What a great guy

I saw this article about a new painting by Sam Spratt that was just revealed in conjunction with the book, Killing Jesus, by Bill O’Reilly and the National Geographic movie of the same name.  I am no art critic, but I do think the painting is beautiful. More interesting to me however, were the artist’s notes about the painting:

 “While I’m not religious or Christian, there are just some pretty universal truths out there, regardless of belief system, one of which being that he’s easily one of the most — if not the most — influential figure of all time.”

 This struck a chord with me as I had just finished reading the chapter in Mere Christianity with our Connect Group which addresses this position that many people seem to hold:  “Jesus was a great moral teacher, but I just don’t believe he was God or God’s son.  What a great guy, though.  Really influential.” 

There is no sense in me trying to rephrase what CS Lewis said so perfectly:

 “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said, would not be a great moral teacher.  He would either be a lunatic – on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg -  or else he would be the Devil of  Hell.  You must make your choice.  Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.   You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon, or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.   But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about Him being a great moral teacher.  He has not left that open to us.  He did not intend to.”

Clear enough?