Do you believe in JESUS? Tell me why you do/n't.?

Question

For millenias, historians and people alike have searched for the truth for the profoundly popular belief in the existance and work of 'Jesus Christ.'

Now I don't intend to rattle on on explaining who he is and what he did, because surely, i would be damned to find a living soul in this world who hasn't heard of the name 'Jesus.'

Ok - So getting to the point, do you believe in him?

If you ask me (just pretend you're interested), I do. Not because i'm some bible hugging, church going, choir freak. No, but simply because HISTORY in itself, (I believe) PROVES IT. Look at past rennaisance and gothic artwork. Architecture and scripts. Science today proves that the events following Jesus' death had come to exist. How ironic, right? Now just because healing people with a wave of a hand is seen ridiculously fable in these modern times, does that necessarily mean it wasn't 2006 years ago? Do we believe in common sense, or believe in a greater divine mystery. Your call.

Answer 1

Many scholars, such as Michael Grant, do not see significant similarity between the pagan myths and Christianity. Grant states in Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels that "Judaism was a milieu to which doctrines of the deaths and rebirths, of mythical gods seemed so entirely foreign that the emergence of such a fabrication from its midst is very hard to credit."[37]

However, some scholars believe that the gospel accounts of Jesus have little or no historical basis. At least in part, this is because they see many similarities between stories about Jesus and older myths of pagan godmen such as Mithras, Apollo, Attis, Horus and Osiris-Dionysus, leading to conjectures that the pagan myths were adopted by some authors of early accounts of Jesus to form a syncretism with Christianity. A small minority, such as Earl Doherty, carry this further and propose that the gospels are actually a reworking of the older myths and not based on a historical figure. While these connections are disputed by many, it is nevertheless true that many elements of Jesus' story as told in the Gospels have parallels in pagan mythology, where miracles such as virgin birth were well-known. Some Christian authors, such as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, account for this with the belief that such myths were created by ancient pagans with vague and imprecise foreknowledge of the Gospels; in other words the pagans gave prophetic attributes of the Christ as shown in the Jewish Torah and Prophets to their particular deity.


Religious perspectives
Main article: Religious perspectives on Jesus
Jesus has an important role in two religions: Christianity and Islam. Most other religions, however, do not consider Jesus to have been a supernatural or holy being. Some of these religions, like Buddhism, do not take any official stance on Jesus' life, however note the many similarities in teachings and life of Jesus and Buddha. Judaism rejects claims of his divinity and of his being the Mashiach.


Christian views
Main article: Christian views of Jesus
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Great Schism
The Crusades
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God the Father
God the Son (Jesus Christ)
God the Holy Spirit


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The nature of Jesus is the central issue of Christology. The theological concept of Jesus as Christ was refined by a series of seven ecumenical councils between 325 and 787 AD/CE. While most Christians believe that the councils were guided by the Bible and the Holy Spirit, some Christians question one or more of the councils. Restorationists reject all the councils and seek to restore what they believe was the original Christian faith.

Different Christians also have different interpretations of Jesus' family members mentioned in Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3.[38] Eastern Christianity, following Eusebius, believes that they were "Joseph's children by his (unrecorded) first wife." Roman Catholicism, following Jerome, believes that they were Jesus' cousins, which the Greek word for "brother" or "relative" used in the Gospels would encompass. Both beliefs are based on the tradition that Mary remained a perpetual virgin,[39] thus having no biological children before or after Jesus. While such notable reformers as Luther, Calvin, Zwingli and Wesley affirmed the perpetual virginity of Mary, most Protestants today believe that these family members were the biological children of Mary and Joseph.[40]

Paul of Tarsus wrote that just as sin entered the world through Adam (known as The Fall of Man), so salvation from sin comes through Jesus, the second Adam (Rom 5:12–21; 1 Cor 15:21–22). Most Christians believe that Jesus' death and resurrection provide salvation not only from personal sin, but from the condition of sin itself. This ancestral or original sin[41] separated humanity from God, making all liable to condemnation to eternal punishment in Hell (Rom 3:23). However, Jesus' death and resurrection reconciled humanity with God, granting eternal life in Heaven to the faithful (John 14:2–3).


