Jury Duty: Who Was Jesus — Man, Myth, or God?

What if Jesus isn’t a myth or just a good teacher — but the most important figure in history? What if He actually was who He said He was - GOD?

In this episode of The Trial series, we step into the courtroom and invite you to take your seat on the jury. Together, we’ll explore the ground rules for weighing the evidence about Jesus of Nazareth: Who was He really — man, myth, legend, or Lord?

Topics include:

• Why we need more than emotion to reach a verdict
• What counts as historical evidence (and what doesn’t)
• How to approach spiritual questions with honesty and courage

This is The Little Why — a podcast made for seekers, skeptics, and the spiritually curious. Perfect for anyone curious, questioning, or seeking a thoughtful, down-to-earth conversation about Jesus, God, and the big questions of life. 

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Transcript

Hey, you. I'm so glad you're back. Now, on the last couple of episodes, we talked about the most important question you ever got to ask. What if God is real? And that question, you know, led us to somewhere deeper, you know, not to some fluffy old guy in the clouds, but to an actual, eternal, omnipresent force. You know, someone who stops into reality to show us the way.

Hi, I'm Talmida T, and this is the little why. When we break down the big who, what and whys of God in a little way, through digestible micro session. And today we're stepping into the courtroom. I'm really excited. And the case. Well, Jesus of Nazareth, who he really was and what that means for the rest of us, that the story goes, guys, that he didn't just speak for God.

He claimed to be God. He entered into our world, was crucified, died, was buried, and then rose again from the dead. And if that is true,  then it changes everything. Now, you know, like in any real court case and this is the truth, whether it is a traffic dispute or small claims or capital trial, I mean, the jury doesn't just drop in cold, all right.

They're given a set of rules before the case begins. You know, I've been to jury duty. Maybe you have, maybe you haven't. But essentially, all of the jurors, they walk into the courtroom and a judge. Well, that's them, and they're asking a bunch of questions. And then once the jury is selected, the judge will literally look at all of them in the eye, and he will say, you are here to listen.

You must remain open minded, you know, do not jump to conclusions. Don't rely on hearsay. And you know the verdict that you render. It must be based on evidence, not emotion, not rumors, not outside influence. I mean, that's what happens in the courtroom. And guess what? You're on the jury now. And this isn't a small claims case.

This is literally, like, the biggest case in history. Over the next few episodes, we are going to walk through the evidence just like a courtroom trial. And at the end, you're going to come to the verdict. Okay. Who was. Jesus? Well, the just the man. Was he a myth? Or as Christians believe. Was he actually God in the flesh?
 
C S Lewis, I believe he said Jesus was either man, myth or legend. Or go. Wait, wait. I feel the rub. He was either Lord, liar or lunatic. That' s what he said. Okay, that's a bunch of, like, different kind of things about this. But it's true. Like, he was either who he thought he was, he was a liar, or he was a lunatic.

And then the fourth component was, was he a legend? So we're going to talk about all those and we're going to go through all of the evidence so you can decide why. And before and in case began like any normal trial.  Well we have to lay out some ground rules. So here are our rules of the court.

Are you ready? Number one, you must keep an open mind. You probably have prior beliefs. Maybe even some doubts. And that's definitely okay. But like any juror, you do need to withhold your final judgment unit all of the evidence is presented. All right. In a actual courtroom. Real jurors are instructed you must not be influenced by sympathy, prejudice or public opinion.

Keep an open mind throughout the trial and do not decide the case until all evidence has been presented and arguments have been made. And that same rule apply here. Don't let internet memes or assumptions or influence or opinions, or your parents opinions, or even your own comfort level. Shut your ears before the case even starts. Leave that at the door.

Number two, you must base your verdict on evidence, not emotions. Okay. In a courtroom, jurors  are told to make decisions based on the evidence presented. Take a good look at testimony, documents, reliable sources. You can't just say, well, I just don't like religion, so it must not be true or I've never personally experienced God, so he must not be real. I mean, that's not a verdict that's biased. You don't go into a courtroom and say that guy just looks guilty, so he must be guilty. Be intellectually honest here. Okay?

