The Difference Jesus Makes

All religions are not basically the same ideals under different wraps, as the Baha'i religion would have you believe. Even many Americans believe they all pray to the same God under different names! Some faiths say that all are equally valid beliefs and what matters is what works for you. But two contradictory views cannot both be equally valid, logically speaking. The funny thing about religion is that most people are misinformed or uninformed and even have disinformation from propaganda sources that spread their faith by name familiarity or blitzing the public.

For instance, did you know that Buddha (Enlightened One) never claimed to be God or even a god but was an agnostic who only sought enlightenment; saying that if there was a God, He couldn't help you with finding enlightenment, you must find it on your own--by the way, Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) only sought to reform Hinduism and not start a new faith that is the predominant worldview of the Orient religion-wise. In contrast: Jesus said, "[And] you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32, ESV). He is the embodiment and epitome of truth to be known in Him.

Every faith has its own idea of who Christ is: Mormons believe He achieved godhood or became a god and is our elder brother; Buddhists just believe He was another enlightened teacher; Jews believe He was a gifted, miracle-working, misunderstood, but deceiving rabbi; Muslims believe he was a great prophet and even the Messiah, but lower in rank than Muhammad himself, who is the greatest and final prophet. Jehovah's Witnesses see Him as the first created being and a lesser god, unworthy of worship though; even Scholars believe He is someone special, even if a great moral example or ethical person who died a martyr for a good cause. The point is that if you don't figure out who Jesus is, you are in heresy. "Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God..." (2 John 9). So who is He? He is the one and only Son of God, co-equal, co-eternal, and co-existent with God the Father.

Buddhists believe in going ultimately to nirvana or being snuffed out like a match in the ocean or candle on a birthday cake when they die. Achieving nirvana is likened to total nothingness: They refer to the extinction of all desire which leads to the cessation of pain and suffering caused by it, via many reincarnations. The Hindus, on the other hand, see nirvana as a reunion with Brahma, after numerous reincarnations or transmigrations. Hindus are pantheistic (all is God) and have many gods (millions--no one knows for sure!) and for this reason, are also polytheistic. 

Jesus was real in saying He was going to prepare a "place for us"(John 14:1-2) and heaven is a real place in Christianity, not of man's imagination, such as the paradise of Islam, where they get 72 virgins and live a life of wine, women, and song for eternity because they abstained from this on earth. Only heaven is beyond that which we could imagine or conceive and is divinely revealed. "But, as it is written, 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him'" (1 Cor. 2:9, ESV).

The whole point of Christ calling us is to spread the Word of the gospel and increase the kingdom of God, because He said His kingdom is not of this world--however, Muslims believe in world hegemony and have geopolitical considerations in their faith and believe Christ is coming to force everyone into Islam, hence "submission." Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world." You must be born again to "see" the kingdom of God, and it is like the wind that we don't see, but can see its effects on earth and what it is doing. 

But God opens our spiritual eyes to His truth in the Word and we are made alive spiritually, restoring our relationship with God--this is true salvation! Because of Jesus' resurrection, we have evidence and proof of our final resurrection, and it is not just pie in the sky without any objective, historical fact to back it up like the competing faiths.

It was Judaism that introduced the world to monotheism and Christianity is the fulfillment (not replacement) of this faith. Islam believes that their faith supersedes and replaces or cancels out Christianity and Judaism, not just fulfills them. Muslims have no assurance of salvation unless they die in a Holy War or Jihad (this is a great recruitment tool and why they are so fanatical and have geopolitical considerations). The religion, known as the "religion of the sword," is based on total submission, in fact, Islam means "submission" and a Muslim is "one who submits." 

They even circumcise about 75 percent of the girls to make them obedient and docile and do not believe they should be treated equally on a par with men in a man's world shaped by seventh-century ethics and customs. Girls are not traditionally allowed to even get an education. Jesus changed all this and saw women as men's equals and partners in life and having the same aptitudes and abilities as men. They may have a different role, but they are equal. The woman is the counterpart of the man and his helpmate in Christ--we are all one in Chris--no male nor female!

