Don Lemon's Radical Claim About Jesus: A Rebuttal

As the most influential and important person to ever live, whose birth separates history into two different timelines, it is not surprising that Jesus has been the subject of numerous radical statements.[1] One of these radical statements, uttered by the host of CNN Tonight Don Lemon, portrays a misunderstanding of one of the most important doctrines of Christianity and offers an alternate version of who Jesus really was.[2] While speaking with CNN counterpart and anchor of Cuomo Prime Time Chris Cuomo, Lemon stated that "...Jesus Christ, if that's who you believe in, Jesus Christ admittedly was not perfect when He was here on this earth."[3] In this historically and Christologically inaccurate assertion, Lemon corroborates with the idea that Jesus was not the perfect, human incarnation of God that the Christian doctrine upholds that He was but that He was instead a sinful, imperfect moral teacher. This fallacious idea has impacted both religious and secular communities by painting an erroneous portrait of who Jesus really was, confusing people into misunderstanding the purpose of Christ's life. The idea that Jesus was imperfect rejects the historical evidence in the Bible regarding the perfection of Jesus and invalidates the meaning of Jesus' death and resurrection.

The Bible makes it clear the Jesus lived a perfect life when he was on this earth. Jesus' perfection is made clear by the apostle Paul who states in his letter to the Corinthians that "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us..." (2 Corinthians 5:21).[4] Furthermore, the disciple Peter provides additional testimony to the reality of Jesus' perfection in his first epistles, recalling from the prophet Isaiah that Jesus "...committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth" (1 Peter 2:22). With multitudes of other verses to provide supplementary evidence attesting to the perfection of Jesus, the Bible validates the purpose of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. The Christian doctrine rooted in the Bible makes the truth that "wages of sin is death," and that only the death of a perfect savior could save mankind from the eternal death resulting from sin (Romans 6:23). By establishing that Jesus was perfect, the purpose of Jesus' death and resurrection is validated as the way for mankind "to not perish but have eternal life," since Jesus blood shed on the cross fulfilled the requirement for "canceling' the sin of humanity (John 3:16; Colossians 2:14).

If Jesus were not perfect as Don Lemon suggests, that would certainly have major implications for not just this life but for the next as well. Knowing that, it is easy to see how devastating the idea that Jesus was imperfect is on the message of the Gospel of Christ and how it impacts the way it reaches the lost in both religious and secular communities. It is critical that Christians uphold the truthfulness of what the Scriptures say about Christ's nature and appeal gently and lovingly to those who hold incorrect ideas about Jesus with the evidence found in God's Word.

[1] Megan Sauter, "When Was Jesus Born - B.C. or A.D.," Biblical Archaeological Society, (2019). https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/jesus-historical-jesus/when-was-jesus-born-bc-or-ad/ [2] Jon Brown, "Jesus Christ 'Admittedly Was Not Perfect When He Was Here'," Daily Wire, (2020) https://www.dailywire.com/news/don-lemon-jesus-christ-admittedly-was-not-perfect-when-he-was-here [3] Ibid. [4] Unless otherwise noted, all citations come from the New International Version (Franklin, TN: Worthy, 2016)