Was Jesus Always Nice?
John MacArthur:
"Well, I think there's a pop-Jesus that exists in the minds of most evangelicals that doesn't really reflect the true Jesus of Scripture. There's a Jesus that people are comfortable with and find acceptable. They can sell him on a popular level. But it's a far cry from the Jesus of the New Testament which is to say that it's a misrepresentation of the true Christ. Jesus is not to be invented by anybody. We don't have the right to make Jesus into whatever we think we would like Him to be, or whatever we think people would like Him to be so that He's acceptable to them."
"The Great Shepherd Himself was never far from open controversy with the most conspicuously religious inhabitants in all of Israel. Almost every chapter of the Gospels makes some reference to His running battle with the chief hypocrites of His day, and He made no effort whatsoever to be winsome in His encounters with them. He did not invite them to dialogue or engage in a friendly exchange of ideas."
(Excerpts from Book): "For His part, the more Jesus preached to the same crowds again and again, the more His messages were filled with rebukes and urgent pleas for their repentance. He was not impressed with the size or enthusiasm of large crowds. He was not interested in accumulating the kind of disciples whose main concern was for that they might get out of the relationships. He never upholstered his message to make it more cushy for the popular opinion, and he never turned down the rhetorical heat in order to keep he congregation as comfortable as possible. If anything, His approach was the exact opposite. He seemed to do everything He could to disquiet the merely curious who were unconverted. They absolutely loved it when He did miracles. He rebuked them for that, and He made sure they could not ignore His message."
Additional Info: http://www.gty.org/Shop/Books/451166_The-Jesus-You-Cant-Ignore-Hardcover
"Well, I think there's a pop-Jesus that exists in the minds of most evangelicals that doesn't really reflect the true Jesus of Scripture. There's a Jesus that people are comfortable with and find acceptable. They can sell him on a popular level. But it's a far cry from the Jesus of the New Testament which is to say that it's a misrepresentation of the true Christ. Jesus is not to be invented by anybody. We don't have the right to make Jesus into whatever we think we would like Him to be, or whatever we think people would like Him to be so that He's acceptable to them.""The Great Shepherd Himself was never far from open controversy with the most conspicuously religious inhabitants in all of Israel. Almost every chapter of the Gospels makes some reference to His running battle with the chief hypocrites of His day, and He made no effort whatsoever to be winsome in His encounters with them. He did not invite them to dialogue or engage in a friendly exchange of ideas."
(Excerpts from Book): "For His part, the more Jesus preached to the same crowds again and again, the more His messages were filled with rebukes and urgent pleas for their repentance. He was not impressed with the size or enthusiasm of large crowds. He was not interested in accumulating the kind of disciples whose main concern was for that they might get out of the relationships. He never upholstered his message to make it more cushy for the popular opinion, and he never turned down the rhetorical heat in order to keep he congregation as comfortable as possible. If anything, His approach was the exact opposite. He seemed to do everything He could to disquiet the merely curious who were unconverted. They absolutely loved it when He did miracles. He rebuked them for that, and He made sure they could not ignore His message."
Additional Info: http://www.gty.org/Shop/Books/451166_The-Jesus-You-Cant-Ignore-Hardcover
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