Is Jesus of Nazareth the son of God? Did Jesus of Nazareth even exist? There are really four main views on these questions. Many people simply answer no to the second question and leave it at that. Other people say that yes, Jesus of Nazareth did exist historically, but they believe he was simply a good moral teacher. Some other people agree that Jesus existed, but instead of him being merely a moral teacher they see him as a prophet of God. The final group of people answer yes to both questions. They believe that not only did Jesus of Nazareth exist, but that he is the son of God. These viewpoints are completely incompatible with each other, and there is no way to compromise a solution.
There is only one right answer, and that is that Jesus did exist historically, and that he is the son of God.
This issue is important because the way someone answers these questions is foundational to their world view. It is also important because answering yes to both questions is the foundation of the worlds largest religion, Christianity. This author is a Christian, and a deacon at Windfall Christian Church. However, that has not always been the case. For over ten years the author searched for spiritual answers. He searched for something to believe not because someone else, or some book, said that he should, but because it made sense logically and rationally. This search ended back where it started, with the belief that Jesus of Nazareth did exist historically, and that he is the son of God.
However, many people disagree with this view. Some of them believe that he could not possibly be the son of God, because he never existed. Why is it that these people believe this? Some of them claim that there is a lack of historical evidence for exis...
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...clusion that they can come to; that Jesus did exist historically, and that he is the Son of God.
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Several non-biblical and non-Christian sources are available to help bear out the fact that Jesus actually did exist as a historical person. These sources are of an array of backgrounds: Josephus, a Jewish historian; Tacitus, a Roman writer; Pliny the Younger, a Roman writer; and Suetonius, also a Roman writer, all spoke of Jesus of Nazareth in their records.
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Being a Christian and a student of Communications, I felt compelled to reading The Case for Christ. I decided to use this book for this review especially due to the large amount of criticisms and backlash it had received. Lee Strobel is known for being a hard-nosed skeptical journalist and ex-investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune. He also described himself as a "former spiritual skeptic" before his personal mission for the proof of God. Skeptics around the world claim that Jesus either never said He was God or He never exemplified the activities and mindset of God. Either way they rather triumphantly proclaim that Jesus was just a man. Some will go so far as to suggest that He was a very moral and special man, but a man nonetheless. For Strobel, there was far too much evidence against the idea of God, let alone the possibility that God became a man. God was just mythology, superstition, or wishful thinking.
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3.Therefore, in the absence of extraordinarily strong evidence in its favor, the claim that a god exists may be considered false.
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Before this semester I had never taken a moment to ask myself - Who is Jesus? It is something that I have never been given the option to question. Being brought up in a strong Christian background, where I went to mass every Sunday, and then following mass, went to bible school for two hours, ingrained a specific image of Jesus into my head. This image portrayed Jesus as a white man who preformed miracles for the poor and oppressed, and also sacrificed himself on the cross for all of humanity’s’ sins. However, after taking this course, I have been able to rethink Jesus in ways that I could have never imagined. It has become evident to me that there are many different ways to see Jesus. And with each of these contrasting views, there comes both biblical and rational evidence supporting each image along with criticism disputing each image.
The Messiah left the people hopeful by explaining how easy it is to enter the kingdom of Heaven. According to Matthew 5:3-12, the people with righteous hearts will definitely inherit the kingdom of Heaven. Jesus inspires everyone to be humble, merciful, peaceful, and kind to one another, and he also mentions the importance of forgiveness and love several times, portraying his loving nature. Christ warns the nations to not fear persecution, because their reward in heaven will be great. Jesus mentions that Christians are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. However, salt without saltiness is worthless; hence, Christians without spiritual knowledge won’t get far in life. Christ motivates Christians to stand out by being loving, kind, compassionate; a reflection of Jesus so that unbelievers are eager to become Christians as well (New International Version, Matt.5:13-17). Additionally, he mentions the consequences of murder, adultery, and divorce. He talks about the sincerity of oaths and the importance of loving your enemies and giving to the poor. Jesus preaches about the importance of prayer because it is the way of communicating with the Lord. The Lord favors intimate and personal prayers over hypocritical prayers in public (New International Version, Matt.5.21-33,43, 6.1-5,25). Christ mentions the
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