The Difference of Jesus and the Difference He Makes
The Difference of Jesus and the Difference He Makes
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“You often hear many things about Jesus. Many things such that he was the Son of God or perhaps many other things, such that he was not the Son of God but an enlightened teacher of some sort. Perhaps you have heard that Jesus never existed, and that He was a legend along the lines of a Hercules or Thor. Or Chinnamunda, perhaps. No matter where you go, and especially if you are go looking online, there are many things you will hear about Jesus.
As somebody who was not always a Christian—in fact, for many years I considered myself to be an atheist—but who became religious after an unexpected encounter with grace (I am now, mind you, permitted to use such phrases as these; I gained that right at baptism), I can tell you that the person of Jesus is the most stupefying figure in all of human history, and by far the most frightening for those who consider Him seriously. He simply gives one the chills, when you stop to think about it. And since my coming to realize this—since, that is, my coming to Christ—I’ve come further to grip with the fact that a lot (maybe even most) people do not see Jesus in quite the way He intended us to; do not see Him as frightening or stupefying or all that different or amazing. Even many of those who profess to in their creeds, do not see Him this way.
I say this not condescendingly, but as a relative outsider and newcomer to the Christian tradition: I think even many of those who are brought up within the Christian religion are simply used to, or otherwise indifferent toward, the utter peculiarity of the person of Jesus Christ. His story doesn’t strike them in the same way it struck me, peering in as I was through the stained glass window. In that sense, what I am about to propose is not so much an apologetic, as an exploration. I want us to look into the difference of Jesus and the difference He makes.”
In this episode of Sunday School, Pat shares a talk he presented at Holy Apostles college and seminar (original presentation here) on his personal journey from atheism to Christianity, and presents a philosophical argument based around the facts of the historical Jesus for the claims that Christians make: The He really was the Son of God, and not some mystic or legend or sage.
After which, Pat briefly explores “mere” Christian theology and theodicy, to make sense of the difference Jesus makes.
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Pat,
As someone who has recently converted to Christianity (Catholicism) after being a yogi for many years and Sikh for the last couple, I really appreciate your efforts in sharing your philosophical viewpoints on Jesus and Christianity. I wasn’t looking for a new religion. And yet, on some level, I must have been. I enjoyed listening to this episode and think that you ended it beautifully…the ultimate question being whether we are going to choose who we love more to be God or ouselves.
Thank you so much for sharing this information and your voice on the matter.
I think you established that you don’t need a rock-solid case to establish Christianity and/or the difference that Jesus Christ can make in our lives. To go along the lines of your legal analogy, people can be convicted on circumstantial evidence. Science is no different. Look at any scientific theory and you’re going to see some things taken in faith as it’s rare you find anything that’s 100% provable. I wonder how many people who dismiss Christ have taken the time to look into his life, the Biblical record, and the historical record. In my experience, those that do tend to be the ones who find themselves discovering God exists and that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Light.
I’m listening to an introductory class on philosophy and I recently heard about Plato’s Dialogues and Socrates’ search for virtue and whether it is teachable. There was a discussion of whether everyone can recognize virtue and whether people are willing to do so when they do recognize it. I think the same applies to Christianity. I believe some people can’t recognize it because they are mentally challenged or are too young. However, everyone else can recognize Christianity, but what they do with it is up to them. Some ignore Jesus, some reject Him, and some embrace Him as their Savior.
Faith is something any Christian is going to find useful for their Christian life, especially if they want to learn more about God and His teachings. I’ve had situations where I’ve read something in the Bible and didn’t quite understand it, but took it on faith. God revealed it later, perhaps because I had to be more mature as a Christian. You need faith to believe in some Christian ideas but you will be amazed at how things make more sense the more you explore Christianity.
You should consider putting this into an e-book or perhaps putting together some other essays into a collection for a future e-book. I did enjoy this presentation and look forward to future Sunday schools.
Speaking of Sunday school, my teacher discussed suffering today and how God will recognize how some people suffer more than others (through no fault of their own) when we are judged before God. This really helped me understand that age-old question of “why do bad things happen to good people?” Any thoughts on this Pat.
Also, I liked your discussion of Hell. While I know Satan and his angels are headed for a lake of fire, the concept of Hell is one I still grapple with. The idea of eternal separation from God is scary and I am going to look into this further.
On an unrelated note, I was always confused about the term Apologetics until a fellow Christian explained it to me. Now that I have studied linguistics, I understand why the word can be confusing to contemporary audiences. Language is constantly changing as is our understanding of what a word means today compared to a generation ago.
Your Sunday School series is one of my favorite podcasts I like following through, Pat. I like your approach on how you’re not going on the preachy preachy you have to be good aspect which I think is the mistake of some others as I’m not fond of that kind of approach. Your take on it is on a personal journey of yours and you live by example even sharing how things have changed you and openly sharing on your learnings and understandings on it. Just like you I also like dwelling on what we can say the more “intellectual” side of Christianity, this really helps me in gaining better insight and even objectivity in certain situations. Thank you so much for sharing these nuggets with us, Pat. Looking forward to more learnings from you! We all need to reflect every so often as I believe it helps overall growth as a person, your content helps me do just that. I deeply appreciate it.