When you look at all the religions, they all say "do" and are based on works to get salvation. But you never know in a works religion how much is enough to get saved. Christ made it possible to know for sure that one is saved and to have this assurance of salvation, which sets Christianity apart from all other faiths. Christianity is a love affair with Jesus, not a system of ethics, or philosophy, or creed. It's not a religion, they say, but a relationship with the living God Himself. 

Muslims don't acknowledge a personal God that we can know and have a relationship with, and they certainly don't believe God is love, because they see Him as totally arbitrary, capricious, whimsical, and unpredictable, even changing His standards. They sincerely believe that one angel records their good deeds, and another their bad deeds, and at Judgment Day they will see which balances out the most.

One of the biggest mistakes well-meaning and sincere people (but sincerity alone doesn't save--you can be sincerely wrong) is the idea that the essence of Christianity is the Sermon on the Mount or the Golden Rule itself and they only have to sincerely live by a code--Christ didn't come to make bad people good, but dead people alive! To know God is eternal life!  

Religion (knowing a creed, while Christianity is knowing a Person) says "in order to" get salvation (works), while Christianity says "therefore (we are already saved and desire to do good deeds to prove it)." We don't have to do good works but want to, in other words. Religion is basically a do-it-yourself proposition and a way to "lift yourself up by your own bootstraps." Religion believes you are basically good, capable of reforming yourself, and denies the problem is sin per se. Only in Christ do we solve the sin problem by the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ from the dead. Religion is the best man can do and is basically man reaching up to God; Christianity, however, is God reaching down to man in grace (love that stoops is called grace). Christ introduced a new concept called grace that means we can never earn, don't deserve, and cannot repay our salvation. 

It is totally a gift of God to be received by faith and there is nothing we can do but believe in Him! Religion says "do" (respecting good deeds to earn salvation); however, Christ says, "done," because He said on the cross tetelestai or "It is finished [paid in full--finis]." It is a done deal in Christ--there's nothing to do but accept it. There's nothing we can do to add to Christ's work on the cross and it would be an insult to God if we tried! "The work of God is this: to believe in the one whom he has sent" (John 6:29).

All the major faiths deal with miracles, but you can take the miracles out of them and you still have the religions intact. Islam doesn't need miracles (recorded only in the Hadith or the traditions dated much later after Muhammad died) and the faith survives without them. But Christianity is different: Without the miracles of Christ, He would have only remained a footnote in history and the movement would never have gotten off the ground. If you remove the miracles from Christianity you disembowel it and there is nothing left but a philosophy such as living by the Golden Rule (some actually do have this as their religious dogma or credo). 

The miracles of Christ are different from other faiths: They were never staged, done on-demand, for personal gain or profit, for a show, or done without skeptics present, unlike the other faiths. Jesus had a reason to do each miracle (really a sign as John called them because they taught a lesson about Him). They are not helter-skelter or done without rhyme or reason, but methodical and orderly as if prearranged and planned from eternity from the Father.

The whole point of Christ's teachings was that He claimed deity and did so convincingly so that the Pharisees made no mistake in what He was claiming and plotted His crucifixion accordingly. No other religion's founder claimed deity: Muhammad just claimed to be the last prophet of mankind, as heard from the angel Gabriel. Buddha never claimed deity. Hinduism was founded about the time of Abraham, but it is polytheistic (many gods) and also pantheistic (everything is God), which is almost like saying there is no God in effect. In all the Scriptures of these faiths, only the Bible claims to be the Word of God propositionally. Many(over 3,000) times it says, "Thus says the LORD"' and so forth--not so in these other "holy" writings. 

However, there is a distinction in that Christ never prefaced himself in such a way, but audaciously and boldly proclaimed His own edicts and spoke as no man ever spoke with such authority and made claims no man ever made, backed them up with such character never seen and proved them by such signs and miracles never been done, that to doubt Jesus, one can never say there is a lack of evidence to believe, but one must not want to believe out of moral reasons and not because of intellectual reservations. The anti-establishment and nonconformist figure that Jesus was, truly upset the applecart and invaded the turf of the Pharisees and threatened their job security! Will Durant calls Him the greatest revolutionist in history.  

