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Jesus of Nazareth: An Inspirational Figure


LindseyWalker

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Hi everyone,

I'm writing this thread to tell you about a great hero of mine, Jesus of Nazareth. I'm not a Christian, in fact I'm an Atheist, but I wanted to dedicate a thread to this extraordinary man. He was forward thinking in many ways, in his attitudes to women, his dissolving of Ancient Jewish customs (which changed the world such as dietary laws and the Sabbath), his peaceful demeanour even to his would-be killers and his dedication to his cause of helping the poor and disenfranchised 'social unspeakables' such as prostitutes and the 'unclean'. 

Of course, there are elements I don't like about him, such as his conservative views (even for the time) on divorce and his views on sexual immorality. Of course, there's his zealous-esque mental attitude to the non-Christians yoo which I also don't agree with (although the climate of his time helps at least explain it). 

Overall though, I think he was incredibly well ahead of his time and would like to hear what you guys think of him :) . I've written numerous essays on the Historical Jesus, so I've got adequate knowledge and experience to discuss him!

I excitedly await your responses! 

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Wow...an interesting topic to be sure. And a heavy, controversial topic, but still a very interesting one.

I happen to be a great admirer of Jesus myself, being, well, a Christian. I've noticed most Christians kinda have a thing for Jesus, not sure why. (lel)

While I do believe things about Jesus that atheists and other nonbelievers obviously don't, such as that he's divine, the Son of God, atoned for sin and provides eternal life, etc., I feel like sometimes in Christianity people focus on what Jesus was/is doctrinally speaking but don't always think enough about the specific things he said and did, which is a shame. (There's also a tendency some places to focus on the epistles more than the gospels, obviously not thinking that they're more authoritative than Christ himself, but probably because they're seen contain more explicit theological teaching.) Even apart from the explicit understanding of him as, well, God, Jesus is a truly fascinating human being in every sense of the word. In addition to his clear and inspiring teaching and actions regarding love, justice, peace, righteousness, the kingdom of God, etc., he also has some more obscure sayings and parables that rather intrigue me. I agree with you that one thing that's definitely incredible about him was the way he was very bold yet remarkably, amazingly peaceful in the face of opposition and even death. Truly, anyone can learn something from that kind of attitude, though personally of course I would like people to come to Jesus for salvation as well.

Perhaps the most intriguing thing in your OP was your usage of the term "historical Jesus", as that term as been used to describe a lot of different "Jesuses", if you will. And ironically, there are times when that term is associated with rather bad historical analysis, such as when people take texts that are later and less reliable than the four gospels of the Biblical canon and then draw conclusions from them that sometimes don't even match the texts they're based on. For example, some people use "lost gospels" to try to make Jesus seem more feministic, when some of them actually betray a much lower view of women (such as the Gospel of Thomas: "Simon Peter says to them: 'Let Mary go out from our midst, for women are not worthy of life!' Jesus says: 'See, I will draw her so as to make her male so that she also may become a living spirit like you males. For every woman who has become male will enter the Kingdom of heaven.'").

To be clear, in my view, there's nothing in your OP that indicates that you're basing your opinion on any sort of lax or "sensationalist" scholarship. I'm just curious about your usage of the term, since in my view, it has many different meanings. And since there are so many different views of Jesus, it might be good to make sure I know what you're basing your conception of him on.

I find different perspectives on Jesus interesting, as long as they at least try to be grounded in fact. So your OP was definitely intriguing to me. I'm also genuinely curious what you think about Jesus' more spiritual teachings, and specifically, his claims about himself. (Yeah, sure hard to tell I'm a Christian, isn't it? lel) Do you believe he did actually say the things that Christians interpret as statements of personal divinity, or do you just interpret them otherwise? Or do you think he actually did see himself as divine in some way, but are willing to look past that small bit of thought that, from your perspective, would probably qualify as madness? (I've never heard of anyone who believed that before, but it would be interesting if there were some people who did.) Myself, I can see why someone might not come to the same conclusion as Christians, seeing as Jesus was usually far from being explicit about it. I guess what I'm asking is, how do you think Jesus saw himself? Just a prophet sent from God, not fundamentally different from any come before, or something more?

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I'm a Christian. (Or, I kinda think I am.) So obviously, I believe that Jesus is an inspirational figure as well. The hope he displays, the forgiveness he shows and what he has done in general is amazing. I love how he teaches in parables sometimes and seeing his life being re-enacted at my Church every year is always great to watch.

I must admit that I'm not as knowledgable on Christianity as @Monkey Destruction Switch is on him but I do know one thing: Jesus is inspirational.

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