From: joyce@meaddata.com 
Subject: LORD, LIAR OR LUNATIC? (continued)
Organization: Mead Data Central, Dayton OH
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 21:22:36 GMT

WAS HE A LUNATIC?

If it is inconceivable for Jesus to be a liar, then couldn't he
actually have thought himself to be God, but been mistaken? After all,
it's possible to be both sincere and wrong. But we must remember that
for someone to think himself God, especially in a fiercely
monotheistic culture, and then to tell others that their eternal
destiny depended on believing in him, is no slight flight of fantasy
but the thoughts of a lunatic in the fullest sense. Was Jesus Christ
such a person?

Someone who believes he is God sounds like someone today believing
himself Napoleon. He would be deluded and self-deceived, and probably
he would be locked up so he wouldn't hurt himself or anyone else. Yet
in Jesus we don't observe the abnormalities and imbalance that usually
go along with being deranged. His poise and composure would certainly
be amazing if he were insane.

Noyes and Kolb, in a medical text, describe the schizophrenic as a
person who is more autistic than realistic. The schizophrenic desires
to escape from the world of reality. Let's face it; claiming to be God
would certainly be a retreat from reality.

In light of the other things we know about Jesus, it's hard to imagine
that he was mentally disturbed. Here is a man who spoke some of the
most profound sayings ever recorded. His instructions have liberated
many individuals in mental bondage. Clark H. Pinnock asks: "Was he
deluded about his greatness, a paranoid, an unintentional deceiver, a
schizophrenic? Again, the skill and depth of his teachings support the
case only for his total mental soundness. If only we were as sane as
he!" A student at a California university told me that his psychology
professor had said in class that "all he has to do is pick up the
Bible and read portions of Christ's teaching to many of his patients.
That's all the counseling they need."

Psychiatrist J.T. Fisher states: "If you were to take the sum total of
all authoritative articles ever written by the most qualified of
psychologists and psychiatrists on the subject of mental hygiene -- if
you were to combine them and refine them and cleave out the excess
verbiage -- if you were to take the whole of the meat and none of the
parsley, and if you were to have these unadulterated bits of pure
scientific knowledge concisely expressed by the most capable of living
poets, you would have an awkward and incomplete summation of the
Sermon on the Mount. And it would suffer immeasurably through
comparison. For nearly two thousand years the Christian world has been
holding in its hands the complete answer to its restless and fruitless
yearnings. Here ... rests the blueprint for successful human life with
optimism, mental health, and contentment."

C.S. Lewis writes: "The historical difficulty of giving for the life,
sayings and influence of Jesus any explanation that is not harder than
the Christian explanation is very great. The discrepancy between the
depth and sanity ... of His moral teaching and the rampant megalomania
which must lie behind His theological teaching unless He is indeed God
has never been satisfactorily explained. Hence the non-Christian
hypotheses succeed one another with the restless fertility of
bewilderment."

Philip Schaff reasons: "Is such an intellect -- clear as the sky,
bracing as the mountain air, sharp and penetrating as a sword,
thoroughly healthy and vigorous, always ready and always
self-possessed -- liable to a radical and most serious delusion
concerning his own character and mission? Preposterous imagination!"

WAS HE LORD?

I cannot personally conclude that Jesus was a liar or a lunatic. The
only other alternative is that he was the Christ, the Son of God, as
he claimed.

When I discuss this with most Jewish people, it's interesting how they
respond. They usually tell me that Jesus was a moral, upright,
religious leader, a good man, or some kind of prophet. I then share
with them the claims Jesus made about himself and then the material in
this chapter on the trilemma (liar, lunatic, or Lord). When I ask if
they believe Jesus was a liar, there is a sharp "No!" Then I ask, "Do
you believe he was a lunatic?" The reply is "Of course not." Do you
believe he is God?" Before I can get a breath in edgewise, there is a
resounding "Absolutely not." Yet one has only so many choices.

The issue with these three alternatives is not which is possible,for
it is obvious that all three are possible. But rather, the question is
"Which is more probable?" Who you decide Jesus Christ is must not be
an idle intellectual exercise. You cannot put him on the shelf as a
great moral teacher. That is not a valid option. He is either a liar,
a lunatic, or Lord and God. You must make a choice. "But," as the
Apostle John wrote, "these have been written that you may believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and"  -- more important -- "that
believing you might have life in His name".

The evidence is clearly in favor of Jesus as Lord. Some people,
however, reject this clear evidence because of moral implications
involved. They don't want to face up to the responsibility or
implications of calling him Lord.


----------------------If anyone is interested where I got this from,
I'll let you know sometime.------------------------------------------
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