Jesus was only a great moral teacher ?

Myth # 1:Jesus was only a great moral teacher.
No one doubts anymore that Jesus actually existed. Most people also believe that he was a great moral teacher. Religious and political leaders throughout the world, including many of the great opponents of Christianity, hail the moral superiority of his life.
The New Testament documents record the radical servant-like attitude which lent power and credibility to Jesus’ teachings. He expressed compassion and humility, as well as anger against evil and hypocrisy. Jesus combined a realistic understanding of human nature with an idealism for what human beings could become. His words have tested and challenged the minds and hearts of millions.
Of course, this is not the whole story. When we begin to consider Jesus’ claims about his identity, the controversy begins. This is where people have problems. This is where the label “moral teacher” is put to the test. It begins to seem inadequate, if not naïve.
A thirty year old peasant carpenter turned itinerant teacher, Jesus laid claim to be more than a mere man. He operated on the assumption that he was God himself.
How do we know this? From his explicit statements and the way he lived. He claimed equality with God. He said he had lived before the Jewish Patriarch Abraham. He assumed the right to forgive sins. He accepted worship. There seems to be no escaping it.
Jesus of Nazareth could not be simply a harmless moral teacher. He steps out too far from the crowd of moral teachers and philosophers. We call him a liar. We might even discuss his mental imbalance. But the tag of “only a great moral teacher” doesn’t stick.
It was never an option in his own day. Some of his contemporaries thought him mad, others loved him. He was regarded with disdain and sometimes even hatred, or alternately with amazement and adoration. But he never received mild approval.
Neither is it an option for today. We have to shut him up or hear him out. What are we to make of this man? What of his moral integrity? His fulfillment of prophecies? His prediction of his own death and resurrection? What are we to make of his claims to be the one and only God-man of history? What are we to do with this great moral teacher who makes such impossible claims?

http://powertochange.com/students/faith/tenmyths/