How many of you non-religious people out there think that this Jesus guy was ok (for his time)?

Question

I'm not Christian. All you have to do is read some of my questions/answers and you'll know that. But my feeling about this Jesus man is that he was alright. From the stories I've heard, at least.

He stood up against the corrupt power of his time, he was a pacifist who preached peace and love, and couldn't stand hypocrites. As far as cult leaders go he sounds alright. I'm sure there's a lot more to his story that we don't know, and that a lot of his story that we do know is made up, but I can't judge him negatively based on what I don't know.

How many of you other non-religious people agree that from what we do know, this Jesus guy wasn't so bad? How many of you don't agree? Why?

Just curious. And no offense, but if you're Christian please don't answer. We already know what you think.

tweenthelines, just because he may have been a liar or lunatic doesn't make him bad. Martin Luther King Jr. wasn't exactly a peach in his personal life but he still did plenty of good for mankind.

tjreamer, good point.

Damn culminare, made me think. Damn fine post. I don't agree with it's assertions but it was still good reading. Good thing I don't consider Jesus my moral teacher, eh? Only said that he was an alright guy (for his time).

C.S. Lewis seems to have a very bleak, black and white view of things that I don't agree with.

Thanks for the great answers everyone.

tweenthelines, I don't really care if he taught that I shouldn't decide whether or not he was a "pretty good guy in his day.". I don't need his permission to do anything, and I don't have to decide anything, I'm a grown azz man, I can do what I want and think how I want. Deal with it.

I can tell by the way you capitalize every "he" when referencing Jesus that you're a Christian. I specifically asked that you not answer. Not only have you answered, but you've done so in a hostile manner.

Not cool.

tweenthelines, no harm no foul, then. Sorry for misinterpreting your intentions. My bad.

Answer 1

I agree with you... Jesus, if he did indeed exist, was a remarkable man who went out of his way to stick up for those less fortunate and to fight for what he believed in. He was not interested in fame, popularity or wealth, but in justice and living a good life.

Too bad we don't have someone like him around today.

Answer 2

I can believe he is not as bad as he is portrayed in the bible, but it would still appear the case that he was under some delusion that he was the messiah, and that in order to have others believe this, he performed the same kind of magic tricks you see today at any revival meeting. I suspect the problem had to do with his upbringing, possibly his mother may have influenced such beliefs in order to cover up for her fornication. Jesus also was believed to have associated with magicians from birth (the 3 wise guys were actually magi). He would also have been influenced by the nonsense in the scriptures of his time, some of which you can read in the old testament. But, make all the excuses you like, he was no better or any worse than any other religious charlattan and trickster in history, with the exception that he does not seem to have been in it for the money.

Answer 3

Then comes the real shock. Among these Jews suddenly turns up a man talking as if He was God. He claims to forgive sins. He says He has always existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time.
Now let us get this clear. Among the pantheists, like the Indians, anyone might say he is a part of God or one with God. There would nothing very odd about it. But this man, since He was a Jew, could not mean that kind of God. God, in their language, meant the Being outside the world who made it, and whom was infinitely different from anything else. And when you have grasped that you will see that what this Man said was quite simply the most shocking thing that has ever been uttered by human lips.
One part of the claim tends to slip past us because we have heard it so often that we no longer see what it amounts to. I mean the claim to forgive sins, any sins. Now unless the speaker is God, this is really so preposterous as to be comic. We can all understand how a man forgives offenses against himself. 'You tread on my toe and I forgive you; you steal my money and I forgive you.' But what should we make of a Man, Himself unrobbed and untrodden on, who announced that He forgave you for treading on other men's toes and stealing other men's money? Asinine fatuity is the kindest description we should give of this conduct. Yet this is what Jesus did. He told people that their sins were forgiven, and never waited to consult all the other people whom their sins had undoubtedly injured. He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the party chiefly concerned, the person chiefly offended in all offenses.
This makes sense only if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin. In the mouth of any speaker who is not God these words would imply what I can only regard as a silliness and conceit unrivalled by any other character in history.
Yet, and this is the strange significant thing, even His enemies, when they read the Gospels, do not usually get the impression of silliness and conceit. Still less do unprejudiced readers. Christ says that He is humble and meek, and we believe Him. Not noticing that if He were really a man, humility and weakness are the last characteristics we could attribute to some of His sayings.

I am trying here to prevent the really foolish saying people often say about Him. 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic, on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg, or else He would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this Man, was and is the Son of God, or else a mad man or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool; you can spit at him and kill Him as a demon, or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

excerpt from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

Answer 4

The "Jesus" character is a classic legendary hero, similar to those in the mythology of the Greeks, Assyrians and Romans.
William Tell is a more modern version. There was no such person, but yet dozens of tales of his bravery and great deeds are taken as historical truth with the retelling over 100's of years.

True, some of the words that were given to Jesus to say by the writers of the bible represent ideas of morality and justice that were not common in that time, But, neither were they unique.

Jesus was also given things to say that were repugnant. So like all heros, he wasn't all good or bad, but a mixture, just like the humans who created him.

Answer 5

Using your logic, which was obviously very sincere, let me continue the cause and effect of your thought process...

---Except that Jesus said "in his time" that he was good for all time.

If he was not telling the truth or didn't know what he was talking about "in his time", then that would make him a liar or a lunatic and therefore would make him not all right for his time.

If Jesus is who he says he is and we are going to think he was a pretty good guy... then wouldn't it be wise to follow him?

~~~~~~~~~ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS: ~~~~~~~~~
Jesus is either;

1. Who He says He is and people should take heed to His teachings or

2. He is a liar who has created a whole hell of a lot of horror in the world for the last 2000 years, [Which clearly strips him of the title of "pretty good guy." or

3. He is just downright crazy for what he thought about himself, creating a whole hell of a lot of horror for the world for the last 2000 years, [Which clearly strips him of the title of "pretty good guy."

Jesus taught that we are to decide for ourselves if He is our personal savior or not.

He did not teach that people should decide if he was a "pretty good guy in his day."

~~~~~ADDITIONAL DETAILS~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No hostility here at all. I am very sorry that I left you with this impression. I assure you that if we were having this in conversation form you would be hearing my voice and seeing my face and know that, though I am to the point, I am anything but hostile. I hope you will forgive me that I was unable to convey my love for your question through the written word.

I have simply tried to paraphrase what my husband, CULMINARE said to you later on via CS Lewis' writings in Mere Christianity. Perhaps I should have just left this question of yours up to him as he has clearly done a better job at conveying this message.

But may I leave you with this powerful thought as someone said this to me once, long ago... "No choice is a choice as you have "Chosen" to not choose."

Answer 6

I think that if Jesus really did exist then it was just as a normal person just like everyone else and don't hold the power that so many believe that he does.

Answer 7

Sure, I have figured that if he existed then maybe he was just a really good person of his time. Maybe as a form of praise someone just complimented him by saying he was the 'son of god', as a way of saying he was that good of a person, and maybe other people were just too gullible to believe otherwise...

Answer 8

he was so cool, he could not have been
the son of such a crazy god christians have.

i do like the concept of jesus by itself.
a wise , relaxed, pacifist, who struggle with the system
of his time, which , as a coincidence ,was
as corrupt as the actual one.

Answer 9

I am Spiritual and I find that Jesus is alright with me. I love him so much that I have a wall of pictures of him from different era's. Looks pretty cool. Across from that wall is the wall of crosses to remind me of his importance in my life.
Thanks for asking
God Bless

Answer 10

he was good in the way that his ideals were nice, but they were really nothing new. he should not have claimed to be the son of G-d, and he should not have tried to lure faithful jews away from their G-d either.