5-WWJD: Jesus on Faith
“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”
~Carl Sagan (1934-1996) American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, poet, and science communicator
“O ye of little faith!”
~Jesus of Nazareth (4 BC - 30 or 33 AD) Iron Age carpenter, itinerant Jewish preacher and schnorrer
In this essay, I drill down to the very core of Jesus’ teaching. From his claims of divinity, to his preaching about heaven and hell, and his actions through miracles, all hinge on two ethereal yet inescapable requirements: faith and prayer. While faith is linked inseparably to belief, prayer is the tool used to outwardly express and inwardly reinforce one’s faith. But for now I am concerned only with the concept of faith strictly in the biblical sense. I will examine what Jesus had to say regarding prayer in a subsequent essay.
So what did Jesus say about faith?
Defining Faith
Faith has several definitions, depending on who you ask, of course. The casual definition is belief in someone or something, such as words of encouragement to a friend or family member as in, 'I have faith in you,' or 'have faith in yourself.' I am only interested in the definition within a supernatural or religious framework, such as a belief in a god or gods, spirits or in the doctrines of a religion.
Let’s start with Jesus. How did Jesus define faith? Although he used the word frequently, scouring the New Testament scriptures I could not find Jesus providing any semblance of a definition, nor did a Google search reveal specifics. The closest the Bible comes to offering a definition is found in the New Testament apocryphal book of Hebrew:
“Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
~Hebrews 11:1
To be clear, these are not the words of Jesus. But let's run with that one.
Although to the average believer this commonly quoted scripture may sound profound, virtuous, upon examination it is actually an incoherent contradiction of terms. First of all, faith exists only in the mind as a thought or a collection of thoughts. As a thought it cannot be “the substance of things”, i.e. matter, as thoughts contains no mass. Secondly, “things hoped for” are merely happy words for 'wishful thinking'. I may have faith that I will win the lottery, but simply believing this to be true does not necessarily make it true, although I am certain there are some, including Jesus, who would disagree. Third, “things not seen” can only be imagined in the mind, and therefore do not meet the definition of evidence of any kind. Yes, I may feel so good when I imagine how I will spend my lottery winnings, but such “things hoped for” is not evidence that I will, in fact, win the lottery! There is a proper word for such thinking: delusion.
Faith vs Fact
“Faith may be a gift in religion, but in science it's poison, for faith is no way to find truth.”
~Jerry A. Coyne, Author of Faith Versus Fact: Why Science and Religion are Incompatible
I remember challenging my dear mother, a devout Christian, with questions about her faith that made no sense to me. Her reply has forever stuck in my brain. Frustrated, she said, “You are thinking too hard. You need to turn off your brain and just believe!" To that I replied, "So why would God create us with such a large brain capable critical thinking and then expect us to ignore it?" Over time, I began to wonder how believing something on insufficient evidence became a virtue and refusing to do so became a vice? From time to time I hear certain people described as ‘a man (or woman) of faith’ as if this was a compliment, therefore someone to be respected.
Faith, per the Bible’s definition, is not knowledge—which is exactly why it is called faith.
Faith, therefore, is the antithesis of knowledge. It requires the willful, intentional suspension of reason and logic, thus going against our very nature as critically thinking humans. It requires effort to believe something is true when our brains tell us it is false. Perhaps that is why Christians must meet frequently to convince each other that what they are believing is true and to sing and pray and chant repeatedly for the strength to resist the temptation to believe evidence (or lack thereof).
Science, on the other hand, requires corroborating evidence; enough facts to support a hypothesis or theory. It is no surprise that Larson and Witham found that 92% of the members of the National Academy of Sciences reject a belief in a god or supernatural power. Knowledge, at least in realm of science, appears to be a highly effective 'cure' for faith. This is why we do not see churches for scientists where they assemble once a week to hold hands and pray to Charles Darwin to strengthen their belief in Biological Evolution. Or appeal to the ghost of Louis Pasteur to keep the faith in the Germ Theory of Disease. Or to Sir Isaac Newton to believe in Gravitational Theory. In fact, men of science meet to do just the opposite—to challenge every finding and to prove one another false by presenting new and better evidence.
