The One And Only Or The Unique One

Are there any parallels between Jesus and any other great man of religion? Muhammad amassed an army of 10,000 to set out to conquer (killing thousands), while Jesus conquered hearts in His invisible kingdom through love ("My kingdom is not of this world"). Buddha, which means "Enlightened One," (while Jesus claimed to be the Light) and Buddha's real name was Siddhartha Gautama, and he came from an affluent Hindu family and lived a sheltered life in childhood. Muhammad and his followers looted and pillaged caravans, while Jesus had no flaws in morality and his followers aimed to live by his code of love.  Jesus was from a working-class family, while Buddha had privilege, Muhammad, a camel driver, married a rich woman 15 years his senior and then took to meditation.  Buddha left his wife and son to become an ascetic, while Jesus never married, was tempted of the devil for 40 days in the wilderness, and had a close-knit band of followers, both male and female to the very end, and Muhammad set out with his army in at least 66 battles.  Buddha was appalled at the suffering of his day, while Jesus was a man suffering, and acquainted with grief, even dying on a cross willingly. Buddha set out merely to reform Hinduism, while Christ was the fulfillment of Judaism and the prophecies.  Buddha claimed that his mother was impregnated by a six-tusked white elephant, while Jesus was born of a virgin woman in fulfillment of a prophecy made 700 years prior--the kind of life He lived would be consistent with this.

George Gordon, Lord Byron, the great Romantic poet, said that "if ever a man were God or God were a man, Jesus was both!"  John Stuart Mill, considered by some to be the most intelligent man to have ever lived, said Jesus was the "guide of mankind." Bertrand Russell, the atheist philosopher, said that "what the world needs is more Christian love and compassion"--people emulate Jesus like no other man as the epitome of love in action.  Will Durant said that Jesus is the dominant figure of Western Civilization.  No one predecessor is His equal and no successor meets His standards of perfection and lawlessness.

Jesus, Himself, challenged His enemies to convict Him of sin.  Even the Koran says that He was without sin.  The crassest heretics have not denied his sin-free life either. He was flawless, whereas Muhammad had his flaws. Buddha couldn't have been perfect and didn't even claim it--he was agnostic--because he claimed to have come to "Enlightenment" after his search under the bo tree near the river Gaya, and therefore couldn't have always known the way, while Jesus confounded the Pharisees at the age of 12 and knew the business of His Father, and didn't claim to know the way but to be the way--Buddha didn't believe in God, and said that, if there was one, He couldn't help you find enlightenment, because you must find it on your own.

You cannot compare Jesus with any other man (you can only contrast), for He is alone and incomparable:  His character was unique (flawless, without sin, and it is said that He is in a moral category by Himself, and it has been well said that His character supports His claims); His conduct was unprecedented (He forgave His enemies on the cross, and He invariably practiced what He preached); His claims were unparalleled (made Himself the Son of God--no other religious leader such as Muhammad or Buddha, an agnostic, has said this); and His credentials were unequaled (His life didn't belie but confirmed His claims, His miracles were true signs and consistent with his nature, and not just for show or selfish reason of profit, and even His enemies acknowledge His character). The caliber of His life was such that no one could challenge His answers and authority, and accuse Him of wrongdoing or sin.

The founders of other faiths are known for what they said, Jesus is primarily known for who He was and what He did--that He claimed to be the Son of God, died on the cross, and rose from the dead! Any man can claim to be God for instance, (but you need credentials and character), but to prove it by rising from the dead is quite another!  It has been said that the kind of life Jesus lived verified His claims and you would expect the Son of God to behave like Him--there is no ungodliness or weakness in His person. There is everything we would want in a man to worship and adore and He doesn't fall short of any ideal or standard, but only inspires even the greatest of men--even Napoleon proclaimed Him to be no mere man and he claimed to know men.

Jesus lived in obscurity as a common man without privilege: He had no army, yet He conquered millions; He never wrote a word, yet He inspired more books and inspired more literature than anyone else; He had no riches, yet He made many rich; He had no formal education, yet He was the greatest teacher to have ever lived.  Jesus was not born into privilege or opportunity, but into an average working family and knew what the average man went through in daily life from personal experience.  He confounded the Pharisees with His brilliance at the age of twelve with His questions and answers concerning the Scriptures.  There was no duplicity in Him, for He practiced what He preached, yet He condemned hypocrisy in others.  Though men have conquering armies, Jesus conquered hearts and many millions would die for Him.

