A former Speech and Language Pathologist for nearly 20 years, I began educating our 3 children full-time in 2015 and have cherished every gifted moment (even the challenges). But what is interwoven into all aspects of daily life (as a wife, via motherhood, teaching, friendship, fitness, etc.) is Christian Apologetics (1 Peter 3:15)… which is why this blog exists.
Jesus, a Jew (monotheistic), accepted worship. Jesus received worship because he was and is more than a mere model of faith — He was and is the author and object of our faith!
✔️Claimed pre-existence before Abraham (John 8),
✔️Claimed the authority to forgive sin (Mark 2),
✔️Claimed that His words were/are equally authoritative as the Ten Commandments (Matthew 19:16-22),
✔️Displayed authority over the weather (Mark 4),
✔️Claimed to be the divine Son of Man prophesied by Daniel (Mark 14).
A Sample of Early Eyewitness Documentation:
“Then Jesus said to him, ‘Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” Matthew 4:10 (~AD 30-33) 📕
“And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,” Luke 24:52📕
“Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” John 20:28📕
A Sample of Early Christian (extra-biblical) Attestation:
“Now may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the eternal high priest himself, the Son of God Jesus Christ, build you up in faith and truth…and to us with you, and to all those under heaven who will yet believe in our Lord and God Jesus Christ and in his Father who raised him from the dead.” — Polycarp, disciple of John (AD 69-155). [1]
“For our God, Jesus the Christ, was conceived by Mary according to God’s plan, both from the seed of David and of the Holy Spirit.” — Ignatius, disciple of John (AD 50-117) [1]
A Sample of Early Non-Christian Attestation:
“The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day,–the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account…” — Lucian of Samosata, Greek satirist (AD 166). [2]
Logical Conclusion:
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the 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 patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” — C.S. Lewis [3]
“The Bible is a reliable collection of historical documents, written by eyewitnesses, during the time of other eyewitnesses,”
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.” 1 John 1:1-4
“Many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.” Luke 1:1-4
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.” 1 Corinthians 15:3-8
“…who report supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies.”
“Every day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize Me; but this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures.” Mark 14:49
“Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.” Acts 1:16
“Now He said to them, ‘These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’” Luke 24:44
“…and claim their writings are divine, rather than human in origin.”
“Every day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize Me; but this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures.” Mark 14:49
“Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:20-21
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” 2 Timothy 3:16
The 3-minute video provided here shows Wes Huff describing the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) for Andrew Schulz and Akaash Singh of the Flagrant Podcast. Wes demonstrates in a clear manner how the Trinitarian view of God was not only early (historically), but is biblical as well.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1-3,14 📕
D.A. Carson succinctly exegetes “the firstborn of all creation” from Colossians 1:15-16 for Lee Strobel:
“The vast majority of commentators, whether conservative or liberal, recognize that in the Old Testament the firstborn, because of the laws of succession, normally received the lion’s share of the estate, or the firstborn would become king in the case of a royal family. The firstborn therefore was the one ultimately with all the rights of the father.
By the second century before Christ, there are places where the word no longer has any notion of actual begetting or of being born first but carries the idea of the authority that comes with the position of being the rightful heir. That’s the way it applies to Jesus, as virtually all scholars admit. In light of that, the very expression ‘firstborn’ is slightly misleading. I think supreme heir would be more appropriate.”
Carson continues…
“If you’re going to quote Colossians 1:15, you have to keep it in context by going on to Colossians 2:9, where the very same author stresses, ‘For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form’? The author wouldn’t contradict himself. So the term firstborn cannot exclude Jesus’ eternality. Since that is part of what it means to possess the fullness of the divine.” [1]
Seminary Professor and author Dr. Robert M. Bowman provides additional input:
“According to the New Testament, then, Jesus Christ existed not only before his human life but also before creation, because all things were made through and for him. This means that the preincarnate Christ — whether we call him the Logos or the Son — was on the Creator side of the line between Creator and creation.” [2]
To summarize…
Jesus, having prexisted as God (same substance as the Father), put on a fully human nature to save us. He not only fulfilled God’s Law perfectly, but He was the first and only sinless person able to pay humanity’s debt (upon the cross in AD 30 or 33). He is also the first and only (first born) human able to make a way back to God through His bodily resurrection (1 Cor 15).
The Creator of our skin, was willing to put on our skin. The Judge of our souls, was willing to be judged on our behalf. All for the sake of reconciling us back to Himself. Only God could do this for us. Think upon these things (Is 53; 1 John 4).
