--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Lloyd, Donald P. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 30 number: 2 published: 1926-12 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Lloyd, Donald P., “The Divinity of Jesus Christ,” *Improvement Era* 30, no. 2 (December 1926): 102–105." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3002unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera3002unse start_page: 102 end_page: 105 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1926-12) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3002unse publication_year: 1926 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1926, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Divinity of Jesus Christ THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST* By Donald P. Lloyd On one occasion when Jesus was talking to his disciples, he said, "Whom say men that I am?" In reply they repeated the rumors and popular fancies that had come to their attention. "Some say thou art John the Baptist re- turned to life, others that thou art Isaiah, or Jeremiah, or some other of the ancient proph- ets." Jesus then turned to Peter and said, "But whom say ye that I am?" Peter, voicing the sentiments of the entire group, but more particularly testifying of his own convictions, declared the great con- fession, "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God." I have chosen for my text the Divinity of Je- sus Christ. I fully real- ize the responsibility which devolves upon a speaker who attempts such a subject. I real- ize that all attempts to do the subject justice have ever fallen short of perfection. For men have philosophized, donald lloyd men have rationalized and humanized, but they have often failed to explain the Divine Jesus. But I believe I should make the attempt tonight and express a few of the convictions I have that give me a testimony in the Divinity of Jesus Christ. ♦This speech won first place in the Y. M. M. I. A. public speaking contest, June conference, 192 6. The author received the M. I. A. gold medal prize. THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST 103 We are living, it seems, in an era of doubt; at a time when the whole Christian world is torn asunder by different beliefs;- at a time when those who profess to be the followers of the meek and lowly One are themselves doubters of the gravest type. For the past few years especially, there has been going on in our country a savage warfare, if I may term it such, a contention with respect to the divine character of Jesus of Nazareth. Men are attempting to divest him of all supernatural and divine attributes and to reduce him to the dimensions of a great religious teacher and reformer. These men. who see Jesus merely as a great ethical and moral teacher, and who admit that their intelligence will not permit a belief in his divinity, call themselves Modernists. In fact, it must be admitted that modern, critical study on its negative side entirely discounts the traditional history of Jesus; indeed, if it does not provoke doubt about his very existence. But that school of thought which attempted to dissipate Jesus' historic existence into myth made more noise than either its following or its strength justified, and it has, I suppose, been suffi- ciently dealt with; for after hundreds of years of arguing, the fact that Christ lived is, I believe, recognized by common consent, as the most important fact in human history. So the question before the world today is not, Did Christ ever live? But it is the same question Jesus asked of his apostles, "Whom say men that I am?" What arc we to think of Jesus? A few years ago a certain young man with good opportunities for investigation and with a probability of receiving sincere answers, asked every Christian minister whom he met during a Summer vaca- tion this question: "Yes, or no. Do you believe Jesus to be the Son of God, sent by him to save the world? I am not asking whether you believe he was inspired in the sense that the great moral leaders of the day are inspired; nobody has any trouble about that — but do you believe he was God's very Son, with a definite and divinely appointed mission on earth, dying on the cross and resurrected from the dead? Yes, or no!" Not a man answered, yes; but each wanted to explain; and in over half the instances, the sum of the answers was, that Jesus is the most perfect man the world has ever seen and humanity's greatest moral leader. But, these Christian ministers, it seems to me, denied the very Christ whom they represent. A short time ago an eminent scientist visited Utah. A man who is recognized as a world's authority in the field of Geology. In an address to the faculty of Brigham Young University, this man made the statement that the ideals of Jesus as given in the Sermon on the Mount and in the Decalogue, are beautiful; and, because of them, Jesus must be recognized as the greatest ethical and moral teacher the world has ever produced. But, he added, the belief in his divinity is the most preposterous belief imaginable. I have too much respect for the opinions of an educated man to 104 IMPROVEMENT ERA appear antagonistic to him, but if that is all we can say of Jesus, then the foundation seems to me to be completely gone from the Christian religion. In such a generation as this we can't make the ideals of Jesus triumphant merely because they are beautiful. The Campanile of St. Marks did not fall from lack of beauty, but from lack of foundation. Well, is the Christian religion founded fundamentally upon those beautiful, ethical ideals of Jesus, or is it founded fundament- ally upon