Jesus Was More Than a Man
One of the more interesting testimonials to the divinity of Jesus Christ was the (apparent) remark by Napoleon along the lines of, “I know men, and Jesus Christ was no man.”*
What always amazes me is Jesus’ strength of will when He asked His Father to forgive His murderers. The very same people who not a week earlier had literally worshiped Him were now calling for Him to be tortured and nailed to a tree, where He would hang until He suffocated. And what had He done for these people during His life? He literally healed them of sickness and gave them amazing words of hope and encouragement. The crucifixion of Jesus was the most despicable crime in human history. (I am open to the argument that Judas’ betrayal was the most despicable sin in human history, as opposed to a crime.) We could not be more despicable and criminal than that.
Now a very just and merciful man, after coming back from the dead (just go with me on this), could be expected to forgive his killers. An amazing man could be expected, as he is hanging in agony, to be able to say, “Forgive them” if someone in the crowd yelled, “What should God do to these fiends?!”
But only a man who was also the son of God could possibly on his own decide that among all the other things He had on His mind at that moment, to call out to His Father to forgive His torturers and murderers.
* Yes yes, atheist libertarians feel free to say, “Ha ha ha, Bob is so delusional now because of his irrational beliefs that he is citing Napoleon with approval.”
