Agree or disagree? And why?
'I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of thing Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.' -C.S. Lewis
2006-11-20 04:01:08 · 21 answers · asked by whitehorse456 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Hello, my friend. This book--"Mere Christianity"--and especially this bit about Christ's being either a lunatic or else the Son of God, was instrumental in my opening up to Jesus, simply on account of the fact that I had, for years, "respected" Jesus of Nazareth as a great teacher, ever ignoring the (what I then thought to be) creepier things he was quoted as saying in the Gospels (such as "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Light")...and Lewis, with this very simple and basic observation, blew my cozy little respect for Jesus of Nazareth out of the water.
Which did something to a door. Meaning, I then had to face the very choice that Lewis proposed in this book. In other words, I was either going to have to open the door all the way (and believe Christ was who he said he is) or else close it (and believe Jesus of Nazareth to be deranged and blasphemous).
Ultimately, I would say that I chose to believe that Christ is God's Son, but truly God gave me the knowledge that Christ is his Son (John 6:44)...and perhaps he gave me the gift of faith for the sole reason that I was seeking it.
2006-11-20 04:08:04 · answer #1 · answered by Gestalt 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
C. S. Lewis is one of Christianity's greatest geniuses. What he says is Absolute Truth that people are willing, at the least, to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but do not understand that He far exceeds this mere role and is actually God, the Divine Nature, one with the Holy Triune Godhead of Father, Son and Spirit. Christ Jesus said, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father."
Lewis further clarifies that as far as Christ is concerned, the "debate" is closed on the speculation or notion that during His earthly incarnated sojourn He was merely a great human teacher. This is in referral to Christ’s Redemptive Deed upon the Cross of Calvary, His Resurrection from the dead, and His Ascension to the Right Hand of the Father. Because Lewis has informed the listener that the debate is closed, then a “choice” is left confronting all of Humankind, if you choose that Jesus "is" Lord and God, then you are with Christ, Who is God, reigning today from Heaven with the Triune Godhead; but if you choose that Jesus "was" a mere and historical great moral teacher, then you are against the Eternal Jesus and do not acknowledge Him as Divinity, but as a dead great human teacher, who is no more. This choice literally means that you are against the God of the Universe, and he cannot stand in your behalf.
2006-11-20 13:51:00 · answer #2 · answered by . 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm a Christian and I disagree with him.
Let's take the man who says he's a poached egg. What if in the persona of a poached egg, he also says that murder is wrong. That stealing is wrong. That hurting other people is wrong.
Are murder, stealing and hurting others now moral because a "lunatic" said they were wrong?
I believe that Christ is the Son of God. But I also believe that God is beyond my complete and total understanding - and I would never presume to judge a person who "found" Christ in whatever form they were able to comprehend as wrong in the eyes of God. It's not what I believe, but I can never say for certain that they won't be able to answer to God in a manner that He accepts.
It's like saying that someone really doesn't understand the law if they get the spirit of it right, while the letter of it wrong.
2006-11-20 04:06:49 · answer #3 · answered by tagi_65 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
whitehorse456,
Because many people are lazy, literally. They do not want to think. If they go into the Bible with an open mind, they will find that the most reliable record of what Jesus did has Him making statements about Himself that make Him equal with God, and not from this Earth, and that He thought that He was perfect, and that He would die for the sins of the world.
The Resurrection, as He stated, was the sign of Jonah. That He would return to the world after three days. And still, the 'good and wise' lazy people, continue to equate Jesus with Buddha, and Mohammed, and Zoroaster, Ghandhi, etc.
They just give up on thinking.
2006-11-20 04:11:02 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Agree...that is the choice you must make if you want eternal life. You must believe that Jesus is the Son of God.. is God...to be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
For the Christians who are saying they disagree, please read the quote one or two more times to completey understand what is being said...it is a little confusing the first time! CS Lewis is completely on the mark!
2006-11-20 04:06:37 · answer #5 · answered by Buff 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I accept this quote.
God the eternal Son became incarnate in Jesus Christ. Through Him all things were created, the character of God is revealed, the salvation of humanity is accomplished, and the world is judged. Forever truly God, He became also truly man, Jesus the Christ. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived and experienced temptation as a human being, but perfectly exemplified the righteousness and love of God. By His miracles He manifested God's power and was attested as God's promised Messiah. He suffered and died voluntarily on the cross for our sins and in our place, was raised from the dead, and ascended to minister in the heavenly sanctuary in our behalf. He will come again in glory for the final deliverance of His people and the restoration of all things. (John 1:1-3, 14; Col. 1:15-19; John 10:30; 14:9; Rom. 6:23; 2 Cor. 5:17-19; John 5:22; Luke 1:35; Phil. 2:5-11; Heb. 2:9-18; 1 Cor. 15:3, 4; Heb. 8:1, 2; John 14:1-3.)
2006-11-20 04:08:07 · answer #6 · answered by Damian 5 · 1⤊ 3⤋
A problem with this is that it assumes that the biblical tales of Jesus are reasonably accurate, and we have no grounds for supposing that this is so. Lewis was, of course, an avowed apologetic for Christianity (read his Mere Christianity, for example), so his viewpoint is obviously biased. Hence, I decline to either agree or disagree, because I don't have enough interest in the gritty details of religion, or time to waste pursuing them.
2006-11-20 04:10:51 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
the two a style of comprise very real and intensely appealing. i'm able to completely relate to the 1st quote! I cover at the back of a grin perpetually. i'm a style of happy, hyper, loopy women who's continually guffawing and cracking jokes. yet additionally would nicely be severe whilst want be and gets reliable grades. Little do human beings be conscious of, I as quickly as i'm by myself, i'm unhappy and heartbroken and a few nights I even cry myself to sleep. My existence would look merely approximately suitable, notwithstanding it particularly is purely the choice. i be conscious of that those costs are not somewhat literal, like the 1st quote isn't in all probability approximately fantastically your eyes are or smile is, yet what that's sorta ironic approximately it is human beings tell me perpetually that I even have fantastically eyes, yet interior i'm somewhat comfortable. I additionally love the 2d quote! As I pronounced beforehand, i'm surely somewhat comfortable, yet now and lower back i'm rude and confusing and prefer i do now not care merely because of the fact i do now not want to be harm and that i do now not want to think of that folk can harm me, whilst somewhat i'm crying myself to sleep... :( A quote that i admire is this: "I went to hit upon a chum and that i got here upon none, I went out to be a chum and that i got here upon many." additionally, merely pay attention to the music think of via John Lennon. that's my in demand music of all time and that i evaluate the entire ingredient to be a quote because of the fact it is so deep and encouraging and real! thank you for giving me 2 new costs to characteristic to my favorites record!
2016-12-17 13:10:09 · answer #8 · answered by kleid 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I do. C.S. Lewis was our greatest writer. (I'm a proud traditional Anglican, too!)
Jesus had to be either a liar, a lunatic or Lord. No other choice can be explained.
He is, in Fact, Lord.
Jesus...not C.S. Lewis
2006-11-20 04:04:32 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
I read the second line and immediatey I disagree with what the foolish say- For God and Jesus are one! See John 1:1.
John 10 says "I and the Father are One"
HE IS the son of God and HE IS God.
2006-11-20 04:05:12 · answer #10 · answered by Mandolyn Monkey Munch 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