Questions for Atheist?

Question

I'm assuming most have you have read at least one of the Gospels. Whether you believe that Jesus was who he said he was or not, even if you don't believe he was real at all....what are your impressions of the man or if your prefer "character" ? What do you like about him what don't you like? Compared to any other religions leader in religious history how does he compare? One more....if you don't believe he ever he existed then why? Why couldn't he have? Just curious...serious answers only please.

Sorry for the grammar…I’m in a rush

Ok people...A question for anyone who does not believe in Jesus or in a God or any God for that matter.

Funny how when people don't have a good answer they have to attack grammar for something to say

Answer 1

I certainly believed that an individual named Jesus did exist, as a religious visionary and leader of a Jewish sect. whether or not he was the "son of God" remains to be seen. He certainly has many good points (both in his actions and words) on how to treat the people around you.

Answer 2

Jesus isn't quite the "meek and mild" guy lots of people like to pretend he is. The following URL contains several quotes of his from the Bible that show a side of Jesus many people would have everyone not notice/ignore:

http://www.evilbible.com/what_would_jesus_do.htm

One example from the above URL: "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." --Matthew 10:34

I'm not really familiar with other 'religious leaders' in other religions so can't really comment on that, although from the little I've heard, there really doesn't seem to be much difference at the foundation.

I don't believe he ever existed because there is no contemporary evidence of his existence (that is, nothing about him recorded during his alleged life)--the 'soonest' evidence we have is from Saul of Tarsus, who wrote about Jesus at LEAST 40 years after his alleged death.

Not only that, but Saul writes with NO knowledge of most of the alleged events of Jesus's life that are mentioned in the Gospels (which came long after Saul's writings (about 80,000 words), keep in mind). He mentions only the last bits about Jesus--him being crucified and rising up to heaven. However, Saul makes it quite clear that he is not talking about an earthly Jesus, but a mythical one, and places the crucifixion etc. in a mythical realm, not earth. The closest he comes to mentioning a Jesus who 'walked among us' is when he mentions that (paraphrasing, bear with me) 'if Jesus lived on earth, he would not be a priest' or something like that.

Yup--that is how shaky the foundation is. Saul's account is the strongest (because his account comes long before any other) link between Jesus's alleged life and the gospels which go into great detail about it. It's the strongest much in the same way that molten lead is the most refreshing drink to be found on Venus.

So basically, we got Saul's stuff, which strongly clashes with the gospels it preceded, and then we've got nothing for at least a few more decades after that (next account is the Gospel of Mark (which is attributed to Mark but is actually an anonymous work; further supporting this is the fact that there is a consensus that this gospel was written in the 60s or 70s CE--there's no way someone alive during Jesus's alleged life would still be alive in those times). Then suddenly we have all kinds of details about Jesus's life that just seem to pop up out of nowhere. Anyone looking at this objectively would quickly come to the very fair conclusion that the writers of the gospels were 'storytelling' as opposed to recording history when they wrote them. Their goal was to convert people, not to document history, which is why they were writing _gospels_ in the first place.

Now, taking all of that into consideration...is it any wonder that one would be quite skeptical of the earthly existence of Jesus Christ as the Bible describes him (it's not that he COULDN'T have existed, but when you take a step back and look at everything, it surely seems QUITE unlikely, wouldn't you agree)?

P.S. Theologians generally agree that the other three gospels in the Bible are clearly derived from Mark, which is why I didn't mention them specifically.

Answer 3

The gospels are mostly fiction written after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.

The only book I have seen that hasn't been completely mythologized is the Gospel of Thomas, which is a collection of sayings.

Based on that or the reworded versions in the canonical Gospels, I would say that he sounds much like any other religious teacher among the Messianic sects of the time.

Answer 4

A interesting question and well wrote. I want to add that it is impossible to call Jesus a good teacher but not the Messiah, because you can't really pick and choose with what came from His mouth. He was either totally evil, a lunatic, or the Christ like He said .
God Bless,
Elisha

Answer 5

Which atheist?

There's more than one of us you know!

I have read all the gospels. I find them interesting, but I don't mistake them for fact.

There is nothing about Jesus I do not like. He did what he thought was right, in the face of adversity. The things he taught had great worth. However, as wise and loving as he may have been, I do not believe he was the son of god, or the messiah. People do not come back to life once they are dead, and virgins do not have babies. All the mythology that has sprung up around him had diluted and perverted his message.

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Answer 6

The bible accounts are confusing. Not only do they cntrasdict each other as history they contradict each other about what he taught.
I don't think I want to hate my parents just to follow a cultic mythology figure, like Jesus demands.

Answer 7

Meh. Pretty one-dimensional character. He wouldn't have held my attention in another book. I don't pay a lot of attention to religious leaders, and I'm not going to sit here and compare imaginary gods. I don't know if he existed - there aren't any secular records of him until 60 years after he died. Not compelling evidence in my opinion. No reason he couldn't have existed, plenty that he couldn't have done what he claimed.

Answer 8

I believe Jesus of Nazareth was a human being and that his character was overall good. I believe him to be a social motivator such as those you saw in the late '60's in America. He tried to bring about change against a strong government which in the end saw him as an enemy of the state so he was killed for political motivation.

Answer 9

Judaism contradicts itself, it says thou shalt not kill then goes on to say 'kill gays' and 'kill adulters'. Moses made a book about magic and foriegin G-d worship[The 6th and 7th books of Moses] then he goes on to talk about using magic is evil.

Christianity and Muslim is based off of Judaism so all three contradicts so they are false.

I think the most peacefull religion would be true. Something like Buddhism or Hinduism or my new religion I am making.

Answer 10

I'm not atheist, but I don't believe in religion. I think that religion has corrupted Jesus' teachings and used them to spread hate against gays, Muslims and anyone else who isn't a carbon copy of themselves. Jesus had it right. Peace, love, forgiveness and equality are great thing to bass a religion off of, too bad Christianity has lost sight of his message.