Love thy neighbor

[emjay]

[...] that Jesus himeslf came up with this and other "good" stuff. And that this is supposed to be the proof that he is god because this is so moral that no mere mortal could come up with this. [...]

I was watching Ben-Hur (the new one) the other day and it got me thinking along similar lines as you in this post. That the things Jesus was saying, and the context in which he was saying them (as portrayed in the film) were not new, but rather the sorts of thoughts anyone can have under similar conditions. Ie if you look at the world and all you see is violence met with violence and misery, there'll always be, in every time and place, people who want to find 'a better way'... want to find a way to break the pattern. Some may be more vocal/determined (ie activist) about it than others. So just hypothetically, if Jesus or someone like him existed, and was as portrayed, it seems perfectly plausible to me that he could just be one of these people... an activist trying to find a better way (in the context of a brutal Roman world) and even willing to die - requesting his followers forgive rather than reply in kind with violence - to make the point and break the pattern. So a bloke... an idealist... tired of all the shit around him, and looking for a better way. It doesn't seem that far fetched to me and nothing supernatural required, just one possible human response to a shitty situation.