What Convinced Me? Part 3 - Liar, Lunatic, Lord, or _______?

She called herself a Messianic Jew. She'd been born into a nominal Jewish home. Very little of Jewish tradition was practiced by her family. By the time she got to college, she was spiritually curious. A missionary supplied her with answers that appeared to make sense. She believed she could have the best of both worlds - being Jewish and believing in Jesus. After all, he was Jewish, as were all his original followers.

She had come to the home of a friend of mine in Atlanta to hear me speak about my journey to Judaism. During the question & answer session, she hit me with a favorite missionary question. She raised her hand politely and asked, "But what do you do with the person of Jesus? He was either a liar, a lunatic, or lord. Which is it?"

I love questions like this. They suggest that the options given are the only options there are. I suggested to her that there was at least a fourth option beyond her list. "Lore," I said tersely, "I believe we have to consider lore as an option".

I then proceeded to give her a brief overview of the "god-man" theme that runs through many ancient mystery religions existing prior to and contemporarily with early Christianity. Many of them share elements strikingly similar to the life of Jesus. A pre-existent deity becomes human through the agency of a virgin birth, lives a life of miracles, gathers disciples, dies on a cross or tree as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of others, is buried for three days, rises again, and ultimately ascends back to heaven. A memorial meal consisting of bread (representing the body) and wine (representing the blood) is also a common element amongst some of these mystery cults.

I suggested to my inquirer that she investigate this further. She did. Thank G-d she was willing to do some openminded homework. Today she is Torah observant and reclaiming the heritage she never knew growing up in a "typical American Jewish family".

G-d, speaking through the prophet Hoshea (4:6), said "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (nidmu 'ami mi'bli da'at). Ignorance has caused many sincere Jews to drift into scores of cults and isms. Baruch Hashem, our young lady in this case made it home to a spiritual treasury she hadn't known existed, yet had been hers all along.

(I read an insightful book on the relationship of Jesus' life to the themes of pagan mystery religions. It was written by two Australian Christians. Click here to learn about it at Amazon.com.)