a belief in such doctrines as the Atonement and the Resurrec- tion? That's a fair question to ask of any man and the answer is at once apparent. Take the doctrine of the Resurrection alone from Chris- tianity and what have we left? Remember what Paul said to the unbelieving Sadducees because they refused to believe in the Resurrec- tion of Jesus? "For if Christ be not risen from the dead, then is our faith in vain." That is the plainest statement I know of as to the place of the Resurrection in the Christian religion. In other words, if Christ was not resurrected from the dead, then there is no authori- tative foundation for Christianity, yet to admit that he was resur- rected is to admit a belief in that fundamental doctrine which is be- hind it, The Divinity of Jesus Christ. I can't see why men should recognize Jesus as the Great Ex- emplar, the Perfect Model, the Ideal Man of the human race, and yet deny his divinity. Christ himself said he was divine. He repeatedly declared he was the Son of God. Well, if he be not divine, how can he be the great Model, the Perfect Exemplar, the Ideal Man of the world? As one has expressed it; "Jesus was either an unpardonable egotist, or a hopeless lunatic, or he was the Christ, the Son of God." Futhermore, if men are going to recognize Jesus as the greatest character in human history, and yet deny his divinity, they must explain his greatness. We study the lives of all great men in an effort to determine why they were great, and without going into detail I will say this: We recognize the greatness of Shakespeare and other great authors because of the literature they have left to the world. We recognize the greatness of Napoleon, and other great military leaders, because of their ability to lead armies. We recognize the greatness of Abraham Lincoln and other great statesmen, because of their demonstrated ability to guide the destinies of nations. We recog- nize Jesus as greatest of all — why? Because of the beautiful, ethical ideals he has given to the world? Yes. Partly. No one cares to deny that. But the world already had these before he came, from Moses. Confucius, and other great philosophers; yet, we do not rank them in the same category with Jesus. No — we must go deeper to find why Jesus must be placed at the top of the list, and so we go into a study of his life. These are the simple facts of Jesus' life. He was born about two thousand years ago in a stable; brought up in a carpenter's home; worked at his father's trade until he was a full-grown man: preached to his people almost three years until he died at thirty-three. He THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST * 105 wrote no books; he commanded no armies; he organized and controlled no industries. He was poor and unbefriended, called beside himself by his family, a heretic by his church, and a traitor by his nation. At last taken outside the walls of the city which he loved, to be crucified as a felon between thieves. He arose from the dead, and became the first fruits of the Resurrection. These are the simple facts about Jesus, yet millions recognize him today as the very soul of God and religion. Does not that fact alone establish at least an element of divinity? Indeed, may we not say that the very facts of his life offer perhaps our greatest testimony as to his divinity? We recognize the greatness of Jesus, partly be- cause he gave to the world its most beautiful ethical and moral ideals, but primarily and fundamentally because he was divine. The very facts of his life prove he was divine. He said he was divine. And all who were intimately associated with him on earth testified that he was divine and they gave their lives for that testimony. The Four Gospels and all the other books of the New Testament may differ in some respects concerning Jesus, but from all these twenty-seven books of the New Testament there emerges that one consistent, vital, and fundamental declaration that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Modern critics of course do not accept the testimonies of these ancient apostles, desciples and prophets concerning Jesus, because they do not accept the Bible as a historical basis of truth. Modern critics may discount the testimonies of ancient prophets on that basis if they choose, but they have no right to deny the testimonies of latter-day prophets on the same basis. For some reason you and I have been particularly favored. For God in these last days has seen fit to give us additional testimony concerning Jesus. In the early part of the 1 9th century, God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ appeared to the prophet Joseph Smith in person, at Palmyra, in New York. Shortly afterward, at the time of the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, Jesus Christ, the resurrected Redeemer of the world, stood on the breast- works of the pulpit and expounded the truths of the everlasting gospel. Other manifestations were received then and afterward, and even today, in our Church, our living prophets are receiving direct inspiration, guidance and revelation from Jesus Christ, and they declare to all -the world that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God. We stand today, in a modern era, and as a Mutual Improvement organization, for an individual testimony of the divinity of Jesus Christ. The youth of Zion are being taught the simple truths of Jesus, so that their minds and hearts may be prepared for an intelligent acceptance of that testimony when it comes in the way laid down by Christ himself when, turning to Peter, he said, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." Pfavo, Utah.