Old Article about C.S. Lewis
For those of you interested in Apologetics or Theology or Christian history, I recently came across this 1947 article about C.S. Lewis from TIME magazine. It is an interesting read from a period when he was alive and flourishing as an author. It’s worth your time to read as it gives you more of a feel for what he was like than some modern writings. The article was written during a period of Lewis’ life when he was in great demand as an author and speaker. You can access it here.
Is Christianity the only true religion?
Ravi Zacharias Ministries has been actively engaged in the question of religious truth for many decades. Listen to this cogent answer from one of Christianity’s foremost defenders.
Who was Jesus, Really?
Jesus is clearly one of the most awe-inspiring men who ever lived. More has been written about him than any other person on the planet, past or present. But many people today question whether he was really God’s son. Most vary between believing that he was some sort of really special spiritual person, an avatar as the Hindu’s like to put it, or just a good teacher. The facts surrounding his life are evident. Jesus inspired a world changing movement in the form of early Christianity and he claimed radical things about himself in the gospels. To get to the heart of who Jesus was, we must research two aspects about this man who lived 2,000 years ago. The questions that must be addressed are:
1) Who did Jesus think he was? (Traditionally called the self-understanding of Jesus.)
2) Did Jesus really rise again from the dead?
Both of these questions have tremendous importance. If Jesus didn’t believe that he was uniquely God’s son, then the Christian message about him is wrong. Additionally, if Jesus didn’t rise again from the dead, there is no hope for Christians of life after death. In this article we proceed to answer the first question. A 
future article will address the subject of Jesus rising again from the dead
Who did Jesus think he was?
In this day and age it is very popular to believe that during the silent years of Jesus, the period of his life between the ages of twelve and thirty, in which nothing is written about him, he traveled to Asia. The theory is that Jesus settled in India and learned the secrets of eastern thought before returning to his homeland in Palestine. Unfortunately, this theory has absolutely no basis in fact. The first record that can be found supporting this view comes from a man named Nicholas Notovitch who published a book in 1894 called The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ. During his day, there was a movement to try and synthesize the teachings of Buddhism and Christianity, and his work helped to spur that movement on. Notovitch claims that his book was written while he was traveling in Tibet. Through various circumstances, one of the chief Lamas at a Himi Monastery informed him of a secret manuscript about Jesus’ life and travels in the east. The Lama then had it read aloud through a translator. There are numerous problems with Notovitch’s story, but one of the biggest is the manuscript he claims to have gotten his story from has never been found. There are also numerous inconsistencies within his own book that led credible scholars of his day to renounce his book. Nevertheless, his theory has been recapitulated through the years by other authors who use his work as a reference or to claim similar stories about Jesus. It’s interesting that most people are willing to believe the work of one man from 1894 rather than over 25,000 ancient New Testament manuscripts that point to Jesus being the unique son of God. The sad part is that if you were to ask most people on the street which idea is more ancient, the biblical account of Jesus, or the one proposed by Notovitch, some would pick the one by Notovitch. This idea about Jesus has circulated through the mass media in waves over the last hundred years and the result is that a significant portion of our society believes that there may be some truth in it.
As an aside, just notice how each year the major news magazines, Time, Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report, all do a major cover story on some “new” aspect of Jesus’ life. They all claim that “modern research is re-thinking the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth.” The next year they move on to some newer theory of Jesus’ life that contradicts last year’s theory. It is all done to sell magazines. This is not an entirely bad thing. It shows that even in modern society, people love to read about Jesus. However, it’s very important that our information about Jesus be based in credible research and not just a desire to sell magazines or new ideas.
The Jesus Seminar
Since the idea that Jesus traveled to India cannot be considered as a credible option, we must return to the gospel accounts. There has been a movement of liberal scholars in the past twenty years called “The Jesus Seminar” that seeks to re-evaluate the gospels and re-determine what Jesus really said. The Jesus Seminar places the apocryphal gospel of Thomas as a more reliable historical source than the traditional gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Right from the start, the Jesus Seminar desires to downplay the four eyewitness gospel testimonies of Jesus in favor of another document. Time does not permit a detailed account of the gospel of Thomas, but needless to say, it was written much later than the four gospels and by a person who was not an eyewitness. The Jesus Seminar teaches that Jesus never stated that he was God. In fact the results of the Jesus Seminar research reported that Jesus only really said about 20% of what the traditional gospel’s claim that he said. The rest is Christian tradition and myth. There are numerous problems with their research and their conclusions, but on an ironic note, evangelical scholar William Lane Craig took the 20% from the gospels the Jesus Seminar said was authentic and he still proved conclusively that Jesus believed that He was God. If you ever get a chance, please look up William Lane Craig’s stuff online. He is a master debater and thinker for the cause of Christianity.
