So you Think Jesus is a Liar Part II

If Jesus is a Liar, then He is Wicked Most of the time, when someone is accused of lying, we do not assume that the person was being outright malicious. We often give people the benefit of the doubt; we call their lies “white lies.” Perhaps Jesus was just selling an innocent, little white lie. This doesn’t seem to be possible, though, in Jesus’ case: If, on the other hand, Jesus was a liar, then he had to have been the most clever, cunning, Machiavellian, blasphemously wicked, satanic deceiver the world has ever known, successfully seducing billions into giving up their eternal souls into his hands. If orthodox Christianity is a lie, it is by far the biggest and baddest lie ever told, and Jesus is the biggest and baddest liar.[1] So if Jesus is a liar, then he is a morally bad man, especially since He claimed to be truth itself in John 14:6, saying “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” He’s also proven to be a hypocrite, since He expected total honesty from those he taught: “Let your word be ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no.’ More than this is from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37). But Jesus Was The Best of Men So if Jesus is a liar, then He is certainly not a morally virtuous man. Yet this could not be further from the truth: in all of history, nobody has emerged whose life glimmered with such moral purity. Jesus himself even challenged his enemies to find any fault in Him! (See John 8:46.) Even those who are not Christians, such as John Stuart Mill and William Lecky understand that Jesus is, if nothing else, a good person:

  • John Stuart Mill: “But about the life and sayings of Jesus there is a stamp of personal originality combined with profundity of insight….in the very first rank of men of sublime genius of whom our species can boast. When this pre-eminent genius is combined with the qualities of probably the greatest moral reformer, and martyr to that mission, who ever existed upon earth, religion cannot be said to have made a bad choice in pitching on this man as the ideal representative and guide of humanity; nor, even now, would it be easy, even for an unbeliever, to find a better translation of the rule of virtue from the abstract into the concrete, than to endeavor so to live that Christ would approve our life.”
  • William Lecky: “It was reserved for Christianity to present to the world an ideal character, which through all the changes of eighteen centuries has inspired the hearts of men with an impassioned love; has shown itself capable of acting on all ages, nations, temperaments, and conditions; has been not only the highest pattern of virtue but the strongest incentive to its practice; and has exercised so deep an influence that it may be truly said that the simple record of [Jesus’] three short years of active life has done more to regenerate and to soften mankind than all the disquisitions of philosophers, and all other exhortations of moralists.”

Indeed, Jesus was the most unique of human figures. He was original, insightful, a reformer, a martyr, an ideal role model, who has unrivaled universal appeal throughout the world. Just ask yourself this: if you found out your child would have the love, patience, insight, and intelligence of Jesus, wouldn’t you be happy? It’s because we know he is the standard of goodness. So to say that he was a liar just flies in the face of everything we know about him. We could put it logically this way: 1.       If Jesus is a liar, then he is not good. 2.       Jesus is good (he is not not good). 3.       Therefore, Jesus is not a liar. The Absurdity of Jesus Lying As J. Warner Wallace, a famous cold case detective, has pointed out, there are three reasons why criminals lie: for sex, for power, and for money. Now, what did Jesus get out of “lying” about being God?

  • Did he do it for sexual reasons? He never slept with a woman, and he is noted in the New Testament for his respect towards women.
  • Did he do it for power? The Jews often wanted to give Jesus political power, but he continually rejected it. “Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself” (John 6:15).
  • Did he do it for money? Jesus and his disciples were poor (Luke 9:58 says He had no place to lay His head) and lived on the generosity of others (see Luke 8:1–3).

What, then, did this “lie” bring?

  • His family thought he was “out of his mind” (Mark 3:21).
  • The religious rulers thought he was empowered by Satan (Mark 3:22).
  • His claims to divinity ultimately brought about His death: “‘Very truly I tell you,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’ At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds” (John 8:58–59).

Conclusion He had no motivation to make up the lie, and He certainly had no motivation to die for the lie. Plus, Jesus is the most upright and virtuous person that humanity has ever produced. Are we really going to attribute the evil of lying to Him? [1] Kreeft, 1888-1890

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