Although it didn’t originate with him, one of the arguments which C.S. Lewis is best known for is his “Trilemma”. Who is Jesus? A good teacher or something else? Apologist Jimmy Akin walks us through the various options.
S5E46: “The Trilemma” – After Hours with Jimmy Akin (Download)
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Show Notes
Introduction
Quote-of-the-week
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.
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Biographical Information
Jimmy Akin is an internationally known speaker and author of many books such as: A Daily Defense, The Fathers Know Best, and The Drama of Salvation.
As the senior apologist at Catholic Answers, he has thirty years of experience in defending and explaining the Faith.
He is a weekly guest on the national radio program Catholic Answers Live, as well as several podcasts, including Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World.
Not only that, he also recently debated and high-fived skeptical scholar, Dr. Bart Erhman.
Biographical Information for Jimmy Akin
Chit-Chat
- David and Jimmy spoke about Star Wars Day (May 4th).
- David explained how they know each other.
Beverage and Toast
- Since they were recording on Star Wars Day, David had intended to drink blue milk, but he forgot the food colouring, so he just had a regular glass of milk instead.
- Jimmy was drinking…
- They toasted Patreon supporter Megan Prahl:
Megan, we raise a glass to your good health. May you always speak the truth, be of sound mind, and reverence in your heart Jesus Christ as Lord.
Patreon Toast
Discussion
1. “Background”
- I shared a few brief highlights in the introduction, but would you please introduce yourself to our listeners and tell us a little bit about yourself?
- Jimmy referenced a line by Zaphod from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:
2. “Close encounters of the Lewis kind”
- At what point in your faith journey did you encounter C.S. Lewis?
3. “The Trilemma”
- For someone who is unfamiliar with the Trilemma, what is Lewis’ argument?
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. 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 patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (Book II, Chapter 3)
4. “He was a liar!”
- What’s the problem with saying that Jesus was a liar?
5. “He was a lunatic!”
- So on to the next option … why can’t we say Jesus was crazy? After all, even the Gospel accounts record that his family at one point thought he was out of his mind (Mark 3:21)…
Then he went home, and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.”
Mark 3:20-21
6. “…or just mistaken?”
- Some people (I believe Richard Dawkins is among them?) try to use a softer version of this, saying that he wasn’t wasn’t a liar nor a lunatic, but was just mistaken on the subject of his divinity. Is this a viable option?
7. “He wasn’t Lord!”
- So one objection, often raised by Muslims, Jehovah Witnesses, Unitarians, and sometimes skeptics is that Jesus never claimed to be God. So in terms of Lewis’ dilemma, they would contend that “Lord” (in the full divine sense) isn’t really an option. How would you respond to this?
Jesus answered, … Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.” Then the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
John 8: 54, 56-59
For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.
John 5:18
For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.
John 5:18
All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Matthew 11:27
All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
Luke 10:22
All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer? What is it that they testify against you?” But he was silent and did not answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” Jesus said, “I am; and ‘you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power,’ and ‘coming with the clouds of heaven.’”
Mark 14:60-62
8. “The New Testament is unreliable and He’s just a legend!”
- Probably the most common response I hear against the Trilemma is that it’s not exhaustive and the main option people want to add is “Legend”. They ask “Why can’t the accounts of Christ be legendary?” They could be legendary in the sense of the mythicists who claim Jesus never even existed, or in a more modest fashion, where it’s claimed that Jesus was indeed a First Century teacher, but that the stories about him became exaggerated, both in terms of the deeds described and in terms of Jesus’ divine claims. What do you think?
9. “Review”
- Now that we’ve looked at the various possible responses, what do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of Lewis’ trilemma?
