Jesus or the Bible?

We've had some fun discussing and debating whether "Why God?" (a third of our new senior high apologetics couse) should be followed by "Why Jesus?" next or "Why the Bible?" Here's a letter, followed by my response:

Dear Rich,

I  seems to me that it makes more logical sense to go on to "Why the Bible" as the second installation, and then "Why Jesus" as the third.

If you think about it from the standpoint of logic, it seems that in step one (Why God) you answer the question: Is there a Creator God?  Once that is answered in the affirmative, it seems the next question to answer would be: "What God is He - Do any of the world's holy books stand up to the test of logic at revealing who He is?" (thus, Why The Bible).  The answer to this would narrow the choice down to the God of the Bible (at least the Jewish or Christian God).  Then you answer "Why Jesus?" to show how Jesus fulfills all the aspects of the Christ, the Lamb of God.  It seems impossible to answer Why Jesus if you don't establish first the reliability of the Bible as the source book of information about Jesus.

Am I missing something with this analysis? 

(name)

Dear (Name)

We spent an hour on the partner retreat mulling over what we should develop next: Jesus or the Bible.

Jesus won.

There are strong arguments for going both ways.

The partners felt that going straight to Jesus – at least in the development and roll out stage – made the most sense. It is Jesus who saves us. It is Jesus who they must know. It is Jesus who they have to deal with once way of another. And knowing him as Lord and Savior, you naturally want to get to know his words and wishes. Yes, Jesus turns some folks immediately off. Yes, Jesus is rather controversial and his radical claims are an offense and a stumbling block to the Jews, Gentiles, and skeptics. But the argument for developing this next is this: once you see who he is –not a caricature that popular culture portrays – the experience is  transforming. Our partners wanted to get beyond the stumbling block arguments some people might have with certain Biblical facts and figures and confront kids right away with the stumbling block of Jesus and his claim on their lives. In this line of reasoning, once hearts and minds are won over to Jesus, those new followers will be hungry for the rest.

On the other hand, as you point out below, it is probably a more logical step to go from “Why God?” ( “okay, there is a God, but what does he look like?”) into a search for God through a study of each of the world’s holy books. For that reason, we decided to make a search for the savior and a look at other key religious figures and their holy books a full  ¼ of the “Why Jesus?” four themes… probably session 3. We will also include another angle of that discussion as part of  “Why the Bible?” concentrating less on the life and words of Jesus (although that will be a part), and on the world’s religious books as a whole.

All of this may be a moot point once the writing and testing phase of all this is complete. When we have three solid years of material and three types of conferences underway, individual congregations can decide for themselves if they want to send their kids to three years of “God/Jesus/Bible” or “God/Bible/Jesus.”

We are, of course, open to further discussion, arguments, and debate. The partners were virtually unanimous on developing Jesus next, however.

Jesus won. They wish to see Jesus next.

rich

Comments

[Richard]

I tend to agree with the God/Jesus/Bible development.

After all, as teachers we are not meant to teach the Scriptures as such. We are called to teach Christ as revealed in the Scriptures. Truth is a person, Jesus Christ. It is Christ that gives life not the study of the scriptures.

That said, we are commanded to study to show ourselves as approved workerman, but I believe that it comes after...