Are tomatoes fruits or vegetables?
I might have opened up a can of worms just by asking, because disagreement has surrounded this issue for generations.
In fact, the US Supreme Court has even weighed in on this burning question.
This issue was brought to a head in 1893 in Nix v. Hedden. The Court held that, even though tomatoes are fruits botanically, they would be classified as vegetables for the purposes of tariffs, imports and customs.
Did this settle the matter? Hardly.
Some US states have since named the tomato their state fruit; others call it their state vegetable.
It’s the sort of issue that produces arguments to this day.
Let me ask you another question:
Was Jesus simply a good man and teacher, or was He Lord?
The answer to this question has eternal consequences for each of us. It’s not simply a matter of “You say tomayto, I say tomahto.”
Author C.S. Lewis famously addressed the topic of who Jesus really is in his classic book, “Mere Christianity.”
His argument goes like this:
Many people say, “Sure, Jesus led a good life and was a great moral leader, but I don’t accept that he was God.”
The problem is, Jesus really did claim to be God.
“I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30)
So now we have several options to consider:
Either He wasn’t telling the truth and knew it; or he was delusional and merely imagined He was God; or…
He really was God incarnate.
Which was it? This is the question each of us has to decide for ourselves.
Was Jesus liar, lunatic, or Lord?
Jesus laid His cards on the table for us: He said outright that He was the Son of God. He never claimed to be merely a great teacher, so we don’t have the option of downgrading Him to that.
So what does the evidence suggest?
The Bible shows us that Jesus lived a perfectly sinless life, something no mere human is capable of doing.
He also performed numerous miracles, from turning water into wine, to healing blind eyes, to feeding thousands with a few loaves and fishes, to raising the dead. Jesus did the things only God can do.
Through Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection, He fulfilled more than 300 prophecies that had been written in the Old Testament centuries earlier about the coming Messiah. The statistical odds against one person fulfilling even a score of these prophecies are astronomical—unless God was arranging it all to validate the deity of His Son.
Another proof can be found in the dramatic change in the behaviour of the disciples after Jesus’ resurrection. They went from being confused, wavering cowards to preachers boldly proclaiming that Jesus is Lord. They were willing to be imprisoned, tortured and even executed for their faith in Him, something you wouldn’t do if you felt someone was a liar or a lunatic.
So that leaves us with the third option, that Jesus was indeed Lord of the Universe.
If Jesus is God, what does that mean for us?
Scripture says that all of us have sinned, but that Jesus’ atoning work on the Cross provides a way for us to be forgiven and for our relationship with God to be restored, enabling us to live with Him forever.
“Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
“And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:8-11)
Liar, lunatic, or Lord?
How will you answer this burning question?
© 2023 Lori J. Cartmell. All rights reserved.
