Jesus! He’s our focus in this blog series based on Josh’s best-selling apologetics classic: More Than a Carpenter. Our goal is to definitively answer “Who is Jesus?,” to help you answer these big life questions: “Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going?”
Last week we asked if Jesus was a liar. In this post let’s ask, “Was Jesus a lunatic?”
As Josh notes, today we would treat someone who believes himself to be God the same way we’d treat someone who believes he’s Napoleon: as totally deluded and self-deceived. But if we look closely at Jesus, it’s a breeze to answer this question!
Jesus: Just a Lunatic?
Don’t miss this point: in Jesus we don’t observe any abnormalities or imbalance that accompany crazy. “If Jesus was insane,” says Josh, “His poise and composure was nothing short of amazing.”
What do YOU think? Is there anything you think you see in Jesus’ behavior (other than His claim to divinity) that would suggest to you that He was a lunatic? Anything that would persuade you He wasn’t sane?
As recorded in the Bible, we can look at Jesus’ words and recognize that they are not the thoughts of a deranged, unbalanced man, but those of a wise and profound thinker. Jesus blew people away with His intelligence and love. He intimately connected with others because He could so clearly see — and cared about — their needs. That required sanity.
“Is such an intellect — clear as the sky, bracing as the mountain air, sharp and penetrating as a sword, thoroughly healthy and vigorous, always ready and always self-possessed — liable to a radical and most serious delusion concerning His own character and mission? Preposterous imagination!’ ~Philip Schaff
Jesus wasn’t put to death because He was a liar. He wasn’t put to death because He was a lunatic. He was put to death because His followers believed that Jesus was divine, and that scared those in power. Jesus’ followers suffered terrible persecution, if not death, for their faith. How did they stay committed? Their trust in Jesus! #savior
“I can’t personally conclude that Jesus was a liar or a lunatic,” notes Josh, after intensive research. “The only other alternative is that He is the Christ, the Son of God, as He claimed. The issue with these three alternatives isn’t which is possible. Rather, the question is, ‘Which is most probable?’ The evidence is clearly in favor of Jesus as Lord.”
Many people still don’t believe. If the evidence for the deity of Jesus is so clear, what reasons can you come up with for why people reject Him in this role? Stay with us. We have a lot more to share about Jesus. Be sure to read all the links in this post!
Jesus: He’s More Than a Carpenter!
> FREE download: Read the first chapter of Josh’s bestseller, More Than a Carpenter. You can buy the book here.
> Watch how More Than a Carpenter changed one reader’s life AND set off a chain reaction that introduced many others to Jesus. That’s how the truth of God’s love is shared: person to person!
> Want to learn more about starting YOUR personal relationship with Jesus? Click here.