Jesus Carrying the Cross, El Greco - Domenikos Theotokopoulos, 16th c.Most Christians accept the New Testament presentation of the Resurrection as a historical account of an actual event central to faith. Belief in the resurrection is one of the most distinctive elements of Christian faith; and defending the historicity of the resurrection is usually a central issue of Christian apologetics. Conservative Christian scholars such as Gary Habermas, F.F. Bruce, Norman Geisler and William Lane Craig believe that Jesus was raised bodily from the dead and that he was raised in spiritual body.[42] Some liberal Christians such as John Shelby Spong and Tom Harpur, do not believe that Jesus was raised bodily from the dead, or that he still lives bodily.


Trinitarian views
Most Christians believe that Jesus is God incarnate, being one of the three divine persons who make up the single substance of God, a concept known as the Holy Trinity. In this respect, Jesus is both distinct and yet of the same being as God the Father and the God the Holy Spirit.[43] They believe Jesus is the Son of God, and also the Messiah. Following John 1:1, Christians have identified Jesus as "the Word" (or Logos) of God. Most also believe that Jesus' miracles and resurrection are additional proof that he is God. They combine this with the classic proof based on the two rational alternatives in the face of Jesus' repeated claims that he is the one God of Israel (e.g. Jn 8:58): either he is truly God or a bad man (a liar or a lunatic), the latter being dismissed on the basis of Jesus's perceived coherence. [44] Most trinitarian Christians further believe that Jesus has two natures in one person: that he is fully God and fully human, a concept known as the hypostatic union. However, Oriental Orthodoxy professes a Miaphysite interpretation, while the Assyrian Church of the East professes a form of Nestorianism.


Nontrinitarian views
Some Christians profess various nontrinitarian views. Arianism, denounced as a heresy by the early Church, taught that Jesus is subordinate to God the Father.[45] Binitarians believe that Jesus is God, although a separate being from God the Father, and that the Holy Spirit is an impersonal force. Unitarian Christians believe that Jesus was a prophet of God, and merely human.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) theology maintains that God the Father (Heavenly Father), Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate and distinct beings who together constitute the Godhead. LDS sometimes, although rarely, use the word Trinity to describe this belief, it is slightly different from the traditional doctrine of the Trinity, which maintains that the three are one being. LDS maintains that all three members of the Godhead are eternal and equally divine, but play somewhat different roles. While the Holy Ghost is a spirit without a physical body, the Father and Son do possess distinct, perfected, physical bodies of flesh and bone. Although Mormon theology sees the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost as separate beings, they are considered to be "one God" in purpose. 3 Nephi 11:8 (part of the Book of Mormon) records that the resurrected Jesus visited and taught some of the inhabitants of the early Americas after he appeared to his apostles in Jerusalem. Mormons also believe that an apostasy occurred after the death of Christ and his apostles. They believe that Christ and Heavenly Father appeared to Joseph Smith in 1820 as part of a series of heavenly visits to restore the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ necessary due to the apostasy. They also believe Jesus (not the Father) is the same as Jehovah or Yahweh of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible. See also Jesus in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Jehovah's Witnesses view the term "Son of God" as an indication of Jesus' importance to the creator and his status as God's "only-begotten (unique, one and only) Son" (John 3:16), the "firstborn of all creation" (Col 1:15), the one "of whom, and through whom, and to whom, are all things" (Rom 11:36). Most Jehovah's Witnesses believe Jesus to be Michael the Archangel, who became a human to come down to earth.[46] They also believe that Jesus died on a single-piece torture stake, not a cross.[47]. See also Jehovah's Witnesses and Jesus.