D.A. Carson, Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christmas; pp. 68-69.
Robert M. Bowman and Ed Komoszewski, The Incarnate Christ and His Critics: A Biblical Defense; p. 267.
Friends, my husband and I have the wonderful opportunity to teach an “Apologetics 101” to middle schools students this month, and therefore I am creating games via Wordwall and Kahoot for their families to play together at home.
Please feel free to use these as well as to share!
You see, when Jesus told his disciples, “unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven,” he wasn’t promoting blind faith, nor was he suggesting they follow mindlessly.
Instead, Jesus was instructing his disciples to come to Him with humility. “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18).” Children are born with the awareness that the design they witness all around them implies a transcendent, personal, and wise designer.
“Olivera Petrovich, an Oxford University psychologist, surveyed several international studies of children aged four to seven and found that the belief in God as a ‘creator’ is ‘hardwired’ in children and that ‘atheism is definitely an acquired position.’” [1]
When we say “no” to prideful apathy, we are often able to thoughtfully examine the the abundance of evidence God has placed all around us — evidence demonstrating God’s existence. Humbly, we can come to the reasonable conclusion that a personal and transcendent Creator designed this universe (and everything in it).
The finely-tuned laws of physics, the irreducible complexity of our cells, the beauty of a rose, and the purposeful waggle dance of the honeybee are all examples of God’s wisdom, power, and goodness!
When we think upon the fundamental concept that design implies a *transcendent* designer, we are faced with the reality that we do not belong to ourselves (Psalm 24; Romans 1:20). This humility should turn our hearts upward, not inward.
Written approximately 700 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem (~4BC), Isaiah prophesied of the promised Messiah, God incarnate.
‘Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given.’ As Jesus Christ is a child in his human nature, he is born, begotten of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. He is as truly-born, as certainly a child, as any other man that ever lived upon the face of the earth. He is thus in his humanity a child born. But as Jesus Christ is God’s Son, he is not born; but given, begotten of his Father from before all worlds, begotten— not made, being of the same substance with the Father.
And while God had visited men numerous times before in redemptive history, the incarnation was ‘the most wonderful visit of all…when He came to tarry here…to work out our salvation.’”
-Charles Haddon Spurgeon December 25, 1859; Scripture: Isaiah 9:6
Numerous scholars of historical documents view Philippians 2 as containing a hymn which was sung by Christians several years before it was recorded by Paul (to the Church in Philippi ~AD 62). What stands-out is the very early acknowledgement that Jesus was both Messiah and God.
Notable points to recognize:
✔️ God’s love for humanity. ✔️ Jesus is eternally God (preexisting as God the Son). ✔️ Jesus’s incarnation— remaining God, He put on a human nature: fully God and fully human. ✔️ Jesus’s crucifixion (AD 30 or 33). ✔️ Jesus accomplished the mission set forth by the Triune God from eternity past. ✔️ The Lordship of Jesus will be recognized by all, even by those who reject Him.
The song documented by Paul in Philippians 2 is not meant to be read in December only, but is a reality we should recall, recite, and rejoice-over, every day!
“He suffered as God because only God had the power to save; He suffered as man because only man owed the debt.”
– Michael Horton
Friends, God came down! Let that sink-in!
The uncreated Creator of the universe (Colossians 1), came down to us in the most humble of ways! While remaining fully God, He clothed himself with a human nature — because we needed God’s help. God’s love was on vivid display in this humble and merciful act (Philippians 2).
God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) had a plan to save us from ourselves in order to restore us back into relationship with our Holy Creator and King. And He faithfully fulfilled that plan and promise (Genesis 3:15).
The cross and empty tomb are reminders of the real, historically verifiable hope God provides in the midst of our trials — not because of we are enough (bc we aren’t), but because Jesus’s work on our behalf was, and will always be, more than enough.
Two years ago, I was watching an interview on YouTube featuring respected author and celebrated Christian apologist Nancy Pearcey discussing the importance of recognizing counterfeit gospels. During this 50-minute dialogue, the interviewer shared an analogy which had impacted her:
[When Banks want to train their employees how to recognize counterfeit bills], they never let them study counterfeit money, because you can’t go out there and study every single piece of counterfeit money and figure out what makes a counterfeit. They only ever let the bank tellers work with real money and have them work with it day in day out. Feel it, smell it, and hold it up to the light so that they’re so familiar with the real money. That if a counterfeit piece ever shows up, they know it immediately. [Therefore], when you focus on the truth, and you focus on God’s word, you don’t have to know all the details of everything else that’s wrong out there in the world [1]
At first glance (or listen), this sounds very reasonable! We should know the Scriptures well! We should follow Charles Spurgeon’s advice: “Visit many good books but live in the Bible.” As Christians, we should study God’s Word often! Jesus contended that we need the Scriptures more than anything else! “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4).
