nonbiblical historians confirming Jesus really did exist.Did He make claims to Divinity? The texts recording some of Jesus’ life would be the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. All of these record some of Jesus’ claims to be God. They couldn’t be legends because there wasn’t enough of a gap between the events and the recording, at most thirty years.
So the evidence says Jesus really did claim to be God. Was He lying, mistaken or right?
The same documents that record the parts of His life describe how He never served Himself first. If there was one seat left at the baseball park, according to the descriptions of the Gospels, He would only take it if no one else wanted it. Not exactly the kind of thing we would expect from someone who claimed to be God to be self-serving.Could He have been mistaken? Could He have thought He was God? No. The reason is because an insane person would not always be able to control his or her emotions. We rarely see outbursts of emotions from Jesus. There are two outbursts of emotions that come to mind. The first is Lazarus’ funeral, when Jesus wept. It is understandable that he would cry at his dear friend’s funeral. The only other outburst is when Jesus was at the temple which was being used as a marketplace. This
is an understandable outburst. His Name was being dishonored. He made it clear that His House, the church, was to be used for worship, not for making money.By the way, the New Testament by far exceeds any standard of proof ever made to establish certainty of historical accuracy. In contrast to secular history, which sometimes has only one or, at the best, several documents with a gap of almost a thousand years between the events and the copies, the New Testament has over twenty thousand, with a gap between the events and the first copies being only a couple decades. Quite a feat, considering the lack of people who could read and write, the fact that the printing press wasn’t invented yet, that Jesus was in no extraordinary position, and the strict writing procedure for Scriptures. Any mistake, whether a letter was omitted, added, or even in the wrong space, would mean the scroll would be destroyed.
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