Both Hindus and Buddhists also believe in Maya or that reality is an illusion and you cannot bet on it (science never would've developed under such an outlook!). Jesus claimed to be "The Truth," which means we can know reality and count on it and have a personal relationship with the epitome of reality itself--Jesus Christ. This means there is absolute truth or Truth with a capital "T." Christ is totally objective (we cannot be), and is true regardless of our belief or doubt and what He said is true regardless of what someone says expert or not. With man, there is no such thing as total objectivity and we must rely upon revelation from God to know the truth.

It is primarily a way of life and traditions such as bathing in the Ganges River of India and the caste system are kept religiously by ignorant people. Both Buddhists and Hindus believe in karma or that you are your own island and suffer what you deserve: If you are suffering, that is your karma and one shouldn't interfere--how different is Christianity that teaches love for our brother, neighbor, and even enemy! 

But Mother Teresa of Calcutta is an example of how Christian love as shown in Hindu India where she ministered to the outcasts and pariahs that no one cared about. Even Bertrand Russell, the renowned British atheist, and mathematician, said that what the world needs "is more Christian love." Most religions really believe in "looking out for number one" while Christianity shows the world what charity or real godly love is all about (the example of the Good Samaritan, for instance).

The whole purpose of Scripture is not to increase our knowledge or enlighten us (we are not saved by knowledge, secret or otherwise), but the purpose is to change our lives. We aren't saved by being enlightened or by knowledge per se, but in knowing Jesus. Jesus makes a person new from the inside out and is in the resurrection business of changing the lives of those who realize their need. ("I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners unto repentance," "... [Those] who are sick need a physician.") Religion is only about reforming yourself and turning over a new leaf, as it were, but they don't give you the supernatural power to do it--you must muster all your own strength. In Christ, we not only have changed lives (even some religion can do that much) but exchanged lives, which is the miracle.

Jesus didn't come to be a wise teacher of morals, or a religious martyr for a movement, but a Savior from the sin virus that affects us all. In Christianity, we have Jesus living in us to will and to act according to His good purpose (cf. Phil. 2:13). It is not about imitation, but about inhabitation. "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27). You can say with Paul in Galatians 2:20 that it is no longer you that lives, but Christ that lives in or through you.

With Jesus in the equation, you have a whole new outlook on life and see life with the lens of His truth so you can see the Big Picture of how to interpret world events--life makes sense! Jesus does make a difference! You can too if you know Him! Viva la difference! In contrast to other faiths, you can take Buddha out of Buddhism, or Muhammad out of Islam, and you still have the basics of the religion; however, you cannot do this with Christianity--taking Christ out of it leaves nothing left: It would be an empty philosophy without any power to implement it and have promised without any fulfillment. When you factor in Jesus, you find that life is worth living and there is meaning a purpose in living for Him. Soli Deo Gloria!

The Good Samaritan As Our Role Model

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, it was the unlikely Samaritan who offered his services to the hapless victim on the road to Jericho.  This story shows what a good neighbor really is--one who comes to the aid to anyone he can help and in need.  This is the summation of loving our neighbor because the teachers asked Jesus who their neighbor was and He used this story to explain. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves! The real test of love is to the ones not so lovable--those outside our tribe or, in today's terms, political affiliation.  Sacrificial love and unconditional love, not with strings attached or quid pro quo. Men always seem to be out for a motive to see what's in it for them.

The remarkable point of this story is the prejudice of the Pharisees who couldn't even answer Jesus' question as to who was the good neighbor.  They didn't even want to mention the word Samaritan because these people were hybrid Jews or illegitimate. The Jews only thought that salvation was for them as a privileged people, nation, or race, but Jesus made it clear that He came to save all men and cared even about the despised Gentiles.  Each of us may have the opportunity to help out someone less fortunate than us or some person in need in our lives and we must take it seriously; for Jesus said that whatever we do to the least of His brethren, we have done for Him.