Therefore, given that we need to be lifelong students of God’s Word, reading the Scriptures often, why then does the Bank Analogy fall short? Or go bankrupt, shall we say? Nancy Pearcey’s response to the interviewer extends some needed wisdom:
“I’ve heard that metaphor a lot, but I used to be a bank teller and it’s not true. [We were taught how to identify counterfeits]. [1]
Pearcey continues…
“I actually don’t agree with that. Because I think you have to know something about the worldviews [of others]. Christians can’t just live in their own little bubble if they really want to talk to non-Christians, they have to know something about how they think.” [1}
What professor Pearcey is sharing here is incredibly compelling!
If we avoid learning about other worldviews, we are choosing to remain in “our own little bubble.” But if we earnestly want to share the Good News of the Gospel, we need to be aware that non-Christians (and even numerous professing Christians) also claim to own the correct currency on Truth.
To use the Bank Analogy further, every single major worldview has their own dollar bill. And these dollar bills are thought to be THE dollar bill. The doctrine which provides the look and feel of the bill comes from a sacred text associated with that worldview (Bible, Quran, Book of Mormon, Richard Rohr’s Universal Christ, Darwin’s Origin of Species, etc.) Therefore, if we do not slow down and define what makes their dollar bill THE dollar bill, we could be misunderstanding what they find to be essential. Defining terminology is therefore very important!! If we do not seek to understand what he or she means when referring to God, Jesus, and Salvation, we could be accepting or permitting the deposit of counterfeit theology without knowing it.
For example, per the CARM apologetics webpage, the Church of Latter-Day Saints define “God” as “One of the countless gods in existence. An exalted man from another world who created the earth whose name is ‘Elohim.’ He became a god by following the laws and ordinances of his god on the other world. He has a body of flesh and bones, D&C 130: 22-23).” [2]
This shows us that the LDS worldview is a polytheistic worldview (there are many Gods in Mormonism). A biblical worldview, however, instructs that there is only one God. Christianity is, therefore, monotheistic. This is an essential component to our dollar bill! There were and are no other Gods before Him nor besides Him (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 46:9; Ephesians 4:6). [3] God is the uncreated Creator of time and space, infinite and noncontingent (necessary). Humanity is created, finite, and contingent. The LDS and Christian worldviews differ dramatically when the terms are defined.
Having numerous respectful dialogues with co-workers, family members, and neighbors not only demonstrates that we love and care for them, but it also provides us with the opportunity to learn from them! Being available to listen to others share about their worldview/religion, helps us learn more about how they answer the major worldview questions (how we got here, why are we broken, how can we be fixed, etc.). Again, we should prioritize these moments!
Every heart needs to know how bankrupt we truly are because of sin. Minds need to grapple with the reality that God came down to live the sinless, righteous life we are unable to live, adding his own credit to our account after paying for our debt with his blood.
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21
Friends, studying the essential beliefs of other worldviews might seem overwhelming, but the hearts we encounter daily are worth that time. And you need not fear learning about other worldviews (that you might go astray)! As long as you are earnestly pursuing truth, you will find yourself on solid ground with Christianity (1 Corinthians 15). Yes, Christians, know God’s Word! And, be aware of the Counterfeits.
“After they were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, ‘Get up! Take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to kill him.’ 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and escaped to Egypt. 15 He stayed there until Herod’s death, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled: Out of Egypt I called my Son.” (Matthew 2:13-15)
Per the historical records of the New Testament, we know that Jospeh was warned in a dream about Herod’s plot to “destroy” Jesus, with the clear instructions to “flee to Egypt” (and stay there until Herod dies). Two major points stand-out here:
1. Herod wanted Jesus dead.
The beginning of Matthew 2 describes the scene: Magi traveling a long distance to Bethlehem of Judea (possibly with a large entourage, easily noticed by the townspeople), following a remarkable star in the sky with hopes of locating where the King of the Jews was born (Matthew 2:1-6). History tells us that Jesus could have been approximately two years old at this point. Therefore, when Herod learns of the Magi’s mission, he orders that all children, ages two and younger, be killed.
