Christianity HOAX or HISTORY

Thomas Aquinas wrote: There is within every soul a thirst for happiness and meaning."

I wanted to be happy. There's nothing wrong with that. I also wanted to find meaning in life. I wanted answers to the questions: Who am I? Why in the world am I here? Where am I going?

More than that I wanted to be free. Freedom to me was not going out and doing what I wanted to do. Freedom was having the power to do what I knew I ought to do ... but didn't have the power to do.

So I started looking for answers. It seemed that almost everyone was into some sort of religion, so I did the obvious thing and took off for church.

I must have found the wrong church, though. Some of you know what I mean: I felt worse inside the church than I did outside.

I've always been very practical, and when one thing doesn't work, I chuck it.

So I chucked religion. The only thing I had ever gotten out of religion was the change I took out of the offering to buy a milkshake. And that's about all many people ever gain from "religion."

I began to wonder if prestige was the answer. So in college I ran for freshman class president and got elected. It was neat knowing everyone on campus, having everyone say, "Hi, Josh," making the decisions, spending the university's money and the students' money to get speakers I wanted. It was great but it wore off like everything else I had tried.

I was like a boat out in the ocean being tossed back and forth by the waves, the circumstances. And I couldn't find anyone who could tell me how to five differently or give me the strength to do it.

Then I began to notice people who seemed to be riding above the circumstances of university life. One important thing I noticed was that they seemed to possess an inner, constant source of joy--a state of mind not dependent on their surroundings. They were disgustingly happy. They had something I didn't have ... and I wanted it.

I began purposely to spend more time with these people, and we ended up sitting around a table in the student union one afternoon. Finally, I leaned back in my chair and said, "Tell me, have you always been this way, or has something changed your lives? Why are you so different from the other students, the leaders on campus,

the professors? Why?"

One student looked me straight in the eye-with a little smile-and said two words I never thought I'd hear as part of any solution in a university. She said, "Jesus Christ."

I said, "Oh, for God's sake, don't give me that garbage. I'm fed up with religion; I'm fed up with the church. Don't give me that garbage about religion."

She shot back, "Mister, I didn't say 'religion'; I said, 'Jesus Christ."'

It wasn't long before these new friends challenged me intellectually to examine the claims that Jesus Christ is God's Son, that He took on human flesh, that He lived among real men and women and died on the cross for the sins of mankind, that He was buried, and that He arose three days later and could change a person's life in the twentieth century.

Finally, I accepted their challenge. I did it out of pride, to refute them. But I didn't know there were facts. I didn't know there was evidence that a person could evaluate.

As I delved into my research on Christ I discovered that men and women down through the ages have been divided over the question 'Who is Jesus?'

It didn't take long for the people who knew Jesus to realize that He was making astounding claims about Himself. Especially during the trial of Jesus-the trial that eventually led Him to the cross-I found one of the clearest references to Jesus' claims of deity.

Then the High Priest asked him. "Are you the Messiah, the Son of God?"

Jesus said, "I am, and you will see me sitting at the right hand of God, and returning to earth in the clouds of heaven" (Mark 14:61-62).

Jesus claimed to be God. He didn't leave any other option open. His claim must either be true or false. Jesus' question to His disciples, "Who do you think I am?" (Matthew 16:15) has several alternatives.

WAS HE A LIAR?

If, when Jesus made His claims, He knew that He was not God, then He was lying and deliberately deceiving His followers. And if He was a liar, then He was also a hypocrite because He told others to be honest whatever the cost, while He Himself taught and lived a colossal lie.

This view of Jesus, however, doesn't coincide with what we know either of Him or of the results of His life and teachings. Whenever Jesus has been proclaimed, lives have been changed for the good, nations have been changed for the better. Thieves have been made honest, alcoholics have been cured, hateful individuals have become channels of love, unjust persons have become just.

William Lecky, one of Great Britain's most noted historians and a dedicated opponent of organized Christianity, wrote about Jesus' ministry- "The simple record of these three short years of active life has done more to regenerate and soften mankind than all the discourses of philosophers and all the exhortations of moralists."'

Someone who lived as Jesus lived, taught as Jesus taught and died as Jesus died could not have been a liar. What other alternatives are there?

WAS HE A LUNATIC?

If it is inconceivable for Jesus to be a bar, then couldn't He actually have thought Himself to be God but been mistaken? After all, it's possible to be sincere and wrong.

Someone who believes he is God sounds like someone today believing himself to be Napoleon. He would be deluded and self-deceived and probably would be locked up so he wouldn't hurt himself or anyone else. Yet in Jesus we don't observe the abnormalities and imbalance that usually go along with being deranged. His poise and composure when confronted by His enemies would certainly be amazing if He were insane. Here is a man who spoke some of the most profound sayings ever recorded. His instructions have liberated many individuals in mental bondage.

A student at a California university told me that Ms psychology professor had said in class that "all he has to do is pick up the Bible and read portions of Christ's teachings to many of his patients. That's all the counseling they need.'

Psychiatrist J. T. Fisher, speaking of Jesus' popular "Sermon on the Mount' (N4atthew 5-7), says this: "For nearly two thousand years the Christian world has been holding in its hands the complete answer to its restlessness and fruitless yearnings. Here ... rests the blueprint for successful human life with optimism, mental health, and contentment."2

WAS HE LORD?

I cannot personally conclude that Jesus was a liar or a lunatic. The only other alternative is that He is the Christ-the Son of God-as He claimed to be.

When I discuss this with many people, its interesting how they respond. I share with them the claims Jesus made about Himself and then the material about Jesus being a liar, lunatic, or Lord. When I ask if they believe Jesus was a liar, there is usually a sharp, "No!'

Then I ask, "Do you believe He was a lunatic?"

The reply is, "Of course not."

Then, "Do you believe He is God?"

But before I can get a breath in edgewise, there is a resounding, "Absolutely not."

Yet one has only so many choices. One

of these options must be true.

'Me issue with these three alternatives is not which is possible? for it is obvious that any of the three could have been possible. But rather, it is the question Which is more probable?

Who you decide Jesus Christ is must not be an idle intellectual exercise. You cannot put Him on the shelf while calling Him a great moral teacher. That is not a valid option because if He was so great and moral, what are you going to do with His claim to be God?

If He was a liar or lunatic, then He can't qualify as a great moral teacher. And if He was a great moral teacher, then He is much more as well. He is either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord God. You must make a choice.

"But," as the Apostle John wrote, "these are recorded so that you will believe that he is the Messiah, the Son of God, and [more important] that believing in him you will have life" (John 20:31).

Two issues became clear in my study of Christianity:

1. Is Christ's resurrection historically credible? This is crucial because Christ appealed to His resurrection as the proof that His claims of deity were true.

2. Most of what we know about Christ comes from the New Testament So, is the New Testament account of Christ reliable--can it be trusted?

These are the questions that I want to address in the remainder of this book.