Who was the greatest leader of all time? Who has done the kind of miracles that have never been duplicated?   Who was the greatest teacher? Who gave us the highest ethic or moral code to live by? Who lived the holiest life of all men?  Who has the most followers and worshipers of all time? Who was the greatest philosopher or "un-philosopher" of all time?  Who has done the best for mankind? Who had the greatest personality of all time? Who sets the highest standards to live by? Who had a more profound impact on civilization, either direct or indirect (inspiring the building of hospitals, universities, orphanages, charities, and missions)?

All other men pale in comparison to Christ and no one can meet His standards of holiness.  Usually, familiarity breeds contempt, but not so with the disciples who were near Him--they never stopped admiring His perfection and even worshiped Him.  What Jesus did, no man can do and we don't compare Jesus with others but contrast them:  We don't say, "Jesus the Great," though we say Alexander the Great, or Peter the Great, for even that is an insult and do Him injustice; what we do is contrast Jesus with others and make Him the standard to judge all of mankind by.  If God became a man, what kind of man would you expect Him to be?

Of the greatest men who have ever lived, none have dared to claim to be God in the flesh or the one and only way to God.  Jesus didn't claim to be the best way to God, nor one of many ways, but the one and the only way to the Father.  Only Jesus had the "words of eternal life" and showed us the Way. He didn't claim to be telling us the truth, but that He was the incarnation of truth itself  ("I am the truth").  He said that all who are "of the truth" will hear Him, but unbelievers are those who reject the truth. In all of recorded history, no one has matched His personality and life! Many books can claim to be true, but only God's Word is Truth with a capital T, and the testimony is this: nature forms you, sin deforms you, education informs you, prison reforms you, but only Christ transforms you!

The New Testament books are not to be compared with the writings of other religions where so-called miracles are attributed, for they were written within a generation of the events and by eye-witnesses--not compiled centuries later.  The difference between Christ's miracles and those of other faiths is that they were signs of His deity, and not just fantastic, for a show, or for personal advantage. You can take the miracles out of Islam, for example, and the religion remains intact, but if you remove the miracles from the Bible you disembowel it and make it nothing.  Without miracles, Jesus would have only been a footnote in history and not worth following.   Even Muhammad believed Christ performed miracles and he did none himself (there are none in the Koran)--only years later did writers ascribe some to him.

After the crucifixion, His own followers were ready to write Him off and go on living as if they had wasted three years of their life.   It was the miracle (the great sign that He would give) and the fact of the resurrection that turned a disbanded and demoralized group of followers into roaring lions of the faith, who were not afraid of the authorities anymore, nor of death itself.  If God were to become a man, you would expect Him to be like Jesus and do miracles and Jesus foots the bill and doesn't let us down on any count.  It is one thing to claim to be God and quite another to prove it and have people die for your claims! "He spoke like no other man ever spoke"--with authority (He didn't say, "Thus says the Lord, but, "I say unto you.").

The Christian scholar Philip Schaff portrays Christ graphically as follows:

This Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Muhammad, and Napoleon; without science and learning shed more light on matters human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of schools, he spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line, he set more pens in motion and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art and songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times.

Nothing can explain Him, except the profound hypothesis that He is the living Son of God!   We don't compare Christ, we contrast Him who is in a league of His own as the one who claimed to be God in the flesh or incarnated--you can rest assured of this:  No one will ever improve on Jesus! As John Stuart Mill (considered one of the most brilliant minds of all time and an atheist) said he is "a unique figure not more unlike all his predecessors than all his followers,"

The problem with most would-be messiahs is that their character doesn't support their claims and the problem is that familiarity breeds contempt with men, but there is no discrepancy with Christ--his character does not disprove His deity, but it is consistent with it and confirms it.  No one, not even a psychiatrist could analyze Him as unbalanced despite His claims.  Christ is beyond our analysis (no one can figure Him or peg Him) and we can only be in awe as we wonder what kind of man would we expect the Son of God to be.  Who can understand a man who washes His disciple's feet, yet claims to be the Judge of mankind?   Soli Deo Gloria!

