Posted: October 19, 1999 at 00:50:03: by Finrod Felagund
: : : Yes, it does matter whether Jesus was the son of God. Have you ever read C.S. Lewis's trilemma argument?>
Transfer interrupted!
tic, or what he said he was, the son of God. "But let us have no more of that patronizing nonsense of Him (Jesus) being a great human teacher. He did not leave that option open to us; He did not intend to." In other words, Jesus's moral claims were and are not unique. Moral teachers before him espoused similar views. : : Yes, I'm familiar with this statement by Lewis. As a teenager he was my #1 favorite Christian apologist, and I think I've read every word he ever published. I do, though, take exception to this particular remark, since I can think of any number of other options besides the three he named. : : : What made Jesus unique was His claim to be divine. : : I'm very sorry, but this really was NOT a unique claim. I came across a story almost identical to the story of Christ in mystic Islamic literature ... Al Hajj I think his name was, or something close to that. Basicly, this Sufi mystic did and said virtually all the same things Jesus did, was even executed for blasphemy and reported by many to have risen from the dead. The problem with making absolute statements is that there are almost always exceptions. : : That doesn't mean I think people should not be Christian. : : : I know what Tolkien's answer would be to your question. : : Compared to Lewis, Tolkein was relatively silent. What do you think he would have said? : : Blessings, : : Lady G.
: : When I said unique I meant in comparison with the other famous moral teachers and founders of major world religions. I realize others have claimed to be divine. I was thinking of some other words in the same passage by Lewis, "if you went to Socrates and asked "Are you Zeus?", he would have laughed at you, if you went to Mohammed and asked him "Are you Allah?", he would have first rent his clothes and then cut your head off", etc. As I recall, the Sufis were a Muslim sect and therefore formed well after the time of Christ, but that's neither here nor there. The point is that Jesus made a set of claims about himself that, if true, make all the difference in the world. Tolkien as a Catholic believed this. He would not be a Christian if he did not. :Ha Ha! Ignore that earlier post name. As you can tell, I'm a football fan as well as a Tolkien and Lewis fan.
:Yours Truly,
:Finrod
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