What Took Jesus So Long?

[Sword of Christ]

So I guess the entire virgin birth thing
was nothing special?

It's always been an open question whether Jesus was literally born of a virgin I don't think it matters if he wasn't. The Catholic Church made it official dogma as Mary is almost on a par with Jesus in that but not until the 19th century.

Oh yeah, and the
part about Jesus™ being fully god
from birth must also not be a big deal?

Jesus was God manifested/incarnated physically into human life in some way that goes beyond human understanding. He and God were one and the same thing his words were the words of God, he wasn't speaking on behalf of God as a prophet. But Muslims and Jews obviously disagree with this so it is a matter of belief. It may possibly be mistaken but I don't think that automatically means atheism/naturalism can't be equally mistaken in it's assumption that God doesn't even exist just physical matter. I'd like to know how you know that.

@SoC, do you have a bank
account? If so then why, may I ask, are
you storing up for yourself treasures on
earth? Until christians fulfill their own
BS religious faith requirements they have
no right to ask me to have faith. Now please,
I've suffered you long enough. Kindly crawl
under a rock (Jesus™ maybe) and DIE!

I'm ascetic and non-materialist enough for someone who isn't a monk or a hermit I still have to survive in the world and contribute something to it. I'm not particularly wealthy and have very little desire for material and commercial crap I don't really need. You don't take any of that shit with you.

"1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
3 What profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh under the sun?
4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
5 The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.
6 The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
7 All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full: unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
8 All things are full of labor; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after."

Well you get the idea anyway. You'll find similar teachings in most of the other religions when it comes to coveting material treasures on Earth. This is what Jesus himself has to say about it.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

And Saint Paul says something to the effect that God knows you need the essentials of life.

[freedomfromforum]

It may possibly be mistaken but I don't think that automatically means atheism/naturalism can't be equally mistaken in it's assumption that God doesn't even exist just physical matter. I'd like to know how you know that.

First things first. Atheism is not the assertion
that a god does not exist; it is the rejection of
the assertion that a god does - which is the
assertion that theists make.

Second. I do not claim to know that a god
does or does not exist. If a god exists, and
it is demonstrable, then I would be a hypocrite
to disbelieve in what I have required evidence
for.

Atheists reject theist claims and make very
few of their own, unless backed with evidence.

[Captain Colostomy]

I don't think that automatically means atheism/naturalism can't be equally mistaken in it's assumption that God doesn't even exist just physical matter. I'd like to know how you know that.

Do you even read anything on this site?

[Drich]

I recently read an analysis of the New Testament that pointed out something I'd never really thought of before.

According to the Gospels, Jesus started spreading his word when he was 30, then walked around performing miracles for just a little while before he died.

My question is: Why did he wait until he was 30? Life expectancy back then was about 40. If he was God reborn in human form, wouldn't he have been prepared to spread the word at like 18 or 20? I know there's that one note about him as a child at the temple, but after that, what took him so long to get going again? Did it take the baptism by John to encourage him?

Maybe he needed some age to be respected, I don't know. It just seems weird that an omniscient being would wait so long.

33 is the traditional age of a well respected rabbi/teacher. In that culture, if one speaks and what he says is not like then it can simply be dismissed as being the ranting of a young person. If he speaks too wildly as a young person then by reputation could have been branded a fool. Once someone was labled a fool then everything the 'fool' said was ignored.

Christ simply followed the traditions and spoke to the people on the terms their society had laid out for Him.

[Captain Colostomy]

I'd like to see where '33' is the magic number, Drich.

[freedomfromforum]

Christ simply followed the traditions and spoke to the people on the terms their society had laid out for Him.

Except for this time...

Luke 2

The Boy Jesus at the Temple

41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

________________________________________________________

JESUS! Talk about bad fucking parents.

Somebody call CPS on these irresponsible fucks.

[Zazzy]

You're being sarcastic, right? I didn't think that was a bad question. No blasphemy intended. Just curious about a strange "fact."

I was being sarcastic. I agree it's interesting. Go ahead and intend all the blasphemy you want.

---

Not that we would judge that. It's perfectly OK to need a little extra time.

Um....not for a "god," Zaz.

Poor Jesus. He needs a remedial Miracles class and here's Min trying to make him feel bad about that. Granted, not very many of the miracles were all that impressive (although I must admit that the resurrection was a good one, if a rip-off of earlier gods), but he was clearly trying really hard. And fig trees aside, he seems like a nice enough guy for a fictional character. I prefer Gus and Call from the Lonesome Dove books, but each to her own.

[max-greece]

This has been covered before but Jesus had no intention of becoming the messiah. He went into his Dad's carpentry business but it all went belly up because he was one of the worst carpenters to have ever lived. He was looking around for new work when he met this guy called John in a river.

PS - I have proven the case of being the worst carpenter in history before.

[Sword of Christ]

First things first. Atheism is not the assertion

Is that an assertion you're making? I'd assert that it is an assertion which essentially one of scientific naturalism or materialism. If you're not asserting this you're better off handing in your atheist membership card and giving it a break. To do this properly you need a lot of conviction you can't be half hearted or wishy washy in your non-belief in the supernatural or whatever you want to call it. Whatever you decide to believe you don't want to be mincing around like a sissy without a decent pair of balls.

that a god does not exist; it is the rejection of
the assertion that a god does - which is the
assertion that theists make.

It amounts to the same thing? There's no use trying to play word games or semantics.

Second. I do not claim to know that a god
does or does not exist.

But no-one claims that. You do know what faith is right? Sure it's possible that I'm wrong and God or anything that would in any way be like God doesn't exist that is a possibility.

If a god exists, and
it is demonstrable, then I would be a hypocrite
to disbelieve in what I have required evidence
for.

It isn't demonstrable through the scientific method nor can it ever be. The scientific method can only study.

1) Gods creation not God himself
2) Only that which comes within the physical perception or abilities of detection of human beings

You can however argue that God as a creator likely exists if the universe id contingent and had a clear beginning in time, there was certainly a point of creation. Talking about our universe as we know it here. It could be on a cycle or part of a multiverse but God could easily make other universes if he wanted he can do whatever he likes.

Atheists reject theist claims and make very
few of their own, unless backed with evidence.

You're making a counter claim which is the claim that the universe exists as it is and organised itself to be the way it is for no particular reason and has anything to do with ourselves whatsoever at all. We're just the coincidental byproduct of a non-intelligent and purposeless coincidence in a universe that does not give the remotest fuck about us. This is a massive and significant counter claim. I do have some respect for this boldness of belief even if I think it's taking the Enlightenment values too far. You're essentially replacing God with the achievements of humanity, we don't have God to thank for these achievement just ourselves the measure of all things.

Do you even read anything on this site?

You mean something someone says and then just believe what they say without questioning it? I thought you guys were supposed to be the freethinkers rather than following dogma.

[Captain Colostomy]

PS - I have proven the case of being the worst carpenter in history before.

It's a three way tie:

The Carpenters