Who is Jesus?

A new Christian should be interested in these three things:

1. Who is this Jesus Christ that saved me?
2. What am I saved from?
3. How should I act thereafter?

We shall start with the first question: Who is Jesus?

Who did Jesus claimed to be?

In the Gospel of John, He made seven "I am" claims; Jesus claimed to be:

1. The Bread of Life (John 6:35)

2. The Light of the World (John 8:12)

3. The Door / Gate (John 10:9)

4. The Good Shepherd (John 10:11)

5. The Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25)

6. The Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6)

7. The True Vine (John 15:5)

While the Bible did not record Jesus saying, "I am the Son of God" in those exact words, He did affirm it whenever He was asked if He was the Son of God (Matthew 16:15-17, Matthew 26:63-64, Luke 22:70, John 10:36-38). He also claimed that He is the Messiah, i.e. Christ, or the Anointed One (John 4:25-26).

He claimed that He is not of this world (John 8:23), born to be a King but His kingdom is not of the world (John 18:36-37).

So the Jesus that saved you is the promised Messiah of Israel, the Son of God.

But many people also claimed to be gods, reincarnations of gods, of buddhas, some also claim to be prophets, all offering different ways of salvation. How do you know that Jesus is the true God, and not one of the many gods, buddhas or prophets?

This is the difference: all these gods, buddhas or prophets who had come, came alone. They just appeared and claimed that they were somebody. But Jesus's coming is predicted. His life is written before He was born. The Old Testament predicted His time of birth (Daniel 9:25) and His place of birth (Micah 5:2). The Jews of His time studied Daniel and were expecting the Messiah to appear soon. The wise men told King Herod of His place of birth by reading Micah (Matthew 2:3-5).

The Old Testament also predicted His death by crucifixion (Psalm 22:16, Isaiah 53:5, Isaiah 53:12), His burial in a rich man's tomb (Isaiah 53:8-9) and His resurrection (Psalm 16:10, Psalm 68:18, Isaiah 26:19, Psalm 30:3). The authors of the Gospels were very careful to show us that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament predictions.

I have not known of a founder of any religion that had received such authentication. All founders of the other religions authenticate themselves. Nobody predict their birth or death. They came in their own name and, without objective proof, declared themselves to be somebody and you are expected to believe.

This Jesus, who saved you, the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel, came fully authenticated by the Old Testament prophecies. The Old Testament is Jesus's PKI certificates.

Death and the Five Year Old

Clara Chow, the Manic Mummy of "My Paper", could not answer a question her five year old son asked, "Mummy, where do people go when they die?"

We are glad that the Bible tell us the answer. I am able to tell my children the answer for sure.

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2 KJV)

Those who believe in Jesus will have eternal live.

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13 KJV)

But those who do not believe will go to everlasting condemnation.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:16-18 KJV)

Biblical Regulations for Israel Concerning War

As you approach a town to attack it, you must first offer its people terms for peace. If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor. But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town. When the Lord your God hands the town over to you, use your swords to kill every man in the town. But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder. You may enjoy the plunder from your enemies that the Lord your God has given you. (Deuteronomy 20:10-14 NLT)

But these instructions apply only to distant towns, not to the towns of the nations in the land you will enter. In those towns that the Lord your God is giving you as a special possession, destroy every living thing. You must completely destroya the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, just as the Lord your God has commanded you. This will prevent the people of the land from teaching you to imitate their detestable customs in the worship of their gods, which would cause you to sin deeply against the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 20:15-18 NLT)

Religions and Societies

All religions have at least two components: personal and religious. Some religions include political and cultural components.

The Kalama Sutta - The four Solaces

The disciple of the Noble Ones, Kalamas, who has such a hate-free mind, such a malice-free mind, such an undefiled mind, and such a purified mind, is one by whom four solaces are found here and now.
'Suppose there is a hereafter and there is a fruit, result, of deeds done well or ill. Then it is possible that at the dissolution of the body after death, I shall arise in the heavenly world, which is possessed of the state of bliss.' This is the first solace found by him.
'Suppose there is no hereafter and there is no fruit, no result, of deeds done well or ill. Yet in this world, here and now, free from hatred, free from malice, safe and sound, and happy, I keep myself.' This is the second solace found by him.
'Suppose evil (results) befall an evil-doer. I, however, think of doing evil to no one. Then, how can ill (results) affect me who do no evil deed?' This is the third solace found by him.
'Suppose evil (results) do not befall an evil-doer. Then I see myself purified in any case.' This is the fourth solace found by him.

The first two solace reminds me of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus the Roman Emperor who said, "Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones. I am not afraid."

The third solace is not true. just because you did not commit evil does not mean that evil will not come to you. This is an imperfect and sinful world. Bad things happens to good people in this type of world.

The Kalama Sutta

The Kalama Sutta is from the Theravada Tradition. It sets forth the principles that should be followed by a seeker of truth. The following is taken from this website:

QUOTE

THE PEOPLE of the small town Kalama complained that they were confused by contradictions they discovered in what they heard from various teachers who praised their own doctrines. They asked Buddha, who was staying in the town then, who to believe out of all who, like himself, passed through their town:

"Venerable Sir, some recluses and brahmins visited this town and praised only their own doctrines, but condemned and despised those of others. And it is common that they do so. Sir, who among them told the truth and who told falsehood?"

