Thats a shame Ma Mu, Ive appreciated your excellent research material. Its a shame you seem unable to put aside presuppositions, in the same way to examine what history confirms are facts in the events of Easter...If you really CAN do the same....as any researcher must do to let the facts speak for themselves, I suggest Strobels excellent book on investigating the claims of Christ. 'The Case for Christ' - Lee Strobel or any of 'Evidence that demands a verdict' by Josh McDowell. Anyway time will indeed tell.
Sorry to disappoint you. Why is it so important that Jesus is the only one to get to God? You don't need any middle man. God is right there. That's all.I am saying.
Sorry! Possibly I breached Substack etiquette by fact-checking your comment so soon after - kindof bringing the article discussion into the blog area? I’m not sure what Substack etiquette is really but sorry if I offended you by doing this.
(Btw not resiling from my belief that on the basis of Jesus’ own words (and actions - he is the only one resurrected from the dead ever) that Jesus is the only way to the Father - this testimony is all throughout the New Testament -the epistles, Revelation, - and was the reason Christians were burned by Nero for not lighting incense to the Emperor and other gods- it is the reason Christians were hated by everybody in the ancient world - the belief that Jesus is the only way to God is very well attested historically as well as in scripture)
Ok we are going in circles. You quote scriptures written by people who never met Jesus or witnessed the events. I don't accept them. You refuse to acknowledge that no-one ever experienced god unless through Jesus. So Buddha made it all up? Mohamed made it all up? Hundreds of known enlightened masters made it all up? Only Jesus is real? Look, love your Jesus as much as you like. Bit why does he have to be the only one? What is that all about?
On the basis of the evidence, which I have examined in minute detail, (having been totally obsessed with First Century history and archaeology for thirty years really!) the New Testament was written by people who witnessed the events - the very point of the phrase "apostolic authority" passed down by the early bishops meant eyewitness authority - and there is too much detail verified by archaeology for any of it to have been written later (except maybe a few letters such as 2 Peter, and Revelation). And on this particular point of Christians insisting on the uniqueness of Jesus; it was precisely the reason that Christians were persecuted in the 1st and 2nd Century under the Roman Emperors (particularly Nero, Domitian, Marcus Aurelius, etc). It is not a later addition to the text or Christian beliefs - it is essential and central, right from the start - the assertion Jesus is Lord is one of the earliest archaeological evidences of Christianity on a first century tomb.
I fully agree that Buddha was a great philosopher, Mohammed an extraordinary person (look at his own doubts about the inspiration of his writing before his wife convinced him otherwise tho ). But Jesus is unique: His birth was unique - He was born to save humans from their sins - thus born of a virgin - someone who was like the rest of us could not have saved us. His wisdom is unique. I've read the Koran, Buddhist scriptures, Bhagavad Gita, Chuang Tzu, Lao Tzu, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Plato, Kant, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche Kierkegaard, etc etc, as well as many other writers (for me Oscar Wilde stands out actually believe it or not for his insight and wisdom ) (CS Lewis is a modern example) and each of these great writers said things that are true and some of their insights really stand out. But when it comes to Jesus - everything Jesus is reported to have said - all His parables - everything He taught - is revolutionary and so deep and unfathomable that it takes a lifetime to even scratch the surface of the wisdom therein. Jesus' life and deeds were predicted accurately a thousand years before in the Old Testament scriptures (look at Isaiah 51-53 and Psalm 22 for the most remarkable examples of prophecy of his crucifixion) - this has never happened before or since. He saw through the habitual hypocrisy of human religion much more keenly than any other (the Pharisees would not have been seen as such hypocrites today if they had not encountered Jesus - but as you have said - religious figures often become hypocrites because of their mixed motives of money and manipulating others). Jesus' teaching was completely revolutionary in its call to kindness and mercy and selflessness and love: before Him both the Pharisees and Confucius taught "Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you." But Jesus taught "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". His parables are unforgettable in their humour and insight - for instance "Take the beam out of your own eye before you try to take the splinter out of someone else's eye. When you have taken the beam out of your own eye, then you will be able to see clearly to take the splinter out of someone else's eye" (my paraphrase Matt 7:3-5).
Jesus' teaching on loving others was also completely unique and new - He told people to love even their enemies, to do good to those that hate you and to pray for and bless those who persecute you. (The apostle Paul practiced this kind of love in an amazing way) Jesus turned upside down the whole Graeco/Roman/Jewish/pagan concept of honour - wherein the greatest person is the one who lords it over others - Jesus told His disciples that the leader must serve others and demonstrated this Himself. He showed in His life that real love involves self-sacrifice - the reason there's so many divorces today is that people don't know or practice this, they think they have to "realise their inner selves" - but Jesus willingly submitted to death on the cross (this is not a theory but visible in His reported actions in the Garden of Gethsemane ). CS Lewis said if anyone made all this up, they were a greater genius than anyone in history, or something like.
