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Reasoning – C.S. Lewis

Reasoning – C.S. Lewis

As you read the gospels, the New Testament and the early church fathers, they all agreed together that Jesus Christ is the unique Son of God.   They all agree that He claimed to be God.  Now many people say, “No, no.  He was just a good man…a good prophet.”  Now wait a minute.

To say the things that Jesus said about Himself, if they weren’t true, then come on you, can’t call Him a good moral man, or a good teacher or a good prophet because then everything He taught was a lie.

So I want to walk you through some reasoning here.  I first learned of this through C.S. Lewis, and then it was one of the things that literally brought me to Christ.  Jesus claimed to be God.  Now it’s going to take me several segments for me to walk you through this.

Jesus claimed to be God.  Now His claims lead to two alternatives; they were either false or they were true.  Now, if His claims were false, then that leads to two alternatives.  One, He knew His claims were false or second He didn’t know His claims were false.  Now if He knew His claims were false then that would make Him a deliberate liar or deliberate representations of who He was which would make Him a liar.   And if he was a liar, then He was a hypocrite. And if he was a hypocrite, then He was a demon.  And if he was a demon, then He was a fool because he went out and died for it.

But what’s the other alternative?  That He knew His claims were false, or He did not know His claims were false.  If He didn’t know His claims were false then that would mean that He was sincerely deluded.  And if He was sincerely deluded about who He was, then that would mean He was a lunatic on the level of somebody who called Himself a poached egg.  And if He was a lunatic, then how in the world could you ever trust what He said and claim that He was a good man?  Now the other alternative is that His claims were true.

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As you read the gospels, the New Testament and the early church fathers, they all agreed together that Jesus Christ is the unique Son of God.   They all agree that He claimed to be God.  Now many people will say, “No, no.  He was just a good man…a good prophet.”  Now wait a minute.

To say the things that Jesus said about Himself, if they were not true, then come on, you cannot call Him a good moral man, or a good teacher or a good prophet because then everything He taught was a lie.

Let us walk through some reasoning here.  I first learned of this through C.S. Lewis, and then it was one of the things that literally brought me to Christ.  Jesus claimed to be God.  Now it is going to take me several segments for me to walk you through this.

Jesus claimed to be God.  Now His claims lead to two alternatives: they were either false, or they were true.  Now, if His claims were false, then that leads to two alternatives.  One, He knew His claims were false or second He did not know His claims were false.  Now if He knew His claims were false then that would make Him a deliberate liar or deliberately misrepresenting who He was, which would make Him a liar.  And if he was a liar, then He was a hypocrite.  And if he was a hypocrite, then He was a demon.  And if he was a demon, then He was a fool because he went out and died for it.

But what is the other alternative?  That He knew His claims were false, or He did not know His claims were false.  If He did not know His claims were false then that would mean that He was sincerely deluded.  And if He was sincerely deluded about who He was, then that would mean He was a lunatic on the level of somebody who called Himself a poached egg.  And if He was a lunatic, then how in the world could you ever trust what He said and claim that He was a good man?  Now the other alternative is that His claims were true.

SUMMARY: The Gospels, the New Testament and the early church fathers all agree that Jesus Christ is the unique Son of God.  Could He be only a good man or good prophet as many people say?  This would mean that what Jesus said about Himself was not true.  Let us walk through C. S. Lewis’s line of thinking which literally brought Josh to Christ.  Jesus claimed to be God.  Either this is true of false.  If this is false then there are two alternatives.  He knew he was not God and lied or he thought he was God and was delusional.  If he is a liar he is a hypocrite, i.e., a demon.  And if he were a demon, then he was a fool because he died for it.  If he did not know that his claims were false then he would be a lunatic.  The other alternative is that His claims were true.  So how can anyone say Jesus was only a good teacher or only a good man?

QUESTIONS:

1. What do the Gospels, the New Testament, and the early church fathers all agree about Jesus?
2. How did C. S. Lewis process the idea that Jesus is “only a good man?”
3. What decision did this line of reasoning lead Josh to do with Jesus?
4. How have you determined who Jesus is?
5. Is Jesus who He claimed He is?

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