Messianic Jewish view
Messianic Jews hold that Jesus is the prophesied Messiah. Strictly speaking, all Messianic Jews are Christians, but the term generally applies to those Jews who believe Jesus to be the Messiah but still hold to and practice many Jewish traditions and occasionally Jewish law. Often the tension between Jewish Monotheism and Christian Trinitarianism promotes a diversity of opinions about Jesus's divine status.

A prominent group of Messianic Jews is Jews for Jesus, part of a loose affiliation of Evangelical Christians.


Other views arising from early Christianity
The Ebionites, an early Jewish Christian community, believed that Jesus was the last of the prophets and the Messiah. They believed that Jesus was the natural-born son of Mary and Joseph, and thus they rejected the Virgin Birth. The Ebionites were adoptionists, believing that Jesus was not divine, but became the son of God at his baptism. They rejected the Epistles of Paul, believing that Jesus kept the Mosaic Law perfectly and wanted his followers to do the same. However, they felt that Jesus' crucifixion was the ultimate sacrifice, and thus animal sacrifices were no longer necessary. Therefore, some Ebionites were vegetarian and considered both Jesus and John the Baptist to have been vegetarians.[48] Shemayah Phillips founded a small community of modern Ebionites in 1985. These Ebionites identify as Jews rather than as Christians, and do not accept Jesus as the Jewish Messiah.

In Gnosticism, Jesus is said to have brought the secret knowledge (gnosis) of the spiritual world necessary for salvation.[49] Their secret teachings were paths to gnosis, and not gnosis itself. While some Gnostics were docetics, most Gnostics believed that Jesus was a human who became possessed by the spirit of Christ during his baptism.[50] Many Gnostic Christians believed that Christ was an Aeon sent by a higher deity than the evil demiurge who created the material world. Some Gnostics believed that Christ had a syzygy named Sophia. The Gnostics tended to interpret the New Testament as allegory, and some Gnostics interpreted Jesus himself as an allegory. Modern Gnosticism has been a growing religious movement since fifty-two Gnostic texts were rediscovered at Nag Hammadi in 1945. The movement was also given a boost by the publication in 2006 of the Gospel of Judas.

Marcionites were 2nd-century Gentile followers of the Christian theologian Marcion of Sinope. They believed that Jesus rejected the Jewish Scriptures, or at least the parts that were incompatible with his teachings.[51] Seeing a stark contrast between the vengeful God of the Old Testament and the loving God of Jesus, Marcion came to the conclusion that the Jewish God and Jesus were two separate deities. Like some Gnostics, Marcionites saw the Jewish God as the evil creator of the world, and Jesus as the savior from the material world. They also believed Jesus was not human, but instead a completely divine spiritual being whose material body, and thus his crucifixion and death, were divine illusions. Marcion was the first known early Christian to have created a canon, which consisted of ten Pauline epistles, and a version of the Gospel of Luke (possibly without the first two chapters that are in modern versions, and without Jewish references),[52] and his treatise on the Antithesis between the Old and New Testaments. Marcionism was declared a heresy by proto-orthodox Christianity.


Islamic views
Main article: Islamic views of Jesus
In Islam, Jesus (known as Isa in Arabic, Arabic: عيسى), is considered one of God's most-beloved and important prophets and the Messiah.[53] Like Christian writings, the seventh-century Qur'an holds that Jesus was born without a biological father to the virgin Mary, by the will of God (in Arabic, Allah) and for this reason is referred to as Isa ibn Maryam (English: Jesus son of Mary), a matronymic (since he had no biological father). (Qur'an 3:45, 19:21, 19:35, 21:91) In Muslim traditions, Jesus lived a perfect life of nonviolence, showing kindness to humans and animals (similar to the other Islamic prophets), without material possessions, and abstaining from sin.[54] All Muslims believe that Jesus abstained from alcohol, and many believe that he also abstained from eating animal flesh. Similarly, Islamic belief also holds that Jesus could perform miracles, but only by the will of God. [55] However, Muslims do not believe Jesus to have divine nature as God nor as the Son of God. Islam greatly separates the status of creatures from the status of the creator and warns against believing that Jesus was divine. (Qu'ran 3:59, 4:171, 5:116-117). Muslims believe that Jesus received a gospel from God called the Injil in Arabic that corresponds to the Christian New Testament, but that some parts of it have been misinterpreted, misrepresented, passed over, or textually distorted over time so that they no longer accurately represent God's original message to mankind (See Tahrif).[56]

