The Book That Changed My Life, Forever
I have not been paid or sponsored to write this article, this is all from genuine passion and the need to share this information with my audience and even the people who hate me or my politics.
I must admit, technically two books have changed my life, one is political which I will save for another time, and the other is the book I will be writing about in this Substack.
To understand why it has changed my life, I have to open up and explain to you that I wasn’t the same man as I am today. — I was brought up very secular and atheistic, the only times that I would be in contact with some kind of religion or spiritualness, was either at funerals or a wedding, two very polarising events. Funerals are when you are there to grieve over a loved one passing into another realm or in the previous stance that I held nearly all of my life, was the passing into absolute nothingness. The other event, the wedding, was watching a man and a woman making a vow to spend the rest of their lives together in sickness and good health. A time when joy is at one of its peaks. — But upon reflection, I never took any notice of what the official holy person was trying to get across to the audience about a higher, all-powerful being, otherwise known as “God”.
Several years ago in 2021, I visited friends up in the midlands for a weekend to recharge, shoot some clay pigeons, have a few cigars and talk about all things politics and culture. — During this time, we felt the pressure from our own families, friends and colleagues for our stances on COVID-19, the experimental gene therapeutic and lockdowns. During a long conversation about Jesus Christ, I had what you could say was a “religious experience.” — an experience that I couldn’t explain, and continued to persist for 5 days straight.
I then began searching for answers, and here is where I stumbled across this book, “More Than A Carpenter” by Josh & Sean McDowell. — A short book comprised of short arguments and evidence-based literature about Jesus Christ, his resurrection and whether he was either three things, Liar, Lunatic or Lord. The last thing I would want to do is to just give the entire book away as it’s something you, the reader if it piques your curiosity, must explore for yourself. However, I do feel compelled to show you my favourite extracts from the book that blew my mind into realising that Jesus Christ was who he claimed to be, God. Not a prophet like the Muslims claim, not a sorcerer and a blasphemer that the non-messianic Jews claim, he was, to quote the title, more than a carpenter. He was the incarnate of God in the flesh.
There are 13 chapters, in the book where the opening of the book talks about the writer’s incredibly moving testimony. It describes how the power of the Holy Spirit, once you believe and know, that Jesus is real and did what he claimed changes you. — It softens you, but also makes you seek courage, and more importantly, you naturally learn the true value of grace.
As I write these extracts from the book, I promise not to give the whole book away. — I want to stress that to whoever is reading this, as it would be beneficial for you to read it for yourself.
What Jesus Christ a Lunatic?
The authors lay out to the reader a choice. You either believe in what Jesus claimed to be, which was God or you don’t. Josh & Sean Mcdowell write, “He didn’t leave us any wiggle room for in-between, watered-down alternatives. One who claimed what Jesus claimed about himself couldn’t be a good moral man or a prophet. That option isn’t open to us and Jesus never intended it to be.”
The authors continue using quotes from various academics including an extract from CS Lewis’ book, “Mere Christianity” (one of my favourites). — An extract that one that stood out was the words of Kenneth Scott Latourette, a historian of Christianity at Yale University:
“It is not his teachings which make Jesus so remarkable, although these would be enough to give him distinction. It is a combination of the teachings with the man himself. The two cannot be separated. It must be obvious to any thoughtful reader of the Gospel records that Jesus regarded himself and his message as inseparable. He was a great teacher, but he was more. His teachings about the kingdom of God, about human conduct, and about God were important, but they could not be divorced from him without, from his standpoint, being vitiated.”
The author then continues to assert that Jesus’ claim to be God is either true or false and everybody should give it “the same kind of consideration he expected of his disciples when put the question to them: ‘Who do you say I am?’ (Matthew 16:15).”
Was Jesus Christ a Liar?
The authors challenge the claim that Jesus Christ was a liar by saying, “If when Jesus made his claims, he knew that he was not God, then he was lying and deliberately deceiving his followers. But if he was a liar, then he was also a hypocrite because he taught others to be honest whatever the cost.”
This is fundamentally one of the most important and challenging arguments you could make about Jesus Christ, if he was knowingly lying, why would he not only teach others to be honest, and kind, and turn the other cheek if somebody strikes you, but also to reject the desires that vice grip mankind into committing atrocious acts of sin?
“It amazes me to hear so many people say that Jesus was simply a good moral teacher. Let’s be realistic. How could he be a great moral teacher and knowingly mislead people at the most important point of his teaching — his own identity?”
Was Jesus Christ Lord?
The conclusion that is given by the authors is that after laying out the arguments from academics and writers, Jesus couldn’t have been a lunatic or a liar, there is only one other alternative and that’s who Jesus Christ claimed to be, and that’s the Lord.
The author writes, “I cannot personally conclude that Jesus was a liar or a lunatic. The only other alternative is that he was — and is — the. Christ, the Son of God, as he claimed. But in spite of the logic and evidence, many people cannot seem to bring themselves to this conclusion.”
The authors reference Dan Brown in The Da Vinci Code, “By officially endorsing Jesus as the Son of God, Constantine turned Jesus into a deity who existed beyond the scope of the human world, an entity whose power was unchallengeable.”
The common mistake or straight-up lie that atheists make in popular culture, is that the deity of Jesus Christ was decided among the Council of Nicea. When I first told my atheist friends whom I have known since I was 12 years old that I had become a Christian, one friend asked, “Do you know about the Council of Nicea?” To which I replied, “No? I haven’t heard of it, tell me what it is.” — To which my friend repeatedly said, “Just look it up.” I of course kept pressing as I was curious. He explained to me this same mistake that I hadn’t known at the time, that Jesus Christ’s stature was voted among a council that he was the Son of God and Christianity was essentially established by men. — Naturally I was sceptical but, I was open to look into this, just because I claimed to have been saved by Jesus Christ, I still had the curiosity and longing for the truth even if I found something that could potentially have been conflicting.
This book answers the question nicely, “Novelist Dan Brown wants people to believe the idea that Christ’s deity was invented at the Council of Nicea. Although discussed in popular culture, this “fact” has been rejected by well over 99.9% of biblical scholars who study documented history. Here’s why. The New Testament itself provides the earliest evidence for the belief that Jesus is divine. Since these documents were composed in the first century just decades after the events surrounding Jesus, they predate the Council of Nicea by more than two centuries. While they were written by different people for a variety of purposes, one unmistakable theme they share is that Christ is God.”
The book has profound chapters that keep the reader hooked and wanting more information, other chapters include, “What makes Jesus so different? What about Science? The challenge of new atheism, are the bible records reliable?” — I have not been paid or sponsored to write this article, this is all from genuine passion and the need to share this information with my audience and even the people who hate me or my politics. — For years I had always searched for a purpose or some kind of meaning as many people do.
I worshipped materials, other humans and their stature, I tried slotting into so many different sub-cultures but, if there is one thing that is liberating and that’s denying yourself, picking up the cross and following Jesus Christ to true freedom and breaking the shackles of the secular world.
I hope this book helps you gain a more understanding of the truth, God bless you, as you make one of the most important choices a human could make.
Here is the link to Amazon to purchase the book for yourself.