Was Jesus Really Just a Good Teacher? Then Why Don't You Follow What He Taught?

This one is less for the church...OK, it's also for the church because we often don't listen to Him too. Without a doubt, Jesus is widely recognized the world over as a good teacher, at the very least. Some see Him as a mere prophet. OK, let's work with that. Jesus was a teacher, sure and very wise. I don't think anyone would disagree.

But I would bet that any of you who say this would be hard pressed to repeat anything that He actually taught. I know I can't recall 100% accurately some of the things He taught and I've been a Christian for more than ten years. Let's start with some easy teachings that everyone should know.

Turn the other cheek. If someone asks for your coat, also give them the shirt. Give to Caesar what is Caesar's. Go the extra mile. We've turned many of these great lesson's into cliche's. Stripped them of their depth, to some extent, if that were possible. But yes, these are some things that Jesus taught.

But what else? The sermon on the mount of course. But what was that about? Let's take just a small piece.

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Mat&c=5&v=1#1

From that, this comes out.

Matthew 5:17 - 20

"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach [them], the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed [the righteousness] of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."


Which causes me to ask, how can a mere teacher fulfil the law? There's no way a mere person could fulfill the Law.

He also said that the law, the Torah, the "Old Testament" was still valid, and would continue to be relevant, basically until the last chapter of Revelation. So, that means you and I are subject to the law and held accountable to it.

Or as Paul explains in Galatians, the law is still valid for showing us what is sinful, and to help us judge what is right and wrong. Lying, stealing, adultery, witchraft, homosexuality, etc. etc. are still sin. When we read the law, I think we are supposed to see in it where we fall short, and confess to God that we sinned by not measuring up. It's sort of our diagnostic tool to see where we are with God.

That's interesting to note in light of the ordination of gay clergy in Lutheran and Presbyterian denominations, and the Church's general laissez faire attitude to sin in general.

Even more, Jesus teaches us who He is.

John 5:16 - 47

"And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.

But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.

Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.

For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth [them]; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.

For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:

That all [men] should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;

And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.

Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,

And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.

There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.

Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth.

But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved.

He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.

But I have greater witness than [that] of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.

And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.

And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

I receive not honour from men.

But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.

I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.

How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that [cometh] from God only?

Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is [one] that accuseth you, [even] Moses, in whom ye trust.

For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.

But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?"

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Jhn&c=5&v=17#17


John 14:6 - 12

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.

Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou [then], Shew us the Father?

Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

Believe me that I [am] in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. "

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Jhn&c=14&v=1&t=KJV#1


These statements go way beyond mere teaching, Jesus taught who He is, which is the Son of God! He's not just a wise teacher, He is God's Son! Fully God and fully human! God, so He can be infinitely sufficient to atone for us (and more probably) and fully human so that we humans can become saved.

He also taught on the road Emmaus that He fulfilled the scriptures by suffering and dying on the cross for our sin, and being raised up. (Luke 24:27 (read it all, but pay close attention to v 27. http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Luk&c=24&t=KJV#13 ) )

Maybe He covered Psalm 22, which describes crucifixion hundreds of years before it was even invented! Maybe He covered something else.

Following is a link that outlines more than 300 prophecies of the Old Testament that Jesus fulfilled. Keep in mind that the Old Testament was written by several different authors across hundreds of years by people (most of whom never knew each other). The Holy Spirit worked in them to predict the coming of Jesus the Messiah, and as Chuck Missler says, embedded consistent symbolism to foreshadow the coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

Here's the link:

http://www.accordingtothescriptures.org/prophecy/353prophecies.html


Perhaps Jesus didn't address each one of these on the road with the disciples, but you can bet He did a large number, His disciples were quite impressed afterwards. I don't think anyone would forget. I personally hope that God explains that to us in eternity. Then i can see how wrong I am on many points.

So, Jesus taught that He is the Son of God, that He would fulfil the scriptures (He often predicted His own death and resurrection, like in Luke 9:22) that those who believed in Him would have eternal life (John 3). He taught that Hell was a real place that people who reject God's salvation will go to (Luke 16). He taught after His resurrection that He had fulfilled the scriptures and He taught before His death that He would return one day like a thief (Matthew 24), that is, when we least expect it.

Does this sound like someone who is merely a good teacher? He is either or He said He is and taught who He was, or He wasn't. If you think that Jesus was merely an enlightened teacher, or very wise, you miss the entire point of what He taught.

How can you say He was a good teacher, then not accept what He said about Himself, and the scriptures, that He fulfilled them?

So if you acccept that Jesus is a good teacher, heed His teaching. Accept Him as Lord and Savior and accept His payment for your sins. Believe that He now lives! Believe that He is coming soon! Believe that He has overcome death, and allowed us to spend eternity with Him.

After all, Jesus taught these things.



Appendix

How to get saved, and have a relationship with Jesus.

"that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." -Romans 10:9

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/how_to_be_saved.html


Did Jesus exist? Non-Biblical evidence that He did:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ffvyroYH3g

Build a Bridge and Get Over it: Fouad Masri's Crescent Project

Happy New Years!

