Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
Current time: December 18, 2024, 5:31 pm

Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Intelligent Atheists: Who/What Was Jesus?
#1
Intelligent Atheists: Who/What Was Jesus?
Hello everyone,

I would like your honest views on who or what you think Jesus really was, with some reasonable justifications please.

I ask this because some say he was a myth, some say he existed, some say he represents a sun god, etcetera...

I am simply unsure and require answers for further discussions.

Thanks!
Heart
Reply
#2
RE: Intelligent Atheists: Who/What Was Jesus?
The Jesus represented in the Bible was said to perform supernatural miracles, that Jesus did not exist.

The Bible is also thoroughly inconsistent and full of contradictions, so whatever version of Jesus existed, he certainly wasn't the Jesus of the Bible.

It may have just been a tall tale that got passed around, there may have been some inspirational guy that inspired the writers of the new testament to exaggerate him and make him supernatural, or he may have been a bunch of different people which became the one fictional character represented in the Bible.

The main thing is, the Jesus of the Bible never existed.
Reply
#3
RE: Intelligent Atheists: Who/What Was Jesus?
Reasonably, Jesus was possibly a historic figure who found his way into mythology by way of man's propensity for storytelling.

Merlin entered into the story realm no differently than did the Greek gods, and Jesus is not exempt from such human flourish.

Reasonably, because no evidence can be provided to the contrary unless one unreasonably relies upon faith, the existence of Jesus can be discounted as true.
"Never trust a fox. Looks like a dog, behaves like a cat."
~ Erin Hunter
Reply
#4
RE: Intelligent Atheists: Who/What Was Jesus?
He is what you want him to be!
Do you suffer from delusions of an afterlife? People believe what comforts them.
That in itself isn't a bad thing.
No God, No fear.
Know God, Know fear.
Reply
#5
RE: Intelligent Atheists: Who/What Was Jesus?
Jesus was a radical apocalyptic rabbi who was mythologized after his death. Other than that he was Jewish, lived around Nazareth somewhere in the early 30s, preached the coming of a new kingdom, had followers, was believed to do miracles, and was crucified, it's hard to find the historic figure behind the myth. But whatever it was he was preaching, it doesn't appear to have much to do with Christianity. Christians might as well call themselves Paulites and have done with it.
If there is a god, I want to believe that there is a god.  If there is not a god, I want to believe that there is no god.
Reply
#6
RE: Intelligent Atheists: Who/What Was Jesus?
(November 17, 2015 at 12:44 am)Jenny A Wrote: Christians might as well call themselves Paulites and have done with it.

LOL
"Never trust a fox. Looks like a dog, behaves like a cat."
~ Erin Hunter
Reply
#7
RE: Intelligent Atheists: Who/What Was Jesus?
ignoramus Wrote:People believe what comforts them.
That in itself isn't a bad thing.

I believe that whenever I see the color yellow I am about to have a comforting massage. That comforts me for a few seconds until I realize that my mind is playing tricks and it's not going to happen and then I feel massively disappointed.

This happens perpetually over and over, constantly non-stop. And it's very distressing Sad

Luckily I don't believe it for realz.

Ow I just saw my yellow sad smiley emoticon face Sad

Ow again! Sad

Ow ow ow!
Reply
#8
RE: Intelligent Atheists: Who/What Was Jesus?
I lean heavily into the mythicist camp.  In fact, after listening to scads of believers talk about the historical jesus I am not sure that any of them know what they mean by the term.

If you have to invent "miracles" for your god to perform - hopefully you don't really believe in miracles - then who needs him?  You are worshiping the magic tricks not the man and given the way xtians behave they certainly do not respect his alleged "teachings."

Could there have been a man named Y'shua bar Yosef?  Sure.  The names were so common there could have been 100 of them in first century Jerusalem.  So what?  Unless you can find one who came back from the dead - and no one living at the time knows anything about that - then it hardly matters.
Reply
#9
RE: Intelligent Atheists: Who/What Was Jesus?
I personally believe the question is irrelevant. We know there was no Jesus with superpowers, which is the crux of Bible. Because of that, the question of who Jesus really was, if anyone, becomes purely academic.

The only reason to even argue about it is to antagonize the faithful.
Reply
#10
RE: Intelligent Atheists: Who/What Was Jesus?
(November 17, 2015 at 12:15 am)Cleo Wrote: Hello everyone,

I would like your honest views on who or what you think Jesus really was, with some reasonable justifications please.

I ask this because some say he was a myth, some say he existed, some say he represents a sun god, etcetera...

I am simply unsure and require answers for further discussions.

Thanks!

The Jesus you know is an amalgam of many things, much of it loosely based on preexisting religious figures, embellished over the years.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition

Reply



Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  To Atheists: Who, in your opinion, was Jesus Christ? JJoseph 52 4355 June 12, 2024 at 11:01 pm
Last Post: arewethereyet
  Intelligent design Nihilist Virus 27 4356 April 5, 2019 at 11:40 am
Last Post: Gawdzilla Sama
  Religious people are less intelligent than atheists Bow Before Zeus 186 27418 December 23, 2017 at 10:51 am
Last Post: Cyberman
  How do atheists see Jesus' parables? drfuzzy 92 17142 November 3, 2017 at 2:20 pm
Last Post: Minimalist
Big Grin Texax High school students stand up to Atheists: Zero Atheists care Joods 16 3780 October 23, 2017 at 1:55 pm
Last Post: Minimalist
  Another "how could any intelligent woman be a Christian?" thread drfuzzy 17 3316 September 14, 2016 at 10:19 pm
Last Post: Cecelia
  In Christianity, Does Jesus' Soul Have Anything To Do With Why Jesus Is God? JesusIsGod7 18 7847 October 7, 2014 at 12:58 pm
Last Post: JesusHChrist
  Intelligent design? Really? Bad Wolf 170 38613 March 9, 2014 at 9:31 pm
Last Post: Esquilax
  Why do atheists even bother about debating Jesus? Sciworks 130 56313 February 8, 2013 at 8:38 am
Last Post: Confused Ape
  Atheists: Can you disprove the resurrection or Jesus' existence? nicholas5000 142 53824 December 19, 2011 at 9:30 am
Last Post: ThomM



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)