WLC Reacts! to Jesus Is Not for Everybody

Dr. William Lane Craig responds to an empty train whistle of accusations against Christianity's truthfulness and growth.

SPEAKER 1: The New Testament specifically talks about the universal message of the Gospel, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel.” Jesus is for everybody.

SPEAKER 2: Yeah. Here's the thing about Christian universalism. I think it's really high-minded and altruistic, right? “Gonna Save the World!” It's actually one of the most offensively arrogant doctrines in the entire history of religion and has led directly to the persistent sense of entitlement and privilege that we continue to see today from the shrieking hordes of evangelicals around the world. The presumptuous and conceited notion that your unprovable faith system is somehow more correct than that of others is an affront to humanity especially when we all know that the Christ myth is based on a staggering variety of earlier dying and rising sun gods. It's not even a new idea. But the resulting sense of exceptionalism from that very idea has resulted in the destruction of countless indigenous cultures and spiritual traditions from around the globe that we'll never get back. Jesus is most certainly not for everybody.

DR. CRAIG: Well, I think Jesus is for everybody, and I think that the Achilles’ Heel of what this man is seeing is the fact that there are good reasons to think that Christianity is objectively true. If it's true then it's not arrogant to say that this is the way in which God has revealed himself and wants us to come to know him and this message should be spread throughout the world. Now, his claim that the story of Jesus is based upon myths of dying and rising gods is 200 years out of date! This is what the old history of religion school was claiming back in the late 1700s. So this fellow is just completely uninformed. Today the Gospels are regarded by historians as credible sources for the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. The question is: Are these teachings true? Do you accept them? I think there are good reasons to think that there are. And that's why, again, contrary to his assertion, the tribe of evangelicals around the world is not shrinking. We are living at a time in world history of unprecedented expansion of the Christian faith around the world especially in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Even if the growth rates in Europe and North America are relatively flat, nevertheless worldwide the expansion of Christianity continues today at an unprecedented pace. So I think what this fellow needs to do is to do some reading, get up to date on historical Jesus studies, and then revisit the question of whether or not it's presumptuous to claim that this is true.