BMaker11 said:
Actually, what "99% of the Bible says about him" isn't all candy and rainbows. There's no need for desperation nor is it hard to find anything bad about Jesus. I feel like you're the type that's been spoonfed that Jesus is nothing but goodness, but you've only heard about the Sermon on the Mount (turn the other cheek, love thy neighbor, etc). Jesus said that he didn't come to get rid of the old laws (Old Testament) but to enforce and fulfill them, and that until the earth and heaven pass over, not a jot or tittle of the old laws will be removed (Matthew 5: 17-18). The OT was harsh. It called for enslaving neighboring nations. It said that if a virgin is raped, she must marry her rapist. If your child is "unruly", you are to take him/her to the outskirts of the town, and the townspeople are to stone that child. And there are many more (and much worse, mind you) I don't care if you believe that "Jesus got rid of the OT laws" nonsense, because he himself says that he came to uphold them, not get rid of them. And those laws aren't something any civilized human being would want to stand by. Jesus said he didn't come to bring peace on earth, but to bring a sword/division (it can be interpreted that "sword" means to sever ties with people, hence the difference in Luke version of this quote, saying "division). And that he wants households to fight against each other, father against son, mother against daughter, etc. Your enemies will be in your own household (Matthew 10: 34-35/Luke 12:51). But I'm leaning more towards an *actual* sword, considering he said that if you don't have a sword, if you have nothing but the clothes on your back, sell them, and buy a sword (Luke 22:36) Jesus said that if you love your family more than him, you are not worthy of him (Matthew 10:37). Why kind of ego must you have to say that if you love your family (which *everyone* does), you are not worthy? Jesus said that if people don't want him to be king over them, bring them before him and slay them (Luke 19). And let's not forget that it wasn't until Jesus that the concept of eternal damnation came up. This is worse than anything anyone has ever done (and I mean....worse than Hitler). It's like the OT on steroids. If you killed 50 million people in the most gruesome way ever, I may very well agree that your "soul" should be imprisoned for the average lifespan of each person you killed (so 50 million people x 75 years for each life taken) and even have you tortured brutally every second of every day you're in that prison. But at least that is finite to match your finite crime. But eternal damnation is just that: eternal. You are punished FOREVER. Tell me just one thing that any person can do that honestly deserves pain and torture for an infinite amount of time? Killing someone? Stealing? The one unforgivable sin, blasphemy? You can be "forgiven" for killing someone, but utter a combination of words that Jesus doesn't like and you get tortured forever? If you believe that eternal and infinite punishment is justified in any manner whatsoever, you are insane. And you look up to the guy who instituted that. So yea, you don't have to be desperate to find something bad about Jesus. Because if everyone "lived like Jesus", it wouldn't be Wonderland. The image of the humble, kind Jesus is only one part of him, as described in the Gospels. I know it's convenient to ignore that Jesus said that if you're wealthy, you should just give ALL your money away to the poor (Luke 18:22) (although this just makes the poor people rich and then....they have to give their money to the poor because Jesus said the wealthy should give away all they own to the poor? It's just a dumb cycle at that point), but just because the image of peaceful Jesus has been ingrained into your understanding of him for many years, that doesn't negate that he wasn't really the nicest dude |
Jesus didn't condone child stoning. You really think theologicans for 2,000 years misunderstood that part, and then all of a sudden comes Dawkins and a bunch of internet dudes with their "evilbible" websites and re-interprets Jesus the "right way"? Just stop, man.
The essense or spirit when Jesus says he is not removing the OT law is that God's view of mankind is unchanged, and what constitutes sin is unchanged. That it's still practically impossible for a human to satisfy the law, and that there is no way for man to attain righteousness except through the grace of God.
A literal interpretation of sword is laughable. It's allegorical/symbolical speech, just trust us on this one.
Loving Jesus more than your own family. Surely you can see the point in that? The message is that to every human, God should be the most important of everything, that he is worthy of all praise, that he is a "jealous" God. But it doesn't mean you shouldn't love anybody else. Yes, you could say God has a strong ego, but it's perfectly okay. If you have children you want them to like you more than anyone else. It's not dramatic or controversial to me.
"Jesus said that if people don't want him to be king over them, bring them before him and slay them", it doesn't say like that in Luke 19. Jesus is telling a parabel, a story, and in that story there is a king that kills people.
Eternal damnation. That's a heavy topic, and I get upset too at Christians who believe in eternal torment for ordinary unsaved people. To make it simple, it's just one interpretation of what will happen in eternity. I and many others interpret the NT so that it promotes destruction of the unsaved (after punishment), but not eternal suffering.
