Get Used To Disappointment

By Ian Wilson

I recently read a Substack article that sort of ruffled my feathers a bit; mostly because I didn’t have a proper response or defense for it. The premise of the article was in the title: Why I Would Be Disappointed If Christianity Was True. 

I am not skilled in debate; anyone who knows me knows that. I have only a passing familiarity with philosophy – more than the average bear, but not enough to really give this a good treatment. I don’t have the intellectual resources to “crush” his objections, but I will use what meagre resources I do have in the service of providing clarity to other followers of Christ. 

When I first read the article, I’ll admit I was troubled. Why? Because this author clearly knows more about philosophical debate than I do and I was intimidated. As I stated, I’ve never been a debater. I’ve joked that I prefer hand-to-hand combat, but I’m only half-joking there. I sent the article over to a friend of mine, who is wiser and more skilled than I, who gave it the treatment it deserved. I will be including some of his thoughts here, with permission.

The whole idea behind the article is the author’s disappointment with Jesus of Nazareth, his claims that Jesus was uninteresting, banal, doomsday fanatic, with poor argumentation skills and a lack of education and refinement, that he was a poor philosopher in comparison with his contemporaries. He states it bluntly: “The main reason is I really don’t like Jesus of Nazareth.” 

Now, I appreciate his honesty in admitting that. I appreciate his whole approach to the matter, as it seems that he is earnestly searching for truth, and hasn’t ruled out that there is a good argument for Christianity out there, that he isn’t openly hostile, as so many internet atheists are. Far be it from me to try and convince someone to like something that they simply do not like. I could not convince him to “like” Jesus any more than I could convince someone who doesn’t like meat loaf to like meat loaf. And to play Devil’s advocate for a moment, I think most people in the First Century were disappointed with Jesus, even His followers. That was part of the point of His ministry on Earth: to overturn expectations. 

First of all, Jesus was not a philosopher in the way we think of philosophy. He wasn’t trying to compete with Plato or Aristotle. His seeming ignorance of these figures is because He wasn’t there just to debate philosophy; His ministry was one of healing human nature. It had little to do with winning rhetorical debates. He wasn’t trying to “do” philosophy; He was God incarnate. His bold assertions about truth come from the fact that He is God. He asserts Himself as the authority. 

Now, I won’t pretend I understand this, but numerous scholars have pointed out that Christ’s rhetorical style reflects the “midrash” style of debate and rhetoric among the Pharisees of the time. Jesus’ arguments did not always follow linear logic, but an argument does not have to be logical to be convincing. Jesus often used His opponents’ biases against them. He often “fought dirty”, using arguments from emotion rather than pure logic to silence His opponents. 

To say that Christ was bad at rhetoric is just plain silly. Many of Jesus’ sayings take time and study to mull over. Some of His parables are difficult to comprehend on the first cursory reading of them, and scholars often disagree on their meaning. They contain depth of wisdom that is difficult to grasp for many.

Furthermore, Jesus did not come to save just the intellectual elite; He came for the poor, the downtrodden and lower class. As my friend put it so plainly:

Jesus is not trying to be a philosopher. He is really not even trying to be a rabbi. He is being a new thing, His own thing. And importantly, He wants stupid people to be a part of His church. His sayings are simple and sometimes obvious because He’s not trying to keep stupid people out. Lots of smart people are offended by this because smart people typically run the world and confuse this for the idea the world should revolve around them.

When was the last time you saw a plumber reading Aristotle or Plato? I don’t mean to say working class people are dumb; they are not. But generally speaking, they are not the intellectual elites either. When Christ came, He came as a humble working man, condescending to reach the common folk. If all He did was talk over their heads, would they have the confidence to come to Him? Few enough people read their Bibles now to begin with; if the Bible was as intellectually dense as Plato, do you really think they’d bother cracking them open at all?

Oftentimes, the intellect is just as much a hindrance to getting to Jesus as it is a help. You can’t come to Christ on the basis of pure logic and reason; you have to have faith. If you don’t have faith, all the brains in the world will not avail you. 

I think we all want Jesus to be a certain thing; I know this is true of myself. Yes, I have found myself disappointed with Jesus, to my own shame. Like the Disciples, I would like a conquering Jesus riding a white horse and wielding a sword to smite the wicked. But that’s not what He came to be – not the first time, anyhow. He came as a lamb to the slaughter. He came to take the punishment for crimes He didn’t commit, and to heal our broken souls. We want Jesus to be the perfect CEO, the perfect coach, the perfect therapist and activist, but we don’t want Him as Savior. So get used to disappointment.