When I examined Christianity to make a joke of it, I looked at the person of Christ, and immediately something stood out that was different than what I expected, and different from what I saw in others. Others would claim to be a prophet of God, claim to be a messenger of God, or something else…a great prophet. But Jesus claimed to be God! You say, “What?” Yes! I remember just going, “Whoa!” Because that separated Him from everyone else I had ever examined.

He claimed to be God in human flesh. And the question is, is that true? A book that was out a number of years ago was called the Da Vinci Code. In it you know, it was claimed to be true, but 90% of the book was false. But in there Dan Brown, the author, reflected what a lot of people think about Christ, and this is what he said, “Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet. A great and powerful man, but a man none the less.”

Islam says that Jesus never ever claimed to be God. That would be blasphemy. New Age says, “Come on, everyone is true. Everything is true. Jesus never claimed to be God in a unique sense; just a god among many gods.”

On the Oprah show, with many of the people that Oprah has on her show, they say, “Well, there is no God. Christ is just a Christ-consciousness. It is just a God-consciousness. He is an influence. He is not God. He is a mortal man with a divine consciousness or sensitivity.”

And yet, I could not conclude what Islam concluded or Oprah, or the New Age, or Dan Brown and The Da Vinci Code. Because it was very clear that Jesus Christ claimed to be God. Whether He was or not, that’s not the issue. The issue is that He did claim to be God. Someone says, “No way.” Well in the next several segments I want to take you to a conversation I had a with a philosophy professor at West Virginia University.

SUMMARY: When josh set out to make a joke of Christianity; he saw something different about Jesus that others who claimed to be a prophet or messenger of God. Jesus claimed to be God. Dan Brown claimed his book Da Vinci Code was true although when compared with historical evidence 90 percent is false. Dan Brown said that Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal man. Islam says that Jesus never claimed to be God. New Age says, “Jesus never claimed to be God in a unique sense . . .just a god among many gods.” Oprah has many people on her show who say that there is no God. Josh McDowell could not make any of these conclusions. It is clear that Jesus Christ claimed to be God.

QUESTIONS:
1. What did Josh set out to do?
2. What did he see that was different about Jesus?
3. Who did Jesus Claim to be?
4. What have all others said about Jesus?
5. What conclusion do you have about Jesus? Why?