The Divine Trilemma (Lord, Liar, or Lunatic)

Was Jesus just a man? Or something more?

Many claim Jesus was a great moral teacher but deny he was divine. What did Jesus really claim or think about his own identity? How did he intend for us to see him? As we dig into the divine trilemma, we will ultimately come to the conclusion that only three options for Jesus remain.

He was either a deceiver, delusional, or was and is God himself.

"Who do you say I am?"

Music: "Ancient, Desert, Thoughtful Song - Non Copyright, Royalty Free" by August Wilhelmsson

Music: "Epic Cinematic Music / History Of Time / By Michel Angio / Remake Ender Guney" by NCM Epic Music Ender Guney

References:

C.S. Lewis, “Mere Christianity”, London: Collins, 1952, Pg. 54-56. (In all editions, this is Bk. II, Ch. 3, "The Shocking Alternative.")

G. K. Chesterton, “The Everlasting Man” (Pg. 129)

‘Rabbi’ John Duncan, “Colloquia Peripatetica” (Pg. 109)

Philip Schaff, “The Person of Christ” (Pg. 103)

John Stuart Mill, "Three Essays on Religion: Nature, the Utility of Religion, and Theism 3rd Edition” (Pg. 254-255)

Henri Gatien Bertrand, (Quoting Napoleon Bonaparte avec General Bertrand a St. Helena)

Resources, Inspiration, and Recommended Reading:

Josh McDowell, "Evidence that Demands a Verdict"

William Lane Craig, "Reasonable Faith"

Lee Strobel, "The Case for Christ"

David Limbaugh, "Jesus On Trial"

Norman Giesler, "Christian Apologetics: 2nd Edition"

J. Warner Wallace, "Cold-Case Christianity"

N. T. Wright, "The Resurrection of the Son of God"

Gary R. Habermas, Michael Licona, "The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus"

[debunkingthefundamentalist]

This is not a good defense. As I said to my own people in a recent vid, one of the arguments to the Jesus divinity concept was that he couldn't have been a liar or a lunatic. Well, yes he could have and very easily. How many today claim supernatural occurrences? The entire Burpo family comes to mind with a now twenties man who still believes he went to heaven at four years old even though he never actually died. And how many follow this ministry? How many followed Joseph Smith's claim of being visited by the angel Moroni? He even had eleven signed signatures of witness of later seeing tablets, hearing supernatural voices and such. So no, Jesus and his disciples claming this and that don't mean much--and the fact we actually have no signed signatures of anything or any authorship of anyone else during Jesus life only makes the case look more and more like an urban legend. Cheers, DCF

[theologyexplained]

Hi are you willing to have a dialogue on zoom to see if the scriptures really teach the trinity?

[lukostello]

They always leave out the 4th option: Legend. If Jesus was a legend we would expect that if we arranged the biblical stories of Jesus in the order they were written then we see each iteration become more and more extraordinary. Which is exactly what we observe. Much like the Bhudda, Robin Hood, or any other legend these were stories once based on real people but as the stories were retold new things were added to accentuate the moral of the stories their nonfictional counterparts were trying to uphold.

It is my current understanding that the authors of the bible are not known and they are not first hand accounts and are written at least 50 years after the events supposedly took place. I am not particularly interested in delving deeper into it because no intelligent god would make learning ancient languages, hermeneutics, history, and philosophy in order to investigate the truth of his existence is not a god that wants to be known. The truth should be available to anyone such that if they want it they can find it themselves. Such that no matter what country (or planet) you are born the nature of the universe can unfold before you. The this kind of truth would be impervious to the loss of all knowledge of history. What if all our records disappeared and we forgot everything? What truth would we consistently find. THAT is what I am interested in.

[christoph]

Ther is a much simpler explanation that somehow isn't mentioned. 3rd person account. I do not want to enter the debate od the historic Jesus figure, for it is far from resolved and far from clear. However it can be reguarded as irrelevant. If you accept the possibility of Jesus' existing you can still dismiss many of the claims about him, since there are virtually no 1st level accounts about his teachings. The primary accounts are in the bible and none of them are by contemporaries.
Then again: if he thought he was god, I am perfectly willing to call him deluded.

[Archangel]

This was beautifully written and made.
However, the music could be toned down a bit.

[MidiwaveProductions]

The claim: "I am God". Meaning: I AM = God