Many of you have heard of C.S. Lewis. He is one of the most famous Christian thinkers of our time. He wrote The Chronicles of Narnia, a fiction book series riddled with Christian symbolism. He has had a significant impact on the religious convictions I've developed throughout my life. Lewis used a logical argument for proving Jesus' deity that basically sealed my acceptance of the Christian message (a.k.a. "the gospel"). A condensed summary of that argument goes like this:
Lewis' Claim: It's totally illogical to remain neutral about Jesus Christ or to say that he was just a mere man who was a great spiritual, moral teacher. And that is exactly what most people think. In fact, here are a few of them: Muhammad, Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr., Napoleon, Tolstoy, Mozart, Einstein, most presidents of the United States, Oprah Winfrey, Deepak Chopra, and even Charles Darwin. All of these figures thought (or think) Jesus was a great spiritual, moral teacher. But all of these people stop short of calling him God.
C.S. Lewis, though, said that this mindset was mistaken at best and insane at worst. He said that a person must either totally reject Jesus OR they must immediately start worshiping him as the only one, true God of the universe. Why? Because Jesus himself continually claimed to be God. Just read the gospel of John. He claimed to be God, the judge of all the world, who had come to this world to atone for our sins and save those who embrace him. He also claimed he would rise from the dead after three days. He said that people should worship him and pray to him. He claimed that everyone in the world was evil, but he himself was sinless and perfectly holy. He said that if people followed him they'd live forever in eternity, but those who didn't would suffer God's wrath for all eternity.
These are some pretty hefty claims. Lewis concluded that to make these sort of claims about oneself you'd either have to be a total lunatic or you'd have to be telling the truth. There's no in between. If Jesus isn't God, if he isn't the judge and savior of the world, if he isn't the creator of the universe, as he claimed, then he was totally insane for saying that he was. People who think they're God are located in insane asylum's, right? Look at our political leaders, prominent artists and musicians, and influential thinkers. Do any of them claim to be God? No. People who make those sorts of claims are in the nuthouse.
But here's the difficult thing: Jesus doesn't even come close to fitting the description of an insane lunatic. Jesus taught spiritual truths that have transformed the entire world. He demonstrated breathtaking compassion, love, and care. He was known for spending time with the outcasts of society - the poor, disenfranchised, ashamed, disfigured, and sick. Jesus loved the people everyone else rejected. In addition to being so incredibly moral and good, Jesus was incredibly intelligent. In fact, there was literally one point in his ministry when no one even dared to argue with him anymore. Every time they tried to trick him or prove him wrong, they ended up looking like total fools, so they just stopped getting into debates with him. And think about this: We divide all of history according to Christ! A.D. (Anno Domini - "In the year of our Lord") and B.C. (before Christ). Are we willing to to say that we divide all of history according to a lunatic?
It is for this reason that C.S. Lewis said that every person must make up his or her mind immediately: Jesus was either a lying lunatic or he is God. If he was a lying lunatic, then billions of people throughout history have been duped by the biggest con artist of all time. But, if he's God, then we need to start reading what he taught, especially about salvation. If Jesus is indeed God, then we need to make his teachings the priority of our lives. If you found out that God wrote a book to the world, would you put that on the back burner while you went and did a few errands? I doubt it. You'd start reading immediately. Lewis said we must fall down and start worshiping Jesus as Lord of all the universe or we must completely reject him as an insane madman.
No other religious leader made the claims Jesus did. In my opinion, the best thing you can do with your life is to read what Jesus had to say. My life has been transformed by embracing his words. I never worry about death. I believe that Christ's death on the cross was the perfect atonement for all my sins. I'm forgiven of everything. As a result, I have perfect hope, and that hope enables me to love, and it enables me to get through all of my sufferings. Having confidence that you'll live forever is the only thing that sustains you through suffering, and it's the only thing that keeps you from stealing, taking, and acting like an animal. When paradise awaits, there's no need to act like that.
We must change our mindset about Jesus. That's what the word "repent" means. It means to change our beliefs about everything important: God, our sin, our guilt, our future, salvation, judgment, eternity, etc. Jesus said that if we repented, we'd live forever.
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