Atheists: What are your views on the life and teachings of Jesus the Christ?

Question

Particularly, his teachings, humiliation, and suffering.

Answer 1

I'm reading the Bible right now and I started with the OT. It's gonna be a while till I get to Jesus. From what I've heard, however, he seemed to be a pretty good person. He doesn't strike me as the type who would have been a dogmatic Christian, ironically...

Answer 2

Yeshua ben Yoseph, of Nazareth, was an inspirational teacher in Roman-occupied Judea during the first century CE. His teachings were impressive for their time and would do well to be followed today by more people. His humiliation was characteristic of that of a visionary persecuted by those with interests at stake - in his case, those of the Romans and the religious authorities of the Hebrews. His suffering was severe but no more so than most who would have been put to death at this time (crucifiction was a very common Roman means of capital punishment, and torture beforehand has been common in states who use capital punishment throughout history). There have been people who have suffered a great deal more since then - as I've said before, some of Saddam's henchmen, or the Japanese torturers of WW2, could keep someone alive and in agony indefinitely. Jesus was whipped, worked, and nailed up. Very very bad - but not exceptional.

He was a remarkable human being, but only one among many.

Answer 3

a great form of people right here look to think of Jesus replaced right into a fantasy. brushing off the theological view.....it particularly is a historic certainty that Christ did certainly exist. Wether he replaced into God or the Son of God or the different diety is often going to be a topic be counted of communicate. the only undeniable certainty is that as a instructor.....as a Prophet.....as a guy of peace, his words have been exceeded over for over 2,000 years !!

Answer 4

I think that the life of Jesus teaches many great moral lessons. The Bible, in it's entirety, is a beautiful, though often disturbing, story. I do not, however, chose to worship the way the Bible outlines, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

Answer 5

Personally I'm not convinced he existed at all. The absence of contemporary historical records (most of the stuff I found was written well after his death) is rather suspect, especially given that the Romans were such obsessive record-keepers. And given that the guy performed miracles and according to the bible caused quite a stir this is even more suspect.

Answer 6

I really like the sermon on the mount. I find this very worthwhile to read and I agree the Bible has things to offer everyone. I have troubles with the veracity of the Bible as a whole though. Lots of scholarship has been done on the issue and fact of the number of Christian denominations that have different views of Jesus and interpretations of Biblical scripture point to the inherant problems. Furthermore, I am troubled by certain other things but I can't write a novel. He was a human being certainly for me if he lived, ie. cursing and killing a tree for not providing fruit out of season for him? I also have troubles with so much of Jesus coming to us through Paul who never met Jesus but knows through divine revelation. I guess you can suspect how I feel about accepting divine revelation as an atheist. =) Paul's version of Jesus and his teachings is not one I always care for much. I will never be one to accept things for myself as true just based on someone else's divine revelations.

As for his sacrifice if he is a historical figure he died a brave death for what he believed in. As others have in history. If he was the divine son of God how much of a sacrifice that was makes me wonder. As does why a justice, loving God required it. OT God makes me shake my head. Why so angry at humans for being what he created us, why so much endorsement of violence, why so much bloodlust, why the smelling of burning carcuses pleases Him. Not the picture of a loving creator but for me the invention of a violent tribal people and reflective of their culture. I don't see how people can divorce themselves so easily from OT God with the NT.

Also, certainly to an immortal the period of time here itself was vanishingly brief in relation to their time. The period of time on the cross not even the equivalent of the blink of an eye in our lifetime followed by immortality and worship. I think that there are quite a few people who would go for that in an instance if they knew they would become immortal Gods. I think if Jesus is a historical figure his death for me is more meaningful if he was just a regular person not the son of God. Some beliefs, rights, and freedoms may in fact be worth backing up with your life is the message for me. Thinking about what those beliefs were for me was something that the story prompted me to do.

Answer 7

I really doubt that even half of what is attributed to the man was ever actually said or done by the historical original...if there even was one. I strongly suspect that his followers and those who listened to his followers stories tacked on a whole lot of mythology to try to paint their hero into the Messiah role.

Answer 8

to us it's a bit of a long winded novel like 'war and peace' - most of us despite trying couldn't get to the end.

oh man the "begat begat begat" pages do even Christians read those?

It's not all boring - it got some useful bedtime stories for kids in though

Me!- I'd rather walk a shining path
Daoist
Buff

Answer 9

Well most of what he said was good. But he reaffirmed the importance of the old laws several times and that is enough to turn me off. And there is no way to tell for sure what the guy said, or even if he was a real person. So you have to take the whole story with a huge grain of salt.

Answer 10

All stories told to pass the time back in the day on the endless desert treks and mind numbingly boring shepherding.