Jesus - Liar, Lunatic, or Lord?

Jesus - Liar, Lunatic, or Lord?

There are a lot of atheists who say that Jesus may have been a great moral teacher, but they don't accept his divinity.

The writer and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis once argued that nobody was allowed to say that. If Jesus really said the things he said -- that he could forgive sins and would return after his death -- there were only three ways to interpret that: Either he was a lunatic, he was a liar, or he was the Lord. He was either mad, bad, or God.

This "trilemma" has been called by some Christian apologists the most important argument they have.

The only problem is: It's a horrible argument. Those aren't the only three options that are out there and those words are never well-defined anyway.

Lunatic, Liar, Lord... what about Legend? What if, after he died, people began attributing things to him that he never did just to build up his legacy? It's a possibility.

What if Jesus was just honestly mistaken? What if he believed all these things Christians now attribute to him, but they just weren't true? It's kind of like some faith-healing pastors. They really, genuinely believe they have the power to heal you just by touching you. They don't actually have that power, but they think they do. Are they liars? No. They're just mistaken. They're taken in by confirmation bias -- they think they have power and other people think they're healed, fueling the cycle. If Jesus were in that position, he might have been lying, but he wasn't doing it on purpose.

What if some of the claims Jesus made weren't lies, but they bent the truth a bit? We don't know everything he said, only what was written down, but haven't you ever said things that weren't exactly true but for a good reason? What about parents who tell their kids to be good because Santa will give them presents. Are they liars? Kinda, but who could blame them? It's for a good cause. What if Jesus said some things that weren't entirely true because he knew he was serving a higher purpose? What if he said he was the Son of God because people might take his teachings a little more seriously? He would be a liar, but not in some bad way.

Could he have been a lunatic? You know, there are people we consider lunatics who end up with a mass following. We call them cult leaders. And I'm not saying Jesus was one of those, but keep in mind that even when he was alive, not everyone believed what he was saying. They thought he was deluded. Christianity didn't become popular until well after his death. He doesn't have to be clinically insane to be called a lunatic. Even progressive Christians today say Jesus was a radical, and radicals are often called crazy before their wisdom is understood.

Obviously, not all these situations are plausible, but my point is this: Saying that Lunatic, Liar, and Lord are our only three options is a dumb argument for Christianity.

By the way, you could make the same argument for any prophet you want. Was Muhammad a lunatic, liar, or prophet of the Lord? I suspect most Christians would hesitate before calling him a lunatic or liar.

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[llllllllllllllllllll]

Sometimes I feel like the man made this up, and became a legend he could’ve been a modern day magician

[Squary]

I realy want to thank you hemant mehta. A few months ago i was sure that based on what i got, that atheism is the right choice. But i didnt want to talk about it. I was rather shy and unsure to approach the entire topic. So i pretendet to be a muslim as i have been. For the sake of my family and my friends i avoided this topic. But pretending to be religious just to avoid a discussion felt wrong. Very wrong. But nowadays after watching your videos over the course of several months i now got arguments and confidence.

I think it changed me in a very positive way and i realy wanna thank you for that.
I realy appreciate.

[Orikon]

Jesus - Liar, Lunatic, Lord or an Extraterrestrial?
I have to go with the last.

[Tekkenesha]

Jesus told people to hate their parents, give away all their possession and follow him., he also lied saying that with enough faith you could move a mountain (by just telling the mountain to move). He also said to drink his blood and  eat his flesh.   Yeah, he was crazy....

[stiimuli]

I think legend is the most plausible. The same thing has happened with people right here in modern times. People talk about Bruce Lee like he was some invincible, magical war god. Even some atheists make people like Hitchens out to be much greater than they were.

[Steam]

I'm not sure how the "Liar Lunatic or Lord" idea is an argument for christians. I find it very likely that he was a liar or a lunatic, even though there are other options like Hemant pointed out.

[theworldthroughmylenses]

I really find your videos very useful! I'm in a period where I'm struggling a little bit. Not really struggling, cause even after getting informed and reading I still consider myself agnostic, but I've spent some months surrounded by Christians (and as you probably have experienced it's difficult not to be their friends without them saying "I'll pray for you" or without them inviting to their church) and since I consider myself open minded and interested in knowing more I went and also started reading the Bible by myself( never done since Catholics rarely do that). The problem is that they invited me to read the Bible thinking I could start believing..but it's quite the opposite. After reading the creation story for example it was quite clear for me that it was only a story to try to explain how the universe came to life, but not something literal (actually the Catholic Church now agrees on that), and I thought that was normal to understand. But than confronting some Protestant Christian friends of mine it came out they seriously believe it as literal. And for me that is very weird. But I might understand that like if you grew up in a very conservative religious family that's the way you are used to think..but I met many people who converted later in their 20s and I simply cannot understand how they can agree on that. I feel some people do because they have the comfort of a close community their Church creates.

