Continued
from previous post –
But
one thing Jefferson didn’t answer: If Jesus falsely claimed to be
God he couldn’t have been a good moral teacher. But did Jesus
really claim deity? Before we look at what Jesus claimed, we need to
examine the possibility that he was simply a great religious leader.
Surprisingly,
Jesus never claimed to be a religious leader. He never got into
religious politics or pushed an ambitious agenda, and he ministered
almost entirely outside the established religious framework.
When
one compares Jesus with the other great religious leaders, a
remarkable distinction emerges. Ravi Zacharias has studied world
religions and observed a fundamental distinction between Jesus Christ
and the founders of other major religions. All religions provide
instruction for a way of living. But it is only Jesus who offers
deliverance, forgiveness for sin, and transformation. “Jesus did
not only teach or expound His message. He was identical with His
message.” However, he has made a mistake by saying this about
Jesus. Because, Jesus never said God should forgive, he actually
wanted man to forgive man and not punish in the name of god. He
always suggested that man has no right to replicate God. In other
religion for example, Islam prophet Mohammad clearly says that Allah
forgives if you do such and such thing. In many instances, Jesus
suggested that you would pay for what you do. That means he clearly
suggests that God or Nature's Laws do not permit anything as
unnatural as forgivens. Concept of pardon is essentially a human idea
to attract masses.
In
The World’s Great Religions, Huston Smith observed that of all
religious leaders only Jesus claimed to be divine.
In
addition, that leads us to the question of what Jesus really did
claim for himself; in fact specifically, Jesus never claimed to be
God.
So
what is it that convinces many scholars that Jesus claimed to be God?
Author, John Piper explains that Jesus claimed power, which uniquely
belonged to God.
Jesus’
friends and enemies were staggered repeatedly by what he said and
did. He would be walking down the road, seemingly like any other man,
and then turn and say something like, ‘Before Abraham was, I am.’
Or, ‘If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.’ Or, very
calmly, after being accused of blasphemy, he would say, ‘The Son of
Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.’ To the dead he might
simply say, ‘Come forth,’ or, ‘Rise up.’ And they would obey.
To the storms on the sea he would say, ‘Be still.’ And to a loaf
of bread he would say, ‘Become a thousand meals.’ And it was done
immediately.”
But
what did Jesus really mean by such statements? Is it possible Jesus
was merely a prophet like Moses or Elijah, or Daniel? Even a
superficial reading of the Gospels reveals that Jesus claimed to be
someone more than a prophet. No other prophet had made such claims
about himself; in fact, no other prophet ever put himself in God’s
place.
Some
argue that Jesus never explicitly said, “I am God.” It is true
that he never stated the exact words, “I am God.” However, Jesus
also never explicitly said, “I am a man,” or “I am a prophet.”
Yet Jesus was undoubtedly human, and his followers considered him a
prophet like Moses and Elijah. Therefore, we cannot rule out Jesus
being divine just because he did not say those exact words, anymore
than we can say he was not a prophet. From what we get of that time,
it is clear that Jesus only wanted to improve working of Jew
priesthood.
Continues
in the next post –
You may contact
me on my Email ID given below,
You are invited to
visit my other blogs
Ashok
Kothare, http://ashokkotharesblog.blogspot.com/
for
stories
I
reckon,
http://kotharesviews.blogspot.com/
for philosophy
You
may visit blog, Freedom of Expression,
Freedom
of Expression, http://kothare-thinks.blogspot.in/
Marathi
blog, http://kothare-marathi.blogspot.in/
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