Just recently, University of California physics professor, Richard Muller, changed his skeptical stance on climate change when his own study produced new data that conflicted with his preconceived notions. He now humbly admits that climate change is caused by human activity. He was not alone in his skepticism. Michael Shermer, scientist and editor of Skeptic magazine, underwent a similar conversion after being presented with a convergence of evidence.
In another noteworthy example, Dr. Robert Spitzer, the psychiatrist who, in a 2001 paper, touted that gays could be "cured," reversed his position when proven wrong by the evidence and apologized for his admittedly "fatally flawed study."
By contrast, according to the most recent Religious Landscape Study conducted by Pew Research, 63% of Americans believe "with absolute certainty" in God of the Bible. These are believers who state emphatically that there is no amount of evidence that will ever change their minds. Their belief system is therefore one drawn purely from emotion, not from evidence.
Because of this difference between people of faith who happily ignore evidence and those who accept science, if I were on trial accused of a crime I did not commit, I would rather have a jury with just one person of science than twelve persons of faith!
In spite of this, I do sympathize with Christians. It must create unsettling cognitive dissonance to be told since childhood by parents and authorities that certain extraordinary things are true, with one part of your brain believing—desperately wanting to believe—and another part telling you ‘um, probably not’.
As Americans born into the commercialized Christmas culture, many of us experienced this conflict when we began to realize Santa Claus just might not be real. At the age of nine when the fantasy of Christmas began to break down, I desperately wanted to continue this wonderful, comforting belief and worked hard to ignore the lack of evidence and “just believe”. But in time, I abandoned this belief just as it says in the Bible:
“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”
~1 Corinthians 13:11
To be a faithful Christian one must believe in claims that, over the centuries, have continually been proven to be false by advancements in science. Millenia ago, before philosophy and the age of enlightenment, religion provided the best (and only) explanation for natural phenomena that humans in all cultures could not explain. For the ancients, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods, plagues, crop failure and other pestilence had to have had a cause. And up until a few hundred years ago, everyone to a person in the civilized world knew exactly what caused all of the above: Witchcraft!
Life continuing after death, telepathy, walking on water, transforming water into wine, human conception without male intervention, dead people walking, humans passing through walls, a water covering the entire earth, millions of life forms crammed on a wooden boat for a year, living inside a fish stomach for three days—in any other context except Christianity, believing that such events are true would have you committed to an asylum for the clinically insane! Why should Christians get a special pass?
Instead, fervent believers in all these things, including many in my family and circle of friends, proudly and unabashedly 'witness' their faith in such nonsense. And how do we react? Most of us respond with reverence, respect, and even praise! To challenge such magical thinking would cause us to pay a social price. And for me, a price I am unwilling to pay.
But there is hope. In this Age of Enlightenment, science and reason, Christians struggling with doubt is more common than you would think. A book search at amazon.com using the key phrase “faith in God” returns over 30,000 results! At the top, titles appear such as When Faith Fails: Finding God in the Shadow of Doubt, The Reason for God: Finding Belief in an Age of Skepticism, In Search of a Confident Faith: Overcoming Barriers to Trusting in God.
To put a fine point on this, the number two top selling Christian book of all time (the Bible itself being number one) is Unshakable Hope by author Max Lucado. This book for Christians deals exclusively with overcoming doubt, offering hope for those who “feel hurt by the past, disappointed by the present, or worried about the future”. Apparently there is a vast (and profitable) market for Christians struggling with keeping the faith.
By contrast, a search for Christian titles containing the word evidence returns a mere handful of results.
This begs the question: Why do Christians require such an extensive library of human-generated faith reassurances when we are repeatedly told that the perfect, divine Jesus, the man-god requiring of us such faith, has all the answers? Let’s examine what the world’s greatest moral philosopher had to say regarding faith.
Here’s something to think about. If suddenly all memories of religion were suddenly erased, all religious text, video, art and music disappeared from the world and all that remained was a single copy of the Bible and the Quran, would any modern, sane, thinking person pick up either of these books and believe any of the nonsense inside? Certainly not. Both books would be relegated to the bookshelf alongside Grimm’s Fairytales, Aesop’s Fables and Lord of the Rings.
Jesus’ Promises About Faith
According to Jesus, if you have enough faith you can move a tree, or even a mountain. (This could save thousands in construction costs!) Likewise, he said if you have enough faith you can pray for anything and you will receive it. With faith, nothing is impossible. Literally. Guaranteed.