Muslims also do not believe in Jesus' sacrificial role, nor do they believe that Jesus died on the cross. In fact, Islam does not accept any human sacrifice for sin (See Islamic conceptions of atonement for sin for further information). Regarding the crucifixion, the Qur'an states that Jesus' death was merely an illusion of God to deceive his enemies, and that Jesus ascended bodily to heaven.[53] (Qur'an 4:157-158.) Based on the quotes attributed to Muhammad, some Muslims believe that Jesus will return to the world in the flesh following Imam Mahdi to defeat the Dajjal (an Antichrist-like figure, translated as "Deceiver"). [57] Muslims believe he will descend at Damascus, presently in Syria, once the world has become filled with sin, deception, and injustice; he will then live out the rest of his natural life. Sunni Muslims believe that after his death, Jesus will be buried alongside Muhammad in Medina, presently in Saudi Arabia. [58] However, the sects of Sunni and Shi'ite Islam are divided over this issue. Some Islamic scholars like Javed Ahmed Ghamidi and Amin Ahsan Islahi question quotes attributed to Muhammad regarding a second coming of Jesus, as they believe it is against different verses of the Qur'an.[59][60][61]

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Movement (accounting for a very small percentage of the total Muslim population) believes that Jesus survived the crucifixion and later travelled to Kashmir, where he lived and died as a prophet under the name of Yuz Asaf (whose grave they identify in Srinagar).[62] Mainstream Muslims, however, consider these views heretical. Also, historical research found these accounts to be without foundation.[63]


Judaism's view
Main article: Judaism's view of Jesus
Judaism considers the idea of Jesus being God, or part of a Trinity, or a mediator to God, as heresy.(Emunoth ve-Deoth, II:5) Judaism also does not consider Jesus to be the Messiah primarily because he did not fulfill the Messianic prophecies of the Tanakh, nor embodied the personal qualifications of the Messiah.[64]

The Mishneh Torah (an authoritative work of Jewish law) states:

Even Jesus the Nazarene who imagined that he would be Messiah and was killed by the court, was already prophesied by Daniel. So that it was said, “And the members of the outlaws of your nation would be carried to make a (prophetic) vision stand. And they stumbled” (Daniel 11.14). Because, is there a greater stumbling-block than this one? So that all of the prophets spoke that the Messiah redeems Israel, and saves them, and gathers their banished ones, and strengthens their commandments. And this one caused (nations) to destroy Israel by sword, and to scatter their remnant, and to humiliate them, and to exchange the Torah, and to make the majority of the world err to serve a divinity besides God. However, the thoughts of the Creator of the world — there is no force in a human to attain them because our ways are not God's ways, and our thoughts not God's thoughts. And all these things of Jesus the Nazarene, and of (Muhammad) the Ishmaelite who stood after him — there is no (purpose) but to straighten out the way for the King Messiah, and to restore all the world to serve God together. So that it is said, “Because then I will turn toward the nations (giving them) a clear lip, to call all of them in the name of God and to serve God (shoulder to shoulder as) one shoulder.” (Zephaniah 3.9). Look how all the world already becomes full of the things of the Messiah, and the things of the Torah, and the things of the commandments! And these things spread among the far islands and among the many nations uncircumcised of heart. (Hilkhot Melakhim 11:10–12)[65]

Reform Judaism, the modern progressive movement, states For us in the Jewish community anyone who claims that Jesus is their savior is no longer a Jew and is an apostate. (Contemporary American Reform Responsa, #68).[66]

