Jesus of Nazereth - Lunatic, Liar or Lord?

Question

Apparently C.S.Lewis of Narnia fame came up with this question (Others have rephrased it as 'Mad, Bad or God'?) He seemed to used it rhetorically, but I thought I would be provocative and cast it out on the bountiful waters that are Y!A. (I am aware that there is a false restriction to these three categories, you could add 'honestly deluded' 'well meaning idiot' 'misguided puppet' or 'fictitious character', etc but let us stick with Lewis, where would you put him?)

Just to add, Lewis used this as an argument in favour of Jesus's divinity - he basically said that, given that Jesus claimed to be the Lord, we only had three ways of assessing the claim - he rejected the first two.
I have my opinion, but I am honestly seeking to collate others.

Answer 1

Hmm, interesting, since I have to use one of Lewis's criteria.

My first thought is liar, but then I consider that he did not write any of the books of the bible, his apostles did, so I don't know if what they say he said is what he actually said, in which case I would go with liar, or if they were lying. Plus, if he believes what he said was true even if it wasn't is that lying?

I would throw out lord right away, since I'm an atheist.

So by process of elimination I must say Lunatic. If the apostles lied about what he said he still was going around telling people about some new religion. Which makes him similar to Joseph Smith, the Scientology guy, and David Koresh (The Waco Guy).

Answer 2

Lewis refined it and popularized it he didn't invent it. There are no other categories. Honestly deluded is crazy, I forget who says that if a man thinks hes Napoleon he's crazy, but If a man were to think he was God himself he would be thoroughly insane because the gap between man and God is bigger than the gap between man and a butterfly, if he was well meaning that means he didn't think it but thought it would be good for others so he's still a liar etc.... The refinement is what makes it so great there are just those three categories, and in the end obviously he's the Lord.

And to Will he was a prophet, but it's in what he said that makes him fall into those categories, he could have been a plumber and the categories would have held.

Answer 3

I think the biggest flaw in Lewis's trichotomy is that Jesus may have been speaking what a Muslim would call a Hadith Qudsi.

In other words, Jesus could have been a prophet, rather than a liar, lord or lunatic.

Answer 4

Indeed If he is not LORD then he would be a lunatic and liar for claiming to be..I say he is LORD and have made him LORD in my life because all the evidence points to that..also I believed even when I didn't follow.

Answer 5

I'm going for "lunatic". Quite honestly, given the number of people who "hear voices", claim to "speak to god" etc. that these days would be diagnosed as mentally ill or just ignored, I think if Jesus had popped up today he would have got nowhere, or given up for "care in the community". Think temporal lobe problems.

Answer 6

Liar.

There is too much evidence in the Bible that Jesus knew EXACTLY what he was doing, and he molded his life so that he would be named the Messiah. That makes him a liar more than a lunatic.... And seeing as Gods to not exist, he cannot have been the son of God....

Answer 7

The Lord our God, Messiah, and Savior of Mankind.

Answer 8

I'm a big fan of Lewis, he got it right, jesus is Lord, and nothing else fits the claim

Answer 9

Lord - his birth brought 1000's of years of christianity giving people from different generations something to believe in

Answer 10

Lord!