We must all come to the aid of our countryman in his time of need! We all have a calling to be servants and to lay down our lives as it were as a token of our love and devotion.   The least we can do is to meet the basic needs of someone that we have the opportunity to help and also the means to do it.  God blesses us so we can be a blessing! (cf. Zech. 8:13)    Our cup must overflow!  The ethic of Jesus is the highest bar achievable and only Jesus did, but be not discouraged: direction is the test, but perfection is the standard (cf. Matt. 5:48). We will not become glorified till we reach heaven where we will be rewarded according to our works, not our faith--what we did with it. Even offering a cold cup of water in Jesus name will not go unrewarded and what we've done to the least of His brethren, we've done to Him (cf. Matt. 25:40).

There is a story of a man in danger during a flood and, when climbing to the roof of his house, he prays for salvation from Jesus  A boat goes by and offers help, but he rejects it. A chopper goes by and he rejects it.  Finally, a paratrooper lands and offers help only to be rejected.   When the man drowns and goes to heaven he asks Jesus why He wasn't saved.  The Lord said that He was in the boat, chopper, and paratrooper to offer more personal assistance and He was rejected.  Jesus has no hands but our hands and uses us to accomplish His will.

We may someday have the opportunity to stop miraculously into someone's life to offer life-saving help in a person's time of need as Jesus incognito.  Just think how the parable of the Good Samaritan would be told if the Samaritan had been rejected because of his nationality to offer help.  Today we have Samaritans by another name: those of an opposing or competing political persuasion.   NB:  The Christian ethic is the highest bar to achieve and none of us fulfills it; the Christian life is not hard, it's impossible!      Soli Deo Gloria!

The Final Revelation Of God

God's people Israel had killed all the prophets, so God saw it was necessary and sufficient to send His Only Begotten Son--if peradventure they'd listen to Him.  But Jesus is the complete and final revelation and message from God that we reject at our peril--there's no other way.  There is no other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved ( cf. Acts 4:12).   God spoke in divers manners in ancient times (dreams, visions, audible voices, prophet, etc.) but today in these last days, He speaks through Jesus as revealed in His Word (cf. Heb. 1:1). Even Plato longed for the day of God's revelation via a message to make everything plain and explain it all--to be the Answer.  All men seek the answer, but not the Answerer! They seek the benefits but not the Benefactor!   But we need more than answers--we need the vacuum in our souls filled with the living God. It doesn't satisfy to know God exists but only to know Him personally.

The philosophers of antiquity reasoned out that God was indeed immutable as their first premise:  they pondered the permanence or being versus the flux or motion of matter and realized all cannot change or it all would be chaos.  There had to be a stabilizing factor.  One philosopher said, "Whatever is, is."  This sounded ludicrous but if you think it does make sense--if something exists in a state of permanence, in reality, it cannot change.  God is not an "Is-ness," but an "Is-ing," meaning He's a living Being not a state of Being. One could add that God is not "past tense, "static present tense," nor "future tense," but ongoing present tense--a living Being--is always and forever active and alive, living beyond and outside the time-space continuum (time is no element or relevance to Him).

Note that they are saying, "You cannot step into the same river twice," to illustrate the concept of change or flux in things and all creation.  We also change constantly and learn but God remains the same or He couldn't be God--"I, the LORD, change not," (cf. Mal. 3:6).    Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (cf. Heb. 13:8). That's why God's name is best expressed:  I AM THAT [WHO] I AM ... ad infinitum. God exists in a way we cannot perceive, but we can still know Him with our perceptions.  On the contrary, God represents permanency and constancy, in whom is no variation nor shadow of turning (cf. James 1:17).  

They also saw purpose and meaning and even design in creation and reasoned a Logos or stabilizing power behind it all that held all things together. Logos has many meanings: one is self-expression or authentication [of God].  Jesus is how God revealed Himself to us.  This immutable and changeless Being is God just as Jesus changes not.  The Logos was the opposite of chaos and there must be logic and reason for there to be learning and science at all--you have to start somewhere with some certainty, a starting point of reality.