According to Jewish tradition, there were no more prophets after 420 BC/BCE, Malachi being the last prophet, who lived centuries before Jesus. Judaism states that Jesus did not fulfill the requirements set by the Torah to prove that he was a prophet. Even if Jesus had produced such a sign, Judaism states that no prophet or dreamer can contradict the laws already stated in the Torah (Deut 13:1–5)[67]


Buddhist Views
Main article: Buddhist-Christian Parallels
Many Buddhists (including Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama) regard Jesus as a great bodhisattva who dedicated his life to the welfare of human beings. Buddhists and scholars have often noted the striking parallels between the teachings of Jesus and Gautama Buddha not simply because they both preached a doctrine of love and compassion but also because they occupied a similar position with respect to the existing religious orthodoxy of their day of which they were both critical. Both were religious reformers who sought to return Man to the true spiritual essence of religion. They both describe priests without personally verified spiritual realization as 'the blind leading the blind', an expression that occurs in both the Sutta Pitaka and the gospels. Especially since the discovery of The Gospel of Thomas in 1945 much comment has arisen as to the affinity between the doctrine contained there and Eastern spiritual thought generally. [68]


Hinduism's views
Hindu beliefs in Jesus vary. Some believe that Jesus was a normal man, or even purely a fable. Many Hindus see Jesus as a wise guru or yogi who was not God and claim that he was a devotee of Krishna, whom they consider as "The Father", an incarnation of Vishnu, the second person of the Hindu Trinity. Some suggest that Jesus spent his "lost years" learning Hinduism in India, and that he returned to India after surviving crucifixion.[69] Some Hindus believe that Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was the reincarnation of Jesus.[70] Many in the Surat Shabd Yoga tradition regard Jesus as a Satguru. Swami Vivekananda has praised Jesus and cited him as a source of strength and the epitome of perfection.[71] Paramahansa Yogananda taught that Jesus was the reincarnation of Elisha and a student of John the Baptist, the reincarnation of Elijah.[72] Mahatma Gandhi considered Jesus one of his main teachers and inspirations for Nonviolent Resistance, saying "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."[73] Gandhi's main criticism of Christians was that most of them refuse to see Jesus as a teacher and practitioner of pacifism and Nonviolence.

Yuz Asaf, regarded as Jesus by the minority Ahmadiyya Muslim Movement, is seen also as a holy man by some Hindus and Buddhists

Answer 2

Sure I do. I believe that Jesus was a real person who existed in that time period. I do NOT believe that Christ was the Word of God made flesh. I believe that he was a prophet and a teacher, but not a Messiah.

Did he actually perform some of the miracles attributed to him? Maybe. I wasn't there. But I hasten to point out that David Copperfield (whom I have seen live) has done some pretty amazing things, too. Things that might, if you didn't know better, seem miraculous. It's easy to walk on water when you know where the rocks are, and faith can do some pretty miraculous things in and of itself. The power of the mind is incredible, especially when it comes to self-healing. There have been documented cases of people recovering from what should have been fatal diseases simply because they believed.

I think that Christ offered some very valuable lessons that many fo us should consider paying heed to. I certainly believe he existed. But was he the Son of God? I don't believe so.

Answer 3

I believe in Jesus as the son of God, not God himself as some profess him to be.

Jesus himself said that the father is greater than Jesus. John 14:28 So, to say that Jesus is equal to his father would be calling him a liar.

Jesus referred to his father as his God. John 20:17; Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34(parallel scriptures about the same event) These last two were spoken just before he died, when he called out to his God because he had reached the end of his endurance.
so, to say that Jesus is God is to call Jesus a liar.

For those who profess that Jesus is their God, they themselves are calling him a liar, so why worship him in the first place.

Yes, there are scriptures that seem to say that he is God. Like JOhn 18:22 where, in prayer to his father, Jesus says that he wants his followers to be one just like Jesus and his father are one. How can that mean one as in the same person? Did he was his followers to be the same person? No, if you get that he was saying that they were one person, then you are reading into it.

