Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Nelson on August 8, 2011 at 1:40am

this seems quite easy to poke holes in from a theists perspective. we put trust in people all the time that we've never met before. you trust that scientists are offering you factually accurate descriptions of the universe without ever having met them at all, much less developed a personal relationship with them. a Christian could just claim that they're placing their trust in Jesus as an expert when it comes to their salvation, when it comes to morality. their trust, they would certainly argue, is well placed in Jesus if your trust is well placed in a scientific expert.

 

second, Luke 19:27 is said within a parable. Jesus isn't actually exhorting anyone to bring people before him to be murdered (it's a metaphor for hell). and even if he was doing so, the bible contains no mention of this actually occurring, much less Jesus himself actually murdering anyone. so to call him a murderer is certainly going much too far.

 

third, i'm reminded of C.S. Lewis's Trilemma- liar, lunatic, or lord. there's no reason to think that Jesus actually lied to anyone. if we assume for the sake of argument that he actually said the things preserved in the gospels, we can certainly allow that he said all those things without lying to anyone. maybe he genuinely believed it in error. plenty of people believe the most insane nonsense but are not seen to be liars so much as just deluded. why not Jesus then?

 

anyway, surely they trust in him because they believe that he is trustworthy. your question seems to presuppose that they trust in him despite their understanding that he is a murderer that lies to his followers in an effort to lead them down a path of bigotry and closed-mindedness. they know no such thing, and would deny that vehemently of course. so, really, you know why they trust him; it's because they think him trustworthy.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Andrew Bergstrom on August 8, 2011 at 10:37am

I wouldn't trust Jesus, he couldn't even remember his "SAFE WORD!"

• ▶ Reply