Joe Allotta

I honestly don’t need to even know who you worship. Jesus is the best possible being in the universe. Why would I say something so inflammatory? So exclusivist? So judgmental? That’s why I threw the word “objectively” in there. This isn’t opinion. I am only commenting on what various religious figures claim about themselves. You’re either going to believe it or you’re not, but objectively speaking, Jesus is the greatest God there could be. So what does Jesus say about Himself?

Jesus Is Creator

He doesn’t just manage the universe. He created it. He doesn’t just connect with the universe. He is literally what holds the atomic particles together. He isn’t just a culmination of everything within the universe. He transcends it. He’s bigger, stronger, faster and smarter than everything in the universe combined.

Jesus Is Savior

He is Creator AND Savior. Just these two statements together would bring Jesus a 1^st place in the Universe’s Got Talent competition. Many religions obviously have a supreme-being labeled “God,” but only Christianity claims that their supreme-being is also their Savior. No one else was sent. No other messenger would do. This was not some sort of special guest appearance. God was incarnate. This means that God literally became a human being. Jesus began this human venture as a fetus and grew-up in all the awkwardness that is human life. At the end of his life here on earth, the only human that didn’t deserve to die, chose to die. At about 33 years old, Jesus chose to die for the sins of all mankind. Because He was God, He could take-on the punishment of sin, and because he was human, he could share the effects of grace He earned with his fellow man.

Jesus Is the Word

For thirty plus years, people could hug God and shake God’s hand. They could listen to God talk and eat crackers and hummus with God. Well that must have been great for people living 2,000 years ago, but what about the rest of us? Do we just have to take their word for it? Well, yes and no. John 1 reveals that “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning and through him all things were made; and without him nothing was made that has been made. THEN, the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father.” Jesus is the Word. We still have the Word of God at our fingertips. So am I saying that Jesus IS Scripture? No, I don’t feel like I can say that because Jesus goes so far above and beyond the Bible. But the “Word of God” refers to both Scripture and Jesus and the issue is way “grayer” than it appears on the surface. You honestly can’t separate the two. You can’t say I follow Jesus and not follow Scripture. Likewise, you won’t live-out Scripture without also being obedient to Jesus. God’s Word is supernatural. This speaks to His accessibility. Jesus is incredibly accessible both through His Word and through our words in prayer. Even when we pray silently, His super God-ears can hear us.

Jesus Is Leader

I have a God and His name is Jesus. I have a Savior and His name is Jesus. I have someone I follow and His name is, you guessed it, Jesus. Jesus leads my life, my family, and my church. Whole governments and countries would be smart to do the same, but that is proving more and more rare. When Jesus is actually followed something incredible starts happening. Jesus transcends this life. He does engage our circumstances, but is working on eternal implications. When we follow Him, it puts things like suffering and trials into perspective. We can begin to see reasons for why things are happening. Colossians 1 tells us that everything in this world was not only created by Jesus but was also created for Him. Jesus is the leader of heaven and earth and angels and men and present countries and future kingdoms. They don’t even have to recognize Him as their Lord. Jesus is that great of a leader. He doesn’t even need people to follow him to accomplish exactly what He wants.

Jesus Is Better

I’m still going to try to be as objective as I can be (full-discloser, I’m a Jesus follower hook-line-and-sinker. I’m the Christian equivalent of a person who dresses up as their favorite non-mainstream superhero at Comic-Con.) I’ll mention several popular world-religions and point out why their claims are simply not as objectively good as Jesus’ claims.

1) Judaism is incomplete because it denies that Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus who did arrive is obviously better than no one that didn’t arrive.

2) Islam has an all-powerful God, Allah and a great prophet, Muhammad; but Allah would never become a man. That would be blasphemy. He sent a leader in Muhammad, but you must be your own savior in believing in his message. Objectively speaking, this is not better. Islam has a God that cannot truly understand the human experience, a prophet who isn’t God, and you kind of have to save yourself. This is objectively worse in every way.

3) Hinduism and Buddhism believe god is in everything. That’s cool. So do Christians. But Christians believe that God goes beyond everything as well. So definitely a huge minus in the power category. People are supposed to connect better to the oneness of the universe through suffering. Uh, no thanks. Jesus suffered on the cross for mankind’s sins. It’s not fair, Jesus was innocent; but objectively speaking, Jesus being the Savior is certainly better for humanity.

4) Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses and the like are obviously very similar to Christianity with one GIGANTIC difference. They believe Jesus is something less than Creator God. That objectively makes Jesus weaker.

5) Well I covered about 6/7^th of the earth’s population so far. So what’s left is those who claim to be non-religious and then a whole bunch of tribal religions, a couple wiccans, and some Sikhs. To sum them all up, they don’t believe in any being as powerful, as accessible, as loving, (or as real) as Jesus.   Thus they’re worshipping someone objectively worse than Jesus (especially if they’re worshipping themselves which is essentially what atheists do.)

Well, as always, I welcome comments. Let’s try to be objective about the most subjective subject of all time. I know many of you simply do not believe that Christianity, the Bible, or Jesus are telling the truth – a real truth being better than a false lie. So my challenge would be the same as Blaise Pascal’s, the 17^th Century Philosopher and Mathematician (Pascal is also my cat’s name but that is totally irrelevant.)

Jesus is either the truth or a lie. And the consequences are so extreme, whether eternity in Heaven or eternity Hell or the middle-“ground” of nothing happening at all and just being buried, that one MUST make sure that they are 100% sure that Jesus isn’t who He says He is.