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Jesus Is Too Good To Be False

Jesus Is Too Good To Be False

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Groundbreaking “Lewis-esque” article now available again! Five years ago I published an article at Touchstone magazine that I titled “Too Good to be False,” and which they titled, “The Gospel Truth of Jesus.” Leading New Testament documents scholar Daniel Wallace paid me the compliment of calling it “Lewis-esque.” For quite a long time Touchstone displayed it for free on their website, but now it’s behind a subscriber paywall. The copyright is mine, so today I’m republishing it here. Being five years old, obviously this argument has…

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What Bob Seidensticker Got Wrong About My “Too Good To Be False” Argument

What Bob Seidensticker Got Wrong About My “Too Good To Be False” Argument

A few weeks ago Bob Seidensticker, atheist blogger at Patheos.com, attempted to deconstruct my argument that Jesus is too good to be false. Unfortunately he got the argument wrong, so of course his refutations, such as they are, are irrelevant. Why do atheists think it’s interesting to rebut arguments Christians aren’t making? Still I want to answer him, because somebody might think he’d dealt some kind of blow to my argument, not knowing he’d actually missed the whole thing by…

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Lord, Liar, Lunatic Trilemma: How the Accounts Prove the “Legend” Answer Fails, Too

Lord, Liar, Lunatic Trilemma: How the Accounts Prove the “Legend” Answer Fails, Too

I could use your help with a presentation I’m preparing. Read on to find out how. C. S. Lewis popularized what’s come to be known as the Lord, Liar, Lunatic trilemma: it’s impossible to look at the accounts of Jesus and think he was a great moral teacher but not God. The famous passage in Mere Christianity reads: I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus…

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“He May Well Be On To Something… This Argues for Historicity” — Daniel B. Wallace

“He May Well Be On To Something… This Argues for Historicity” — Daniel B. Wallace

Daniel B. Wallace, a leading New Testament scholar, responds to my recent Touchstone article on the historicity of Jesus: The May/June 2014 issue of Touchstone has come out. In it is a provocative and, I might say, Lewis-esque piece of writing by Tom Gilson, the National Field Director of Ratio Christi…. He may well be on to something. In turn, this argues for historicity.

“Is This a Powerful New Apologetic Argument?”

“Is This a Powerful New Apologetic Argument?”

Bob Seidensticker looks at my “Too Good Not To Be True” argument against Jesus-legend theory, asking “Is this a powerful new apologetic argument?” He finds it lacking. I find his assessment lacking. Here’s why. To begin with, he says, He would say that Jesus was God and therefore the creator of everything. Let’s ignore the fact that the Trinity was an invention centuries after the gospels and consider what God supposedly created. The doctrine of the Trinity doesn’t enter in…

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The Story of Jesus Is Unimaginably Great; Therefore It’s True

The Story of Jesus Is Unimaginably Great; Therefore It’s True

The story of Jesus is unimaginably great; therefore it’s true. That’s a new way I’ve just thought of to summarize my recent Touchstone article, : “What Happens to Apologetics If We Add ‘Legend’ to the Trilemma “Liar, Lunatic, or Lord”?. (Updated: see below.) For those who know the terminology (and others need not worry, since I won’t spend more than a moment on it), this is not some new kind of ontological argument, even though in that one-sentence form it…

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Jesus Christ: Greater Than You Knew, Too Great Not To Be True

Jesus Christ: Greater Than You Knew, Too Great Not To Be True

Today I’m announcing a new argument for the historicity of the Gospels, published just now through Touchstone Magazine. The editors have titled it The Gospel Truth Of Jesus: What Happens to Apologetics If We Add “Legend” to the Trilemma “Liar, Lunatic, or Lord”?. The main point of the argument: Jesus Christ is greater than you knew. I say that with all confidence. I say it to atheists and skeptics, who doubt that his reality is great at all, or who…

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Too Good To Be False: Answering the “Legend” Critique of Lewis’s Trilemma

Too Good To Be False: Answering the “Legend” Critique of Lewis’s Trilemma

I’m missing the opening of The Hobbit tonight, so I’ll spend some time thinking of one of Tolkien’s great friends, C.S. Lewis. Lewis said that Jesus described himself too much as God to be considered a great man, unless it was true. Some criticize Lewis for leaving out the possibility that Jesus was just a legend. I argue here, on grounds similar to Lewis’s, that the accounts of Jesus’ life are too good to be legend. The Trilemma It all…

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