Why do Christians believe in Jesus when He's NOWHERE in the Hebrew Bible?

Dutch Uncle said:
Anything to do with his birth, I agree. The events in Jerusalem are probably more factual. The podcast debated about his association with John the Baptist and debated the odd line that was tread by the baptism of Jesus. If Jesus was the Son of God, why did he need to have his sins washed away?

Another part that was brought up, especially about Mary Magdalene, and also brought up on the podcast about Theodora, was how taking the lowest of low and seeing them become a great Christian was a great selling point. It’s one reason why the story of Magdalene was conflated with the soon-to-be stoned prostitute since it created a greater leap for her to travel to become a Christian. In Theodora’s case, she was an underage sex slave who became a saint. Raising a person of such low birth to become a Saint was used as an example of what Christian piety could accomplish.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodora_(wife_of_Justinian_I)
Click to expand...

I think of the Gospels as being in the same genre as Shakespeare's historical plays, aka Macbeth, Richard III, Henry IV.... Literary creations rooted in some elementary suite of historicity.
 
Dutch Uncle said:
Hard? Yes. As TOW pointed out, some clearly don’t even try. Trying and failing is notable. Especially if they keep trying. Giving up or, worse, deliberately going in the opposite direction is antithetical to their avowed beliefs. The latter fits all self-proclaimed Christian MAGAts to a T.
Click to expand...

Too right you are.

The sermon on the mount and the parables, the eightfold path of Buddhism, the five vows of Jainism set a high bar to aspire to. In the same way students in a college class aspire to a grade of A, but only a small minority will achieve it.

Those that receive Fs weren't even really trying, which is the metaphor here for phony message board christians.
 
Perry Phimosis said:
Why do you mock God? I have never understood that about your posting style. You lie, bear false witness and are generally a horrible person yet you think you are fooling people into thinking you are some sort of "Christian" and you gild the lily with a bible quote in your signature file....you put it all in there!

So why do YOU do it?
Click to expand...

The only God that PostmodernProphet knows is Donald Trump, and Trump is well known for falsehoods.
 
Cypress said:
I think of the Gospels as being in the same genre as Shakespeare's historical plays, aka Macbeth, Richard III, Henry IV.... Literary creations rooted in some elementary suite of historicity.
Click to expand...
I think of them as being a little stronger than that but readily agree there is clearly some exaggeration…especially several decades to a century after the event….in an age of little record keeping or literacy and a lot of campfire stories.
 
Dutch Uncle said:
I think of them as being a little stronger than that but readily agree there is clearly some exaggeration…especially several decades to a century after the event….in an age of little record keeping or literacy and a lot of campfire stories.
Click to expand...

Jesus is one of the most well attested Palestinian Jews in all of antiquity, so I believe he was a real Jewish mystic, his ministry and execution were real, and the parables and sayings have the ring of authenticity to them.

The nature of his miracles, his deeds, his resurrection are probably literary embellishments or legends added onto the historical Jesus.
 
Cypress said:
Jesus is one of the most well attested Palestinian Jews in all of antiquity, so I believe he was a real Jewish mystic, his ministry and execution were real, and the parables and sayings have the ring of authenticity to them.

The nature of his miracles, his deeds, his resurrection are probably literary embellishments or legends.
Click to expand...

Agreed on miracles. There were a lot of mystics running around in those days. Why Jesus sticks out is a mystery but I think a major part of it was his message: all who suffered life on Earth would be rewarded in the afterlife if they led a good life regardless of their Earthly station. This, too, was the message of Buddhism.
 
Dutch Uncle said:
Agreed on miracles. There were a lot of mystics running around in those days. Why Jesus sticks out is a mystery but I think a major part of it was his message: all who suffered life on Earth would be rewarded in the afterlife if they led a good life regardless of their Earthly station. This, too, was the message of Buddhism.
Click to expand...

My thoughts too. The message of early Christianity was truly radical and I think appealing to many, particularly in oppressed classes. Women and slaves supposedly made up a lot of the early Christians, because the theme of spiritual equality and spiritual salvation were probably highly appealing.
 
Cypress said:
My thoughts too. The message of early Christianity was truly radical and I think appealing to many, particularly in oppressed classes. Women and slaves supposedly made up a lot of the early Christians, because the theme of spiritual equality and spiritual salvation were probably highly appealing.
Click to expand...

Agreed both about radical and it’s appeal to the oppressed. Unlike the message of the Evangelistas/Prosperity Christians, Jesus intentionally hung out with the poor, the sick and weak. It also pissed off TPTB since Jesus appeared to be usurping the power of those in charge by offering a way around them.
 
Dutch Uncle says "his message: all who suffered life on Earth would be rewarded in the afterlife if they led a good life regardless of their Earthly station"
Click to expand...

I'm curious where you came up that as its actually the message the Pharisees were preaching and Jesus was condemning.....
 
Dutch Uncle said:
Anything to do with his birth, I agree. The events in Jerusalem are probably more factual. The podcast debated about his association with John the Baptist and debated the odd line that was tread by the baptism of Jesus. If Jesus was the Son of God, why did he need to have his sins washed away?

Another part that was brought up, especially about Mary Magdalene, and also brought up on the podcast about Theodora, was how taking the lowest of low and seeing them become a great Christian was a great selling point. It’s one reason why the story of Magdalene was conflated with the soon-to-be stoned prostitute since it created a greater leap for her to travel to become a Christian. In Theodora’s case, she was an underage sex slave who became a saint. Raising a person of such low birth to become a Saint was used as an example of what Christian piety could accomplish.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodora_(wife_of_Justinian_I)
Click to expand...
It’s why Christianity became the religion of the soldiers and the slaves first and spread to other classes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top