{"id":653,"date":"2016-01-21T19:50:09","date_gmt":"2016-01-21T19:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/?p=653"},"modified":"2016-01-21T19:50:09","modified_gmt":"2016-01-21T19:50:09","slug":"does-it-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/2016\/01\/21\/does-it-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Does It Matter?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Does it Matter who Jesus was? (Or whether he was)?<\/p>\n

I have decided to revisit that Time article from 2014 to which this prior post <\/a>referred. The article in question was titled \u201cThe Search for Jesus: Inside the Scholars\u2019 Debate.\u201d After rehashing various revisionist positions on Jesus, the article drew the following conclusion:<\/p>\n

This time of year, many people will conclude that those scholars are asking the wrong questions. They\u2019ll answer as one reader did in the letters to the editor following the 1996 story: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter who Jesus of Nazareth was or what he was,\u201d he wrote. \u201cWhat\u2019s most important is the lessons he taught.\u201d<\/em> (You can find this online at Time Magazine\u2019s website<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

To this we have to respond, \u201cHell, yes it matters!\u201d And I stick by the expletive here for its literal meaning, which is an evocation of an unpleasant afterlife for those who are destined for perdition. It matters, because nothing less than eternity is at stake!<\/p>\n

What, after all, were the lessons that Jesus taught? While a tiny bit of what Jesus said can be viewed as isolated nuggets of wisdom, a la Confucius, the bulk of his teaching was about himself. If a theme could be slapped on what is recorded about the teachings of Jesus, it would be something like \u201cThe Father has sent me; the Kingdom of God is at hand\u201d. He spoke much about the nature of that kingdom (try to count the number of times he launched a parable with the words \u201cthe kingdom of Heaven is like\u2026\u201d). He spoke a lot about his own relationship to the Father (\u201cI and the Father are one\u201d, \u201cwhoever knows me knows the Father\u201d\u2013See John 10:30 and John 14:7). He spoke of his future glorification. He claimed to be the \u201cBread of Life,\u201d and the \u201cGood Shepherd.\u201d He claimed to be the \u201cResurrection and the Life\u201d. He called himself by the title \u201cson of man\u201d, which ancient Jews would have understood to be a messianic title (for example, see Daniel 7)<\/p>\n

If Jesus didn\u2019t exist, then you aren\u2019t left with many teachings that should be taken all that seriously. Maybe you can go ahead and take away the so-called Golden Rule: \u201cDo unto others as you would have others do unto you\u201d. <\/p>\n

If he did exist (which in fact is the majority report among scholars), and taught all these things, but was wrong about himself, then you are left with a sad tale of a misguided man. You are left with a man who was wrong about himself, and about the Kingdom of God, and who was ultimately tortured and killed for no good reason. In this scenario the \u201cgood teacher\u201d was wrong, and therefore isn\u2019t all that \u201cgood\u201d a teacher. You can still take away the Golden Rule as a bonus prize.<\/p>\n

If Jesus really existed, and really was a \u201cgood teacher\u201d who was right about the things he taught, then we need to treat his words with commensurate awe and reverence. We need to decide how to respond to \u201cI am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.\u201d<\/body><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"