This incredible promise from Jesus’ lips is repeated throughout the Gospels. Using a concordance or simple Google search you can read for yourself. When doing so, notice there are no 'ifs, ands or buts', no exceptions, no conditions, no caveats offered. Instead, Jesus used very specific descriptions, implying he believed and meant exactly what he said. For example, Matthew 17:20 reads:
“Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” .
~Jesus
And again in Matthew 21:21-22:
“If ye have faith, and doubt not ... if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”
~Jesus
Notice, Jesus did not say that if you have enough faith you can move a mountain, but only if it is a small mountain, and only if given enough time and enough heavy equipment is on site and enough labor is provided and enough financing is available. Or only if the site is to be used for a Christian church or school. Notice Jesus offers no exceptions. He clarified even further by saying "nothing shall be impossible" and "whatsoever" and "all things". These words are unconditional.
Jesus repeats this extraordinary promise of faith still again in Mark 11:23-24 where he is even more specific:
“That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."
~Jesus
That’s it. Whatever you desire. Simply ask, believe it, have no doubts, and it shall be yours!
Again in the Gospel of John (4:13-14, 15:7, 15:16, 16:23), Jesus broadly repeats his promise, but this time he has added one important condition, one he apparently forgot to mention previously:
“Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do.” .
~Jesus
Which is why many Christians conclude their prayers with, “we pray this in Jesus’ name...Amen.”
In the Gospel of Luke 17:16, Jesus gets downright specific to further drive home his extraordinary faith claims:
“If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
~Jesus
You can be certain that nowhere in recorded history has anyone, except perhaps magician David Copperfield, spoken to a sycamine tree (or any tree) and had it magically transplant itself from one location to another. And, according to Jesus, do we need to muster a massive amount of faith to accomplish this incredible feat? Nope. Just the tiniest bit of faith, metaphorically, the size of a mustard seed, will suffice.
Through the centuries, the above promises have been fodder for an endless procession of so-called faith healers including modern day televangelists who use Jesus’ words to prey upon weak, desperate believers (including some members of my own family!)
When Faith Turns Deadly
My cousin was a beautiful woman, inside and out. Unfortunately, she was also one of these Christian extremists. She certainly put her actions where her mouth was, believing one hundred percent in Jesus' promise that by faith and faith alone, God would cure her cancer. She did not hope, but expected nothing less than a miracle and was willing to bet her life on it. She refused all medical treatment which, had she accepted, would demonstrate weakness and her lack of faith in her Lord and Savior.
There was simply not a choice for her. To any rational person, the outcome was predictable. Yet, in her mind this was a win-win situation because the worst case scenario was that she would soon be holding hands with Jesus. Literally. And at her funeral her pious church friends and family would all agree that she was indeed “in a better place.” I imagine the four young daughters she left behind might disagree; that the better place would have been holding hands with them! In his eulogy, her supportive pastor husband, showing no emotion, declared that God needed her more than we did. Are you kidding? He is God for heaven’s sake!
But it gets worse. Years later after re-marrying, her pastor husband was stricken with the same cancer she died from. He seemed to learn a lesson from his wife's faith fail–that you must seek medical treatment–which he promptly did. He created a Facebook page for his congregation to follow his progress while he and they posted their fervent prayers for Jesus Jesus to guide the hands of his surgeons. I followed the conversation for many months as his health continued to decline. Yet he never expressed any doubt whatsoever that Jesus would heal him and return him to his family. Having been called by Jesus to save souls, certainly Jesus would save this faithful servant! You know the rest of the story.
My cousin and her pastor husband were not alone in their extreme faith. Adherents of the oxymoronic (emphasis on 'moronic') Church of Christ, Scientist believe that faith in Jesus’ words and reading the Bible can cure all disease. Christian "Scientists" pop up in the National news from time to time when parents refuse blood transfusions, medications, vaccinations or other life-saving measures to save their child from impending peril. In some cases, the children have been removed from the home and the parents imprisoned for child abuse or child endangerment.
Jim Henson was the creator of The Muppets, familiar to most everyone through the long-running Muppets Show and Sesame Street. According to Encyclopedia.com, Henson was negotiating a business deal when "he became seriously ill. A kind and patient man, Henson did not alert a doctor or visit a hospital because he did not believe he was sick; nor did he want to bother anyone. He had been raised as a Christian Scientist, a religion that does not subscribe to conventional health care practices. By the time he sought medical attention, it was too late to treat him. Henson died an untimely death from an aggressive form of pneumonia..."