2. Jesus’ flight to Egypt was planned (anticipated).
The “so that” in verse 15 is incredibly important! Please do not overlook these words, for they turn our minds to the fact that Jesus’s journey to Egypt was not a surprise. It was prophetic! God’s Word provided an important detail about Jesus in Hosea 2:15, which he fulfilled when moving to Egypt around the age of two. This prophecy points to Jesus as God’s Son (2nd Person of the Trinity),
Egypt’s border is nearly 90 miles from Bethlehem, outside of Herod’s jurisdiction (safe for Jesus, Mary, and Joseph), but still within the Roman province. This would be likened to Americans traveling across state lines to visit family. While Ohio and Indiana have different Governors, they are both under the jurisdiction of the US government. All this to say, Joseph and Mary were not violating the law by obeying God’s instruction to take refuge in Egypt.
Sadly, the historical details of this pivotal event are either misunderstood or utilized to manipulate hearts for political agendas (see picture below).
Found on X (formally Twitter).
Whether the persons who repost these pictures are aware of the true, historical events or not, we need to be prepared to dialogue respectfully with them. Jesus’ fulfillment of nearly 300 prophecies from the Old Testament scriptures demonstrates, with mathematical precision, the notably miraculous intentionality of Jesus’ life on earth…his journey to Egypt included.
Jesus was the promised Messiah from Genesis 3:15, and the Word who was with God and was/is God (John 1:1-3), the Creator of the Universe and everything in it (John 1:14; Colossians 1:15-17). Jesus came down from Heaven, adding upon Himself a fully human nature (Philippians 2). His mission was planned (Luke 2:24; 19:10; John 17:4) in eternity past and fulfilled by real-life events in history. To flippantly minimize these events into political memes or window displays is to misunderstand their immense importance. Every heart needs to know that Jesus was a real man who claimed to be God incarnate, the Savior of the world. To view him as merely a good teacher (or refugee) falls tragically short of reality.
“And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ 18 And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ 20 And he said to him, ‘Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.’ 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’ 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’ 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, ‘Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.’ 26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?’ 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.’ 28 Peter began to say to him, ‘See, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, ‘Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.’” (Mark 10:17-31)
(For an in-depth study of Mark, consider watching Mike Winger’s videoshere)
Erik Manning with Testify (7m 20s).
Numerous scholars date the Gospel of Mark to around AD 55, with its intended recipients being Gentile Christians in Rome. Mark’s letter documents Peter’s eyewitness account of Jesus’s earthly ministry, with notable succinctness (a thematic description of events, as opposed to chronological) and urgency. Mark’s urgency to record these historical events points to their inherent significance to the reader; especially, when Christians were being persecuted and martyred in and around Rome (which increased with Nero, AD 64). And Mark showcases this urgency, immediately! In the very first sentence of this letter, Mark makes haste to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, God incarnate, as demonstrated by the Hebrew Scriptures:
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,” ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, 3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’”
Not only does Mark vividly illustrate the crucial role of the Old Testament in describing the promised Messiah, but he also documents the remarkable self-claims of Jesus pertaining to his identity. Therefore, when the rich young ruler calls Jesus a “good teacher” (Mark 10), Jesus wastes no time highlighting the fundamental assertion the young man is making about Jesus:
Jesus is good.
Only God is good.
Therefore, Jesus is God.
“‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ 18 And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.’” Mark 10: 17-18
Christian apologist and YouTuber (Testify), Erik Manning, recognizes that Jesus was bringing the Shema (Deut 6:4) to the forefront by pointing out that “there is only one source of true goodness,” God alone. God is one, and only God is good.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4)
Manning also makes it clear that Jesus did not say that he was not good. Therefore, Jesus did not rebuke the young man, nor did Jesus deny that the richer young ruler’s assertion was true. Jesus simply (and lovingly) helped this man process through the title he was assigning to Jesus.
Immediately following Jesus’s initial question, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone,” Jesus answers the young man’s heartfelt query of what he is lacking for salvation. Friends, please slow down and catch the imperative implications of Jesus’s response:
“You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ 20 And he said to him, ‘Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.’
“And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me’” (Mark 10).
In the video shared above, Erik Manning draws our attention to the fact that Jesus, intentionally places his own commands alongside the Ten Commandments (God’s commands). Again, do not miss the significance of Jesus’ message here: Jesus’s words are given equal weight and authority as the Ten Commandments! Therefore, obeying Jesus is obeying God. Following Jesus’s commands is following God’s commands. If salvation belongs to God alone (which it does), then salvation belongs to Jesus.
