Is Jesus God?

Will the real God please stand up? There are all kinds of places you can start. I’m going to start with Jesus because he makes some exclusive claims that no one else makes. If his claims are true, then it simplifies my search. If not, then I still have a long way to go.

John 14:6 – “I am the way to God.”

John 5:18 – “Making himself equal to God.”

John 10:33 – “You claim to be God.”

John 20:28 – “My Lord and my God.”

John 8:23,24 – “If you don’t believe, you are lost.”

Acts 4:12 – “No other one can save you” This decision is the most important decision in your life.

True or False? Jesus and his followers claim he is God. This is either true or false.

If false then Jesus either knew it was or he didn’t. If he knew it was false then he was a liar. If he didn’t then he was a lunatic. Either way – not a good teacher. If he was telling the truth, then he’s Lord (God).

Some people believe he was just a good moral teacher but when you examine his claims then you see that he never leaves this option open. Either he is God or he is not. If he is not then you must choose whether you believe he was a deliberate liar or merely a lunatic. If, however, he was telling the truth and he is Lord, then you must decide if you follow him.

Why do I believe Jesus is God?

1. Miracles: John 20:30-31
2. Prophecies fulfilled (to name but a few)
   1. Born of a virgin (Is. 7:14 ~ Matt. 1:18-25)
   2. House of David (Jer. 23:5 ~ Lu. 3:23, 31)
   3. Born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2 ~ Mat. 2:1)
   4. Ministry to begin in Galilee (Is. 9:1 ~ Mat. 4:12-17)
   5. Betrayed by a friend (Ps. 41:9 ~ Mat. 10:4; 26:49-50)
   6. Sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zech. 11:12 ~ Mat. 26:15)
   7. Wounded and bruised ( Is. 53:5 ~ Mat. 27:26)
   8. Bones not broken ( Ps. 34:20 ~ John 19:32,33)
   9. Crucified with thieves ( Is. 53:12 ~ Mat. 27:38)
   10. Resurrection (Ps. 16:10 ~ Acts 2:31)
   11. There are more than 400 Messianic prophecies.

1. Jesus’ life and teachings (John 7:17) Read a Gospel. See what you think.
2. The Resurrection – this is the most convincing for me. It is a pass or fail test – 1 Cor. 15:12-19
   1. The prediction – Matt. 27:62-66
   2. The fulfillment – Matt. 28:11-15
   3. The witnesses – 1 Cor. 15:1-6

• i. Notice there are over 500 eyewitnesses! Most of the eyewitnesses were still around for “cross”-examination. How many witnesses would it take to convince a jury? How many would it take to convince you?

1. The empty tomb – never disputed. Even the enemies of Christianity never disputed the FACT of the empty tomb. How did it get empty? What happened to the body of Jesus?

• i. Fainted? Some say he didn’t die at all – he just fainted on the cross and then revived in the tomb. Problem: After being beaten and flogged to within an inch of his life, nailed to a cross and a spear stuck in his side – after being wrapped in 75 lbs. of spices and grace clothes and after going three days without any medical attention or food or water – he gets better? That takes almost as much faith as believing in his resurrection! Not only does get better, but he unwraps himself and removes the huge stone single-handedly and then fights his way through elite Roman guards. Again, this stretches credulity as much as the resurrection. It does not provide a viable alternative explanation.
• ii. Stolen? Some say that his body was stolen. By whom? Not the Jews – they would have just produced it when claims of resurrection were being made. The most likely suspects would have been the apostles. Problem: How did they get past the Roman guards? Also, when they and their families were threatened with torture and execution if they continued to claim they were witnesses of the resurrection, what motive would they have at that point to continue to lie? They had nothing to gain and everything to lose.
• iii. Wrong tomb? Some people believe that everyone got it wrong and couldn’t find the right tomb where he was laid. Problem: Too many witnesses. Too much at stake for both sides.
• iv. Resurrection? Problem: Hard to believe because it goes against the laws of nature. But . . . it was predicted that the tomb would be empty after 3 days and it was. There were over 500 eyewitnesses of the resurrected Jesus. If Jesus is God then he could transcend the laws of nature and, in fact, many examples of miracles are given in the Gospels.

What do you think about Jesus? Was he a liar? Was he a lunatic? Who do you say Jesus is? What’s the evidence to support your belief?

- Steve Curtis

Does God Exist?

You Are Here

Like the map says, “You are here.” Question is – how did you get here? Where did you come from? Well, obviously, you came from your momma and she came from her momma and, if we go back far enough, somewhere back there was the very first momma! But then, where did she come from?!

Only Two Choices

Basically, everything boils down to two options: 1) we got here by accident or 2) we got here by purpose. (Would you agree that these are really our only two choices?). Is there any way to know which one is true? It depends on what you mean by “know.” You see, whatever you believe about the origin of life and intelligence, it will ultimately come down to faith. “But wait,” you say, “what about science – doesn’t science provide some answers?” Yes and no. Science can give us some clues based on what we can observe in the present but science cannot “prove” anything about the origin of the universe.

Faith vs. Faith

The scientific method involves such things as forming a hypothesis about something, then testing it, observing it and drawing conclusions from the observations. The origin of the world has never been tested, repeated or observed. There were no eyewitnesses (unless you take God’s account as an eyewitness account!). Since it cannot be observed or repeated, whatever you believe about the beginning of all things ultimately comes down to faith – whether you believe it was by accident or by purpose. Does that make sense? So it is certainly not a matter of science vs. faith. It is a matter of one faith vs. a different faith. As I said earlier, however, science does provide some valuable clues – as does history, archaeology, psychology, linguistics and other fields of study and research.