Buddha advised them, saying, "Kalama people, it is proper for you to doubt and to have perplexity [under such circumstances,] when [great] doubt has arisen in a doubtful matter."

He went on to instruct that it is wise to make a proper examination before committing. He said this was to be applied to his own teachings as well. The benefit is: not being too bound by unverifiable propositions, hopefully.

In Pali, Buddha's reply is recorded thus:

Ma anussavena.

Do not believe something just because it has been passed along and retold for many generations. [Simpler: Do not be led by what you are told.]

Ma paramparaya.

Do not believe something merely because it has become a traditional practice. [Do not be led by whatever has been handed down from past generations.]

Ma itikiraya.

Do not believe something simply because it is well-known everywhere. [Do not be led by hearsay or common opinion.]

Ma Pitakasampadanena.

Do not believe something just because it is cited in a text. [Do not be led by what the scriptures say]

Ma takkahetu.

Do not believe something solely on the grounds of logical reasoning. [Do not be led by mere logic.]

Ma nayahetu.

Do not believe something merely because it accords with your philosophy. [Do not be led by mere deduction or inference.]

Ma akaraparivitakkena.

Do not believe something because it appeals to "common sense". [Do not be led by considering only outward appearance.]

Ma ditthinijjhanakkhantiya.

Do not believe something just because you like the idea. [Do not be led by preconceived notions (and the theory reflected as an approval)]

Ma bhabbarupataya.

Do not believe something because the speaker seems trustworthy. [Do not be led by what seems acceptable; do not be led by what some seeming believable one says.]

Ma samano no garu ti.

Do not believe something thinking, "This is what our teacher says". [Do not be led by what your teacher tells you is so.]

Kalamas, when you yourselves directly know, "This is [these things are] unwholesome, this is blameworthy, this is condemned or censured by the wise, these things when accepted and practised lead to poverty and harm and suffering," then you should give them up.

Kalamas, when you yourselves directly know, "These things are wholesome, blameless, praised by the wise; when adopted and carried out they lead to well-being, prosperity and happiness," then you should accept and practise them."

UNQUOTE

In Wikipedia, the rules are summarized as follow:

QUOTE

Thus, the Buddha named ten specific sources which knowledge should not be immediately viewed as truthful without further investigation to avoid fallacies:

1. Oral history

2. Traditional

3. News sources

4. Scriptures or other official texts

5. Suppositional reasoning

6. Philosophical dogmatism

7. Common sense

8. One's own opinions

9. Experts

10. Authorities or one's own teacher

Instead, the Buddha says, only when one personally knows that a certain teaching is skillful, blameless, praiseworthy, and conducive to happiness, and that it is praised by the wise, should one then accept it as true and practice it.

UNQUOTE

If I accept the Kalama Sutta because it appeals to my common sense, I break rule 7. Any Buddhist who accepts it breaks rules 4, 9 and 10. But if you are going to test everything, life is going to be very difficult.

In the blog, A Handful of Leaves, the bloggers explains that the teaching arises out of a certain context.

QUOTE

The first point to note for all students of Buddhism is that asking questions and not accepting a teaching merely on faith is a core Buddhist principles. The Kalama Sutta is but one of the many suttas where the Buddha talked about the important of asking questions.

Yet the 10 grounds for not accepting a teaching appeared only in the Kalama sutta. Why is this so? A possible explanation could be that the Kalamas were already very confused when they approached the Buddha for advice. Thus under these circumstances, the Buddha laid down these 10 “rules” to ask the Kalamas to cast away what other teachers have taught and instead focus on what they can independently verify. – In short the 10 guidelines should not be read as the Buddha telling us not to use logic, inference or teachers under any circumstances.

Next, it was not clear from the sutta who these religious teachers were and what were they teaching. However, the Nikayas make frequent mentions of the existence of other religious teachers who lived and taught during the Buddha’s time. Six of these teachers were particularly famous.

Some of these teachers taught that good and bad actions has no moral consequences (in another word, no law of Kamma), others taught that every act produces kamma and one needs to “burn off” all bad kamma through self mortification, others taught that all things are predestined, yet others taught that death is the end of a person (materialists who believed that there is no rebirth or Kamma).

So it is reasonable to assume that the Kalamas were confused by these various beliefs, in particular on rebirth and the law of Kamma. Going by traditions, scripture, logic, inference, teachers etc would indeed not be able to help the Kalamas decide which teaching was right.

UNQUOTE

Nice mitigation, but I still think that the Kalama Sutta is wrong. You have to start at one point of belief before you can proceed. If you doubt everything, it is impossible to know the truth. That is why mathematics have axioms. Now that definitely break one of the 10 rules.

The Lost, the Least and the Last

Today is JSM's 47th Anniversary, 47 years of reaching out to the poor. But now there are much less poor in Singapore.