John 1:1 - The greek words have two different endings (can be seen without knowing how to speak greek) To say that the Word is God (the greek does not use the word 'a') is to be reading something into the sentence as well. Especially when you read the whole book of John. John 1:18 says that no man has seen God and yet lived. (This was said while Jesus was on earth! so, where were the dead bodies of those who "saw God" in the body of Jesus) Some things are very plain and others are read into.

Answer 4

I believe totally that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. He said it himself that He is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father but by Him.

It is vital, before you name the name of Jesus, to understand exactly who he is. There are many different views and beliefs on who Jesus Christ truly is, but the truth is even when he was here on earth these conflict of views existed.

The fact is that only one of these views is the truth. The bible states clearly in the book of John 1 that "the word was God" and it states further in the same chapter that "the word was made flesh" teaching us clearly that Jesus Christ is God. In the book of Philipians it tells that though Jesus was equal to God he thought it not robbery to come to earth and die on the cross for me and You.

If you are reading this, it is critical that you understand that the devil has being and is still distorting peoples mind through false doctrine not to have a clear understand of who the Lord is, thereby robbing them of their salvation.

Dearly beloved, salvation is very costly, and Jesus Christ has already paid the cost, all thats is left for you to do is to recieve Him as your Lord and Savior and repent from your sins. Then you shall be saved.

God Bless you.

Answer 5

I believe he existed as a philosopher with popular teachings, but I don't believe he was the son of God. Just because things happened after his death doesn't mean that he was the Messiah. If a person died cursing America on September 10, 2001 I really doubt that would mean this person was the next Messiah.

Answer 6

I believe that Jesus lived and was a very wise man with a message about what was wrong with Judaism at the time. I believe he was one of many messengers of God. I do believe in divine healing, but I believe its far more metaphysical and other people on this earth have possessed the ability - not just Jesus. Do I believe he is my savior and my ticket to heaven? No.

Answer 7

Your interpretation misses the doctrine of the trinity. Jesus submits to the father and the holy spirit submits to the son. you apart from would pass over verses whilst Jesus claims to be the 1st and the final, and whilst he makes himself equivalent to God. Alpha and Omega: John 8:fifty 8, "I inform you the actuality," Jesus responded, "till now Abraham substitute into born, i'm!" See Exodus 3:14 Equals with(ESV) God: John 10:11 -- The Jews responded him, “it is not for a sturdy artwork that we are going to stone you yet for blasphemy, considering you, being a guy, make your self God.” look on the source links below for added recommendations.

Answer 8

Simple, I do believe in common sense and truth. None of the above you mentioned proves anything. Architecture and art are not proof of anything. If architects are Christian, they will add Christian themes. If the people hiring the architects are Christian, they will demand Christian themes. Irony doesn't seem to mean what you think it does. I don't call things facts because they are written in story books. Aesop wrote fables about the same time the books of the Bible were written...written, not compiled...and his work is about as accurate.

Answer 9

Because there were at least 10 other religious icons PRIOR to Jesus including, Attis, Dionysus, Buddha, Heracles, Zoroaster, that have the exact same story, or at least parts of it are so close to the Jesus story as to call it the same with a different name. Since these stories all existed PRIOR to Jesus' story, it stands to reason that the Jesus story was merely a copy cat compilation of the above stories.

Answer 10

I believe that Jesus was a carpenter,later on,a prophet, A Great Optimist who believed in humanity and upset the political factions of the time...they won,he was then a cross-maker...and gone.

Answer 11

YES!

I invited Him into my heart and He makes me want to reach out to others, so He can bless me. I keep my mind off myself more and more.

He changed me, and with His grace--I have peace that passes understanding!! My soul STAYS JOYOUS! Yay!! and I am SO contented with whatever comes my way, because God helps me to handle EVERYthing, in His way.

The people who don't want to be told what to do by another man, are the ones who don't believe in Jesus.
If you keep refusing to believe it--You don't feel it.