AND Jesus is the only human to have risen from the dead.
All of these things are the reasons Jesus is completely unique among human beings. If He had never existed, we would not have hospitals, orphanages, we would still have slavery, we would not have the idea that all people of every race colour and creed are equal before God, we would still have pederasty as a social institution in the West which was stamped out in Greece because of the Christian faith, etc etc.
I have no problem with Jesus. I love some of his statements. I have no problem with you adoring and loving him. Obviously, he is the right teacher for you. If we love someone and get so much from that love, it is natural that we want to share that with others. I have no problem with that, either. The only problem I have is you and other Christians insist that the only way to god is through Jesus. That, my friend, is totally insane, and so removed from history and reality that I am perplexed that an obviously good and intelligent man can be so ignorant and intolerant. And you are not alone. Christians are no different from the gods of Nero and their system. They burned and killed the early Christians because they claimed their gods were the only true gods. It is the same insanity and it causes so much harm on Earth. And that is not on Jesus. He never wanted anyone being killed in his name. Or anything not meeting god by any other means. So sad you can't see that. I met god. It is nothing we imagine and has nothing to do with Jesus. What Jesus said was meant for his disciples only. He didn't mean the whole world had to go through him to find god. People found god long before Jesus lived. It doesn't make any sense, sorry..
I myself found that claim of Jesus', that He is the only way to know God, very problematic actually as a young Christian. It is very offensive to our natural human pride, really, as we would like to find our own way to God, we find that claim of exclusiveness offensive, we say "my way or the highway", our human selfishness does not want to submit to anyone. And submitting to anyone except Jesus is dangerous to our soul. However the thing about faith in Jesus and submission to Him is that He alone is able to deal with the sin and guilt that separates us from God. By accepting His death on the cross as a sacrifice for sin, we are able to be put completely right with God, and all our guilt can be taken away. Accepting Jesus as Saviour and Lord frees us from the burden of trying to be good, trying to earn our sense of righteousness by being "publicly good", trying to compensate for our past sins (guilt being probably the greatest motivator of human behaviour), trying to achieve anything at all (enlightenment, goodness, closeness to God, nirvana, a sense of self-worth, etc etc), and also from the habit of blaming others in order to get a sense of self-righteousness by putting them down (it doesn't stop nearly all Christians from doing this, especially when young in the faith; sometimes pride is a lifelong habit, but God always allows such people to suffer trials in order that their pride can be beaten down ). God is light and in him there is no darkness at all, no shadow of turning, and Jesus is the one whose sacrifice makes us possible to know this in complete fullness, indeed, freedom from guilt cannot be found any other way. To have this freedom one prays a prayer like this: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I have sinned, I'm sorry, please forgive me for all my sins, I accept that you died to save me from my sins on the cross and that you have washed my sins away in your blood, please give me new life and make me a new creation in Your name, an adopted child of God the Father, and give me Your Holy Spirit, Amen. Then one reads the Bible, finds a Christian church to attend, one that follows the Bible and preaches faith alone in Jesus for salvation, and one gets baptised (if not already as an infant) and starts a joyful new life. This is the gospel, and it really is becoming a new creation, becoming a new person, who has the life of Christ within. It fundamentally changes the way we are: formerly, God is seen in the world as a light outside oneself but we cannot know him really, we stumble around trying to find God but it is all vague and even what we think we know about God is incomplete and unhelpful, after this, God in Christ is in us, and changes us by grace to be a person with a completely new motivation of love and faithfulness and kindness, the fruits of the Spirit, and we find that the Bible speaks to us in a way that it didn't before. It is a complete transformation.
Btw our claim for uniqueness for Jesus is not meant to put anybody else down - it is quite simply the truth. I don't believe anyone is a worse person than anybody else for being a Buddhist or a Moslem - believing in Jesus doesn't make me better than anyone else - as human beings we are all in the same boat here, we're all thirsty beggars looking for the well of life - however everyone else says - "you can find the well of life" or "you can get to the well this way" - Jesus is different - He is the well of life Himself - He gives something that no one else can give - new life in Him and the forgiveness of sins, and He gives this through the most paradoxical of ways, death on a cross. God bless you, I'm going to bed now! I hope you have a good day or night wherever you are, and I will keep you in my prayers.