Thankfully, adherents to the Christian Science faith are declining in the U.S. As if they do not have enough problems, the faith is enjoying increasing popularity in certain African nations.
Faith vs Science
Perhaps the most apparent, most divisive and most deadly example of pernicious faith in action has been witnessed in real time during the COVID-19 pandemic–and no thanks to the fake Christian and one-term president, Donald J. Trump, who downplayed the seriousness of the virus pandering to his Christian base.
In no time, the media became inundated with examples of pastors and their flocks refusing to accept Center for Disease Control and government guidelines of social distancing and wearing of protective masks. Defiant to the medical experts and tempting fate, they continued to congregate in tightly packed pews, proudly exclaiming that Jesus is the ”vaccine” that will protect them from harm.
Pastor Tim Collins from Kentucky, home of the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter, died from Covid after preaching against mask wearing and vaccinations.
“Viruses are a gift from God to bring us closer to him.”
~Pastor Tim Collins
Instead, Collins promoted horse and cow medicines, proven useless against the virus. He leaves behind a wife and three kids.
"It is with heavy hearts that we share Pastor Bob Bryant passed earlier today from this life and found himself fully in the presence of Jesus. So many of you have prayed and contended for his well-being and miraculous healing over the last week and half. It's been inspiring to watch our church family come together to contend for Pastor Bob and care for the Bryant family."
~The Water of Life Community Church
Bryant was the beloved pastor of a megachurch that opened its doors in defiance of state health regulations. He left behind a wife and four children.
Pastor Joshua Feurerstein (who was present during the January 6, 2020 insurrections) was another one of these grossly negligent church leaders who promoted false claims about the COVID-19 virus and vaccines to their faithful followers.
"You have a sound mind, you don't have to wear the mask, you got Jesus. You don't need the vaccine, you got Jesus."
~Pastor Joshua Feurerstein
Ignoring the pastor's bad grammar, as a group, these anti-vaxer pastors and their flocks of "sound mind" contracted the virus in numbers higher than the general population and many, needlessly, paid the ultimate price. I could publish a small book containing the names of all the pastors and anti-laxer Christians that put their faith in Jesus to protect them from the virus. But I guess that's okay because now they are with Jesus for all eternity...although certainly sooner than they expected.
Interestingly, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Google searches such as “Bible verses about pandemic” and related searches appeared in the top ten search phrases indicating certain cracks developing in the foundation of faith among our predominantly Christian population.
To be fair, not all pastors’ brains fell out during the pandemic. But some paid a different price. For example, Vern Swieringa lost his 8-year position as pastor when his congregation insisted on continuing live services mask-free and demanded that he do the same. He resisted because his wife was particularly vulnerable having suffered a severe bout of pneumonia that left her lungs scarred. They perceived his unwillingness to ‘trust in the Lord’ as a breach of contract and was fired.
During the pandemic I attended a funeral for a Christian friend that was held live but offered an online alternative for those of us out of state and those concerned about the virus. For an hour and a half I cringed as I watched his friends and church family sitting shoulder to shoulder, mask free, afterward hugging and kissing his wife who continues to suffer from a crippling, incurable lung disease. Fortunately my microphone was muted as I screamed obscenities at my iPad!
Ironically, two years before the pandemic and shortly after his cancer diagnosis, this unfortunate friend went public, testifying with absolute faith that Jesus, “the Great Physician”, would heal him of his cancer. After his passing his wife saw how his blind faith worked out for him—you would think—yet she seems to still have faith that with mask-free church services and all that touching, hugging and kissing she is magically immune from COVID-19, the flu, or even the common cold which could kill her. I am just waiting for the other shoe to drop!
More Faith Fails
This fact will surprise you, if not shock you, as it did me. Pastors have a disproportionate rate of suicide when compared to the general public. And who would (should) possess more faith than those who have dedicated their lives to peddling the promises of faith?