In Love With The Idea Of Jesus

Some so-called believers fool themselves because they are in love with the idea of Jesus as if they are His fans or admirers and not with Jesus Himself. They like to think of him as their buddy or cohort for their favorite cause or on their side or in their party.   Sort of like falling in love with a book and storyline but not the author!  Some sincere believers can be accused of it all being in their heads if they don't practice their faith.   Instead of serving or practicing piety, they may simply like to read about Him or talk about Him, even though this can be genuine it can also be counterfeit faith and an exercise in futility or a show that talk can be cheap.  We must live our profession and not belie our testimony so as to jeopardize it by bad conduct--we're in the spotlight as believers and must and lead show by example.  That's why Gandhi said that he'd become a Christian if he ever met one and he loved and admired Jesus but was ambivalent towards Christians--touche! Believe me, it would take a Jesus to invent a Jesus!

We must know the real Jesus, who He is in fact, not our opinion or popular opinion or consensus, nor even an imaginary Jesus or "another Jesus," (cf. 2 Cor. 11:4)"  Our faith must be built on Jesus as the Rock and all else is circumference or a peripheral issue. The most important question we will ever have to answer is, "Who do you make Jesus out to be?" This doesn't mean respect for His morals or that He was a great leader or teacher or revolutionary or reformer, but as our Savior.  For with Jesus, what you see is what you get--He demands sincerity but that is not enough we must know the true Jesus as He claimed to be: the greater I AM, God with skin on or in the flesh.  He is all things to all believers in other words...

It's plain that He was not Jesus the Great (an unworthy moniker) for that doesn't do Him justice but He led the most influential life ever lived, as Napoleon called Him the "Emperor of love."  The contrast is so great that no one can remain neutral around Him nor remain unmoved or untouched and unchanged.  "But the one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world," (cf. John 1:9, NLT).

Jesus isn't looking for an admiration society but wholehearted followers who have counted the cost. Likewise, there are those who love the idea of a church and get converted to the program and not to Christ; for instance, they love the idea of do-goodery and helping out in times of need but fail to have a personal relationship in knowing Christ as Savior. Churchianity is common in churches whereby believers put their faith in the church and think it saves, converted to the program, not to Christ! We are not saved via the church but via faith in Christ alone, not Christ plus the church!   Therefore, we must not only have a profession of faith but a reality of faith translating your creeds into deeds and applying our faith to everyday life and in our sphere of influence and circle of friends--putting our faith into practical everyday practice, just as Jesus practiced what He preached and preached what He practiced without duplicity!

What is Churchianity?  I insert this previous blog post: 

Some Christians "play" church and go through the motions of worship and never go for the right reason--to worship God--they say, "I didn't get much out of worship today!" (maybe they should concentrate on what they put into it). God condemns us for having worship without our hearts in it or hypocritical worship, this is just  going through the motions or "memorizing the dance of the pious." A real hypocrite (hypocrite means wearing a mask, or acting in a play) is not one who falls short of his ideals, but one who uses religion as a cover-up and knows he is insincere.  The hypocrite trusts in his attendance, church membership, faithfulness, or even the organization of the church itself to save him, but one must realize that it's not Jesus plus the church but Jesus alone (or anything)..

The theme of Psalms is Ps. 29:2, "Ascribe the Lord the glory due to His name, worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness." Deut. 17 (cf. Isaiah 29:13) condemns insincere and dishonest worship or sacrifice. Amaziah (cf. 2 Chron. 25:2) was known for doing the will of the Lord, but not with a true heart.

Someone has said that there are four persons that we show: The one God sees; the one you see; the one the world sees; and the one your intimate friends see. Let's be careful not to just have a "public persona" and parade our spirituality or piety. Worship should be a delight and our feelings should be in it (or we are blaspheming God--just like doing it as a "duty" not because we want to) as the command "Delight yourself in the Lord..." says. In summary: Psa. 84:1 says, "My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the Lord" and Psa. 122:1 says, "I was glad when they said unto me, 'Let us go into the house of the Lord.'"

We can worship or be edified in a "crowd," but we need to function in a local body of believers with our spiritual gift. Rick Warren says that there is no "one-size-fits-all" for worship and there are many ways to worship. He says we believe, we belong, we become. We are to be committed to our church as a token of our commitment to Christ--they go hand in hand--and then we will grow and be accountable.