Thats a shame Ma Mu, Ive appreciated your excellent research material. Its a shame you seem unable to put aside presuppositions, in the same way to examine what history confirms are facts in the events of Easter...If you really CAN do the same....as any researcher must do to let the facts speak for themselves, I suggest Strobels excellent book on investigating the claims of Christ. 'The Case for Christ' - Lee Strobel or any of 'Evidence that demands a verdict' by Josh McDowell. Anyway time will indeed tell.
Sorry to disappoint you. Why is it so important that Jesus is the only one to get to God? You don't need any middle man. God is right there. That's all.I am saying.
https://markusmutscheller.substack.com/p/christian-arrogance-the-only-way?utm_source=%2Finbox&utm_medium=reader2
My answer to this garbage
Sorry! Possibly I breached Substack etiquette by fact-checking your comment so soon after - kindof bringing the article discussion into the blog area? I’m not sure what Substack etiquette is really but sorry if I offended you by doing this.
(Btw not resiling from my belief that on the basis of Jesus’ own words (and actions - he is the only one resurrected from the dead ever) that Jesus is the only way to the Father - this testimony is all throughout the New Testament -the epistles, Revelation, - and was the reason Christians were burned by Nero for not lighting incense to the Emperor and other gods- it is the reason Christians were hated by everybody in the ancient world - the belief that Jesus is the only way to God is very well attested historically as well as in scripture)
Ok we are going in circles. You quote scriptures written by people who never met Jesus or witnessed the events. I don't accept them. You refuse to acknowledge that no-one ever experienced god unless through Jesus. So Buddha made it all up? Mohamed made it all up? Hundreds of known enlightened masters made it all up? Only Jesus is real? Look, love your Jesus as much as you like. Bit why does he have to be the only one? What is that all about?
On the basis of the evidence, which I have examined in minute detail, (having been totally obsessed with First Century history and archaeology for thirty years really!) the New Testament was written by people who witnessed the events - the very point of the phrase "apostolic authority" passed down by the early bishops meant eyewitness authority - and there is too much detail verified by archaeology for any of it to have been written later (except maybe a few letters such as 2 Peter, and Revelation). And on this particular point of Christians insisting on the uniqueness of Jesus; it was precisely the reason that Christians were persecuted in the 1st and 2nd Century under the Roman Emperors (particularly Nero, Domitian, Marcus Aurelius, etc). It is not a later addition to the text or Christian beliefs - it is essential and central, right from the start - the assertion Jesus is Lord is one of the earliest archaeological evidences of Christianity on a first century tomb.
I fully agree that Buddha was a great philosopher, Mohammed an extraordinary person (look at his own doubts about the inspiration of his writing before his wife convinced him otherwise tho ). But Jesus is unique: His birth was unique - He was born to save humans from their sins - thus born of a virgin - someone who was like the rest of us could not have saved us. His wisdom is unique. I've read the Koran, Buddhist scriptures, Bhagavad Gita, Chuang Tzu, Lao Tzu, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Plato, Kant, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche Kierkegaard, etc etc, as well as many other writers (for me Oscar Wilde stands out actually believe it or not for his insight and wisdom ) (CS Lewis is a modern example) and each of these great writers said things that are true and some of their insights really stand out. But when it comes to Jesus - everything Jesus is reported to have said - all His parables - everything He taught - is revolutionary and so deep and unfathomable that it takes a lifetime to even scratch the surface of the wisdom therein. Jesus' life and deeds were predicted accurately a thousand years before in the Old Testament scriptures (look at Isaiah 51-53 and Psalm 22 for the most remarkable examples of prophecy of his crucifixion) - this has never happened before or since. He saw through the habitual hypocrisy of human religion much more keenly than any other (the Pharisees would not have been seen as such hypocrites today if they had not encountered Jesus - but as you have said - religious figures often become hypocrites because of their mixed motives of money and manipulating others). Jesus' teaching was completely revolutionary in its call to kindness and mercy and selflessness and love: before Him both the Pharisees and Confucius taught "Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you." But Jesus taught "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". His parables are unforgettable in their humour and insight - for instance "Take the beam out of your own eye before you try to take the splinter out of someone else's eye. When you have taken the beam out of your own eye, then you will be able to see clearly to take the splinter out of someone else's eye" (my paraphrase Matt 7:3-5).
Jesus' teaching on loving others was also completely unique and new - He told people to love even their enemies, to do good to those that hate you and to pray for and bless those who persecute you. (The apostle Paul practiced this kind of love in an amazing way) Jesus turned upside down the whole Graeco/Roman/Jewish/pagan concept of honour - wherein the greatest person is the one who lords it over others - Jesus told His disciples that the leader must serve others and demonstrated this Himself. He showed in His life that real love involves self-sacrifice - the reason there's so many divorces today is that people don't know or practice this, they think they have to "realise their inner selves" - but Jesus willingly submitted to death on the cross (this is not a theory but visible in His reported actions in the Garden of Gethsemane ). CS Lewis said if anyone made all this up, they were a greater genius than anyone in history, or something like.
