Alpha Omega

One knows that the universe was created by God, as nothing can come into existence by its own power. One also knows that the first life had to come from a living God, as life must come from life. This is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that there is a God and that this is a theistic universe.

Thus, science is obligated, at the very least, to proclaim that there is a living God who created the laws of nature by which the universe, the earth, life and man were created. (It is up to science, not religion, to teach how this creation was accomplished, for God had no direct input into this creation.) To teach otherwise is to allow religion to dictate to science what to teach as truth and what not to teach as truth.

But, seeing that there are numerous religions and religious beliefs, is science duty bound to say which is the true God? The answer to this question is yes only if science can prove beyond a reasonable doubt which is the true God.

If science cannot prove which is the true God, then science must remain silent on this issue. It would be bias of science to speak out on the issue of which is the true God if it could not prove its theory. However, to remain silent on the issue if there is evidence, beyond a reasonable doubt, would be a gross injustice on the part of science and to allow religion to dictate to science what to teach as truth.

There are three lines of “evidence” proving the exclusive divinity of Jesus Christ. The first is a logical argument and the second is a historical argument. But the third is scientific. While the former two are subjective, the scientific evidence is objective.

There are literally thousands of books already available which discuss the logical and the historical arguments, some of them hundreds of years old. One only needs to seek them out and they can be found. Therefore, these two topics will only be lightly touched upon in this trilogy.

But the scientific evidence for the exclusive divinity of Jesus Christ was not available until recently. Hence, there are not nearly as many books covering this information. Nor was this evidence discovered by just one child of God. Such evidence began to slowly reveal itself beginning in 1898 and was not “finalized” until 1978. The word finalized is put in quotations because no scientific argument is ever completely finalized.

Although several books and articles have been written discussing this scientific evidence, only rarely have these publications brought the argument to its logical conclusion, namely, that Jesus Christ is exclusively divine. One can only surmise that such is due to the reluctance on the part of the scientific community to get entangled in religious arguments.

However, Jesus Christ is a historical personage and if it can be objectively and scientifically proven beyond a reasonable doubt that He — or anyone else — is exclusively divine, then this is a scientific argument, not a theological one. The theologians of the world can only accept as fact what the scientists reveal as truth. They cannot force their dogmas onto the scientific community. This is true regardless of what science reveals.

It was mentioned previously that the godless believe that the idea of a personal, loving God is nothing more than a creation of man’s thought, an invention of his beliefs and a product of his evolution. They teach that the soul is just one’s own conscience and in order to “clean” one’s conscience, one need not confess his sins, one need only obey the Golden Rule (Mt.7:12) and then free oneself of all sexual inhibitions.

The atheists claim that this is what Jesus Christ taught. They believe Him to have been a great law giver and defender of human rights but deny His exclusive divinity by claiming that he was just another philosopher and sage who “discovered” his own “divinity.” The godless further claim that should everyone treat his neighbor with honesty and justice and forget about God, then the whole world would live in peace forever.

This is true. If everyone obeyed the Golden Rule, then peace would rule the earth. Especially in the light of the many scientific accomplishments achieved by modern man. With all his modern technology man only needs to obey the law of love to his neighbor and he will live in total peace as long as he lives in this world.

But these last few words contain a dangerous trap: as long as he lives in this world.

In the world to come, a person will not have peace if he does not have God in this life. Besides, there is no lasting peace without our Lord and one cannot love his neighbor unless he also loves God. One has this teaching from the writings of St. John, the beloved disciple of Jesus Christ.

But there still exists many individuals who claim that they do love the god of their “innerself” — another name given to God and the soul by the atheists. These individuals claim that there is no one Supreme High God. They claim that each person is his own god, answerable only to his own conscience. They deny the exclusive divinity of Jesus Christ, claiming that He was just another philosopher and sage who came closer to finding His own inner god than the average person. But this belief also denies what St. John taught about Jesus Christ.

There are many other references in the Holy Bible testifying to the exclusive divinity of Jesus Christ: Is.7:14, 9:6-7; Mt.1:23; Mk.1:1-3; Lk.1:26-35,40-45; Jn.14:7-12; 20:26-31; 1Jn.5:5-8,20. The references mentioned here are only a few of the verifications for the exclusive divinity of Jesus Christ. One need only seek for the remainder of them and they can be found.

Our Lord Himself professed His unique divinity. During His trial Caiphas, the high priest, asked Him to tell the court if He were the Son of God or not. Our Lord knew that if He answered yes He would be signing His own death warrant. But instead of trying to escape death by giving an equivocal or misleading reply, He answered simply and clearly: thou hast said it (Mt.26:63-64). He unequivocally proclaimed His divinity. Without any hesitation, He proclaimed His divinity and willingly went to His death rather than deny the truth.

Long before this, Jesus told the masses that He, not His teachings, was the Life and the Light of the world. He also said that in order to know God our Father one must also know Him.

This is in stark contrast to the many philosophers and religious founders who professed that it was their teachings, not them, that would enlighten their followers. For example, the Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) told his followers that the principles and laws which he taught would be their master after he died. Zoroaster (Zarathustra Spitama) also taught that it was his teachings, not himself, to which one must look for salvation. Mohammed (Mohammed ibn Abdullah) had similar beliefs and teachings.

