The Problem With the Mythical Jesus
Wow! Just read the banter back and forth between religious people (some said they were Christians) and non-religious people (some admitted to be atheists) on a blog about the decline of church attendance.
Unsurprisingly, there was a little bit of love in there and a lot of hate. It just goes to prove that religion itself is a divide in the world.
Before I get to the main subject of this blog, I must say that I do not defend religion. Religions are made up. I am a follower of the one they call Jesus. If the world wants to classify the following of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior as a religion, then by the world definition I do try to be dedicated and religious to that following. I say that just to separate from the word religion. Jesus was not fond of religion. Three of the four times Jesus mentioned religion, it was not commending.
As concerning the church, it has not always been reflective of Jesus who is the head of the church. Unfortunately, men who did not listen to the Holy Spirit of God have led individual churches to do very bad things. There is plenty of reason for the haters to hate on the church, because of such history. However, that should not discount who Jesus is, nor should it discount the great work that many churches have done throughout history as they were following the leadership of Christ. Many of the hospitals and educational institutions were started by churches. Taking care of the sick and educating people are important to the church. Feeding the hungry and clothing the poor are also great attributes of the church most often left out in such blogs.
Oh, there is so much to say here, but I did want to address the problem with the mythical Jesus. You see, one can hate on God...hate on the church. A person can say people are morons to believe about Jesus and whatever.
However, to claim that Jesus is mythical then one has to claim that Abraham Lincoln or George Washington is mythical. There is more documentation to substantiate the existence of Jesus than these two men.
To say that Jesus was mythical, one has to say that David, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and many others were mythical. Personally, that doesn’t sound very intelligent to me. I know it may be tough to stomach the miracles that Jesus performed, but the people back in his day(who actually saw them) believed them. He did so many, it was undeniable. So, why won’t he do one more for you, right? Well, God wants those to come to Him to come by faith. The miracles back then were for those that needed to know, to pass the Good News along. Miracles do still happen today, but just as then, as God deems necessary.
If you want to argue, just don’t call Jesus mythical. He was here. He walked the earth. (That’s why every religion in the world has to do something with Jesus. Right or wrong, they acknowledge Jesus because his existence is undeniable.) He confessed that he was the son of God, that is exactly why he was crucified(in public by the way). On the other side of that, he told his followers several times (before it happened) that he would be crucified and raised again on the third day. You can hate. But he said it, and he did it. Over 500 witnesses saw and talked to the resurrected Jesus over a forty day period before he ascended to heaven. You don’t have to believe. However, people believe plenty of things without that many witnesses. You then have to believe that his followers were complete morons, because many died for this belief. Oh, unless you believe that is mythical as well.
Why don’t you just tell the truth? You don’t want to believe in Jesus, because somewhere down deep in your own heart (even without knowing Scripture), you know that Jesus calls you to die to self and to live for Him.
You don’t want to love God with all your heart and with everything you’ve got, because that would make you second place. Hey, that is human nature. That is what we all fight. But that was Jesus’ number one command. The second was to love your neighbor as yourself. We’ve all been helped by someone at sometime or another. That is pretty cool. This is exactly what Jesus told us to do. Jesus=Cool
If what you believed were not true, would you want to know the truth? I hope so.
