This is a two-part series where we’re going to be taking a look at some of the different religions and processing them according to the way they answer the question: Who is Jesus? We’ll be looking at Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Scientology and Islam.
What’s great about all this is that it goes beyond being interesting. At the top of the discussion, we introduce the fact that if Jesus isn’t God, He isn’t enough; but He is God, He is more than enough, which is our cue to look in the mirror and say, “Enough!” Enough with the excuses we constantly assert in an effort to avoid being obedient to whatever God would have us do.
You ready? Here we go!
I. Intro: Who is Jesus?
Whenever you investigate another denomination or religion, the question that first must be asked is: Who is Jesus?
Whatever distinctions exist, the central issue is the Deity of Jesus Christ. If He’s not God, then He’s not enough.
In Scripture, you see the template God established, which outlined the process resulting in the forgiveness of sin. In
In order for the cross to work, Jesus had to be all three. He had to be God, because only God can forgive sin. He had to qualify as the kind of high priest defined in Hebrews because in order to atone for the sins of man, He would have to access heaven itself. The life of Jesus was the only acceptable sacrifice because only a life devoid of sin could redeem and deliver us from the power of sin.
All that to say—if Jesus isn’t God, then Jesus isn’t enough.
II. Jehovah’s Witnesses
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe Jesus is actually Michael the Archangel: “Likewise, the Bible indicates that Michael is another name for Jesus Christ, before and after his life on earth.“
Consider John 1:1: The New World Translation has to be altered in order to stay consistent with the Jehovah’s Witness insistence that Jesus isn’t God: “In (the) beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.
Now, that’s their translation. What does our Bible say? “…and the Word was God” (
Again, bear in mind that when Jesus died on the cross, He wasn’t simply taking one for the team so God would be more inclined to accept our apology for everything we’ve done wrong. His death and resurrection completely and utterly obliterated the power of sin.
When God looks at us, He doesn’t simply gloss over our wrongdoings and pretend they’re not a part of the equation. We haven’t merely been absolved; we have been completely delivered from the power of sin (see
What Satan does through these different religions is very clever. He doesn’t suggest Jesus never existed; he doesn’t even claim Christ didn’t die and come back to life. He simply edits the identity of Christ; if you’re not trusting in Jesus as God, then you’re not trusting in Jesus at all.
The same kind of thing occurs with Mormons.
III. Mormons
As was the situation with Jehovah’s Witness, the identity of Jesus has been altered in the Mormon doctrine to indicate He is not God. Rather, He is the firstborn of the Father—a member of the Godhead, which is comprised of three separate personages, as opposed to three dimensions of the same Person.
Jesus and Satan, as the rest of us, were spirit brothers and sons of God before the spirit of Jesus was given a body by Mary in Bethlehem. The Mormon Book of Moses presents Satan and Jesus as contending for the privilege of taking a body of flesh in order to become the redeemer, with Jesus winning the contest. (See Joseph Smith, “Pearl of Great Price,” Book of Moses 4:1-4.)
However incremental the difference may appear to be, it is a dealbreaker. Jesus identified Himself as God, not a creation of God. Again, if He’s not God, He’s not enough.
IV. Conclusion
There is a take-home here that needs to be identified, because if all that results from this conversation is something perceived as interesting, we’re not really being edified.
Jesus is God. Park there for a minute. However we may try to wriggle free of being obedient in the context of noble sounding execuses, there’s got to be a point where we recognize we’re being disobedient.
Jesus is God. You can’t say, “No, Lord!” without uttering a statement that is self-contradictory. If He’s Lord, how can you say no to Him? Yet we do so all the time.
Where are you at in terms of your personal devotions? Do you get to work on time? Do you work when you’re at the job, or are you playing Solitaire on your computer? Do you eat right, or do you engage in a dignified version of gluttony? Do you exercise at the gym, or do you spend more time flipping through magazines?
Enough! Get to it! Do what needs to be done! Be obedient! Jesus is Lord! Quit making Him out to be an add-on or a source of counsel and direction that you accept and apply in bits and pieces.
However inconvenient or uncomfortable that may be, the rewards and advantages of obedience are more then enough to justify the sacrifce.
See you next time for Part 2!
Author of the Bible study Muscular Christianity and is the Student Minister of New Hope Baptist Church. Learn more about him at MuscularChristianityOnline.com.