AND Jesus is the only human to have risen from the dead.
All of these things are the reasons Jesus is completely unique among human beings. If He had never existed, we would not have hospitals, orphanages, we would still have slavery, we would not have the idea that all people of every race colour and creed are equal before God, we would still have pederasty as a social institution in the West which was stamped out in Greece because of the Christian faith, etc etc.
I have no problem with Jesus. I love some of his statements. I have no problem with you adoring and loving him. Obviously, he is the right teacher for you. If we love someone and get so much from that love, it is natural that we want to share that with others. I have no problem with that, either. The only problem I have is you and other Christians insist that the only way to god is through Jesus. That, my friend, is totally insane, and so removed from history and reality that I am perplexed that an obviously good and intelligent man can be so ignorant and intolerant. And you are not alone. Christians are no different from the gods of Nero and their system. They burned and killed the early Christians because they claimed their gods were the only true gods. It is the same insanity and it causes so much harm on Earth. And that is not on Jesus. He never wanted anyone being killed in his name. Or anything not meeting god by any other means. So sad you can't see that. I met god. It is nothing we imagine and has nothing to do with Jesus. What Jesus said was meant for his disciples only. He didn't mean the whole world had to go through him to find god. People found god long before Jesus lived. It doesn't make any sense, sorry..
I myself found that claim of Jesus', that He is the only way to know God, very problematic actually as a young Christian. It is very offensive to our natural human pride, really, as we would like to find our own way to God, we find that claim of exclusiveness offensive, we say "my way or the highway", our human selfishness does not want to submit to anyone. And submitting to anyone except Jesus is dangerous to our soul. However the thing about faith in Jesus and submission to Him is that He alone is able to deal with the sin and guilt that separates us from God. By accepting His death on the cross as a sacrifice for sin, we are able to be put completely right with God, and all our guilt can be taken away. Accepting Jesus as Saviour and Lord frees us from the burden of trying to be good, trying to earn our sense of righteousness by being "publicly good", trying to compensate for our past sins (guilt being probably the greatest motivator of human behaviour), trying to achieve anything at all (enlightenment, goodness, closeness to God, nirvana, a sense of self-worth, etc etc), and also from the habit of blaming others in order to get a sense of self-righteousness by putting them down (it doesn't stop nearly all Christians from doing this, especially when young in the faith; sometimes pride is a lifelong habit, but God always allows such people to suffer trials in order that their pride can be beaten down ). God is light and in him there is no darkness at all, no shadow of turning, and Jesus is the one whose sacrifice makes us possible to know this in complete fullness, indeed, freedom from guilt cannot be found any other way. To have this freedom one prays a prayer like this: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I have sinned, I'm sorry, please forgive me for all my sins, I accept that you died to save me from my sins on the cross and that you have washed my sins away in your blood, please give me new life and make me a new creation in Your name, an adopted child of God the Father, and give me Your Holy Spirit, Amen. Then one reads the Bible, finds a Christian church to attend, one that follows the Bible and preaches faith alone in Jesus for salvation, and one gets baptised (if not already as an infant) and starts a joyful new life. This is the gospel, and it really is becoming a new creation, becoming a new person, who has the life of Christ within. It fundamentally changes the way we are: formerly, God is seen in the world as a light outside oneself but we cannot know him really, we stumble around trying to find God but it is all vague and even what we think we know about God is incomplete and unhelpful, after this, God in Christ is in us, and changes us by grace to be a person with a completely new motivation of love and faithfulness and kindness, the fruits of the Spirit, and we find that the Bible speaks to us in a way that it didn't before. It is a complete transformation.
Btw our claim for uniqueness for Jesus is not meant to put anybody else down - it is quite simply the truth. I don't believe anyone is a worse person than anybody else for being a Buddhist or a Moslem - believing in Jesus doesn't make me better than anyone else - as human beings we are all in the same boat here, we're all thirsty beggars looking for the well of life - however everyone else says - "you can find the well of life" or "you can get to the well this way" - Jesus is different - He is the well of life Himself - He gives something that no one else can give - new life in Him and the forgiveness of sins, and He gives this through the most paradoxical of ways, death on a cross. God bless you, I'm going to bed now! I hope you have a good day or night wherever you are, and I will keep you in my prayers.