In philosophy, without logic, you have mere confusion and can know nothing.   All knowledge is contingent on logic. Plato also said that in order to know how to live in reality, we must know what God is really like!  It's a good thing we see Jesus as God's full and final Word or message.  Jesus fulfilled all time and space requirements to be its conclusion and last word and testament.

But the point is that there is a divine footprint on God's creation that shows His presence and power.  Look at DNA as His language in every living creature.  Look at the Anthropic Principle that shows how the earth is perfectly suitable for life and even the slightest change would rule out life altogether.  Think about how God makes kinetic or useful energy out of the random energy of the sun through the process of photosynthesis.  Think about the laws of physics; namely, entropy or the Second Law of Thermodynamics and even gravity, the relationship between time and matter in space, and the expanding universe all pointing to a beginning in time actually when time began, because things run out of usable energy with time elapsing ("In the beginning [implying an end?]").

Even the so-called Big Bang refers to a beginning point of all time, space, and matter--time being the corollary of space and matter and relative to them.  All this only proves there was a beginning which merely implies a Beginner.  We know that nothing (no effect or event) just happens by itself but must have a cause according to the law of causality; therefore, the universe had to have a cause or reason for being--nothing can create or cause itself but needs an explanation.  The wonderful balance of nature and laws of nature, even the harmony of the human body and its beauty imply a Designer and a Supreme Mind because of ID or intelligent design is so apparent.  This ordered cosmos shows an Orderer and that thought is present, but the divine order: Thinker, thought, thing.  

The wonderful news is that we have the full revelation of God in Scripture--the complete canon of the Word of God and this is better than if Jesus were still around doing itinerant teaching of the multitudes.  Jesus also gave us the Spirit to enlighten us and show us the Way, the Truth, and Life. We have no excuse for not knowing God!  We cannot plead ignorance in our day and age!  Ignorance isn't bliss! Even with modern technology, all of us are culpable if we don't heed to the written Word of God.

But just as God created space and time, He gives all of us space and time to repent and the average person does reject Christ 7.6 times before receiving Him as Lord and Savior.  No one is a lost cause!  We reject God before He rejects us, but He changes our hearts, not us.  But God doesn't give up on us; we are all bad, but not too bad to be saved!   Yes, we have an advantage over the ancients who relied on prophets, priests, and rabbis or teachers to explain everything--when He comes He shall guide us all into the truth (cf. John 16:13).  We have pastors and teachers prepare the flock and be a guiding light, the full canon of Scripture, and the resident Holy Spirit's anointing, but this is no excuse for falling prey to heresy; we are not captive nor slaves to church dogma and have the right to dissent, disagree, and protest if convicted--it's called being a Protestant.  

In sum, God's final Word and Testament to man is through His Son and God has nothing more to say to us if we ignore Him; God has created, acted, and finally, spoken His message--our last chance!.   Soli Deo Gloria!

God's Firstborn

When Colossians (a book devoted to the preeminence of Christ) chapter and verse 1:15 speaks of Jesus as the "firstborn over all creation," or "the firstborn of every creature, it doesn't mean having a baby or God giving birth. The terminology of "firstborn" in the Bible is a title of preeminence or supremacy of position, such as Israel being God's firstborn and also David being God's firstborn--it has nothing to do with being born or created when used figuratively. It simply means priority over. The wonderful news is that this represents Christ's position and also that we are "in Christ."

Everything in time and space had a beginning; how do we know this? Simply because time had a beginning both according to the Bible (cf. Titus 1:2; 2 Tim. 1:9) and modern physicists such as Stephen Hawking, who in his book The Brief History of Time, admitted this. We are all captive and slaves to the element and dimension of time. But God is eternal, meaning He is beyond time and the Bible says He created it because it's only a corollary of space and matter, which came into being at the creation (cf. Gen. 1:1), which scientists refer to as the Big Bang. You could counter: So what if there was a beginning or a Big Bang. But the consequences of a beginning is that you must conclude a Beginner! Who set the Big Bang off in scientific terminology (being programmed with some fifty universal constants), because there can be no effects without antecedent causes, something or someone must have caused this phenomenon.