Btw do you have other videos or posts that respond to CS Lewis arguments in Mere Christianity?

[Psylent]

I go with the argument of him being either non-existent or a 2, 000 year old cult leader.

[MRayner]

I simply cannot agree with people (even many non-believers) who claim, in an almost politely obligatory way it seems, that Jesus was a “great man”, a “wise teacher” and so forth. To the contrary, he always struck me as being little more than a dime-store philosopher, a faith-healing charlatan and a self-righteous demagogue. 

[crasowl]

Your first point is a *Strawman Argument*. When you said;

"What if Jesus was just honestly mistaken? What if he believed all these things Christians now attribute to him, but they just weren't true? It's kind of like some faith-healing pastors. They really, genuinely believe they have the power to heal you just by touching you. They don't actually have that power, but they think they do. Are they liars? No. They're just mistaken...if Jesus were in that position, he might have been lying, but he wasn't doing it on purpose. "

You have it completely wrong. If he genuinely believed he was magical and all that, then *he was a lunatic*. You're setting up the argument that he's a liar, and refuting that. That's called a Strawman Argument. 

[deeliriyum]

Excellent vid! Also I like how those who are using triple L as an argument completely miss out the fact that it also could have been combination of two or all three L's.

Lying Lunatic, Lunatic Lord, Lying Lord or Lying Lunatic Lord.

Legend is awesome addition too!

[UndoneFakeJesu]

If nothing else, he probably was a pretty good storyteller, given that apparently quite a many people listened to him. Dozens of gospels written about him, some pretty soon after his death (and if my memory serves me right, the oldest gospels don't exactly paint him as God)

[splicerdicer]

Even if you dont believe in christ he gives great advice or wisdom. Like this " what good is it to conquer the world but lose your soul in the process." Or "A house divided on itself cannot stand."

[alku]

Men with supernatural powers...
Where are they today?
They were present in these books but suddenly decided to go in hiding...
Yeah sure..

A man a savior for the sins of man, just think about it... Think real long and hard this one...

[munstrumridcully]

How about "None of the above"? I think it is most likely, based on the evidence, that the words attributed to Jesus(who never actually says, in the Gospels, that he is god, which was a point of contention in the early Chruch, until what became Orthodoxy won out) are likely those of the authors, whether or not Jesus was an actual hitorical figure. The earliest of the Gospels was written decades after the events they seek to portray, and simply, imo, are unreliable as any kind of verbatim, or even general guide to an historical Jesus' actual words and deeds. I beleive Jesus, if an historical figure, was mythicized and deified by extremely motivated followers, and there really is no reason to suspect otherwise.

[leland]

It is a serious mistake to take most of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as "reporting the facts". It would be out of character because when people wrote stories and biographies etc., they took great liberties with "facts". Julius Caesar was born of the union of a god with his mother - thus he and his adopted son, Octavian, were both gods. The stories of the Bible are not essentially different than those stories. Along with the myths there are mustard sized seeds of truth - probably. The problem with the stories about Jesus is that there are no parties that tell these stories except those who wrote the gospels - and they are not factual news reports, they are propaganda designed to make new followers and strengthen the faith of those who already walk The Way. Serious critical Bible scholars do not buy the fairy tales, but look for the nuggets of tales that relate to how we treat one another - which is what the Kingdom of God is all about. It has nothing to do with pie in the sky bye and bye when I die.

[trixie]

When I was a fundie, I believed god healed through me.

[mmaqwe]

I was learning more about Christianity in school, I read that Jesus promoted love, tolerance and faith. While I don't like the idea of faith, teaching those the other things was a very good idea. I thought the same thing Hemant Mehta thought. That the most logical reason was that he was just a guy trying to spread a good message, and gave himself more creditably by saying he was the lord.  

[truthseeker]

The strongest argument for Christ is when every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ. This man will be revealed as a liar and a lunatic. 

[EvilDude]

I always think of the movie "The Life of Brian" whenever I watch videos like this, haha.