The Apostle Paul often gets a bad rap in certain, non-Christian circles. Atheists, Muslims, and Pluralists all have it out for Paul. Everyone's got a bone to pick with Paul! He is (infamously) responsible for the idea that Jesus is God. Christianity started out as a nice, little group of hippies who shared their possessions and lived in close community while following the … [Read more...]
Reason #5 Christianity is Unique: It is Respectable
How do the founders of the world's religions compare with Jesus of Nazareth? Is Jesus Christ unique when compared with Buddha, Mohammed, Krishna, and Joseph Smith? (Part 5 of 5) In the last installment of this series "5 Reasons the Christian Worldview is Unique", today we will be examining the person and life of Jesus of Nazareth, when compared with the other founders of the … [Read more...]
Docetism: Jesus The Illusionist
A Docetist argues that Christ Jesus only seemed to be (Gk. δοκέω - dokeō) human. He appeared to be a Jewish man but he did not possess a true corporal earthly body. Swayed by Gnosticism, that assumes the material creation is innately evil, it is foolish and shameful, according to a gnostic docetist, to think that Logos, who was in form of God, would take upon Himself an … [Read more...]
Responding to a Jewish Objection: “Is Belief in the Incarnation Idolatry?”
Introduction Over the years I have had the opportunity to have plenty of discussions with Jewish people about whether Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. As usual, the objection that to believe in Jesus as a divine figure as a deity is idolatry. For starters, I advise reading the book The Jewish Gospels: The Story of the Jewish Christ” by Daniel Boyarin which shows that the belief … [Read more...]
Archangel: Jesus of Jehovah’s Witnesses
Jehovah’s Witnesses are taught that Jesus is archangel Michael (Jude 9) since He speaks “with the voice of archangel”. Watchtower’s “Aid To Bible Understanding? ” claimed: Scriptural evidence indicates that the name Michael applied to God's Son before he left heaven to become Jesus Christ and also after his return. Michael is the only one said to be the "archangel” […] At 1 … [Read more...]
Jesus, Michael And Jehovah’s Witnesses
In Watchtower’s “What Does The Bible Really Teach?” Jehovah’s Witnesses are taught that “the Bible indicates that Michael is another name for Jesus Christ, before and after his life on earth.”(Watchtower 2005: 218) They maintained: While there is no statement in the Bible that categorically identifies Michael the archangel as Jesus, there is one scripture that links Jesus with … [Read more...]
Reason #3 Christianity is Unique: It is Central
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...]
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...]