Which Jesus is real?

[Silver]

For as many cultures there are as many Jesus'.

There's a black Jesus for the African American community.
There's a Spanish Jesus for the Mexican community.
There's a Caucasian Jesus for the white community.
Etc, etc, etc.

Would the real Jesus please stand up?

With so many different cultures viewing Jesus as the non-white, supposed "superior white" Jesus, how is one to know which is the correct Jesus?

With a god who is supposed to be so powerful, one would think he could straighten out who Jesus is.

If Jesus cannot be considered the white version through ministry, what is the purpose of ministry?

The problem with ministry is that it thinks it changes the culture, yet perhaps it doesn't.

The Asian Jesus agrees.

Ministry certainly destroys cultures, but replaces it with the culture's own version of Jesus.

How is that in accordance with Christianity?

It is not.

It must certainly piss of the white Christians.

In the end, no Jesus is real. Jesus is a fictional character perpetuated by a religion that thinks it has the world's best interest in mind when in fact it merely wants control of the world through religious belief.

[Minimalist]

It's not just a modern thing.  In Bart Ehrman's "Lost Christianities" he discusses how there were scores of different xtian groups in a very small area each with their own godboy, either on earth or up in the sky, with different books and traditions.

One of the best books you can read on the subject is J. P. Jenkins'  The Lost History of Christianity.  Details the early spread of jesus shit through Asia.

[vorlon13]

Without too much trouble I found a list of 25 items where Jesus and Apostle Paul don't agree on things.

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• Jesus Says Not To Eat Meat Sacrificed to Idols, But Paul Says It Is Ok

• Jesus Says The Law Continues, But Paul Says No

• Paul Says The Pharisees Followed The Law Rigorously, But Jesus Says They Were Lax About The Law

• Jesus Says Salvation Initiates And Continues By Repentance From Sin and Obedience Besides Faith; Paul Says This is Heresy

• Jesus Tells Apostles To Teach His Commands Given Prior to His Ascension While In The Flesh, But Paul Says Not To Do So
 
• Paul Says Elders Are Entitled To Pay for 'Preaching & Teaching,' But Jesus Says No

• Jesus Teaches There Are Only 12 Apostles Into Eternity, But Paul Adds Himself To The List As a Thirteenth

• Paul Exhorts Celibacy, But Jesus Clearly Says It is A Choice Not Within Everyone's Power

• Jesus Says There Is One Pastor and Teacher (Himself), But Paul Says There Are Many Pastors and Teachers

• Paul Says God Is The God of the Dead, But Jesus Says God Is Not The God of the Dead

• Paul Says God Does Not Live in Temples Made of Human Hands, But Jesus Says He Does

• Jesus says Nations Of The World Are Under Satan, But Paul Says Their Rulers Are Agents of God

• Jesus Teaches Rapture is Of Evil Ones First, But Paul Teaches The Opposite

• Jesus Says A Call Is Revocable, But Paul Says It Is Irrevocable

• Jesus Says Some Are Righteous, But Paul Says It Is Impossible

• Paul Excludes Eating With Sinners But Christ's Example We Are To Follow, and the Lost Sheep Parable, Is Contrary

• Paul Teaches We Are Eternally Secure, But Jesus Teaches Insecurity to a Sinning Believer

• Paul Teaches In Original Sin But Jesus Contradicts

• Jesus' Command About Calling Anyone Fool Is Violated by Paul

• Paul Denies Obedience Grants Any Righteousness Unto Life, But Jesus Says It Does

• Jesus Sends The Apostles to Baptize, But Paul Says Jesus Did Not Send Him to Baptize

• Jesus Says the Merciful Receive Mercy, But Paul Says Only Those God Chooses Arbitrarily Will Receive Mercy

• Paul Says Salvation Does Not Depend Upon Exertion, But Jesus Says It Does
• Paul Says He Could Be Justified of The Sin that Never Could be Justified under the Law given Moses (Blasphemy), but Jesus says to the contrary that it is The Unpardonable Sin. 
• Paul Says Flesh will not inherit the Kingdom of God, but Jesus in Flesh ascended to heaven, and promises to resurrect our bodies to heaven / New Jerusalem, giving us the same physical resurrection that Jesus had.

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Astonishing to me at least, this does not ever seem to keep current era Christians awake at night. This should be PROFOUNDLY concerning and yet, listen and you can hear crickets chirping, no gnashing of teeth or wailing at all, and yet we have a faith divided, hijacked, corrupted and mutated, literally from the get go, and all the adherents are calm, cool collected, preternaturally serene.

How the hell does that work ?

[Nay_Sayer]

Other: Cheesus Christo

[Minimalist]

[Brian37]

There has to have been a man or more likely a group of people tired of the old ways otherwise Christianity would not exist at all. What never happened was a baby being born with super powers or a human being being tortured to death and magically surviving as the bible would have the reader believe.

Christianity got started for the same reason every new religion gets created. Humans get upset with the old ways, incorporate the parts they like, write stories about that, vilify the old parts they don't like. Market it with a new hero and sell it.

Buddhism started the same way. Whomever started it was simply tired of the old Hindu ways and tried to make it more earthy and purpose driven. Buddhism started in close proximity to India, just like Jews were in close proximity to their prior Canaanites where the Yahweh name they stole the character from. Christianity splintered from the Jews and Muslims splintered from both.

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But yea, if you look at the depictions of what Jesus looked like by Italy in one period vs what Mexicans think what he looks like now vs what white Americans think it seems to reflect the attributes of the believer of that location and time.

But even Buddha looks different depending on the geography of Asia's history and location.

[ignoramus]

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[chimp3]

There is the Jesus of the 20th century Spiritualists which has been adopted into the New Age movement. The book "The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ" was translated from the Akashic Record by a psychic. Jesus travels around cleansing peoples bodies of filth with enemas.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Assuming, for the sake of the topic, that a troublemaking preacher corresponding to the Jesus of the Gospels actually existed, he was probably under 5'5" tall, brown eyed, black haired, olive skinned, rather skinny (but muscular by current standards), and with a full, bushy beard.

It's a fair bet he didn't look like Cesare Borgia.



Boru

[chimp3]

Assuming, for the sake of the topic, that a troublemaking preacher corresponding to the Jesus of the Gospels actually existed, he was probably under 5'5" tall, brown eyed, black haired, olive skinned, rather skinny (but muscular by current standards), and with a full, bushy beard.

It's a fair bet he didn't look like Cesare Borgia.



Boru

Full beard and short hair as was the custom for Jewish men.