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Intelligent Atheists: Who/What Was Jesus?
November 17, 2015 at 12:15 am
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!
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RE: Intelligent Atheists: Who/What Was Jesus?
November 17, 2015 at 12:20 am
(This post was last modified: November 17, 2015 at 12:20 am by Edwardo Piet.)
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.
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RE: Intelligent Atheists: Who/What Was Jesus?
November 17, 2015 at 12:27 am
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
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RE: Intelligent Atheists: Who/What Was Jesus?
November 17, 2015 at 12:43 am
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.
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RE: Intelligent Atheists: Who/What Was Jesus?
November 17, 2015 at 12:44 am
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.
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RE: Intelligent Atheists: Who/What Was Jesus?
November 17, 2015 at 12:45 am
(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."
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RE: Intelligent Atheists: Who/What Was Jesus?
November 17, 2015 at 12:46 am
(This post was last modified: November 17, 2015 at 12:48 am by Edwardo Piet.)
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 
Luckily I don't believe it for realz.
Ow I just saw my yellow sad smiley emoticon face
Ow again!
Ow ow ow!
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RE: Intelligent Atheists: Who/What Was Jesus?
November 17, 2015 at 12:47 am
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.
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RE: Intelligent Atheists: Who/What Was Jesus?
November 17, 2015 at 2:18 am
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.
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RE: Intelligent Atheists: Who/What Was Jesus?
November 17, 2015 at 2:30 am
(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
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