It is my turn to take a bite at this apple. Israeli PM Netanyahu mentioned Jesus recently. Pundits promptly pushed back. Netanyahu tried to sort the misunderstanding, to little avail.
Discussing the conflict with Iran, Netanyahu paraphrased historian Will Durant by saying, “History proves that, unfortunately, Jesus Christ has no advantage over Genghis Khan. Because if you are strong enough, ruthless enough, powerful enough, evil will overcome good.” Khan was the ruthless Mongol leader whose military conquests extended from China to Eastern Europe. You know who Jesus is.
Pushback came from those who thought Netanyahu denigrated Jesus, Christians, and virtue itself. Those given to antisemitism found cause in the comment. Netanyahu felt misunderstood. He clarified saying, “A fervent admirer of Jesus Christ, Durant stated that morality by itself is not enough to ensure survival.”
That is not Durant’s main point. In his book, The Lessons of History, (1968) he asks, “Does history support a belief in God?” He points to natural disasters and the cruelties of people toward each other and concludes history offers no evidence of an intelligent and benevolent God. “Nature and history…define good as that which survives, and bad as that which goes under; and the universe has no prejudice in favor of Christ as against Genghis Khan.” He is saying the universe yields no evidence that Christ is a benevolent God since bad things still happen and the Genghis Khans of the world still fight wars. Notice Durant did not write, “Jesus has no advantage over Genghis Khan,” as per Netanyahu. Jesus has His advantages, to be sure.
To add to the confusion, Durant misunderstands Jesus. To his credit, he is transparent about his beliefs. In his final book, Fallen Leaves, he writes, “I am prepared to have you put me down as an atheist, since I have reluctantly abandoned belief in a personal and loving God.” However, he concedes, “The figure of Christ remains the most appealing in history.” Jesus appeals to him as a moral teacher, but not as God the Son who redeems souls, renews lives, and will one day make all things new, history notwithstanding.
Do not misunderstand Jesus’ purpose. He came to offer more than ethical teachings. He offers you forgiveness of sins, eternal life, the Way to the Father. The presence of evil in the world makes His purpose even more necessary. He said, “My kingdom is not of this world…For this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth” (John 18:36-37).
So, pundits misunderstood Netanyahu, who misunderstood Durant, who misunderstood Jesus. To be clear, history will run its course until the moment all tribes of the earth “see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:30). Let the reader understand!