Debate:Would Christ apostasize to prevent the suffering of others?

I just finished reading the book Silence by Shusaku Endo which chronicles the mission of a Jesuit priest to Japan. In the book, Endo raises an interesting question, "would Jesus have renounced his faith (or said the words without meaning them) to prevent the suffering of innocent bystanders?"

That's my question though. If someone renounces their faith to save others (in the book this is shown by someone trampling on a depiction of Jesus) then is it a real renunciation of faith or an act of kindness -TheBandsMarch

No

This question has false logic; if Jesus had renounced his faith, he would then not have been able to die for our sins and thus humanity would not have been saved. Kaylee19892 13:32, 26 May 2009 (EDT)

Agreed, Jesus is faith and could never renounced himself. John the Baptist could have been saved (innocent) but Jesus mission had to be fulfilled. There are countless instances of people dying while Jesus walked the Earth, Jesus was not born to save the human body but human souls. You can say what Jesus did was to prevent the eternal suffering of sinners, a much more worthy cause than innocent bystanders. --Jpatt 16:26, 26 May 2009 (EDT)

Yes

It depends upon whether or not you believe that apostasy is even possible for people of faith - or for anyone, for that matter. A number of Christian denominations believe in the idea of "once saved, always saved" (i.e. that once someone accepts Christ as their savior, no renunciation thereof is truly valid), though others will argue that salvation is a gift that can either be accepted or refused at will. In addition, there is disagreement among religions and among denominations as to what constitutes true apostasy. Shia Islamic theology describes a concept known as "al-taqiyya," in which believers are permitted to hide their faith if it serves a greater good. In such a case, simply saying you reject your religion would not be enough - you would have to mean it too. Interestingly enough, Conservapedia has accused Barack Obama (as a bona fide Muslim, of course!) to be guilty of such a practice.

In short, I don't think we can rule out the possibility that Christ would have been capable of such an act, though this is purely speculation. To the best of our historical knowledge, there is even less evidence to suggest that he would apostasize to prevent suffering than that he would not (his alleged refusal to save himself from crucifixion being a case in point). --Economist 17:15, 26 May 2009 (EDT)