The idea for this article had its beginning in a talk given by Elder Neil L. Anderson, a modern-day Apostle, in April of this year. It made me think and I hope it will make you do the same. Anyway I found it interesting and this is my blog, so…
Jesus once asked the Pharisees, “What think ye of Christ?” For all of us here on Earth, our answer to this question is the single most important decision any of us will make. Whether you’re a Christian or not, whether you believe in God at all or not, you can’t escape it. There’s a quote from C.S. Lewis that I think fits perfectly into the dilemma we face concerning Jesus Christ:
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. … 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 His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
“This is life eternal” Jesus once prayed, “that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” That sounds like pretty serious stuff, right? Indeed it is. Because if what He said is true, and he is the literal son of God, then we had best be about the business of listening to him. He would know far better than we do what is best for us. If He is not the son of God, then he was a delusional madman. There isn’t any middle ground, as Mr. Lewis says.
Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Christian philosopher. He’s a prime example of a Renaissance Man, good at a whole bunch of things. One of the things he was known for was called Pascal’s Wager. If we ask the question “Should I believe that a Christian God exists?” purely in pragmatic terms, how will we decide whether or not to? Pascal says there are only four possibilities. First: I believe God exists and live my life according to that belief and He does exist. Result: I receive an eternity of happiness. Second: I believe God exists and live my life accordingly and He does not exist. Result: I have lost very little. Third: I do not believe God exists and refuse Him, but He does exist. Result: I receive an eternity of despair. Fourth: I do not believe God exists and refuse Him, and he does not exist. Result: I gain very little. As you read this, purely on an intellectual level, which do you think is better? We’ll see that a pragmatic wager is insufficient to believe in God over the course of a life, but it’s a decent starting point and shows that still there is one question on which everything hangs: what think ye of Christ?
The reason this decision is of such critical importance is because our lives will be markedly different depending on how we answer it. If, one of the one hand, we decide to not believe Jesus is the Christ, we tend to follow after our own hearts and to do whatever we believe is best. We do good sometimes, we get fooled sometimes. Our attitudes and opinions tend to change and reflect the times we live in. We tend to rationalize behavior that our parents or good friends might disapprove of, because the only consequence we fear is getting caught. In fact that is the only consequence, because nothing in this life matters anyway, it’s all gone when we die–or at least since we don’t know what happens, we’ll worry about it then.
If, on the other hand, we decide to believe that Jesus was who He said He was, we will lead a very different life. He was very clear on what believing and following Him would entail. “If a man love me, he will keep my words.” “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” “Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”
What are some commandments one keeps if they decide they believe Jesus is the Christ? The ten commandments are pretty famous, and certainly they would be kept as perfectly as possible. One would follow the Golden Rule, found in Matthew chapter 7: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” We would not be judgmental of others, we would love God with all our heart and would love our neighbors as ourselves. We would also strive to be humble, merciful, a peacemaker, forgiving of others, we would not lust after others, we would turn the other cheek, love our enemies and overall attempt to be as much like God as we can.
Why would we do all this? Because we believe all of the good things that Jesus promises in return. We would believe that we have peace, as Jesus promises “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” We would believe life becomes easier, not more difficult as one learns and follows Him. “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” We believe in peace and happiness in this life, as well as strength to weather the difficulties better, and eternal happiness in the world to come. And there are greater blessings than this, and I can’t help but quote one of my favorites, from the book of Revelation: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”
Given the importance of What Think Ye of Christ, the key problem becomes how do you know? How do you know if He was the Lord or just a nice deluded guy? We can’t totally rely on the tools that we have at hand, such as what we can see or hear. This would be like attempting to measure the temperature using a ruler. If those things only existed that we can see or hear, none of us would believe in gravity. You need the right tools! Jesus gives us at least three ways we can know.
Here is one tool: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” In other words, pray and ask Him point-blank. One man who didn’t know did exactly this, saying “… if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee.” Start your prayer with “God,” “Heavenly Father,” something like that, and end it “in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.” Say whatever you want in the middle. In fact we are commanded to pray, so if you do pray you’re killing two birds with one stone. Just realize you have to really want to know, it can’t be some casual curiosity.
That’s one way to put Him to the test. Here’s a second tool, which is also a commandment: “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” If we don’t read the teachings of Jesus and of those disciples that follow him and prophets that have lived how can you know if you believe Him or not? It’s like being asked if you like any of Shakespeare’s plays without ever having read or seen one. Start reading the scriptures, see what’s taught in there. Use your first tool and pray a bit about what you read, there’s nothing wrong with that. See what thoughts and impressions and feelings come up as you read, and write them down.
After stating that he was repeating God’s will he says, “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” Here we are given the third tool. Try it out! He has given commandments, try keeping one and see what happens in your life. Jesus has promised that if we do it, we will know. James seconded this when he said “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
There is a scripture which says “…in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” You have been given three different tools that can witness whether Jesus is the Christ or not. I believe Jesus is the Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the son of God.
This the day to learn and decide, because the day is coming when our time will run out. As a prophet once wrote, “I write unto you, that ye may know that ye must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, yea, every soul who belongs to the whole human family of Adam; and ye must stand to be judged of your works, whether they be good or evil.” In a future day, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is the Christ. At that time, our eyes will be fixed on Him, and our souls will be riveted on the question, “What thinks Christ of me?” That day is coming. Now is the time to discover the answer for yourself.