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    Jesus Christ: Ultimate Superstar
    Jesus Christ: Ultimate Superstar
    Jesus Christ: Ultimate Superstar
    Ebook65 pages54 minutes

    Jesus Christ: Ultimate Superstar

    By Peter D. Goodgame

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    About this ebook

    The Hebrew prophets predicted that the coming Messiah would be a Star coming to rescue Israel from her enemies (Numbers 24:17). When Jesus was born his birthplace was marked by a Star that led the Magi to Bethlehem (Matthew 2:2-10). In the book of Revelation Jesus describes himself as "the root and descendant of David, the bright morning Star" (Revelation 22:16).

    Who exactly was this spiritual Superstar whose brief life sparked a movement that turned the world upside down and continues to this day? Did Jesus Christ truly claim to be the Messiah of Israel, and what does that even mean?

    In "Jesus Chris: Ultimate Superstar" author Peter D. Goodgame provides a short biography of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth that helps to answer these timeless, cosmic, and potentially life-changing questions.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateMay 1, 2015
    ISBN9781483553443
    Jesus Christ: Ultimate Superstar

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      Book preview

      Jesus Christ - Peter D. Goodgame

      Endnotes

      Introduction: Who Was Jesus?

      Within public society today there are a limited number of acceptable ways in which to view Jesus. You can think of him as a simple social activist, or as a wise spiritual guru, or as a failed political resistor of the Roman Empire. It’s permissible to view him as a great spiritual figure and it’s generally understood that he wasn’t a bad guy. He meant well, it’s just that his followers have over-done it. All of this speculation is considered well and good and many scholars have been applauded and supported for promoting each of these watered-down views of Jesus.

      The problem arises when true believers upset the delicate politically-correct balance that the secular establishment has sought to create. You see, the establishment believes that if mankind is ever going to live in a harmonious global society then everyone needs to agree that every spiritual path is equally valid and that each path leads to the same destination. We must pretend that Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, Gandhi and the Dalai Lama all teach the same basic things, and that each belief system is true in its own way. Jesus-followers upset this notion when they proclaim two things…

      First, that Jesus claimed to be the Messiah and that He alone is the Savior of the human race. If Jesus claimed to be the Messiah then the utopian secularists become frantic in their search for an escape clause, because this leaves only three possible options for viewing his life and the impact that he made upon this world: Either, 1) Jesus was a liar, and his claims were false; or 2) he was a deluded lunatic who believed his claims were true but they were not; or 3) the claims that Jesus made were true and He was, and is indeed, the Messiah and the Savior of the human race.

      Christian author C.S. Lewis put it best when he wrote,

      You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. ¹

      Unfortunately, today’s politically-correct scholars prefer to take the option of patronizing nonsense. It wouldn’t be pleasant to speak of Jesus as a liar or as a demon or as a crazy person, so they promote the notion that he was just another historical figure who taught basic spiritual values. John Dominic Crossan is one of these scholars. He is the man acknowledged by many as the world’s premier researcher of the so-called historical Jesus. According to Crossan, Jesus was an illiterate naïve activist, a …savvy and courageous Jewish Mediterranean peasant, a radical social revolutionary, with a rhapsodic vision of economic, political, and religious egalitarianism and a social program for creating it. ²

      According to Crossan, Jesus had a simple rhapsodic vision, but this vision did not include the thought that He might be the Messiah. According to Crossan, Jesus never even dreamed of being the long-awaited Messiah!

      The second idea held by dedicated Jesus-followers that upsets the secular establishment is that Jesus Christ claimed to be God, and that He was God, the second member of the Divine Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These days it’s generally rude to talk about God, period! Everybody has such different and distinct views of God that to make such a bold and concrete statement is considered intolerant of what others might believe. Today God is either the Unknowable, or better, He is the Non-Existent. Jesus couldn’t have been God and he couldn’t have claimed to be God. It’s just not possible! Or so they say…

      Another highly respected scholar, one well taken care of by the secular establishment and elite academia is Karen Armstrong. She has written a number of books on God, fundamentalism and monotheism, including A History of God, and although she admits that she has never communicated with Him, her work has been praised, supported and promoted by all of the influential media outlets. The Washington Post calls her work stunningly intelligent, The New York Times calls it penetrating, readable and prescient, and others applaud her as brilliant, provocative and impressive.

      This praise may have something to do with her background and her perspective. Karen

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