Why do all major world religions have an exalted place for Jesus? Is the Biblical Jesus any different than the non-Christian portrayals of Him? (Part 3 of 5) In this video, we examine a very interesting feature of the Christian worldview: the absolute centrality of Jesus Christ. Though this may seem obvious and simplistic, it is worth noting since virtually every major world … [Read more...]
Existentialism and the Absurdity of Life (Audio)
Lecture Audio Brief Abstract The two divisions of absurdity, subjective and objective, by all evidence, binding. If God does not exist then man lives in Bertrand Russell’s world of scaffolding despair. Man is merely the product of pointless cause and effects with no prevision of the ends being achieved. All the labors of the age, devotion, all the inspiration, all the … [Read more...]
The Nativity Defended
The Nativity and, in particular, the virgin birth has increasingly come under attack from liberal scholarship in recent years. Those committed to a naturalistic worldview dismiss the virgin birth of Jesus as fanciful. Some have even questioned whether Jesus was born in Bethlehem and whether Mary and Joseph’s venture to this town was prompted by the Roman census as recorded by … [Read more...]
The Deity of Christ and why this Matters
In the official Watchtower publication, Should You Believe in the Trinity, Jehovah’s Witnesses proclaim that: Jesus had an existence in heaven before coming to the earth…the Bible plainly states that in his pre-human existence, Jesus was a created spirit being, just as the angels were spirit beings created by God. … [Read more...]
Did Jesus Claim To Be Divine? (Answering Islam)
When Christians try to share the Gospel with Muslims, they often encounter some resistance because Islam teaches that Jesus was a prophet of God, just like Abraham, Moses, Jonah, etc. "Christ, the son of Mary, was no more than a messenger; many were the messengers that passed away before him." (Surah 5:75) Then, when Christians try to show that Jesus claimed to be more than a … [Read more...]
The Main Problem with the Parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant
The parable of the blind men and the elephant "has crossed between many religious traditions and is part of Jain, Buddhist, Sufi and Hindu lore." One version goes like this: "A number of blind men came to an elephant. Somebody told them that it was an elephant. The blind men asked, ‘What is the elephant like?’ and they began to touch its body. One of them said: 'It is like a … [Read more...]
Why do some Christians seem to ignore the resurrection?
As one becomes entrenched in Christian Apologetics and studying the evidence for the Christian worldview, it doesn't take long to discover the many convincing arguments for the bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth from the grave. There are scores of solid arguments for theism in general (philosophical, scientific, etc), but as ambassadors for Christ, we are making a defense … [Read more...]
Did Jesus Deny His Deity in His Conversation with the Rich Ruler?
In Luke 18:18-29 (and the parallel account in Mark 10:17-31), we read the narrative of the rich young ruler coming to Jesus and asking, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus responds by saying "Why do you call me good? No one is good -- except God alone." Jesus continues, "You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, … [Read more...]
Our God, Jesus Christ: The witness of the early church fathers
Contributed by Dan Barkman Much has been written showing that Jesus understood Himself to be a divine person and that the authors of the New Testament held that same conviction. But is it possible that we have misunderstood what the apostles actually believed about Jesus? Could it be that the modern church is confused as to what it was that the apostles actually taught? To … [Read more...]
Did Jesus Claim to be Divine? (Answering Skepticism)
When Christians hear objections with regard to who Jesus claimed to be, they (without fail) whip out CS Lewis' famous trilemma of "Liar, Lunatic, or Lord". Based on Jesus' claims of being the "I AM" of the Old Testament and the "Son of Man" who was the divine figure referenced throughout Jewish apocryphal literature, in addition to the fact that Jesus accepted worship and … [Read more...]