I can't stand the legalistic crowd that goes to church thinking that will make them a Christian, like going into a garage will make you a car, or eating a donut will make you a cop. They are called the "nod-to-God" crowd, which thinks it is fulfilling its obligation by a short visit to the local church, just out of guilt. The true Christian wants to worship God and wants to fellowship with other believers with whom he is a "fellow in the same ship."

I think some megachurches miss the boat in worship, you just don't hear people say, "Amen" to the preacher (where is the worship in the Spirit and in the truth?). But different people are at different stages and God has a purpose for their existence--megachurches aren't where I'm at, because I want to know my pastor personally, not just from afar.

Some think their religious performance is enough to save them. To some, it's only a formality and not a relationship. John MacArthur says, "We can't enter through our religious emotion or our sanctified feelings...Lip service is no good--there must be obedience...You don't get into the kingdom by sincerity, by religiosity, by reformation, by kindness, by service to the church, not even by simply naming the name of Christ; you get there only by personal trust and faith in [the person and work of] Christ." We can have a form of godliness and be empty. The church at Sardis had a reputation that it was alive, yet it was dead (see Rev. 3:1). We can even have "sanctimonious emotions" and not know Christ. There is a difference between knowing the Word and knowing the Author of the Word.

We can have many experiences in church and everyone has a different one, but I believe we should test our experiences by the Word of God and not the Word of God by our experiences. That's an important concept--we are not to become either rationalists nor empiricists (going by reason or experience only), but belief in the Bible (revelation) and sound teaching.

The more we learn the more we realize where the wiggle room is and what is not worth fighting about. We are to "maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Sectarianism is a sin according to 1 Cor. 1, and we shouldn't divide into factions if we can help it. As Augustine said, "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity."  Many contemporary believers will die for a church they won't attend and even hate anything resembling organization but claim to love Jesus and His church that He purchased with His blood.   Soli Deo Gloria!

God isn't impressed with our works and our righteousness is God's gift to us, not our gift to God (cf. Isa. 45:24); it's merely filthy rags in His estimation and judgment (cf. Isa. 64:6). Jesus is the model of mankind and no one can compare or compete with Him--neither predecessor nor follower alike.  We can only contrast Him and realize His uniqueness and holiness which is evidence of His deity.  Even infidels are often impressed with the moral perfection, guidance, and standards of Jesus' ethic, the Golden Rule, which has not been improved upon and is the most difficult to keep, for Christ made us realize there is a higher law than some rule or law to obey and that is the rule of love for our neighbor--love thy neighbor as thyself. Even John Stuart Mill, an atheist, said that Christ is the "guide of humanity." 

We may satisfy the demands of a law or rule but not the demands of love!  We cannot match the love of God and meet the standards He set; "perfection" is the standard but "direction" is the test ("Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect"). The point is that the "Christian life isn't hard, it's impossible," (author unknown).

It doesn't matter what we think of the president or some secular hero or villain (a typical controversial person)  eternally, but it does matter what we think of Christ!  Our destiny is in His hands and He demands first loyalty to Him bar none.  Likewise, we are Christians first and then members of a particular church or denomination. Far too many believers feel they don't need the church or any need for preaching and their lives are doing just fine without participation in the local body of believers that we are not called to forsake. The point is that no believer decides point-blank to leave Christ but slips away one step at a time hardly noticed at first till he finds himself backslidden or even apostate.  Someday he may wake up and be shocked at what has become of his faith or walk in Christ.

It must be pointed out that true love for Jesus involves obedience and following Christ no matter the cost wherever He may lead--we carry that cross with Him in charge of our lives. Jesus said that if we love Him we will obey His commands!  Dietrich Bonhoeffer stated it bluntly: "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes."  They are tied and linked in Scripture (cf. Heb. 3:18-19; John 3:36) and we can tell them by their fruits as Jesus said.   Thus, it costs to love Jesus: salvation is free but not cheap!  "It costs to be saved, but more not to be!"

We must practice our piety but neither flaunt it nor privatize it; never to be ashamed of our Lord and always ready to give an answer to him who would question our faith and its rationale. In the final analysis, we must learn to turn our thoughts to Him and to meditate on His Word and get to know Him, for no one can do HIm justice in explaining or describing Him--no portrait or caricature behooves Him--we cannot know Him exhaustively, but can truly!   Soli Deo Gloria!