Is Jesus God?

The man known as Jesus, who lived in our world roughly 2000 years ago, is widely acknowledged as a great ancient teacher, and while many people acknowledge that he was and is God, many academics today do not, and there is a growing trend in Western society to acknowledge that he was only a man. People in general tend to need more physical or circumstantial evidence to show that a certain idea or belief is true. While there is no way to scientifically prove that Jesus was and is God, this article will present some very good reasons as to why he might have been God and not just a man.

First, it is important to note what Jesus did with his power; even if it was mythical, Jesus used his power only to help people. Most people who claim to be god today are widely regarded as insane, and those that do, like David Koresh in the 1990's, tend to misuse their power in order to hurt other people. Nowhere in the Bible or anywhere else is it recorded that Jesus used his power to harm anyone else. In fact, it is recorded several times in the New Testament that Jesus used his power to help and heal people, such as feeding the 5,000 with a few fishes and loaves, re-attaching Malachi's ear, and raising Lazarus from the dead, among other things.

Next, it is important to note what Jesus' goal was when showing others that he was God. David Koresh and different kings throughout the ancient times, and all others who have claimed to be god have done so in order to further themselves and their own interests. Jesus' motivation in attempting to prove to others that he was in fact God never resulted in more earthly power for himself. In a way, he did gain power for himself and his followers in terms of social power because the poor and destitute became his main followers; however, they ended up having him crucified. Many times throughout the New Testament Jesus talks about his kingdom not being of this world and that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. His motivation is not to create an earthly empire and horde power for himself and his followers. He claimed to have heavenly powers, and he only used those powers to demonstrate to others that he was in fact God; his main goal, shown by his words and his actions, was to save the souls of all sinners.

Finally, it is important to consider why someone would lie about being God, but then never reap any earthly rewards for him or her self, other than brief popularity in Palestine for a few years, and the founding of the Christian religion to follow for thousands of years afterwards (which he would not know if he were simply a man). The point is that if Jesus were simply a man, then what he and his followers went through was awfully elaborate, especially since all the disciples were eventually put to death or exiled for their beliefs (a rather shoddy reward for a very elaborate lie it seems). If Jesus and his followers were honestly lying about Jesus' Godly nature, then they were one of the biggest bunch of idiots this world has seen, which seems to suggest that they believed they were not lying.

While this article and nothing else cannot prove that Jesus was and is God, it nonetheless provides several very convincing and practical points about Jesus' goals and what he and his followers went through to attain them. This suggests that Jesus was and actually is God because for any person and his followers to go through such punishment for such little earthly gain is pure foolishness.