All of us had a beginning because we are in this dimension--the time-space continuum. God is not because He existed before His own creation: "Before Abraham was, I AM," was Jesus' declaration to the Pharisees of His eternal deity. This all adds up to Jesus as the unique preexistent one, contrary to what the sects of Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses teach (that Christ was created, evolved, or born). What do the LDS people believe? They adhere to the fact that the Book of Mormon supersedes the Bible and their credo is "As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become." All of creation was a work of the eternal triune God working in tandem: from the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit. But Scripture (cf. Isaiah 43:10-11) says that before God ("Me") no God was formed.

What then is the significance of Jesus' eternity? He alone is self-existent and self-sufficient, needing no one or nothing! He never had a beginning and will have no end which means He is able to save us to the uttermost and can give us eternal life; Christ is always relevant and never obsolete because He always was and will be; Christ's love is eternal and we can count on Him as Mr. Dependable in all our afflictions; Christ never saw us as an afterthought and He never had to change His plans because of Adam's fall--there never has been a Plan B, but God's perfect plan of redemption has always been His will; Christ knows the end, not because of some time machine or telescope into the future but because He decreed it so, and knows how it will all end up with His glory in control and us sharing in it; because He created all things, He reigns over them and is not subject to their authority as we are; and finally, Christ had to preexist in order to be the creator (it's impossible for anything to create itself).

In sum, our faith cannot rest on a more Solid Rock than Christ, the eternal one, who alone is without beginning or end, the Alpha and the Omega of Scripture. 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!

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!

The Beatific Vision

Men have always imagined what God must be like and Christians have longed to see visions and revelations of God, known as theophanies. But no one knows what God looks like because God is Spirit (cf. John 4:24)!  Moses saw the backside of the glory of Christ, who does reveal Himself, but the Father doesn't and no man has ever seen the Father.  Our faith concerns the God who is there!

A child was asked what he was drawing in class:  "I'm drawing a picture of God!"  The child had to learn that no one can draw God, but the child answered that people will see now what He looks like. Children have an innocent faith and we are to mimic it (cf. Matt. 18:3).  Hebrews says that we do see Jesus (cf. Heb. 2:9), and we sense His presence when two or three are gathered in His name as a promise (cf. Matt. 18:20).

He indwells each of us and we can have an existential encounter with Him as we read Scripture, fellowship, worship, or pray.  Christians see the glory of God in His work on earth and will see God's glory in heaven, to our delight.  The prophets who claimed they "saw God" were seeing theophanies, and not God in His fullness.  We cannot bear to look at the sun in its brightness, much less look at the glory of God directly. That's one reason God reveals Himself propositionally and in the Word.

Christians want Christ to be seen in them and also to seek Christ being glorified.  As Paul said in Col. 1:27, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." He also boasted that Christ was glorified in him. We wait till Christ be formed in us and in our brethren as a sign of maturity.  God will never give up making us in His image and we are works in progress (cf. Phil. 1:6).

The Greek disciples came to the apostles and said they "[wanted] to see Jesus"; we have a much greater thing in that we have the Word of God and full revelation of the wisdom and knowledge of God in it--we're better off than being with Christ in person also, because we have the inner blessing of the Spirit.  The apostles said that it would suffice to see the Father, but Jesus said that to see Him was to see the Father!  All that we can know and see God is revealed in Christ!  In eternity we'll see the big picture!

The infidel doesn't see God anywhere at work, but the believer sees His fingerprint everywhere, from the smallest atom to the largest galaxy, at work.  No amount of proof will convince someone who doesn't want to do God's will or sincerely have a relationship with him; to the believer and honest seeker, there is ample evidence--no one can disbelieve due to lack of evidence!

