I find it interesting how many people are hostile toward the idea of Jesus, even though he was one of the nicest people in history who taught a wonderful message that anyone could benefit from, even if you ignore the parts about God. Be kind. Love one another. Forgive. Be a good person. Help others.
I find it interesting how many people are hostile toward the idea of Jesus, even though he was one of the nicest people in history who taught a wonderful message that anyone could benefit from, even if you ignore the parts about God. Be kind. Love one another. Forgive. Be a good person. Help others.
Jesus is the archetype that exists within all of us. It's the goodness you find in your actions, unconsciously, when feeling empathy, or feeling accountable for the happiness of others. Jesus is the inherent morality we have evolved as humans. I don't really see the need to project that outward towards another personality and worship Him for whatever number of reasons.
I think people are hostile to the idea of worshiping a figure without good reason to (in their opinion anyway).
... I must agree that the Bible read by a non-believer is nearly always interpreted in a different and perhaps less enlightened view.
Then they don't have to worship him. Simple.
It doesn't explain the hostility.
Most people accept that Buddha had great ideas which are very similar to those of Jesus, without getting hostile at the idea of Budda, even though he's also a figure that may or may not have existed and is reported to have performed miracles. People don't have a problem with other people worshipping Buddha, or those people thinking that Buddha was a divine incarnation.
While I can fully understand why people might be hostile with Christians, I don't get the hostility with Jesus, other than validation for the scriptures that say things like "the world will not accept me", because there are other figures that represent the same concepts that people have no problem with.
Just... interesting to me. Seems to prove the spiritual power of the man if he's still having this effect on people.
That's an interesting way of looking at things. I can't say I agree, but interesting nonetheless.
In the bible, not once did Jesus say he was the son of God.
That is Your misinterpretation.
If I told you that I was Jesus- You would have declined me.
Jesus is a concept, representing specific human character, which has existed for as long as there's been Homo sapiens. You can find it in arts and religions from prehistoric times to the present day.
One of the mistakes of the Christian canons is to expect Jesus to return at the end of time for the judgment day of love. What actually happens is that he (this human character) returns in all generations and societies repeatedly, and with many faces, and the judgment day of love happens for real in every generation, under many smaller or bigger forms.
You can even find such Jesus in many INFJ members of this forum, regardless of their beliefs / atheism, because "by their deeds you shall know them", and they live the closest to how Jesus would have lived as a human in today's world.
Jesus is like King Arthur or Robin Hood: a legend we have received, often in third hand translations (unless we are really dedicated to learn ancient languages - and even then, how can we be sure of the precise contextual meaning?). Yet like all legends, he endures, because the story is one of human greatness, and we don't even have to believe he is God in the literal sense to see that. He is rather a personification of the godliness to which we are capable, idealised to a level to which we are not.
At best, a false hope. An idea that should have been disposed of a hundred years ago but still continues to linger. Perhaps, an elaborate hoax. A person whose existence is inconsequential to the effect he bears on the imaginations of people. At worst, a scapegoat for the Church for the purpose of growing and collecting manpower and financial assistance, continuing to exist solely by feeding on the human tendency to be afraid of the consequences of death.
But as history Shows Jesus bears effect not only on peoples imaginations but on their hearts, hands and feet. Moving them in ways impossible without him.
Indeed, there is no denying it. He is a focal point of human empathy and morality. Much like how Muhammad is the focal point of all good, moral behavior in the Middle-East, or how Gautam Budh is for many East Asian cultures.
It's the archetype of good moral behavior that exists in every culture.