After a busy weekend, I was in no mood for an early morning church service. Liquid was welcoming the first time, it was right on the way home, and I was in the market for another evening service (I can’t think of a better way for a church to draw a young crowd.)
I don’t remember the name of the pastor who preached this past Sunday evening, and unfortunately, in my rush, I didn’t pick up a bulletin either. So I can’t remember the name of the sermon. I do know that I was under the impression that it was going to be about fasting. But instead, it was about Jesus. About who Jesus is.
This might at first seem to be a rather elementary topic.
And the pastor admitted this to be so. He offered up what might be going through his congregation’s head, something along the lines of: “We’re Christians. We think we might know who Jesus is.”
But there is a specific verse in one of the gospels in which Jesus asks one of his disciples, “Who do you think I am?” And it's not always an easy question to consider, once you forget about your standard, immediate answer. C.S. Lewis, author of Mere Christianity and the Chronicles of Narnia series, penned the idea that Jesus left us with only three possible answers to this question:
Liar Lunatic
or
LORD
For those who are new to the concept of this “trilemma,” let me briefly explain:
Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. He boldly offered forgiveness of sins and accepted worship as if he were Holy. So he was either lying about being God OR he believed he was but was actually absolutely crazy OR he was and is God.
But he couldn’t have been what many non-believers like to call him: a benevolent and wise teacher.
The message at Liquid this past Sunday evening was a lengthened description of the above. If I had one critique of the presentation it would be that the point could have been driven home much more succinctly. But still, the pastor’s delivery was entertaining and certainly passionate.
Now I can’t quite accept the trilemma. I know there is substantial evidence for Jesus’ existence. But I doubt there is any concrete evidence that he actually did heal the sick and raise the dead. I am ready to believe he existed. I am not ready to believe that everything that the Bible claims he did and said is necessarily true. So while if every word of the Bible were pure and accurate, this trilemma would certainly make a lot of sense, it completely falls apart when one considers the possibility that the author(s) of the Bible were, at the very least, prone to exaggeration.
What if Jesus really were a benevolent and wise teacher and really did have disciples and crowds following him everywhere he went? Usually such grand figures stir up a lot of oral storytelling. And more often than not, storytelling gets blown way out of proportion.
ie:
-Did you see Jesus the other day?
-Yeah, he was saying some really groundbreaking things about forgiving your neighbor.
-Yeah, I really identified with that. My neighbor is a jerk. He stole some of my goats. But I forgave him anyway after hearing that. Jesus is certainly inspirational.
-Yeah? ... I heard that he healed a blind person. (says this to up the forgiving neighbor story, since this person didn't forgive their neighbor, and feels like a schmuck)
-Yeah? I heard he cured a paralytic! (says this to up the blind person story)
-Yeah? I heard he also forgave sins!! (says this to up the paralytic story)
-I heard he said he’s the Son of God!!! (says this to up sins story)
-Maybe he is!!!! (gives up and just agrees. Jesus is, after all, undeniably impressive.)
Ok, so it’s a rather poor example of how talk gets out of hand. But you get the idea. The only missing step from there was getting it all on paper and letting the Legend of Jesus live on indefinitely. There are those who add this fourth "L" to the dilemma ... making it a tetralemma. And I'd choose this option.
An evil liar is usually easy to spot (especially after hundreds of years of study) because he always has a clear agenda hidden behind the lies. Jesus didn't seem to have one.
A mad man would not likely be capable of holding a captive audience and building a vast fan base for so long. His sermons would really be ravings, and sooner or later the shock-value entertainment of that would wear off. He must have been saying some clear, intelligent things to remain so consistently popular.
And Lord? I'm not ready to say that's possible. And if it were, I don't know how anyone could know for sure unless the Bible were 100% true. And I've never heard one good argument that convinced me that this is the case.
But Legend? That makes complete sense. It happens ALL the time.
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