Logic has it: Jesus was either a liar or a lunatic

April 9, 2009

Christians really don’t need logic, they have it so easy. Jesus said he was God, so he must be God. After all, Jesus couldn’t have been a liar or a lunatic, right? Those are terrible things to say about anyone, much less someone so revered. Protestant theologians have been using this "argument" for a while now, following the lead of Josh McDowell and William Lane Craig. Works great on people who already worship Jesus. No wonder theologians use this argument when speaking to the choir.

As for the rest of us who don’t believe in any god, logic deals with this argument easily enough. Thanks to Bradley Bowen’s analysis, the denial that Jesus is God implies that Jesus was a liar or a lunatic (if an actual historical Jesus even made a claim to divinity—Mark’s gospel omits it). Since gospel hardly counts as reliable evidence either way, you don’t have to conclude anything about Jesus. But if you are confronted with a believer using this "argument", you may reasonably reply, "Well, logically, your Jesus was a liar or a lunatic." Let the believers take offense at this logic.

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