Imagine your child goes off to a “Christian” college…and only then you learn that the president of the school doesn’t even believe in the resurrection and other essential elements of what makes Christianity Christianity.
Well, if they went to Union Theological Seminary – a seminary no less – that’s what you’d have. And I simply say this to underscore the importance of your mission, our mission together.
Remember when Paul said that if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead in a bodily resurrection, we’re all idiots? (1 Co 15) The only way we get there is to call the Bible a collection of nice ideas, but some of them aren’t so nice, so we’ll just say something like “my God is a God of love and is bigger than all that.”
Bible segment: Reading along with The Bible Project
Our reading: Isaiah 36-39
This weeks’s translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Apologetics segment: Gary Habermas and Jesus’ uniqueness among world religions
My running summary and comments of the key ideas so far:
In modernity, a common objection is “science is real” and “religion is opinion.”
While we should test everything, including miracles, there are six places to test to see if Jesus’ claims were unmatched by founders of other major religions (it’s a beautiful thing about Christianity – it’s testable).
#1: Jesus claimed to be deity.
Buddha didn’t, and whatever spiritism or divinity is part of some Buddhist practices in China didn’t really develop until 700 years later.
Like Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism began more reservedly, and they later evolved into “more phenomenal, mystical, and occultic versions.” (p16) Some historians speculate that this happened, in part, due to competition for followers – they got more sensationalistic to attract attention.
Conclusion – in terms of self-claim to deity, these “naturalistic ethical, social, and political thinkers” (p16) are not rivals to Jesus.
What about other “prophets?”
Zoroaster, chief prophet of the Persian religion never claimed to be deity.
Muhammad, is certainly not elevated to deity – in fact, a core tenet of Islam is that a human elevating themselves to equality with God is unforgivable blasphemy (you can see why they then have to purport a historically-distorted Jesus!).
And the Old Testament – the Hebrew scriptures of Judaism? Their prophets certainly are not deified either.
What about Krishna? Reports conflict, including as to whether or not Krishna actually existed or is just a poetic device. Too, the Hindu idea of deity isn’t exactly what we think of compared to the “one god-ism” of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism – you yourself might ultimately attain to such a status as have millions of others. Worse, the time-distance between Krishna and the earliest writings is thousands of years.
Take action
Today’s personal prayer reading: Psalm 117 (recommendation, read ahead since this one’s short)
I love you! Catch you tomorrow!
Roger
Sources and resources
Gary Habermas, “The Uniqueness of Jesus Christ Among the Major World Religions” (Lynchburg, VA: GaryHabermas.com, 2016). http://www.garyhabermas.com/Evidence2/Habermas-Uniqueness-of-Jesus-Christ-2016.pdf. Accessed April 17, 2019.
Today’s keywords
The Bible Project; Gary Habermas; world religions; daily audio bible; Isaiah; Muhammad; Islam;