Evolution

If we believe in the accident model of origins, then the most popular doctrine representing that belief is what we usually refer to as “evolution.” There are many different denominations of evolutionary thought but they all seem to have some basic points in common. The evolution model basically starts with matter having always existed – it didn’t come from anywhere – it just is. Somehow, we don’t know by what means really, this matter exploded and formed the planets – including earth. The non-living matter on earth somehow, we don’t know by what means really, spontaneously generated life. Life sprang into existence from non-life. The early chaos of earth began to self-direct itself into more organized and complex organisms. Natural selection took place and the most fit organisms survived and somehow changed into different species - we don’t really know by what means.

Simple Model of Evolution

We are here by accident – a random assortment of atoms and chemicals.

• Matter is eternal
• Life comes from non-life
• Things naturally move from simple to complex/from chaotic to organized
• Species change into different species

Some possible conclusions of the view might include:

1. Life has no ultimate meaning or purpose
2. Right and wrong don’t really exist
3. No hope for anything after death

Creation

The other option, that we are here by purpose, implies that we are created by some intelligence/life – a very powerful intelligence and life at that. There are many different denominations of thought about the creator but since we have to start somewhere, let’s start with the biblical account of creation since it is a prominent view.

Creationists believe that life and intelligence have always existed. It didn’t come from anywhere – it just is. This intelligent life, let’s call it “God,” created the universe with design, organization and purpose. On earth (at least) God created life according to its kinds – in other words, one species did not transform into different species. The basic kinds of life existed from the beginning (they have, however, experienced variations within their kind – we don’t all look alike – but cats have always had kittens, they have never had ducklings, and humans have always given birth to humans).

Things have gone from a state of perfection and have deteriorated over time. Things tend to go from complex to simple, from ordered to less-ordered. Natural selection has caused the extinction of many organisms but did not cause one species to change into a different species.

Simple Model of Creation

We are here by design and our lives have purpose and meaning.

• Life/intelligence is eternal
• Life comes from life
• Things tend to move from complex to simple/from organized to less organized
• Species reproduce after their own kind

Some conclusions:

1. Life has ultimate meaning and purpose
2. Right and wrong exist
3. There is hope beyond death

Clues from Science

Earlier we said that science can provide us with some valuable clues to the question of origins. Let’s compare the two models with actual empirical observation and see what we find.

Evolution

• Life comes from non-life
• Chaos to order
• Species change into different species

Creation

• Life comes from life
• Order to chaos
• Variation within species only

Empirical Observation

• Life comes from life
• Order to chaos
• Variation within species only

Now, admittedly, those are very basic comparisons but even at this basic level it is not difficult to see which model seems to fit with actual scientific “laws” and processes. Which one fits better? Which one actually takes more faith to believe?

Conclusion

Obviously, we are just scratching the surface with this little introduction but, hopefully, it illustrates that creation shouldn’t be dismissed so quickly and that evolution actually has some significant obstacles. We could also talk about evidence from other fields of study and even that sense of moral law implanted in each of us. There is a list of recommended resources for delving deeper at the end of this article.

One Final Thought

One final thought – if I were to tell you that this wrist watch of mine is unique in all the world because it actually made itself through a combination of raw materials that just exploded for no known reason or cause – would you believe me? If I told you everything organized itself into this mechanism and it even spontaneously formed its own life source (battery) and even had the right date and time on it – would you think that possible or likely? Why not? It’s too complex? Too intricate and complicated? I would agree. But which is more complex – my watch or a human brain (or even a single cell organism for that matter!)?

If it doesn’t make sense that something as complex as my watch could happen by accident without purpose or design, then how much sense does it make that something infinitely more complex like life and the universe could happen by accident without purpose or design?

- Steve Curtis

Does Acts 20:7 say that the Lord's Supper should be taken every week?

If Jesus wanted us to take it every week wouldn't He have stated it when He told the apostles to "do this in remembrance of me"? 

That’s a great question. Actually, Jesus doesn’t say “when” to take it, just why we should take it:

Luke 22:19 NIV And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."

This is the same thing more or less he says in all the Gospel accounts, except in John, where only the conversation He has with His disciples during the meal is recorded in 4 chapters, John 13-17.

Paul says:

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 NIV For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Paul’s last line shows he interpreted this (through the Spirit) by meaning that we should take it often: whenever you eat this, meaning they did it often. How often?

Acts 2:42 NIV They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

This gives us a clue as to the how often part: being that fellowship refers to the agape, or love feasts, it is then understood that breaking of bread refers to the celebration of the Lord's Supper, the only celebration or holiday the Christian has by example of Jesus.

This passage:

Acts 20:7 NIV On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.

… only says they did this on the first day of the week. It doesn’t really establish that they did it weekly, but one can infer if they did it often, as the passage in Acts 2:42 says, they were dedicated, meaning it was done regularly, perhaps we can tie up these passages and say that they regularly did it on the first day of the week.

Early church history corroborates that tradition more than anything.

I believe a disciple will be dedicated to celebrating this supper regularly since he would do it to commemorate the sacrifice and life Jesus has given for us. Doing it monthly or yearly or irregularly is definitely not in keeping with the idea of these passages. Doing it every week definitely is.