I recently had a chance to attend a class or two at Church about reaching out and witnessing to Muslims. It is far, far trickier and more delicate than one might think for many reasons. For starters, many Muslims around the world are more "cultural" Muslims and seem to rely on tradition and verbal sayings more than the Quran. That is at least what the I learned in the class. This would not surprise me, as I understand many of us Christians don't read or rely on our Bibles, but rather what tradtion and Church history have taught us. So, it seems right from the start, Christians and Muslims have a common ground.

The series we watched and discussed was Fouad's 6 DVD series called "Bridges." The series focuses on strategies Christians can use to share Jesus with Muslims. He also features testimonies from former Muslims, as well as a general history and cultural things that Christians should know.

One of the most interesting things that was brought up is that 1) The Quran says that Torah and New Testament are good things for Muslims to read. (Quran 3:23 I think.) 2) That Muslims tradtionally believe that God sent those messages to people and the prophets, but that the message was changed. An interesting note is that nobody can say what was changed, or when. I did love Fouad's counter to this. He said something to like this: "If a Muslim friend tells you the Bible has been changed, reply with 'God forbid!' You just said that people are more powerful than God and can change the messages that He gave to people." That brings up a great point. If God provided those things for us, and He is all powerful (which Christians, Jews and Muslims should all believe) how could people have changed it?

One of the biggest questions I had going into this was: Is Allah a suitable name for God, or is Allah the name of a demonic principality/entity/moon deity? This is a highly controversial area, and one I suggest you ask God to show you the truth. This is what I brought into the class, and why I had confusion.

Firstly, I have always grown up thinking that Allah was just a name for God. That's it. Then I heard Carl Medaris on Future Quake one day, and his experience as a missionary to Muslims proved that Allah was perfectly acceptable, and that some Muslims even pray using "Allah-Jesus." Confusion set in when I later learned (I believe through Russ Dizdar) that Allah was the name of a demonic entity, and perhaps the entity that detained Gabriel in the book of Daniel. This was followed by Nabeel Jabbour's book that I read (and I can't recall his stance on the matter) and I also have heard via podcast that Isa (the Muslim name for Jesus) may also be a name for the antichrist. (That last bit was someone talking about how Muslims, Isa, and the AntiChrist all related together, and was quite confusing). I have also heard other podcasts by people saying that the name Allah is just a moon god. All of this information was from Christian sources and podcasts. Why is the Body of Christ so divided on this issue? Perhaps God has allowed us to entertain these theories 1) to allow us to be prepared for any of the possibilities and 2) to keep Satan off guard.

At any rate, this is a question that was addressed in the session, and I also asked my instructor. Fouad maintains that Allah is derived from the Hebrew word "El" for God. Ie, Daniel, Elijah, Elohim. This theory makes sense to me. Fouad also stated that the word "God" is actually also derived from a pagan deity and the word allegedly has pagan origins. I have not investigated this myself, but it is interesting. If Fouad is correct (and I implore you to research it yourself as well) then Allah is another word for God. I asked my instructor (who has done missions work with the Uighars in China) what his experience has been. Was Allah a moon deity, or a word for God? He informed me that some Muslim converts to Christ still use it, but some do not. I then thought about it from another angle. How likely is it that a Muslim will be interested in hearing about Jesus if I tell him Allah is a demonic prinicpality? It seems to me, that being patient in love and building on the commonalities is the best way to share Jesus. Follow the Holy Spirit's lead, and show them lovingly that the Bible is God's word, and that Jesus is who He says He is.


Since this class, I have gained understanding, and patience. God has shown me a better way to reach out to Muslims. I have also learned that it's good to have patience, and build a relationship with Muslims and then have discussions about faith. Let them come to their own conclusions, lead them to the right answers, but in the end, they have to accept or reject Christ themselves.

Since this class, I have heard another podcast, with Brannon Howse, and he went on to say more about how Allah was a moon god. He is welcome to his opinion, it's something to consider, but the way in which he presented his viewpoint was not as good as it could have been. Additionally, he went on to say negative things about the Prophet Mohammed. And I got to thinking, how is that going to help Christians love Muslims? If I was a Muslim and had heard this, I would have been angry, or at least thought that all Christians felt this way about Muslims. I don't call God Allah. I don't agree with the Prophet Mohammed, but that is no excuse for me to speak disrespectfully about Mohammed. Doing so will only destroy my credibility with Muslims. (Fouad suggests saying that we respect some of the things that Mohammed did, but be firm that we believe the Prophets in the Bible.) I fear that speeches like this may result in more botched attempts to convert Muslims. Or continue to give Christians a negative view on Muslims. In reality, I think that there are better ways to go about it. Remember when Paul was on Mars hill, he used the Unknown God to meet the pagans where they were, he didn't tell them all of their gods were demons, or that their prophets were evil and wrong. He used the pagan's desire to please gods to tell them about the Living God, and how to enter a relationship with Him through Christ.

