Christians believe the Bible to contain the divine words of God. Throughout the Gospels Jesus identified himself as the “Son of Man” and the “Son”. He proclaimed “I am… the light of the world”, “… the true vine”, “… the Good Shepherd”, “… the way and the truth and the life”. When asked "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" He replied “I am”. Thus, through Biblical teachings, as well as our own experiences and observances in living the faith, Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
To refute this belief is to claim one of five things. The first is that Jesus was simply a good moral teacher; nothing more, nothing less. The second is that Jesus was not the Son of God, but was instead the next in line of a succession of prophets. The third is that the early Christians, for one reason or another distorted the true story of Jesus, presumably for their own gain. And the fourth and fifth, more controversially, are that Jesus was a madman, or worse still that He was the Devil in disguise.
In his excellent book ‘Mere Christianity’ C.S. Lewis addresses three of these claims:
“Then comes the real shock. Among these Jews there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if He was God. He claims to forgive sins. He says He has always existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time… One part of the claim tends to slip past us unnoticed because we have heard it so often that we no longer see what it amounts to. I mean the claim to forgive sins: any sins. Now unless the speaker is God, this really is so preposterous as to be comic… Yet (and this is the strange, significant thing) even His enemies, when they read the Gospels, do not usually get the impression of silliness and conceit. Still less do unprejudiced readers. Christ says that He is ‘humble and meek’ and we believe Him; not noticing that, if He were merely a man, humility and meekness are the very last characteristics we could attribute to some of His sayings.
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God’. This is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would be either a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that option open to us. He did not intend to.”
The first of the two remaining claims is that Jesus was simply the next in line of a succession of prophets. Yet, whilst Jesus did on occasion indirectly refer to himself as a prophet 1, His teaching and way of speaking was very different to the prophets of pasttimes. Previous prophets taught the people of their time to “Prepare the way for the Lord...” (Isaiah). They taught people that the Lord told them “I will raise up for them a Prophet like you, from among their brethren...” (Moses). And they proclaimed God's Word in saying “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me...” (Malachi). Jesus told us that this last verse refers to John the Baptist - "one who is more than a prophet". Whilst John the Baptist himself tells us very clearly "among you... is the one who comes after me" 2
The final remaining claim is that the early Christians, for one reason or another distorted the true message and the true story of Jesus, presumably for their own gain. This claim too holds little water, for even before the ink was dry on the book of the Acts of the Apostles (Saint) Stephen had been stoned to death for preaching the good news about Jesus, and many followed him. Where the self-gain is in that, I do not see. The only conceivable advantage the proponents of the faith had to gain was that of worldly power. Yet, it was the Romans – already in power – who adopted the faith of their own accord.
And so these are the alternatives. To the extent you believe any of them to be true, only you can decide. Though for a belief system that has lasted two-thousand years, through world wars, falls of empires, international schisms, social and industrial revolutions, as well as for the sheer significance of the claim being made by Christians, I believe you’d be wise to investigate it as thoroughly as possible.
However, whislt intellectual investigation may form part of your search, do know that Christians believe that 'Christ lives in you'. Therefore any investigation into the presence of Jesus, means investigation into yourself. Above all, this means honesty with God, honesty with other people, and honesty with yourself. It means facing, and sharing with others, your hopes, dreams and fears. It means praying, and if required, to quite literally ask Jesus to show you that He's real and to show you that He loves you. It means reading Scripture. It means taking the time to get to know people personally. It means investigation through experimenting with different kinds of behaviour, the like of which we could all do with practising more... peace, patience, kindness, charity, courage, trust, joy, sacrifice and justice. And it may even mean watching a film or two along the way.
If you’re already a Christian investigate it through persistence in all of the above, investigate it through partaking in the sacraments; especially those of communion and reconciliation, investigate it by spending time in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, investigate it by enlisting the help of Mary, the Saints and the Angels. Whether Christian or not, investigate it through loving others as you love yourself, and then decide.
1see Matt 13:57, Mark 6:4, Luke 4:24 and Luke 13:33