The Evidence from the Bible
Good research regarding the reliability of the New Testament-(NT), discounts much of what the Jesus Seminar has to say, as well as those who believe that Jesus traveled to India. However, we will now study the evidence from the NT itself to see what Jesus believed about himself and what the earliest Christians believed about Jesus.
If we investigate the NT we find numerous examples of who Jesus thought he was. On three separate occasions the Jewish leaders sought to stone Jesus explicitly because he claimed to be God: John 5:16-18, John 8:54-58, John 10:29-33. Even back then, killing someone was a serious offense. In fact, the Romans only allowed Jewish leaders to administer capital punishment in one case, that of blasphemy. For the Jewish leaders to be so upset with Jesus as to try and kill him proves that he was saying things that led them to believe he was claiming to be God. In various other places, Jesus exhibits the qualities of God, such as omnipotence, an eternal nature and other qualities of God.
Omnipotence – All Powerful
John 6:40 – Jesus could raise the dead.
John 10:17-18 – Jesus had the power to lay down his own life and take it up again.
Colossians 1:15-20 – Jesus created all things in the universe.
An Eternal Nature – Existing Forever
John 1:1-2 – The Word always existed.
Hebrews 13:8 – Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today forever.
Other scriptures that claim that Jesus is God are:
Titus 2:13-14 – the glorious appearing of our great God and savior Jesus Christ.
Acts 20:28 – the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
II Peter 1:1 – Through the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ.
John 20:28 – My Lord and My God.
Matthew 14:32-33 – they worshipped him.
Colossians 2:9 – Jesus is the express image of the invisible God.
John 14:7-9 – anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.
The Son of Man
Some claim that Jesus did not believe that he was God because he was constantly referring to himself as “the Son of man.” And in fact, they are right in one sense. Jesus did refer to himself more as the Son of man than anything else. In our culture, if someone were to call themselves the son of man, we would take that as a reference to their humanity. Jesus however, meant something else entirely by his use of the term. Our first clue for this is in Daniel 7:13-14 where a divine being that looked like “a son of man” approaches God’s throne and is given dominion, power and an everlasting kingdom and all the peoples of the earth worship him. In Mark 14:60-65, the account Jesus gives of himself to the Sanhedrin is very similar to the one in Daniel. It’s almost a direct quote from Daniel. This was not lost on the Sanhedrin at all. Based upon Jesus’ words in verse 62, they condemn him to death with the charge of blasphemy.
The Messiah Complex
Another clue is found throughout the gospels, in that Jesus would not publicly be recognized as the Messiah of Israel. John 6:14-15 gives us one of the reasons. The Jews believed that the coming Messiah would be the one to overthrow the Romans and begin Israel’s domination of the earth by a military kingdom. Historically, it is proven that this was their primary interpretation of the ministry of the Messiah at the time Jesus showed up. If Jesus claimed to be the messiah openly, he would have subjected himself to all their wrong ideas about what the messiah would do. In fact, whenever Jesus did tell one of his followers that he was the Messiah, he also tells them not to say anything about it until after he had risen from the dead, Matthew 16:20. What Jesus did instead, is to give himself a divine title without all the excess baggage. Designating himself “The Son of Man” allowed him to still be true to who he was without all the wrong perceptions of the title of Messiah. For he was indeed the figure of Daniel 7, and also the Messiah, but he could not openly recognize himself as the Messiah or it would have been detrimental to his ministry. So, rather than be a claim against Jesus, the title Son of Man turns out to be a claim for Jesus actually being the Son of God.
Many people have claimed that they have finally figured out Jesus and what he stood for during his ministry on earth. Everything from Time and Newsweek during the holidays of Christmas and Easter to more liberal academic works abound on the subject. Yet for all the volume of work that has been produced about Jesus, the clearest and most significant documents are still the four gospels. In these gospels, Jesus clearly shares the message that He is God’s unique son, and that any person who believes in Him may enter into a relationship with God. John 3:16 clearly spells out the purpose of Jesus coming to the earth when it says, “God loved the world so much that He gave his only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but will have eternal life.”
The relevance of God
Oxford professor John Lennox discusses the relevance of God during a forum at Duke University.
Daniel 5 – The Writing on the Wall
In my continuing series on the book of Daniel at Rancho del Rey Church, we are now in Daniel 5. you can listen to the messages here.
the writing on the wall
Daniel 5 presents a pretty crazy judgment by God on a guy who just wanted to do what he wanted to do. It was such a famous passage that it elicited a painting by no less than Rembrandt himself.
