When Jesus came to the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he said to his disciples:
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. (Matthew 16:24-28)
First, Jesus states very clearly what is required to be a follower of his:
- A man must deny self
- A man must take up his own cross (not Jesus’ cross)
- A man must follow after Jesus (WWJD)
Note that Jesus doesn’t say anything about having the right beliefs, using the right Bible translation, or attending the right church. As Jesus repeatedly says in the gospels, true Christianity is measured by how a person lives, and not by what he believes. I’m not saying that beliefs don’t matter. I am saying, however, that the true measure of a Christian is good works. James made this clear when he said, “Faith without works is dead.”
Jesus goes on to say that there is coming a day when he will come into his kingdom, and some of his disciples will still be alive when he does. The Message says:
Don’t be in such a hurry to go into business for yourself. Before you know it the Son of Man will arrive with all the splendor of his Father, accompanied by an army of angels. You’ll get everything you have coming to you, a personal gift. This isn’t pie in the sky by and by. Some of you standing here are going to see it take place, see the Son of Man in kingdom glory.”
Evangelical apologists have all sorts of explanations for verse 28, but they fall flat as they try to absolve Jesus of the sin of lying. An honest reading of the text says that there is coming a day when some of Jesus’ disciples currently alive in the first century will see him coming in power and glory. Has Jesus come into his kingdom? Has he returned in power and glory? Nope. The last sighting of Jesus, according to the Bible, was almost 2,000 years ago. With a promise that he would one day return to earth, Jesus ascended to Heaven, never to be seen again. Thus, Jesus lied when he said, “Some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.” Either Jesus’ disciples still walk the face of the earth as well-preserved 2,000-year-old humans, or they are all dead, dying not long after Jesus did. The first claim is absurd. People live and people die. No one, including Jesus, escapes death.
Jesus told several other lies, which I will cover in the future.
Justin, a former Evangelical preacher, covered this subject on a live stream on his channel, The Deconstruction Zone. Watch as an Evangelical apologist goes nuts over the suggestion that Jesus lied. An epic meltdown, to say the least.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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That guy who didn’t like what the Bible said went straight to “burn in hell” and spoke of personally doing violence to the interviewer. I understand that it’s difficult to confront that the things one was taught about their religion from childhood aren’t all accurate, but speaking to the interviewer in that manner is offensive.
OC–The more untrue something is, and the longer one has believed it, the harder it is to admit that it’s untrue.
The funny thing is that people who absolutely believe that the Bible is the unfiltered word of God are the ones who do the strangest mental gymnastics to “prove” that the book contains no lies or contradictions, or are most worked up when they can’t square verses like Matthew 16:24-28 with their beliefs.
I always wondered about that verse. I have read Jehovah’s Witnesses tracts that attempt to explain this, and I could never understand it. Talk about word gymnastics! As for my opinion, different writers from different times strung together stories and legends hundreds of years old. Instead of an anthology, they called it sacred and named it the Bible. It has no rhyme or reason, just stories loosely linked together. Heck, that makes more sense than the apologists ‘s claims.
As for Jesus lying: if there was a flesh and blood Jesus, he probably said what he thought would happen at the time. Or, he was a charlatan in the form of Joel Olsteen and other grifter preachers, claiming prophecies to get what he wanted. Either way, we will never know, so why worry?