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

[ThatOwlWoman]

I look at the ethical example Jesus exemplified as a high bar to clear. Most MAGAs will utterly fail at clearing the bar, just like most students in a college class will never attain an A+.

Most humans will never achieve the goodness of Jesus. They are supposed to at least try, though. MAGATs don't even try. Just claiming to be Xtian is enough.

[Doc Dutch]

Most humans will never achieve the goodness of Jesus. They are supposed to at least try, though. MAGATs don't even try. Just claiming to be Xtian is enough.

Agreed the MAGAts don’t even try. They wear Christianity as a mask to shield their malicious conduct.

[ThatOwlWoman]

Agreed the MAGAts don’t even try. They wear Christianity as a mask to shield their malicious conduct.

Yep. Just like certain racists here think we won't notice their hate if they quote Dr. King or Maya Angelou.

[Doc Dutch]

Yep. Just like certain racists here think we won't notice their hate if they quote Dr. King or Maya Angelou.

Some are stupid enough to believe one quote or comment absolves dozens of racist or hateful remarks.

[Cypress]

Most humans will never achieve the goodness of Jesus. They are supposed to at least try, though. MAGATs don't even try. Just claiming to be Xtian is enough.

It's actually hard to be a good Christian, good Muslim, good Buddhist.

JPP has always provided countless examples of complete failures of Christian piety.

[Phantasmal]

I think the questions asks why Jesus wasn’t named in the Torah….prophecies rarely name the actual person who is being prophesied about. It’s always something like “a man will come from the wilderness” or, “a messiah will come from the House of David”. In the case of Jesus, some portions of the Gospels appear to be reengineered to fit the prophesy. His birth in Bethlehem was one. Another was his arrival into Jerusalem on a donkey, which was part of the prophesy. In that case, Jesus may have deliberately arrived in such a manner so as to fit the prophesy.

Or, more likely, the Gospel writers wrote him that way and none of those things actually happened. Think Paul Bunyon.

[PostmodernProphet]

Unlike yourself, I have no need to pretend to belong to a faith tradition that I don't adhere to.

liar.....you pretend to believe in reason.....

[Doc Dutch]

It's actually hard to be a good Christian, good Muslim, good Buddhist.

JPP has always provided countless examples of complete failures of Christian piety.

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.

[Doc Dutch]

Or, more likely, the Gospel writers wrote him that way and none of those things actually happened. Think Paul Bunyon.

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/Theo...f_Justinian_I)

Theodora (/ˌθiːəˈdɔːrə/; Greek: Θεοδώρα; c. 500 – 28 June 548)[1] was Byzantine empress by marriage to emperor Justinian. She became empress upon Justinian's accession in 527 and was one of his chief advisers, albeit from humble origins. Along with her spouse, Theodora is a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and in the Oriental Orthodox Church, commemorated on 14 November and 28 June respectively.

[ThatOwlWoman]

Some are stupid enough to believe one quote or comment absolves dozens of racist or hateful remarks.

You could have just stopped at "some are stupid" and been just as correct. lol

[ThatOwlWoman]

liar.....you pretend to believe in reason.....

Since when did reason become a religion rather than an actual verifiable thing?

[Cypress]

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/Theo...f_Justinian_I)

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.

[Cypress]

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.

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.

[Trumpet]

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?

The only God that PostmodernProphet knows is Donald Trump, and Trump is well known for falsehoods.

[Doc Dutch]

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.

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.