Introduction
For two
thousand years Christians have maintained that Jesus was God incarnate, a
sinless man who was the embodiment of perfection on earth. This is boldy stated in the Christian bible, the New Testament (NT):
[Jesus] “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:” (1 Peter 2:22 King James Version)
The NT Gospels
have many, many statements and acts by Jesus which prove the above statement of
I Peter 2:22 false. Jesus, like Paul, repeatedly made false statements and
inaccurate prophecies. Following is a brief summary of some of these problems
for Christianity ― they are exposed for what they really are.
The
Falsities Exposed
(1) John 7:8-10
[KJV] “Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast: for my time
is not yet full come. When he had said these words unto them, he abode still in
Here,
Jesus betrays his own statement and, in fact, attends in stealth.
(2)
John 7:8-10 [RSV] “Go to the festival yourselves. I am
not going to this festival, for my time has not yet fully come. After saying
this, he remained in
Jesus
broke his promise (word) by going up secretly after saying he wouldn't.
(3)
In John 13:38 Jesus said: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, 'The
cock shall not crow, till thou (Peter) hast denied me thrice (three times)'.”
And yet, what actually took shape as viewed in Mark 14:66-68: “And as Peter was
beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest: And
when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him, and said, 'And thou
also wast with Jesus of Nazareth. But he denied,
saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest.
And he went out into the porch; and the cock crew.”
According
to Jesus' prophecy the cock was not to speak until after the third denial, not
after the first, illustrated above.
(4)
Jesus told the thief on the cross: “Verily I say unto thee, 'Today shalt thou be with me in paradise' (Luke 23:43).”
This
prophecy could not have been kept unless Jesus went to heaven that day, in
which case he would not have been buried for three days.
(5)
Jesus told a man: “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take
up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34).
This
statement was made early in his ministry. Yet, the cross could not have become
a Christian symbol until after the crucifixion. There would be nothing to pick
up. This utterance would have made no sense to the man being addressed.
(6)
“But whosoever shall say Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire” (Matthew
5:22).
Yet,
Jesus himself repeatedly vociferated the very words he so strickly
warned against when he called people fools in Matthew 23:17-19 and Luke 11:40.
Is Jesus in danger of hellfire as his original prophecy suggests?
(7)
“For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall
the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew
12:40).
Mark
15:37 and 15:42 show Jesus died on the day before the Sabbath, which would be
Friday. Mark 16:9 and Matthew 28:1 show he allegedly rose sometime during
Saturday night or Sunday morning. Friday afternoon to Sunday morning does not
encompass three days and three nights. His prophecy failed. Apparently Peter
was betraying his followers when he stated that Jesus did not lie.
(8)
In John 3:13, Jesus falsely stated: “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but
he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.”
First
of all, this verse is not historically accurate per II Kings 2:11: “Behold,
there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both
asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” Furthermore, it is
also absurd on its face. If the son of man (in reference to Jesus) is down here
on earth speaking, then how could he be in heaven?
(9)
“Woe unto you (Jews)! For ye build the sepulchres of
the prophets, and your fathers killed them” (Luke 11:47).
Jesus
condemned people for having ancestors who killed prophets, yet, he himself had
such ancestral killers if Christians want to claim he is a descendant of King
David through King Solomon (note: Jesus is not a legitimate messianic
descendant, as illustrated in The Non-Messianic Genealogy of Jesus).
(10)
“For as yet they know not the scriptures, that he must rise
again from the dead” (John 20:9).
The scriptures to which John eludes isn't the Old Testament
because no where in the Old
Testament is a prophecy about Jesus “rising” from the dead.
(11)
“For I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew
9:13) versus “And Jesus said unto him, 'Why callest
thou me good? there is none good but one, that is,
God'“ (Mark 10:18).
How
could Jesus be righteous if only God is good?
(12)
“The Kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took,
and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is
grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a
tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof”
(Matthew 13:31-32).
Poor
knowledge of science is again evident in the fact that a mustard seed is not
the least of all seeds, is not the greatest among herbs when grown, and could
not give rise to a tree. Apparently the “all-knowing” Jesus knew little about
science.
(13)
“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He
was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is
no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it”
(John 8:44) versus “And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying,
'Thou art Christ the Son of God'“ (Luke 4:41).
Jesus
disconfirmed his own acclaimed divinity, unless some devils are more honest
than “the devil.”
(14)
“And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify
him.” (Matthew 20:19) in addition to: “And they shall condemn him to death, and
shall deliver him to the Gentiles: And they shall kill him.” (Mark 10:33-34).
Compare these verses to John 19:14-18, which states: “And it was the
preparation of the passover,
and about the sixth hour: and he (Pilate) saith unto
the Jews, 'Behold your King'! But they cried out, 'Away with him, away with
him, crucify him'. Then he delivered him therefore unto them to be crucified.
And they (the Jews) crucified him” (John 19:14-18).
Although
Jesus prophesied he would be crucified by Gentiles, the anti-Jewish Gospel of John
says he was killed by Jews. And, quite glaringly, the claim that Jews killed
Jesus is also inaccurate. The Jews of the time used one court system: stoning.
Crucifixion was purely a part of the Roman judicial system.
(15)
“And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out
devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if
they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on
the sink, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:17-18).
