Is it true that Jesus was “admittedly was not perfect” as CNN correspondent claimed?

Don Lemon has been a CNN correspondent since 2006.

His religious views are unclear, though he has claimed to believe in a higher power.  He grew up being sent to a Catholic school by his Grandmother but refers to himself (in his childhood) as a Baptist.  He reports that his same-sex attractions and infatuations as young as 5 created a bind for him since he knew that the people around him wouldn’t be ok with it.

As a young man, he says he realized that stories like Jonah were parables – that what mattered in the Bible were the lessons of the stories, not the events.  He obviously walked away from anything that might be considered a literal interpretation of the Bible.

Now, he says that he is not connected to any church but does believe in a higher power.

Why does this matter?  It is good insight when evaluating a question created at about 1 minute 30 seconds in this interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21Sbaiu89S0

at 1:36, Don Lemon says (kind of stumbles through) “Jesus Christ, if that is who you believe in, Jesus Christ, admittedly was not perfect when He was here on this Earth…”.  Needless to say, this has created a few responses.

But, is he right?

The doctrinal teaching of Christianity has been that Jesus came and experienced life as “fully man” while also being “fully God”.  There is great discussion about how this was practically lived out, but Philippians 2 gives us a hint, I think:

⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Somehow, though Jesus was fully God, He emptied Himself of the experience of being God and instead experienced being a man.  He slept, He was tempted… for example, which are things that God generally would not experience.

So, did He live a perfect life?

Well, it would depend on what you mean by perfect.

If you mean “flawless”, then probably the answer would be “no”.

I know that can feel shocking, but here is what I mean:

Did Jesus ever stub His toe?  Did He ever miss a question on a math test?  Did He hammer each nail in one perfect blow, or did He sometimes bend nails, or at least take two shots at them?

 

Remember, He learned things (Heb 5:8), He grew and changed (Luke 2:52).  Those would imply He improved at things. As mentioned above, He took breaks (Mark 3:7), got exhausted (Mark 4:38), and needed time alone and with the Father (Luke 9:18).

So, perfect meaning without frailty or what we might call “mistakes”?  I don’t think so.

It certainly isn’t theologically necessary for that to be so.

However, if, by perfect, you mean “morally perfect” or “sinless” or “flawless in obedience to the Father”, then by all means, the answer is “yes”. (I Peter 2:22, 2 Cor 5:21, Heb 4:15, I John 3:5, John 8:29)

Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, as several of those passages point out, BECAUSE He experienced life as a man, but never sinned.  He never rebelled, disobeyed or transgressed The Father; He perfectly followed the plan set up before the creation of time. (I Peter 1:20, Eph 1:4).

We needed God to live sinlessly, but we needed one of us to pay the payment for the race of mankind.

So, He loved us enough to do it.  I needed Him to do it.  Don Lemon needed Him to.  So do you.  Please hear the good news that Jesus lived a sinless life in our place, then died in our place.

Finally, one strange word in the quote was “admittedly.”  I honestly am not sure if Lemon was “admitting” it or if he was claiming that Jesus “admitted” it.  I cannot speak for Lemon, but I cannot think of anyplace that Jesus “admits” anything along the line of “not being perfect.”  I would be intrigued to hear what passages he thought he was referencing, but I cannot come up with anything close.

And, yes, we shouldn’t worship anyone but God… but we should honor the honorable.

And remember His “good news”, His gospel.

https://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/22/my-faith-how-i-learned-to-stop-praying-away-the-gay/

http://www.eewmagazine.com/don-lemon-gay.html