One of the more interesting facts about the passage is that the main character in the passage, king Belshazzar, was unknown to secular history until fairly recently. In fact, Daniel chapter 5 was often ridiculed by secular historians because they were convinced that Daniel was such a storyteller that he even invented a character. Even as recently as the late 1800′s, King Belshazzar was unknown in the extant records. However, archaeology turned up some amazing finds in the decades to come. It turns out that after King Nebuchadnezzar died, there was some political instability in the Babylonian empire. A series of kings ruled until we get to King Nabonidus, about 20 years after Nebuchadnezzar. However, King Nabonidus was a pretty fervent worshiper of a certain Babylonian god, Sin, the moon god. He was so fervent in his devotion that it appears to have made the ruling Chaldean class in Babylon upset and uneasy about him. A political solution was arranged when he agreed to allow his oldest son, Belshazzar to rule alongside him as co-regent, while he “retired” to another area of his kingdom. From that point on, Belshazzar ruled from Babylon effectively as king. Daniel not only proved to be right about this story, but one of the details in the chapter gives a historical detail of great accuracy when he has the king Belshazzar say, “whoever interprets the dream I will make the THIRD ruler in the kingdom.” This is significant because he himself was only the 2nd in command, under his father. This not only proves that Daniel knew his history, but that the detail was probably
A timeline of Babylonian kings during Daniel's lifetime.
provided by an eyewitness to the events themselves.
Secular historians often laugh at the details of the Bible for a time, and then more evidence is unearthed and the Bible again proves its historical value and truth filled message.
Questions about Christianity -If God planned for Jesus to die for us, why did the Ten Commandments and sacrifice come first?
God used the Ten Commandments to show us our sin. It was necessary to help us understand how bad we really are. Otherwise, we wouldn’t understand our need for a savior in any way. The Ten Commandments constantly point us towards the fact that we do not live consistently under God’s law. We always want to do things our own way. Paul tells us in Romans 7:7-8 that it was only because of the law that he understood how sinful he really was. The law is just one of God’s ways to help us realize our need for a Savior. It shows us that we cannot save ourselves because we cannot properly follow God’s directions.
God gave the Israelites the system of sacrifice in order to point to something greater that was coming, the sacrifice of his own dear son. In the ancient world, anything important in the way of a promise or covenant involved the shedding of blood and the killing of an animal. God used this in order to point to the shedding of blood that would be required for the forgiveness of our sins in Christ. Jesus came and died on a cross in order to show us how greatly God loves us. All the sacrifices that came before Jesus were pointing us to the great sacrifice that Jesus would perform for us. In theological terms, this is called a “foreshadowing”, something that points toward something else in the future. The sacrificial system was pointing toward the coming of Jesus and the once and for all sacrifice that God was giving us in Jesus. This is why, in John 1:29, John the Baptist can look at Jesus and say, “Look, the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world!” John realized that Jesus was going to be a sacrifice for the sins of humanity.
Questions about Christianity – Will we know if our loved ones aren’t in heaven when we are there?
This is a great question and one that hits close to home for all of us. There are a lot of people we love that don’t follow 
Jesus. When we think about this, it causes sadness. Sometimes we wonder if we will still be sad in heaven when we think about them. It is natural to think and feel this way now.
The Bible does not give a direct answer to this question, but it does give us clues. One of them is found in I Corinthians 13:9-10 “Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.” These verses seem to indicate that when we get to heaven we will know much more than we know now. Some great Christians have speculated that perhaps our knowledge in heaven will so closely resemble God’s view of things that we will feel as he feels. God loves everyone who has ever lived. He loves even those people who reject him. That is the message of John 3:16. However, even though God loves those people, he understands that they have freely rejected his gracious and loving offer of salvation. Therefore, he is able to enter into loving those that have accepted him with his full love with the understanding that this is not what everyone chooses. Because of his greatness and glory, God is not drawn into depression or anxiety over the decisions of those that reject Jesus. Knowing that when I get to heaven I will be like Jesus comforts me and helps me remember that I will someday think, act and feel just like Jesus. I don’t know how, but he will make heaven a place of greater knowledge for me, greater love, greater understanding and greater fellowship than anything I have experienced here on earth.
This answer does not satisfy our heartfelt feelings for those people who reject Jesus, but we must remember that we will think and feel much differently in heaven than we feel right now. Also, as you feel hurt or sad regarding those in your life that do not know Jesus, take time to do two things. 1) Pray for them to be saved. the prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much. 2) Share the gospel with them again. Give them another chance at coming to know the love of God in Jesus. this type of heartfelt love and action pleases God.
