2. A recent challenge to Christ's deity has come with
the popularization of Gnostic gospels, such as the
so-called gospels of Thomas, Peter, Judas, etc. that
Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code sparked a cultural
interest in these "gospels" and subsequent
questioning or denial of Christ's validity.
The Gnostic Gospels.
3. Muslims now represent 23% of the global
population. While Islam agrees with Christianity on
a few aspects of Christ, it denies Christ's
incarnation and deity. Because of Islam's rising
influence, it demands a defence of Christ's divinity
The Worldwide Expansion of Islam.
4. An increasingly popular idea, pluralism holds that all
forms of spirituality are manifestations of the same
divine reality, and that each response can be an
effective means to the same end, be it salvation,
enlightenment, liberation, etc. Therefore, pluralists
hold that while Jesus may be a wonderful moralist
and a valid spiritual figure to follow for some, he is
not fully divine and not the ONLY path to salvation.
Religious Pluralism
5. A Christian cult is a group that claims to
be Christian, but rejects one or more
central doctrine of the Christian faith as
taught in Scripture. Jehovah's Witness is
currently one of the world's most prolific
cults that denies the deity of Christ.
The Proliferation of Cults