Clearly
a false statement by Jesus! Few Christian “believers” would be willing to test
it's validity by drinking poisons, such as arsenic, handling deadly snakes, or
emptying local hospitals with touches of the hand. It's far more practical to
rationalize the verse away.
(16)
“For verily I (Jesus) say unto you, 'If ye have faith as a grain of mustard
seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it
shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Matthew 17:20).
The inaccuracy
of Jesus' statement is shown in the fact that nobody, with or without faith,
has ever successfully ordered a mountain to move.
(17)
“As long as I am in the world, I (Jesus) am the light of the world” (John 9:5)
versus “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14).
Who,
then, is the light of the world -- Jesus or the people?
(18)
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall
be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh,
it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8). Equate this with John 9:31 which states “Now
we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man
be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.”
Everyone
who asks receives; yet, according to Jesus' teachings, God doesn't hear sinners
and is far from the wicked.
(19)
“And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, 'Thou art Christ the
Son of God.' And he (Jesus), rebuking them, suffered them not to speak: for
they knew that he was Christ” (Luke 4:41) and “Unclean spirits, when they saw
him (Jesus), fell down before him, and cried, saying, 'Thou art the Son of God'“ (Mark 3:11).
It's
intriguing to note that the first beings to recognize the acclaimed messiahship of Jesus were devils, the most corrupt and
deceitful of all beings.
(20)
“And Jesus came and spake unto them saying, 'All
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:16). Paragon this
to: “And he (Jesus) saith unto them: 'To sit on my
right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give” (Mark 20:23).
(21)
“Woe to you! for you build the tombs of the prophets
whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and consent to the deeds of your
fathers; for they killed them, and you built their tombs” (Luke 11:47-48).
Logic
and scientific precision were not among Jesus' strong points. Building a tomb
for someone whom my ancestors killed certainly doesn't mean I approve of the
killing.
(22)
“And I seek not mine own glory” (John 8:50) and “whoever shall exalt himself
shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Matthew
23:12) as collated with: “And Jesus answered them saying, 'The hour is come,
that the Son of man should be glorified'“ (John 12:23)
and “now O Father, glorify thou me with thine own
self.” (John 17:5).
(23)
“Then, if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it
not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false
prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders;
insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Matthew
24:23-24) versus “The same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father
hath sent me” (John 5:36, see also John 3:2, 20:30-31, and Matthew 11:20-21).
According
to Jesus, the ability to do great signs and wonders (miracles), does not prove
one is the messiah. Yet, he contends his works prove he is from God. Using
Jesus' own criteria, how do we know he is genuine and authentic?
(24)
“Verily I (Jesus) say unto you, 'There shall no sign be given unto this
generation” (Mark 8:12). Bracket this comment to that of Matthew's Jesus
(16:4): “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh
after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the
prophet Jonas.”
Jesus
assured that “no sign would be given,” however, there is now an exception!
(25)
“Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to
give his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28) in comparison with: “Yea, all
kings shall fall down before him (the messiah): all nations shall serve him”
(Psalm 72:11) and “That all people, nations, and languages, should serve him”
(Daniel 7:14) and “All dominions shall serve and obey him” (Daniel 7:27).
Jesus'
concept of the messiah conflicts with that of the Old Testament Prophets.
Conclusion
These examples
of Jesus' duplicity represent only a fraction of the multitudes that could have
been presented. The Christian Bible provides more than enough evidence to
demonstrate Jesus' inability to provide a reliable beacon to lighten the way to
truth and honesty, to claim the messiahship.
As
Thomas Paine once said:
“The priests of the present day profess to believe the story of Jesus. They gain their
living by it,
and they exclaim against something they
call infidelity. I will define what infidelity is. One that believes in the story of Jesus
is an infidel to God” 1
As far
as the shortcomings, errors, and mistakes of Jesus are concerned, one would be hard-pressed
to find another biblical figure, including Paul, who so contradicts his purported
image. The Christian Bible claims Jesus was not only:
·
Sinless
(1 John 3:5, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15, 9:28, 7:26);
·
Truthful
(1 Peter 2:22, Ephesians 4:21, John 1:14, 8:40); and
·
Pure
(1 John 3:3, 1 Peter 1:19);
·
But
also “The messiah.” (Matthew 16:6)
The
fifty contradictions identified in this and the other article (General
Contradictions In The New Testament) should make any honest
reader (except those suffering from bible intoxication ― the irrational
and indoctrinated) realize that Jesus could not have been the savior of
mankind. In fact, nothing exists outside of Christian writings to suggest that
Jesus ever lived, was a real living and breathing person.
To
those questing for an experience of truth, please do not lightly pass over these
gospel problems, conflicting chronicles, and fictional incidents. It is only if
you honestly consider these conflicts, study them and determine the obvious
answer that you will discover the everlasting authenticity of God and his word as
found in the Hebrew Bible ―the SOURCE DOCUMENT!
Footnotes:
1. The Life and Works of Thomas Paine, Volume 9, page 292
Copyright © 2001,
J. Douglas Enots.
All rights reserved.
If you enjoyed this article, permission
is granted to copy and distribute for non-commercial purposes provided the text
is not changed and this copyright notice is included.