Who is Jesus?
This is a very important question to answer as it has eternal consequences. When I was in my local bookstore one day I was being shown the selection of audiobooks, as per my request by a pleasant young man who worked there as a customer care worker. He asked me about what kind of books I'd be looking for and I responded, with a cringe: "Religion", as I know how that word religion is perceived in today's culture; but I knew that in order to conduct business it was a necessary word to use as books about world religions, faith-based books, etc. are in the 'religion' section.
However this man, who I'll call John so to protect his identity didn't just point to the small rack of audiobooks, dividing them for me into fictional and non-fictional, he offered a personal suggestion: Zealot: The Life And Times Of Jesus Of Nazareth, authored and read by Reza Aslan. It was this book that started a conversation between me and him about Jesus. John told me that he took a course on the 'historical Jesus' in university and that in his personal theological journey caused him to convert to Mormonism from Roman Catholicism. Both me and him looked at the other 'religious' books that were on display, many of which pertained to Jesus as we chatted about the big-deal Jesus is - to everyone, irregardless of religion, creed or sexual orientation.
Who Jesus is will depend on which worldview He is filtered through. When filtered through Christian theism Jesus is God (cf. John 1:14). When filtered through Islam Jesus is just a prophet, (cf. Sura 5:72); and John explained that Jesus is one who has a divine personage, a.k.a, a god when he is filtered through Mormonism. Now the religious pluralist will argue that that is okay as long as it helps the believer be happy and live good. However it is important to note there that there is a correct view of Jesus and figuring out who this correct Jesus is literally a case of "life and death". Jesus made this very clear when he said:
...if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins. - John 8:24
When teaching this concept to the youth who I oversee as their youth-leader I paint the picture of Jesus using a power-point presentation when giving his lecture in John 8. I suggest to them picture Jesus when saying the phrase pointing to the slide that had a picture of, or the name of, the "He" that he is talking about. Who is that 'He'? Jesus makes it very clear that if you do not believe that he is the specific "he", you will suffer eternal damnation.
Now as a Christian I filter Jesus through Christianity. Jesus being 'God', not just 'a god' seems to be a natural confusion, especially in light of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. I refer to this as a 'natural confusion' because my heart one recent Sunday jumped when I was going over the memory verse (Isaiah 46:9) with one of my five year old Sunday school students. Isaiah 46:9 is clearly monotheism:
I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.
And as you do with little children repetition is a good start in driving home a teaching and things you want them to remember. After going over the memory verse with her, (with actions to help) I got her to say it by her self. What she said was: I am [a] God, and there is no other; I am [a] God, and there is none like me. Of course her being only five years old and in kindergarden, I initially figured she was just trying to get the premise of the verse down; and likewise she didn't recognize the grammatical difference between 'a God' verse 'God'. But this was one mistake I felt that needed to be corrected as it has connotations that are greater than being bad-grammer. I patiently, but directly corrected her that it is important that she learn this verse correctly because there are many people who believe that God is just that 'a God' - and they are wrong. There is only one God, and God is one (cf. Deuteronomy 6:4). What she said to me was surprising:
Well, there is God and then there is Jesus.
When I corrected her that Jesus is God, she expressed that "that is weird". How many people attribute deity to Jesus but in their hearts don't attribute monotheism-deity to Jesus, and more specifically Trinitarian-Monotheism to Jesus? How many people believe what this little girl believed namely that 'there is God and then there is Jesus'?
One objection offered to theists in general by atheists and agnostics is the idea of teaching children the abstract concept of the nature of God and other theological issues, such as heaven, hell, sin and salvation, etc. Some argue that children as young as five years old cannot understand the concepts of God. Others argue that it is wrong to impose onto children such teachings as truth, instead of personalized views: "This is what your mother and I believe."
In an interview with the Huffington Post, world renowned science teacher and agnostic, Bill Nye at first paints a positive view of a belief in God by acknowledging that there are a lot of people who do believe in God and as a result, community and good deeds are encouraged; however he continues to say:
"...we are talking about specific claims that affect the future of science students in the world leader in science..."[i]
In context Nye is referring to the USA as the world leader in science (or at least in the top three he detracts), and the specific claim he is referring to is about a belief in God. So it can be inferred that Bill Nye believes that a belief in Jesus as the creator mentioned in Genesis 1:1 is detrimental to scientific progress, (as a belief in any supernatural creator in general stumps scientific progress).
So how important is the true nature of Jesus? What affect does the correct doctrine of Jesus have? If Bill Nye is correct then the doctrine of Jesus' deity is only detrimental to scientific discovery. Others argue the belief in God in-toto is detrimental to life in general. If these such people are correct then the doctrine of The Deity, Jesus' deity or any other proposed deity is detrimental to life on earth in many ways. If however the Muslim is correct then a belief in Jesus' deity will result in eternal damnation for the sin of shirk, as attributing deity to Jesus is associating him with God (Allah), (cf. Sura 5:72-73). However if what Christianity asserts is true then it is only those who embrace his triune-monotheistic divine nature and faithfully follow his will (cf. Matthew 7:21-23) that will receive eternal salvation, (cf. John 3:16).
Who is Jesus: A nice guy? A great philosopher? A great teacher? A prophet of God? God? Proverbs 22:6 states: "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it." This is why it is important to begin teaching this to everyone, including children. It is true that a lot of Christian teaching is hard to understand or at least accept for children and adults alike; but a hard to accept or understand doctrine doesn't nullify its truthfulness and thus its importance in education.
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[i] - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/22/bill-nye-on-belief-in-god_n_4645891.html - accessed September 1, 2014
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