Questions about Christianity – Does God know who will accept him and who won’t?
The short answer is yes. God knows. God possesses all knowledge about every event and possibility, past, present and future. There is nothing that he does not know and nothing that he could not know. All knowledge is his. However, the question usually lurking behind today’s question is “if God knows who will accept him and who won’t, then why does it matter what I do since God already knows?” Implicit in this is a sort of determinism that leaks into our thoughts because it seems like everything is already determined.
Without going into a lot of philosophy and theology about God and predestination, let me just say this: Just because God knows does not make you less accountable for what you do. The Biblical worldview is one in which God knows everything AND one in which the Bible calls us to make decisions that honor God, beginning with submitting to Christ as Lord and Savior. the Bible has not given us the information as to how to put together the fact that God knows what will happen and our responsibility to respond to the Gospel message. But what God has given us is the knowledge that we are to respond to it. That should be enough for us. Standing on the sideline and questioning God about it isn’t going to get you anywhere. The better response is to submit to Jesus as Lord and Savior and allow God to lead and guide your life, since, he knows…right? 
Questions about Christianity – Why hasn’t God revealed himself more clearly if he wants us to know him?
Why doesn’t God show himself more clearly to us if he is really up there? This question has been asked by countless people, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, past and present. Implicit in the question is the recognition that if God is there, and by definition is the most powerful being ever, he should really want us to know about him. Additionally, many people feel that if God is truly loving, then he should make it easier on us. And that is really the crux of the matter. We want it to be easier.
The Bible tells us that God is known by all people naturally. Romans 1:19-20 says that all people naturally know there is a God simply by looking at the natural world. It displays a complexity that could only have come about by the power of a master designer:
19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”
Romans chapter one goes on to describe how all people choose not to worship God as the great invisible designer. We instead choose to worship other things. All of us possess a sin nature which naturally turns us away from God. We put the onus of relationship on him rather than ourselves. We believe that God should do more for us instead of us turning and acknowledging him. This is why people want God to do more in revealing himself to us. But what if God has already done that and more? What if God has already given us everything that was valuable to him by sending his own son to earth as a human. What if God has really given us his love in sending us Jesus? Wouldn’t that make God both right and loving in giving us all the evidence we need?
Some people will conclude that God would need to do more, like appear in front of them magically. But these same people live their lives with so much less evidence regarding everything else they do. They don’t demand that much proof for anything else they believe. This is sometimes referred to as the issue of justified beliefs. How much evidence does it take to make a justified belief? Christians believe that belief in a supreme being, as a belief that has been natural to all people over time for all of history, is still justified by us today. Others request more evidence or say that science has now canceled out the need to believe in a supreme being.
Christians have pointed to the fact that God must be known by faith. Not faith that seeks no evidence, but faith grounded on believable evidence and then stepping beyond that evidence into a relationship with the one toward which the evidence points. Hebrews 11:6 says “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.”
So, in answer to the question of why God doesn’t make it easier to believe in him, I would say two things:
1) Perhaps it is already easy enough, if we will think about what is really going on in our hearts.
2) Perhaps God has already made himself known decisively in the person of Jesus, the greatest religious figure ever to walk the earth.
Think about it. Asking God for more evidence may be like waiting to receive a gift that is already sitting in your lap. All you have to do is open it.
About
Matt was born and raised in Carlsbad, Calif. Although he grew up in a devout Christian home, he struggled and rebelled against the Lord as a teenager. However, at eighteen, Matt gave in to God’s love and submitted to Jesus. Soon after, he met and married his wife Kelli. They now have six children and love the role that God has given them as parents.
In 1998, Matt graduated from Vanguard University with a degree in Ministry and Leadership. He is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Biblical Studies from Westminster Seminary, California. For the last eighteen years, he has worked for a variety of Christian ministries including Horizon Christian Fellowship, the Christian Research Institute, and Carlsbad Community Church.
In 2005, the Lord called Matt to plant Rancho del Rey Christian Church in Carlsbad, California. Matt’s heart desire is to help people see Jesus in all his glory. He and his wife are passionate about parenting, adoption, The Bible, missions, discipleship and helping people see Jesus in every aspect of life. His life’s calling is to present the Jesus of the Bible to people who don’t yet believe, and to encourage fellow Christ-followers to live in complete, life-altering obedience to God. He recently authored his first book, Read the Word: The Bible was written for you.
