Difference between revisions of "Liar, lunatic, Lord"
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==Criticisms== | ==Criticisms== | ||
+ | ===Jesus Could Still Be a Liar=== | ||
+ | According to the gospels, Jesus was around 30-years-old when he died. However, the entire written history of his life only accounts for at best, a few hours of dialogue. To conclude that someone can't possibly be a liar when you only have access to a few hours of dialogue of their life, is pretty ridiculous. The fact that Christians are so eager to dismiss this possibility with so little evidence shows that they don't take seriously their burden of proof. I think a likely reason they're so confident Jesus couldn't be a liar is because they presuppose he was an all-good god who was incapable of lying. | ||
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+ | ===Jesus Is a Lunatic=== | ||
+ | A large amount of the dialogue attributed to Jesus in the gospels demonstrates him to be quite mentally unstable. | ||
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===False Dilemma=== | ===False Dilemma=== | ||
Or, in this case, a false "trilemma." It assumes that Jesus can only be three possible choices, a liar, a lunatic, or the son of God and ignores essentially an infinite number of other possibilities. | Or, in this case, a false "trilemma." It assumes that Jesus can only be three possible choices, a liar, a lunatic, or the son of God and ignores essentially an infinite number of other possibilities. | ||
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This suggests a valid fourth option, Legend. The biblical account of Jesus is inaccurate, Jesus was misquoted, the authors of the bible confabulated Jesus's words, pious fraud led the bible's authors to alter it, the bible exaggerates the life of Jesus, Jesus's life is an amalgam of many other prophets, etc. | This suggests a valid fourth option, Legend. The biblical account of Jesus is inaccurate, Jesus was misquoted, the authors of the bible confabulated Jesus's words, pious fraud led the bible's authors to alter it, the bible exaggerates the life of Jesus, Jesus's life is an amalgam of many other prophets, etc. | ||
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==Links== | ==Links== |
Revision as of 10:49, 18 September 2019
Liar, Lunatic, Lord, also known as Lewis's trilemma, is a Christian argument commonly attributed to C.S. Lewis, although the argument predates him by about a century. It can be succinctly presented as, "Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord. The Gospels do not depict him as a liar or a lunatic, so he must be the Lord." The argument has many known flaws in both its formulation and logic.
Contents
History
Arguments attempting to defend the accusation that Jesus was a liar are as old as Christianity itself, and are even included in the Gospel of John, but the formation of this trilemma didn't appear until the 1800s.
Mark Hopkins, 1846
In his book, Lectures On the Evidences of Christianity Before the Lowell Institute, published in 1846 and based off his lectures from 1844, the Christian preacher Mark Hopkins describes, with a rather lengthy appeal, the idea that, if Jesus wasn't one with God, he was either a liar or insane:
William Knight, 1870
William Knight, an acolyte of Christian preacher John Duncan, wrote down many of the preacher's words while he was living with him from 1859-1860. Ten years later, after Duncan's death, Knight compiled his notes into the book Colloquia Peripatetica: Deep-sea Soundings ~ Being Notes of Conversations With the Late John Duncan, published in 1870. Knight's account of Duncan's argument is the first clearly-presented version of the trilemma:
Others, 1900-1940
Over the years, many other Christian preachers used this same argument, each formulated in their own way. Some of the more famous accounts include:
- Christian preacher Reuben Archer Torrey, Sr. in a sermon titled, "Some Reasons Why I Believe The Bible To Be The Word of God," c.1918.
- Presbyterian preacher William Edward Biederwolf in an essay titled, "Yes, He Arose," 1867-1934.
- Writer and lay theologian Gilbert Keith Chesterton in his book The Everlasting Man, 1925, which inspired C.S. Lewis.
- Christian preacher Watchman Nee included the trilemma in his book, The Normal Christian Faith, 1936.
C.S. Lewis, 1942
In a BBC radio lecture, writer and lay theologian C.S. Lewis invoked the trilemma. Later, in 1952, he published a book about his lectures titled, Mere Christianity. He described the trilemma thusly:
Obviously, countless preachers have put forth their own version of the argument since, but this is the most famous attribution, so I won't list them all.
Argument
An informal construction of the argument is below with additional notes for the various premises and conclusions:
P1: In the Gospels, Jesus claims to be God.
P2: Jesus can either be lying, a lunatic, or telling the truth.
P3: He does not appear to a liar or be a lunatic.
C1: Therefore, he is telling the truth.
C2: Therefore, he is the Lord.
P1: In the Gospels, Jesus claims to be god.
Christians usually cite various passages from the New Testament, mostly from the Gospel of John, to demonstrate that Jesus claimed to be a god.
P2: Jesus can either be lying, a lunatic, or telling the truth.
A lot of people have claimed to be a god, most of which are either purposely lying or simply insane. However, it's possible that one of them could be telling the truth.
P3: He does not appear to a liar or be a lunatic.
Christians are quite confident that there isn't a single place in their bible which describes Jesus telling a lie or exhibiting anything but sane behavior.
C1: Therefore, he is telling the truth.
Since liar and lunatic have been ruled out, all that is left is Lord.
C2: Therefore, he is the Lord.
Therefore, Jesus must be the Lord.
Criticisms
Jesus Could Still Be a Liar
According to the gospels, Jesus was around 30-years-old when he died. However, the entire written history of his life only accounts for at best, a few hours of dialogue. To conclude that someone can't possibly be a liar when you only have access to a few hours of dialogue of their life, is pretty ridiculous. The fact that Christians are so eager to dismiss this possibility with so little evidence shows that they don't take seriously their burden of proof. I think a likely reason they're so confident Jesus couldn't be a liar is because they presuppose he was an all-good god who was incapable of lying.
Jesus Is a Lunatic
A large amount of the dialogue attributed to Jesus in the gospels demonstrates him to be quite mentally unstable.
False Dilemma
Or, in this case, a false "trilemma." It assumes that Jesus can only be three possible choices, a liar, a lunatic, or the son of God and ignores essentially an infinite number of other possibilities. The fact that so many of the earliest arguments use a dichotomy of liar or Lord demonstrate that lunatic as a possible third option.
Legend
The gospels are religious propaganda. Although some of their details may be accurate, they are made up of known fraudulent passages, large sections of plagiarism, they're anonymously written, and not eye-witnesses, and not even written anywhere near when the events supposedly transpired.
This suggests a valid fourth option, Legend. The biblical account of Jesus is inaccurate, Jesus was misquoted, the authors of the bible confabulated Jesus's words, pious fraud led the bible's authors to alter it, the bible exaggerates the life of Jesus, Jesus's life is an amalgam of many other prophets, etc.