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Why I’m a Christian 5: Jesus is special

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For the previous parts to this series see 1 , 2 , 3 , & 4 . I think that Jesus is special. Not ‘short bus’ special, but ‘distinct in important ways’. Of course this can be said about anyone, and especially applied to any great leader, teacher, or religious prophet. When one uses the adjective “special” to describe a person, there is no numeric or standardized method for determining the validity of the designation. So I’m not here to say that Jesus was “more special” than Gautama or Muhammad, as though the comparison would mean anything. What I want to say is that Jesus displays characteristics that are important and meaningful to me. More important than the characteristics of the Buddha or Joseph Smith. This ought to be expected given my upbringing in a seriously Christian family and a post-Christian country spawned by a long lineage of Christian cultures. Western civilizations have been shaped by the ideas of Christianity for a long time, and as a product of