This type of experience has happened to me more than once, and I have felt the need to set the record straight on how offensive some of the things that came out of Jesus' mouth were, and they went far beyond telling someone that their belief is wrong.
How Jesus Treated The Jews Of His Time
Back when Jesus was performing his ministry in the first century, the Jewish people had certain beliefs about themselves that were the result of their religious pride: First off, they claimed to love God more than anything, and that they followed his commands. They claimed to know scripture better than anyone, and since they were the physical blood descendants of Abraham, they claimed on that basis to be God's chosen people. Let's how Jesus addressed those beliefs.
For starters, Jesus directly refuted their claim to love God more than anything during a response to their persecution of him for healing a man on the Sabbath in John 5:
John 5:41-44: “I do not accept glory from human beings, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?"
What?! Jesus told people who claimed to love God more than anything else that they had no love for God in their hearts?! Why would Jesus do that? Doesn't he know that it's not Christ-like to say stuff like that? (sarcasm intended)
When it came to their claim to following God's commands, Jesus not only pointed out that they didn't know scripture, but that they actually broke scripture in favor of man-made traditions. Here is one example passage for the Jews not knowing scripture:
Matthew 21:12-17: "Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 'It is written,' he said to them, '"My house will be called a house of prayer," but you are making it "a den of robbers."'
The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, 'Hosanna to the Son of David,' they were indignant.
'Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.
'Yes,' replied Jesus, 'have you never read, "From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise"?'
And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night."
Jesus took it a step further in Matthew 15:
Matthew 15:1-9: "Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 'Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!'
Jesus replied, 'And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, "Honor your father and mother" and "Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death." But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is "devoted to God," they are not to "honor their father or mother" with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules."'
How is that for a response! When the Jews claimed to know scripture better than anyone, not only did Jesus tell them that they don't know scripture, he also said that they intentionally set aside scripture in favor of man-made traditions! Talk about a one-two punch in the "offensive speech" category!
Now, to see how Jesus addressed the Jews' claim to be God's chosen people on the basis of the fact that they were the physical descendants of Abraham, we need to look at a whole account in John 8:
John 8:31-47: "To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, 'If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'
They answered him, 'We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?'
Jesus replied, 'Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.'
'Abraham is our father,' they answered.
'If you were Abraham’s children,' said Jesus, 'then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the works of your own father.'
'We are not illegitimate children,' they protested. 'The only Father we have is God himself.'
Jesus said to them, 'If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.'”
That had to hurt! In response to their claim to be God's children on the basis of being the descendants of Abraham, Jesus said that even though they were the descendants of Abraham, they not only were not the children of God, but that they were actually the children of Satan! Of all the things I've shown so far, this had to be the most offensive thing to their ears.
Let's recap: The Jews of Jesus' time believed that they loved God more than anything, and that they followed his commands. They claimed to know scripture better than anyone, and since they were the physical blood descendants of Abraham, they claimed on that basis to be God's chosen people. In response to that, Jesus pointed out to them that they had no love for God in their hearts, they didn't follow his commands, they didn't know scripture, and that they were actually the children of the Devil. Other than Jesus repeatedly claiming to be God in human form, is it any wonder that they wanted to kill him? That kind of speech that Jesus used on them would have him condemned by today's Christians in today's society. Maybe Jesus would say the same things about them?
Jesus Taught That Young Earth Creationism Is True
Contrary to what theistic evolutionists and old-earth creationists tell us, Jesus had a teaching in both Matthew 19 and Mark 10 that can only be true if Young Earth Creationism is true. Here are the teachings:
Matthew 19:1-6: When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.
Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?'
'Haven’t you read,' he replied, 'that at the beginning the Creator "made them male and female," and said, "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh"? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.'"
Mark 10: 1-9: "Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them.
Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?'
'What did Moses command you?' he replied.
They said, 'Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.'
'It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,' Jesus replied. 'But at the beginning of creation God "made them male and female." "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
As we can see in Matthew and Mark, Jesus is clearly saying that man and woman (Adam and Eve) were created at the beginning of creation. In order to understand why that teaching can only be true if Young Earth Creationism is true, please watch the video blog below:
How is this radical and possibly offensive? The humanist and evolutionists who control the academic culture in our society, as well as the Christians who believe their lies, cannot stand the idea that the Earth and universe are only 6,000 years old because it offends their tender religious belief that the Earth and universe are billions of years old. For Jesus to teach something that can only be true if Young Earth Creationism is true is HIGHLY inconvenient to them.
Jesus Taught That The Old Testament Is True
Something else that Jesus taught which offends humanists, evolutionists, and compromised Christians is that the Old Testament is 100 percent true and accurate. I give lots of examples of Jesus doing this in Another Inconvenient Truth, but here are a few for your consideration:
Jesus
affirmed the story of Jonah and the great fish, as well as the Queen
of the South visiting King Solomon:
Matthew
12:38-42: “Then
some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, 'Teacher,
we want to see a sign from you.'
He
answered, 'A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But
none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as
Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so
the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of
the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this
generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of
Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the
South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it;
for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s
wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.'"
Jesus
affirmed Noah, the ark, and the flood as a historical fact in relation to his second coming:
Matthew
24:36-41: “But
about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven,
nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so
it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before
the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in
marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing
about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.
That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will
be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will
be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left."
Jesus
affirmed the story of Moses and the burning bush as historically
accurate:
Luke
20:34-38: “Jesus
replied, 'The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But
those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and
in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in
marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels.
They are God’s children, since they are children of the
resurrection. But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses
showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is not the
God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.'”
Conclusion
People in this day and age really don't like being told that they're wrong about something, and they don't seem to care about the evidence that goes behind someone like me telling them that they're wrong. For instance, I was recently talking with a girl who claimed that she was a follower of Jesus who was dedicated to pursuing Truth, but she didn't believe in set doctrines. She told me that apologetics was not part of her faith and was totally unnecessary.
I pointed to her that she was wrong to believe that because in John 3:12, Jesus taught that if we can't trust him when he talks about this reality, then we can't trust him when he talks about anything non-material, including the gospel and salvation. Since apologetics is dedicated to proving that we can trust Jesus and the Bible when it talks about this reality, I pointed out to her that she should be bothered by the fact that what she believed about apologetics contradicts with what Jesus taught about apologetics.
After that, she got mad and accused me of being judgemental before she stormed out of the conversation. As part of my last message to her, I told her that what I had said to her was nowhere near as offensive as the things Jesus told the Jews of his time. The Jews of Jesus' time believed that they
loved God more than anything, and they
claimed to know scripture better than anyone, and since they were the
physical blood descendants of Abraham, they claimed on that basis to be
God's children.
In response to that, Jesus pointed out to them
that they had no love for God in their hearts, they didn't follow his
commands, they didn't know scripture, and that they were actually the
children of the Devil. I told her that telling her that her belief about apologetics was wrong is NOTHING compared to being told that you don't love God, don't know scripture, and that you're a child of the Devil like Jesus told the Jews of his time.
I'm hoping at this point that you can see how radical and offensive of a man Jesus was to people in his first coming. As someone who tries to model his speech and actions after Jesus, I can safely say that if Jesus were walking the streets of America today, he would be just as hated as he was 2,000 years ago.
