28 Lord, Liar or Lunatic? (Atheism FAQ)
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This article is from the Atheism FAQ, by mathew meta@pobox.com with numerous contributions by others.
28 Lord, Liar or Lunatic? (Atheism FAQ)
"Did Jesus exist? If not, then there's not much to talk about. If he
did, he called himself Lord. This means that either:
* He was Lord,
* He was a liar, or
* He was a lunatic.
It's unlikely he was a liar, given his morals as described in the
Bible, and his behaviour doesn't sound like that of a lunatic. So
surely we must conclude that he was Lord?"
Firstly, note that this argument hinges on the assumption that Jesus
did in fact exist. This is at least debatable.
Secondly, the argument attempts a logical fallacy which we might call
"trifurcation", by analogy with "bifurcation" (see the "Constructing a
Logical Argument" document). That is, the argument attempts to
restrict us to three possibilities, when in fact there are many more.
Two of the more likely alternatives are:
1. He was misquoted in the Bible, and did not claim to be Lord.
2. The stories about him were made up, or embroidered with fictitious
material by the early Christians.
Note that in the New Testament Jesus does not say that he is God,
although John 10:30 claims that he said "I and my father are one". The
claim that Jesus was God was first made after the death of Jesus and
his twelve disciples.
Finally, note that the possibility that he was a "lunatic" is not
easily discountable. Even today in the western world there are
numerous people who have managed to convince hundreds or thousands of
followers that they are the Lord or his One True Prophet. People like
L. Ron Hubbard, Sun Myung Moon, Jim Jones and David Koresh continue to
peddle their divinity. In more superstitious countries, there are
literally hundreds of present-day messiahs.
Incidentally, the "Lord, Liar or Lunatic" argument was devised by C.
S. Lewis, the well known author and committed Christian. He wrote many
books containing similar apologia, and also a number of fantasy and SF
novels influenced by Christian themes. His most famous books, the
Narnia series of novels, are a fantasy retelling of many aspects of
Christian faith, with Aslan taking the place of Jesus. Amusingly, some
Christian fundamentalists in the USA have attempted to have Lewis's
books banned from schools, alleging that they are "Satanic" in
influence.
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