So in the end, if you have a heart for Muslims, or if you know Muslims, but are unsure how to reach them with Christ, pray for them (reading your Bible wouldn't hurt either). Second, be Jesus to them and show them Christ's love. Third, learn about Muslim cultur through Carl Medaris' work (futurequake.com, go to the past shows tab) and also look at Nabeel Jabbour's book "The Crescent through the eyes of the cross." Fourth, you can go to https://www.crescentproject.org/ and go through the Bridges lessons. Lastly, My friend Gaz Parker had provided me with a number of Youtube testimonies and websites. These are all from former Muslims, and may help you learn more about both Muslims and how to share Christ. Gaz is a former spirit medium and blogs about the dangers of New Age beliefs (http://www.newagedeception.wordpress.com/).

Next week, a true return to weird and wacky fun. If you've never heard of the Betty Andreasson Abduction case, you're in for a real treat!



Testimonies:
(Please let me know if links do not work) Please pray, and use discretion before viewing the below materials. Ask God to show you the truth, and to show you any falsehood. Some of the sites may be controversial. Ergun Caner recently was mention on Future Quake along with Walid Shabat (sp?) apparently there may some falsehood in their materials. I can't say for sure. Check it out for yourself, and also listen to the recent Future Quake episodes I believe it was the tommorrow's tremors from 12/24.

Afshinhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-Vxy5UMbSI
Toufikhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zkb5nK5x3Q
Nabeelhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmxwrgbbCec
Zamzamhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MdM7rKEXM0
Nasir Siddiki,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9LLNdeO-lM
What does the gospel mean?http://dvdtract.com/

Former Shitte Muslim Afshin's Journey to Christ - (Part 1/3)
http://www.youtube.com/
http://www.muslimjourneytohope.com/

Zak Gariba - Former Muslim Imamhttp://www.gariba.org/
Mark Gabriel - Former muslim Imam, Al-azhar Islamic university professor
http://www.drmarkgabriel.com/

Hamran Ambrie - Former Muslim Priest
http://hamran-ambrie.tripod/...

Jeremiah Fard Muhammad - Former Muslim minister
http://www.wicctv.org/

Dr. Ergun Mehmet Caner - Turkish Ex-Muslim(Dean of Liberty Theological Seminary in Lynchburg, Va)http://www.erguncaner.com/

Reverend Donald Fareed - Iranian Ex-Muslim, Persian Ministrieshttp://www.persianministrie/...
Dr. Abraham Sarker - Bangladeshi Ex-Muslim, "Gospel for Muslims" Ministries http://www.gospelformuslims/...http://www.understandmymusl/...
omHussain Andaryas - Afgani Ex-Muslim http://www.hesavedme.com/
Afgan Converts WebSitehttp://www.shahadat.net/
Nurudeen I. Adeojohttp://www.wohcc.org/
David Naseerhttp://www.davidnasser.com/
Emir Caner - Dean of The College at Southwesternhttp://www.emircaner.com/
Dr. Nasir K. Siddiki - Muslim businessman, Now Christian Preacher http://www.wisdom-ministrie/...
WL Cati- White Horse Ministry http://www.WLCati.com/
Ajeenah El-Amin http://www.unitedfaithnetwo/...
Abdul Hakeem - Nur Ul alam Ministryhttp://www.namindia.org/

An Ex-Muslim Christian Website run by Iraqi ex-Muslimshttp://www.exmuslim.com/http://www.formermuslims.com/

Pastor Hormoz Shariat Ph.D, Scientist, Iranian Ex-Muslim, Now Christian Preacherhttp://www.iam-online.net/
Rev. Majed El Shafiehttp://www.onefreeworldinte/...
orgSimin - Iranian ExMuslimhttp://www.isa-masih.com/Mohammed Altaf(Now Simon Altaf) - Pakistani ex-Muslimhttp://www.abrahamic-faith.com/One Anonymous muslimhttp://www.journeytojesus.com/Jerry Rassamni - Ex-Militant, Now Christian, Popular speaker on apologeticshttp://www.fromjihadtojesus/...Betsy Tan - "In Him" Ministrieshttp://www.visionbooks.us/Taysir Abu Saada - Fatah Fighter and sniperhttp://www.hopeforishmael.org/Three Former Islamic Terroristshttp://www.3xterrorists.com/http://www.2xtn.com/Afshin Ziafet - Afshin Ziafat Ministrieshttp://www.afshinziafat.com/Dr.Steven Masoodhttp://www.stevenmasood.org/http://www.jesustomuslims.org/http://www.itl-usa.org/Pastor Reza F. Safahttp://www.rezasafa.com/http://www.nejattv.org/Elnathan Baghestanihttp://www.iranforchrist.com/Ellie Davidianhttp://www.hesetsfree.org/Daniel Shayestahhttp://www.escapefromdarkne/...Akef Tayemhttp://www.sonsofabraham.com/A Former muslimhttp://www.movemegod.com/Faisal Malikhttp://www.covenantoflife.org/Good Websites for Muslims to learn about Jesus Christ and Christian faithhttp://www.muslimsseekingje/...http://isaalmasih.net/http://www.muslimjourneytoh/...
http://www.gariba.org/