>>12478406
I think He was deified because He literally claimed to be God and raised from the dead lol. If He was a human being, He would be the pinnacle of a piece of shit because of what He said, OR He would be the extremely loving and benelovent God. No other way.
As Elder Epiphanios said: "Has anyone ever dared to demand for himself the love of mankind, forsaking their very life? Has anyone ever dared to proclaim his absolute sinlessness? Has anyone ever dared to utter the words: "I am the truth"? (John, 14: 6) No-one, and nowhere! Only God can do that. Can you imagine your Marx uttering things like that? They would take him for a lunatic and nobody would be willing to follow him!
Now, just consider, how many people sacrificed everything for Christ's sake, even their very life, having believed in the veracity of His words
regarding Himself! If His proclamations about Himself were false, Jesus would have been the most despicable character in history, for having led so many people to such a huge sacrifice! What ordinary man - no matter how great, how important, how wise he may be - would deserve such a tremendous offer and sacrifice?"
I still think Elder Epiphanios misses a key point to make, that the apostles willingly lost everything, were tortured and martyred because they saw with their own eyes, consistent accounts with one another, and refused to renounce the truth of what they saw Christ do, as well as His resurrection firsthand. Liars wouldn't do that, and modern martyrs only do so out of belief but not claims of eyewitness.
THAT is what's crazy to think about, there is not a single alternative scenario anyone could ever come up with for Christ that would be the slightest bit plausible, only that He did truly rise from the dead, and did claim to be God.
Daniel wasn't hateful and wasn't deified. Why didn't the jews or non-jews deify him? They had a far greater crisis of religion, lost all their texts too.
It still hurts to know it's true. somehow.