In 2019, at the age of 30, the beloved author and pastor, Jarrid Wilson, took his life “to be with Jesus” his loving wife announced. The next day I penned the following rant:
Where was Jesus “the Great Physician” when his humble servant needed him the most? What about Jesus’ promise to ask him anything, anything at all, and it will be granted? No doubt this young man, his family and large church family had prayed repeatedly, fervently, persistently, desperately—to get healing for Pastor Wilson’s mental illness. Where was the so-called “Savior“ when he needed him the most? And what bullshit will follow from Pastor Wilson’s flock to rationalize this horrific tragedy and make it fit into their perverted religious beliefs? No doubt some offered his family the trite, insensitive words that we hear ad nauseam. Unhelpful comments like, “God needed him more than we did.” Or, “He’s in a better place.” And how will they rationalize that he is actually in Heaven when many Christians, particularly of the Catholic persuasion, believe that suicide is a one-way ticket to Hell? Perhaps they will respond in the same way that Pastor Rick Warren and his wife cherrypicked the Scriptures and tweaked them to rationalize their son’s suicide? Oh, what terrible irony: On his verified Twitter page, Pastor Wilson had posted several notices about National Suicide Prevention Month. In a post shortly before his death, he wrote, "Loving Jesus doesn't always cure suicidal thoughts. Loving Jesus doesn't always cure depression. Loving Jesus doesn't always cure PTSD. Loving Jesus doesn't always cure anxiety. But that doesn't mean Jesus doesn't offer us companionship and comfort. He ALWAYS does that." And what will happen now to the hundreds, if not thousands, of believers that Pastor Wilson gave hope to? Will his words be rendered empty, meaningless, by the cruel hoax of faith? This remains to be seen.
The Faithful Fools
But it gets worse. In the following passage from Mark 16:18, Jesus’ words become even more pernicious as he gives his followers another very specific challenge to test their faith:
“…they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them…”
~Jesus
There you have it, in black and white, found in every Bible ever printed. As a result of this passage we have the delightful practice of venomous snake handling still alive and well in an estimated 125 Pentecostal and Charismatic churches in these United States. A quick search on YouTube and one can watch videos of such incredible idiocy where preachers in a trance-like state wave venomous snakes about their heads while gyrating and babbling nonsense (aka speaking in tongues). All the while the weeping faithful wave their hands toward Heaven egging them on, believing their Lord Jesus will reach down from the sky and protect their leader from a deadly snakebite.
As for those believers too squeamish to handle those yucky snakes, some will happily obey Jesus’ second precept by consuming strychnine, a deadly form of rat poison, to prove to all their undying faith (yes, pun intended). Evidently, on several Sundays the Lord was too busy deciding the outcome of football games and missed the fervent pleas from these faithful serpent-swinging and strychnine-swigging followers. Oops! These wackos and their congregations certainly deserved a Darwin Award as they were slowly and painfully removed from the gene pool.
Fortunately for some who suddenly realized their faith was not as strong as they had believed, the emergency room was open that Sunday. And it is no surprise that most of these supreme examples of stupidity come from Appalachia and other hillbilly regions, populations not exactly known for producing Harvard graduates or Noble Prize winners!
Two souls, one body
People with split brain phenomenon where the brain’s corpus callosum is severed down the middle either by birth or by surgery to relieve epileptic symptoms have essentially two people inside one body; essentially two different brains inside one skull, each with two unique personalities occupying one individual.
There was a real-life study conducted where a split brain patient was being asked questions to determine which hemisphere believed what. As it turns out, one side believed in God; the other did not. When the results results of this study were made public, it should have sent a tsunami crashing through the Christian community as it raises some extremely important theological questions regarding the nature of the soul.
So how does the Christian explain this theologically? Does this person still have one one soul or two? And what if one brain is a believer and the other is a nonbeliever? Does one soul to go to Heaven and the other to Hell?
However, the study barely produced a ripple and was largely ignored.
Another important question: What about ChristIans suffering from dementia? My dear sweet mother-in-law was a life-long devoted Christian. She often expressed her priorities in this order: Jesus first, family second. As she aged and her health began to fail, she longed to reunite with her husband, family and friends who were waiting for her in Heaven. When her cognitive abilities began to decline I would question her daily to see what changes were occurring in her mental state. Although she continued to remember my name, my wife’s name and how we were related until the very end, she no longer remembered that she was once married, nor did she remember her husband’s name, nor in photos and videos did she recognize the man she lived with for over seventy years! One day I asked her if she was still looking forward to being in Heaven with Jesus and she look directly at me and asked, “Who is Jesus?” I was more than a bit surprised, so this led to several other question. “Do you believe in God,” I asked. Again, there was a puzzled look on her face. She answered, “Who is God?”