In glory, we shall behold Him as He is and we shall be like Him too, able to take it in.  It is said that some angels always do behold the face of God and that Gabriel "[stands] in the presence of God"; we'll have more privilege than an angel!  People generally say that seeing is believing; however, believing is seeing!  Don't envy those who have seen a vision or revelation, as Jesus told Thomas: "Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believed" (cf. John 20:29).  Jesus rebuked the Pharisees who maintained they could see but were "blind guides," in fact, the "blind leading the blind"; think how much worse it is to think you see and be blind, or not knowing you're blind!  Christ came to open our eyes and to make the blind see, and Satan has blinded the eyes of all who don't believe in Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 4:4).

Caveat: Don't reduce God to one dimension or put Him in a box, emphasizing one aspect, like seeing Him just as: the Old, Doting Grandpa who says, "Boys will be boys;" the Kind Father; the Man Upstairs; Cosmic Killjoy; the Great Spirit; the Strict, Mean Judge; the Higher Power; or even as the Great Mathematical Mind.  Whenever we have an inadequate perception of God it's idolatry and our God is too small, thinking of Him in human terms. How big is your God, is just as important as seeing Him.  God cannot be limited, defined, or confined, and we must know that He is beyond comprehension, known as His profundity, and we will never fully apprehend His glory, nature, or essence throughout eternity ("the finite cannot contain the infinite," says the maxim).

The eyes of our heart are opened upon salvation and we can literally say we see and were blind, just like the blind man Jesus healed said, "I was blind, but now I see!"  No one can argue the fact that we have spiritual eyes enlightened and illuminated by the Holy Spirit living in our hearts. Theologians have attempted definitions of God in vain, for He cannot be described, only known, loved, and worshiped!

It is the childish faith that seeks to know God through pictures, visions, or experiences, but the mature obedient believer clings to the Word and hears God speaking His message through it; just like Francis Schaeffer wrote:  "He is there, and He is not silent!"  The problem with man is not only is he blind to spiritual truth, but spiritually hard-of-hearing and turns a deaf ear to the gospel message that he does hear.   Man isn't faithful to the God he does see and is without excuse.   Soli Deo Gloria!  

Did God Die?

I will use a syllogistic proof (a major premise, a minor premise, leading to a conclusion) that shows God as dying on our behalf on the cross: Christ is God; Christ died on the cross; hence God died on the cross. Now some may balk at this kind of logic and seem to think that it is impossible for God to die; but what is here, but separation from the Father and Holy Spirit, in a cry of dereliction, taking on the sins of the world until Christ pronounces tetelestai or "it is finished," [a done deal!].





You have to look at your definitions of God and to see the logic. The sky went black from 12 noon till three o'clock that day as the Father could not look on the Son bearing our sins. Since God is infinite, we cannot put Him in a box and confine Him to logic that makes His Godhead understandable to us, but as the song goes, "Amazing love, how can it be, that thou my God, should'st die for me!" Lee Strobel refers to "Deicide" as what we did to Christ on the cross.  Note that He had the authority to lay His life down and authority to take it up. 




If Jesus was only a man the sacrifice would be imperfect and insufficient for us. The triune God works together to accomplish a unified plan and goal. The Father purposes and plans, the Son implements and carries through, the Holy Spirit applies and completes the plan. Jesus experienced separation from the Father and in this sense, He died and wondered about His being forsaken. This is a paradox because in one sense God died for us and in another sense, God judged sin in Jesus as our substitute and is very much alive and working to preserve the cosmos.





As long as you define your terms you can make this statement. God is three persons in one essence. Jesus is two natures in one person, neither separated, confused, mixed, nor divided. He is not a deified man nor a humanized god or theanthropos, but the infinite God-Man, perfect God, perfect Man, very God of very God, and very man of very man (not a God in human disguise, nor a man with divine attributes). Jesus' two natures can be distinguished, but not separated; due to the hypostatic union.



In the final analysis, it depends on how you define death.  Christ's Spirit was indeed separated from His body and when we die our spirits are separated from our bodies too.  Christ never was separated in His divine nature from the Trinity but lost fellowship during His passion on the cross.   Soli Deo Gloria!

The One And Only

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!