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CARM Continued: 32 What Makes Jesus so Special?

The correct answer to this is "absolutely nothing". There are thousands of stories of thousands of miracle workers that have claimed incredible things. No Christian believes any of those stories just as there is no reason to believe the Jesus miracle stories.

He states: "1) Jesus claimed to be God."

1) To begin with, this is thoroughly untrue. Not once in any Gospel does Jesus ever claim to be Jehovah and not once, in any epistle, does Paul say that Jesus is Jehovah. The two are always and consistently denoted as seperate beings; The Father is Jehovah whereas Jesus is Jehovah's servant and Lord of the Christians. If either Jesus or Paul thought that Jesus was Jehovah, the idea would not be couched in inference and parable but shouted plainly from every chapter and every book in the New Testament. As an example, how many times does Jesus repeat that he is the Son of God? Jesus' divinity is a bizarre and completely unbiblical idea that was invented wholecloth by early Christians who were heavily influenced by Neo-Platonic thought.
2) Secondly... SO WHAT!?!? Why should we CARE at ALL about what people claim much less the scope and breadth? If Jesus HAD claimed (never did) that he was Jehovah and this ALONE actually validates the theology than it stands to reason that my claim to be UBER-Thor-more-powerful-than-Jehovah means that I am telling even MORE of a truth than Jesus. Oh, and some insane freak who comes stumbling by claiming to be UBER-Zeus-more-powerful-than-UBER-Thor would be even MORE truthful! Mohammed CLAIMED to be the great prophet. Koresh CLAIMED to be the reincarnation of Jesus. JZ Knight CLAIMS to channel a 10,000 year old Egyptian... WHO CARES what any of these people claim?

"Only Jesus pointed to Himself, claimed to be God, and spoke with authority that matched His claim. "

I would argue that David Koresh did exactly the same thing. There is NOTHING unique about this behavior and it certainly is NOT evidence of truth.

"What He did. Jesus forgave sins (Luke 5:20). He rose from the dead (Luke 24; John 2:19-21), raised others from the dead (John 11:43-44), and He walked on water (John 6:19). No one on earth has ever done the things Jesus did."

It is SO frustrating when I have to respond to "distinction without a difference" arguments. All miracle workers in history have lists of special miracles - so what? Listing Jesus' semi-unique list is akin to listing Osiris' semi-unique list as proof of Osiris' existence. Did Jesus split the moon like Mohammed? Did Jesus walk through walls like Appollonus of Tyara? Did Jesus slay the Hydra like Hercules? Did Jesus cause the sun to come down like the Virgin Mary? Since Jesus didn't have X-Ray vision like Joseph Smith - does that make Joseph Smith's claims true? Joseph Smith could make a list of semi-unique miracles too. I say semi-unique because the author incorrectly states that ONLY Jesus raised the dead when this is a common miracle among mythological figures including Isis, Appollonus of Tyana and even Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

If Christians accept the miracles of Christianity as fact than they have to be consistent and accept the miracle stories of all religions as fact:

The miracle of Fatima where the sun danced in the sky witnessed purportedly by thousands.

Miracles performed by Gagangiri Baba witnessed by many followers.

The miracles of Buddha witnessed by many kinsmen.

The splitting of the moon by Mohammed witnessed by the people of Mecca.

The food miracle by Saint John of Russia witnessed by many landowners.

Perseus turns Phineus into stone witnessed by a wedding reception.

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