This raises another question for theologians: If my mother-in-law does not know who God or Jesus is, and therefore cannot believe, does she end up in Hell with all the other non-believers? I guarantee you there is no Biblical answer to any of these questions, only conjecture.
Jesus Faith Fails
Did the promulgator and guarantor of unconditional faith abide by his own statements of faith? He did not. Christians do not realize the seriousness of this statement. So what evidence is there that Jesus demonstrated his own lack of faith? Once again, we turn to Jesus' own words and deeds for the answer.
One of the more confounding (and provocative) examples is the account of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. As the story goes, Jesus knows he is in trouble with the Roman authorities for a number of accusations from his fellow Jewish leaders. He knows that physical torture and possible execution is imminent in the near future and fear begins to overcome him. So instructing his disciples, except for Peter and John, to remain behind, he moves off into the garden to pray to God to save him from this looming fate. Reading his words in Mark 14:36, you can feel the anxiety, doubt and anguish overcoming him:
"...Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt."
~Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane
Having not received an answer from God, he prayed again. Then again for the final time.
So this begs the question, if Jesus is God as most Christians would agree, why would he pray to God (himself) to be delivered from a pending execution that he himself (God) had pre-arranged?
And if you believe, as most Christians do, that he (God) is omniscient*, and therefore knows the past, present and future, then Jesus (as God) knew, in advance, that he would indeed be executed. As well, for those who believe God does not change his mind, then Jesus (as God) knew there was nothing he could do about his plan set in stone.
*Sidebar: I cannot find the word ‘omniscient’ anywhere in the Bible. As far as God changing his mind, there are passages that claim God "does not change" while there are other passages where God repents and indeed changes his mind.
So why did Jesus bother praying to himself (as God) to be delivered from his pre-determined fate? And why would he have fear of dying when he knew he would not actually die, but would be resurrected by God (himself)? Is this the same Jesus who promised us we can have anything we pray for, even if we have only a tiny bit (mustard seed) of faith? As God in human form, surely Jesus could have saved himself from himself! Am I wrong?
"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."
~Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew 10:28)
This outward display of fear and Jesus' pleas to be delivered from death certainly must have been unsettling to his disciples who were told by their spiritual leader not to fear death and they could have anything they prayed for. Having obviously been duped, they should have challenged Jesus on his failure to believe his own words. As well, this betrayal of faith should be disturbing to today's followers of Jesus!
What's more disturbing, when Jesus foretells how others will suffer and die because of God's will, he shows no emotion. Yet, when faced with his own impending suffering and execution, we hear in his words, the fear and anxiety as any mere mortal would have.
Summary
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus makes numerous broad, sweeping promises regarding faith while offering some extreme (and ridiculous) examples of faith in action.
Jesus promised:
Anything you ask for in his name will be granted. Anything.
Only a tiny modicum of faith is required.
Such extreme faith requires you to:
Speak no facts.
See no evidence.
Hear no contradictions.
I ask you, are these the responsible words of one who so many consider to the the greatest moral philosopher whoever lived, the Savior of all mankind? Imagine the untold numbers of true believers past and present that willingly put themselves and their families in harm’s way, many dying needlessly, by taking Jesus' words literally, choosing to ignore the laws of nature, medicine and science.
By his words, we are reminded that Jesus did not believe his own promises regarding faith when he prayed for less painful options than hanging from a cross.
As I pointed out in my WWJD: Introduction, Jesus was possibly a follower of the Jewish sect, the Essenes. He was an apocalyptic preacher who, like the Essenes, believed the world as he knew it was coming to an end soon, very soon. Any person with such a fatalist belief could get away with making extraordinary claims about anything without having to provide evidence–there was simply not enough time to be proven wrong. Jesus, if divine, would have known the apocalypse was not about to happen. Jesus, as a human, was sorely mistaken, and therefore would never have imagined that his dangerous words would be carried forward over time to be taken literally by untold billions of followers.
By the evidence of Jesus' own words and actions, he is guilty, if unknowingly so, of creating the most insidious hoax to have ever been perpetrated upon mankind:
Faith.