This isn't a mild case. I mean, your eternity might depend on this, guys. I mean, this is real. This is eternity. Let's be fair. Let's be honest.

All right. Room number three. You will be presented with real world historical evidence. This is not blind faith. We're going to look at things like eyewitness accounts, non Christian sources, ancient historical documents, behavior of key figures under pressure, prophecy and the explosive spread of Christianity under Roman persecution. And you know, we got to be fair here. We're also going to fairly consider counterarguments.

Like any trial, you can just hear from the defense. You hear from the prosecution. Right? You got to hear both sides skepticism, other religious beliefs, secular objection. And we're going to look at them all okay. And you're going to hear these counter arguments and cross-examinations pretty much after every major claim. So this is really, truly a real trial.

It's not a one sided sales pitch. And I am sure as this trial goes on, I'm going to get some comment Warriors, I'm going to get the skeptic tank is what I call it. And I encourage you skeptics, and if you're genuine, okay, if you truly are genuine and you have a real question, please put them in the comments.

And, you know, like I can do a side answer, or maybe we can incorporate that into the show. But it is so important to ask those hard questions and don't be afraid of them. That's why I made this podcast. It's a little why? Why would God do that? Why did God send the flood? Why would a moral God kill all of these people?

Those are important questions to ask. I ask them, I encourage you to ask them, but ask them out to a place of humility, not out of a place of ego. 

 Number four, You do not need to reach absolute certainty here. When you serve on a jury, the judge will tell you you need to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt. Now what does that mean? In life, we are not 100% certain of anything. I do not know with 100% certainty that I'm going to go and buy a bottle of Advil at the grocery store, and that Advil is not truly poison.

I cannot prove that I'm not watching the ingredients being grown and processed and vetting every little person. I have to have some accountable, like some amount of trust that these are professionals under. There are laws and regulations to put these things in place, and that when I buy a bottle of Advil that is actually a bottle of Advil, that is reasonable doubt.

There is literally nothing in life that you'll ever be 100% evidence for. And I think it's only fair to ask you to have that same measure of reasonableness, on this trial.

So evaluate yourself if you're one of those people who is like, I need 100% evidence. Fair enough. But judge this trial on the same measure of what you do every other decision in your life. All right. So.

Next up here, Oh, an important point. She was like, just now, we all know we're going to have 100% evidence on historical figures. That's not how history works. We don't do that with any historical figure. I mean, nobody has Instagram footage of Julius Caesar or Plato or Alexander the Great. But we trust in their existence because we have historical records, eyewitness accounts, multiple sources, and a facts that they left behind.

And so we're going to use that same method to measure, you know, historical facts, in this trial here. And, you know, you're not going to be believe blindly. I you're just going to be asked, is it reasonable to believe this is true based on all the evidence?

All right. And last up here is the verdict is yours alone to render? I am not here to convince you. Not my job to convince you. I am not here to force your hand. Okay? There is no preacher waiting to dump you in the baptismal font at the end of his show. Alright? It doesn't work like that.

I am literally just presenting the case. I am the prosecution and the defense attorney. That is it. You're the jury. You decide what's credible. You decide what makes sense. You decide what you do with Jesus. So if you're ready, take a seat, get comfortable, but stay sharp. This is a question of billions of souls, Literally, billions of souls have lived and died for. Okay? And you are now being called to weigh and with courage, humility and truth. Now in our next episode, we're going to open up the first case file. We're going to start actually looking through historical evidence of Jesus. Was he even a real person or a legend that got out of hand?

I do have these posted on my blog on my website, Talmidstudios.com, so you actually read ahead if you want, but I'm going to try to speed this cadence up. So the podcast and the blog are both released on the same day. 3:00 Friday is the Mercy Hour is my target, so I might have an extra show this week, maybe even two shows to get caught up.

So if you want to read her, go to my website. If not, you know, chime in later this week. That's it. So resume next Friday at 3 p.m. guys. See you then.