Quotes With Meaning
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.
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.
This quote challenges us to confront the identity of Jesus Christ directly. C. S. Lewis argues that we cannot simply regard Jesus as a wise teacher without acknowledging the extreme claims he made about himself. He presents three possibilities: Jesus is either the divine Son of God, a madman, or something even worse. This forces us to make a choice about how we view him—either as a figure worthy of worship or as someone to be dismissed. Lewis emphasizes that treating Jesus as just a great moral teacher undermines the very essence of his teachings. The implications of this choice affect our mindset and approach to faith. Ultimately, we must recognize the significance of this decision in our lives and the freedom it brings in understanding our beliefs.