So, what does this have to do with us two thousand years later?
Even though Mark’s letter wasn’t written to us (because we were not alive then), God intended that we read it too (John 17:20). You see, God is good and He wants to be known. Therefore, God makes the important things easy for us to understand. As others have said, “The main things the plain things.” God, in His goodness, wants us all to know Him. And He wants us to know His faithful plan to save humanity, as documented in the Scriptures.
“The Holy Spirit, therefore, has generously planned Holy Scripture in such a way that in the easier passages He relieves our hunger; in the more obscure He drives away our pride. Practically nothing is dug out from those obscure texts which is discovered to be said very plainly in another place.” Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, II. 6
Mark makes it abundantly clear that Jesus recognized who he was. The Creator of the universe, the designer of our cells, and the engineer behind the honeybee’s waggle dance (Genesis 1:1; John 1:1-14; Colossians 1:15-20), put upon himself a human nature. Friends, God came down! Let that blow your mind!
Jesus is both fully human (see Philippians 2) and fully God. Jesus is of the same substance as the Father (homoousios). He is not only the Judge of our souls (John 5:22-23), but he is also the one who saves us! You see, Jesus is more than a mere model of faith…someone who gets us, or someone we emulate. Jesus is God incarnate! He is the object of our faith. Jesus received worship for a reason (Matthew 8:2; 21:9, 17).
Five minutes with Wes Huff from Apologetics Cananda.
Here are the main points of this clip:
✔️Jesus was a Jew.
“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram,[a]4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.
And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph,[b]8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos,[c] and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel,[d] and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.” (Matthew 1:1-16)
✔️Jesus was/is the Jewish Messiah who fulfilled hundreds of Old Testament prophecies (Lk 24:44-48; 1 Cor 15).
Per historian Justo L. Gonzalez, “The early Christians did not believe that they were following a new religion (worldview). They were Jews, and their main difference with the rest of Judaism was that they were convinced that the Messiah (Christ) had come, whereas other Jews continued awaiting his advent.” (Story of Christianity, Vol. 1, 41.)
✔️Jesus read the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament Scripture: See Luke 4).
“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’
20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’” (Luke 4:16-21)
✔️Initially derogatory in nature, the term “Christian” was applied to Jesus’s followers by the citizens of Antioch after Jesus’s crucifixion (Acts 11:26).
“So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.” (Acts 11:25-26)
“But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:15-17)
✔️The Council of Nicaea in AD 325 recognized the Scriptures to be God’s authoritative word (recognized vs declared).
Wes Huff: “The first Council of Nicaea, which took place between May and August in 325 AD in what is now İznik, Turkey, was an ecumenical council called to deal with a specific theological problem. Its purpose was to sort out the Arian Controversy––a Trinitarian heresy being promoted by a presbyter in North Africa named Arius, teaching not only that the Son of God was eternally subordinate to the Father, but that the Son was not everlasting but created by God the Father at a specific point in time. Arius, in his letter to Alexandria, wrote that: “The Son, being begotten apart from time by the Father, and being created and founded before ages, did not exist before his generation… the Son is not eternal or co-equal or co-unoriginate with the Father” (Letter to Alexandria 4:458).
The end result of the assembly was what is now known as the Nicene Creed, along with twenty canon decrees and a synod epistle that went along with the creedal statement. Within all of these documents, Nicaea quotes the New Testament books as authoritative and acknowledged the supremacy and jurisdiction they held. All 318 members (even the unorthodox ones as far as we can tall) recognized the rule scripture possessed already, they did not invent the status it held. The twenty-seven books of the New Testament were being read, studied, preached, and declared as God’s holy Word hundreds of years before anyone at Nicaea was even born.
There is no evidence from any of the documents that came out of Nicaea nor from the testimony of witnesses and members who were there (Eusebius, Athanasius, or Eustathius, for example) that any part of the council had anything to do with choosing or establishing the canon of Scripture. So where did this idea originate from? Well, there are two possible sources where the myth could have originated and taken on a life of its own.” (full article)
Friends, the above (bolded) statements are truth claims that need to be examined. Either they are objectively true (historically verifiable) or they are not. Why wouldn’t we test them?
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance, the only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” – C.S. Lewis
Hold Fast Apologetics 