I used to ask this question. I think the answer is complex and hard for literal minded people like me to comprehend. The gospels are not 'disposable' - this is a reaction to, not an understanding of what is meant - the books suggest a truth above narrative and provide examples and teachings in a form for humans to engage with at their level of understanding. — Tom Storm
If you want to understand what other people understand about the world, you need to make sure you are in the same world they are. — T Clark
What room is there for interpretation, here? — Ciceronianus
In his mid 90's I asked my father what he thought about Jesus. His response - 'Jesus is whoever the preacher tells us he is.' — Tom Storm
When I was a young physics student I once asked a professor: ‘What’s an electron?’ His answer stunned me. ‘An electron,’ he said, ‘is that to which we attribute the properties of the electron.’ — Adam Frank
"You mean symbolically." — T Clark
I don't have fond memories of the Jesus Freaks of the 1960s and 1970s. — Ciceronianus
:up: Almost analogous to my once-upon-a-time preference for The Nazarene contra The Christ. "The Devil's Advocate" Hitchen's The Missionary Position is still, as far as I'm concerned, the book on that old Albanian vampire and the zombie death cult that "beatified" her.The "Jesus" I like is similar to Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Workers. Day herself was a devout Catholic.
As saints and near saints go, Dorothy Day was likely much more tolerable than Mother Teresa. — Bitter Crank
Again, I prefer irreligious freethinker (à la Epicurus, Lucretius, Epictetus, Spinoza, Hume, Russell, Dewey, Zapffe, Camus ... et al)Yes, but that's because you are, as are so many here on the forum, an anti-religion bigot. — T Clark
So, what you'll notice about Jesus, just from a cognitive level in the sense that the brain desires conceptual frameworks with which to use as informational guides to action and behavior - which, is what concepts are actually for, mind you, and why they generate from consciousness - is that he checks all boxes normally reserved for individual exercise of executive function and exploration. What do I mean? We have in Jesus 1. a conceptual framework provided for us, no effort. 2. absolution of any failure to uphold the tenets of the frame work. 3. an ideal embodiment of the framework that we can constantly use to induce more action and thought both on the part of ourselves and others. 4. the open invitation of universal acceptance within the framework. 5. threats of punishment for those who reject the framework. 6. rewards for accepting the framework. 7. justifications for all bad phenomena (humans) and good phenomena (God). and 8. a definitive low-resolution explanation of all things in the universe. Or, stated another way: — Garrett Travers
I'm curious why even the most "philosophical" of Christian theologians (e.g. Teilhard de Chardin, Barth) include Jesus in their theology. — Ciceronianus
It is not a question of what the brain needs or does. A person is not a brain. Just compare the two and you will find 3 and half to 4 pounds of gray squishy matter on the one hand, and a thinking, caring experiencing person on the other. Two mistake the one for the other is impossible. — Astrophel
The point you miss? Tell me, why are we born to suffer and die? It is meant as a reference, not to historical philosophy or theology, but to the foundational conditions of being human. — Astrophel
'Jesus is whoever the preacher tells us he is.' — Tom Storm
he disagrees with the mythicists, as they are known and specifically debated against Robert Price. From Erhman's blog Oct 2016 — Tom Storm
I think the more reasonable position on Jesus these days is that there was a human being who was killed and who inspired the myths — Tom Storm
I will chalk that up under "freaky things that Jesus entices folks to do": rewrite history so as to erase his name — Olivier5
think we have to correct the historically incorrect claim — universeness
This is obviously Roman propaganda! — universeness
That's not what real, professional historians say. It is instead what rabid, irrational haters of christianity say. — Olivier5
I bet the Romans kicked themselves when people started believing it and refused to recognise the divinity of the Emperor. "Guys, guys, we made the whole thing up... really, we did... — Cuthbert
The Christian cult is just their most successful one. — universeness
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