One can do similar comparisons with all the great religious founders and perceive the uniqueness of the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Surely, Jesus Christ was not just another philosopher and sage. He was not just some itinerant preacher looking for social justice for His people. Jesus Christ was not just a “Good Samaritan” who felt sorry for those in need. Surely, there is something very unique about Jesus Christ, His life and His teachings.

Hence, the godless cannot acknowledge that Jesus Christ was a noble, honest law giver, a defender of human rights and a helper of the destitute and then call Him a liar and a fool by denying His exclusive divinity. One must acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Supreme God, the Creator incarnate or die believing Him to be the greatest liar and deceiver in all history. One must proclaim that Jesus Christ is the Life and Light of the world or die without that Life and without that Light.

History also declares that Jesus Christ is the only true God. By studying the teachings of the thousands of individuals who have claimed to be God, only one man stands out like an Oasis in a desert, a Tropical Island in the sea. That one man is Jesus Christ.

One only needs to review the lives, beliefs and teachings of the philosophers and religious founders to see that the life, beliefs and teachings of our Lord are unique among them. This is not to say that all philosophers and religious founders claimed to be God, but that all those who claimed to be God, also professed a philosophy in an attempt to prove their claim.

For example, Plato was a philosopher who did not claim to be God. He believed in the existence of one High God. There are many other philosophers who did not claim to be God. Thomas Aquinas did not; Rene Descartes (1596 - 1650) did not; John Locke (1632 - 1704) did not; nor did Immanuel Kant.

Many philosophers and religious founders taught the same law that Jesus Christ taught: love thy neighbor.

The Buddha’s Eightfold Path and the Doctrines of the Middle Path of Confucius (Ch’iu K’ung) are two roads to peace on earth. Zoroaster’s good thoughts, good words, good deeds and always being truthful could establish peace on earth. Mohammed’s teachings parallel both Jewish and Christian teachings in many areas. Finally, Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948) taught that the only way to true happiness was to seek after truth and love. Both he and Mohammed were familiar with the teachings of Christianity and Judaism.

None of these children of God claimed to be divine. However, Jesus Christ went further than them. Besides professing to be the one true God, He also said that in order to obtain eternal happiness one must also look to and love Him and then die to one’s own self.

No other philosopher or religious founder has a life and teaching anything near to resembling the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Surely, there has never been any one person or even a group of people who have moved and affected the whole world as much as the one man Jesus Christ. No one person or group of people elicits the same response from people as does Jesus Christ.

No one has ever caused so much division among people as Jesus Christ. No one has ever divided history in half. Before His birth, millions of people looked forward to Him and His coming. Not only were the Israelites longing for their expected Messiah but the gentiles were also looking for the coming of the Unknown God who would release all mankind from the oldest and greatest sin.

The Greeks, the fathers of all philosophy, were not averse to the paternal love of God. They waited for the logos, the Universal Wise Man, yet to come. (By Plato’s time many Greeks were monotheists but believed Zeus to be the High God and the other deities his lesser subjects.)

The Greeks believed that God would come to reward the good and punish the wicked, closely paralleling many prophecies of the Israelites. Cicero, after learning from the Sibyls about the King who all must acknowledge for salvation, hopefully wrote: “To what man and to what period of time do these predictions point?”

Zoroastrianism predicted that a king would be born to the Jewish people in Bethlehem and that the event would be marked by a sign in the sky. The sages of the Orient also looked for the “Expected One,” whose religion and beliefs would be established in their land. They believed that this “Holy One” would come from the west.

The Polynesians waited for the “Great God” who would come sailing across the seas in a great white ship. Many American Indian tribes also looked for and waited for the “Great White Spirit who knows everything and rules the universe.” Many other gentiles prophesied of and looked for the coming of a Redeemer. They all unknowingly longed for the coming of Jesus Christ.

Since His death, Resurrection and Ascension back into heaven millions of others have looked back in history to Him, His life and His teachings.

Who among men died a failure when all his disciples left him and can still claim to have millions of followers look to him for salvation? What person, famous or obscure during his life time, was rejected despised and finally executed and still have millions of believers?

No mortal man can ever claim a following as large as Jesus Christ. No one else in history has accomplished anything near to what our Lord has done.

Is there anyone who can profess to have fulfilled prophecy that was written hundreds of years before his birth; control his own birth as to where, when, why, how, and what his name and sex would be; choose his own mother; choose his own death; resurrect from the dead; have millions of followers die for him?

Alexander the Great cannot; Julius Caesar cannot; Socrates cannot; Aesop cannot; nor can Aristotle, Montezuma, Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 - 1821) or Gen. Robert E. Lee (1807 - 1870). (There is no attempt to degrade any of the men listed here. One is only trying to manifest that no one has ever done what Jesus Christ has done — not in real life nor in legend.) Surely, no intelligent, rational thinking human being can deny the exclusive divinity of Jesus Christ or the uniqueness of His life and teachings.

Finally, the great philosophers religious founders, and leaders of the past have often been likened to points of light, stars whose lives and teachings guide the way for a darkened world. Since many of them looked to Jesus Christ for help and salvation, our Lord may thus be likened to the Star of stars.

Alpha Omega

The Unique One