The Problem of God
“The Problem of Jesus”
John 1:1

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. This one was in the beginning with God.” - The New World Translation (Jehovah’s Witness)

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” - The New International Version (Christian Church)

Word = Logos
“Word” of God personified God’s will

Who is Jesus?

The problem of…
Science, God’s Existence, The Bible, Jesus, Evil & Suffering, Exclusivity, Hypocrisy & Sex, Hell

Who is Jesus?
This is the central question of our lives

Christ or crazy?
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. You must make your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool 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.” – C.S. Lewis 

Historians debate the nature of Jesus, but not His existence.

Objections of Jesus
1. He never said: “I am God.”

1st Century
	Polytheistic - worship many gods
	Pantheistic - everything is god
	Monotheistic - only 1 God

Jews…
	Were monotheistic - worshiped only one God
	To make a claim to be God was absurd
	The Old Testament made it clear God is not man (Numbers 23:19)
	A claim like this was blasphemy and required capital punishment (Leviticus 24:10-23)

How did Jesus claim to be God?
	He existed as God before He was born (John 8:56-59, 1 John 4:2; John 3:13, 6:38,41, 17:5)
	He claimed to be Israel’s God - “I Am” (John 8:58; Exodus 3:13-14)
	He claimed to be equal with God (John 10:22-23, John 5:17-18)
	He is accused of claiming to be God and doesn’t correct them (Matthew 26:63-65; John 5:17-23, 8:58-59, 19:7-10)
	He teaches to pray in His name (John 13:13-14, 15:16, 16:24)
	He accepts worship (John 20:28-29)
	He claims OT titles (John 10:14, Isaiah 40:11; John 8:58; Revelation 1:8, 22:13)
		Shepherd of Israel
		I AM
		Alpha and Omega
		The Almighty
	Claims to be the fulfillment of the temple, the Torah, the promised Messiah
		(Mark 11:15-19; Matthew 5:7; Mathew 4:19, 8:22, 9:9; Matthew 25:14-30)

Other religions…
	Buddhism - Jesus was not God, but an enlightened man like Buddha
	Hinduism - Jesus is an incarnation of god, like Krishna
	Islam - Jesus was a man and a prophet, but was inferior to Muhammad
	Jehovah’s Witnesses - Jesus, the archangel Michael, a created being that became a man
	Mormonism - Jesus, half-brother of Lucifer, only a man, became one of many gods
	New Age - Guru Deepak Chopra - Jesus is a state of consciousness we can all aspire to
	Scientology - Jesus was an implant forced on Thetan about a million years ago

Objections of Jesus
	He never said “I am God.”
	The Resurrection

Common arguments against
	Jesus didn’t really die
	His body was stolen (John 20:1-2)
	They went to the wrong tomb
	The disciples borrowed the idea of resurrection

John 20:30-31

Who is Jesus?