Non-Christians: What motivated Jesus? And to what end?

Question

One of the most shocking truths that hit me when reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to prove the Bible bunk as an atheist was that Jesus loved, hung out with, and got along with the all the rebels and so-called “sinners” of the world. I mean, His first miracle was at a huge Jewish wedding party where many people were likely sloshed from drinking too much wine. And what does He do? As if winking to His close disciples and to PROVE to them He is who He says He is, He is like “Check this out”. And He goes and has 6 huge stone jars filled with water, and then He turns it all into wine so that all the people at the party can party and drink more!

And the only people He gets “angry” at...are the self-righteous religious LEADERS! You know, the ones that add rule upon rule upon rule upon rule upon rule upon rule as a “religion” to “control” people with “power and authority” – and STIFLE THE VERY LIFE OUT OF YOU - much like many modern-day Church leaders and Churches!

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He even goes so far as to proclaim all these “woes” on them, calling them HYPOCRITES: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces! Woe to you, blind guides!....blind fools!....blind men! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean! You snakes! You brood of vipers!” (Matthew 23)

In this sense, Jesus was definitely “ANTI-RELIGION” and anti-establishment! If He were physically with us today, He would proclaim the SAME woes and declarations of “HYPOCRISY” to MANY of the ornate churches, lavish lifestyles, and majestically clothed church leaders – who “control” people with “power”, STEAL their money, SLAM the door of heaven in their face, and instill fear and TERROR into them until they submit to them or the Church, as if THEY or the Church is GOD!

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They put unbearable yokes on the necks of cachectic people in the pews like mere animals to do “good works” while they lounge around and get “fat” on the “fruit” of such labor; labor that they themselves don’t even lift a finger to do! WOE UNTO YOU, HYPOCRITES!

When people TRIED (and oh, how they tried!) to make Jesus a “king” or “leader”, He constantly rebuked them, told them to be quiet, escaped the crowds, or even preached such a “difficult and pure” sermon so as to deter the crowds from making too much of Him!

ALL people have “motives” and “ulterior motives” or “perceived motives by others”.

And so I ask, especially Non-Christians:

What motivated Jesus?
And to what end?

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Humbert:
IF Jesus was/is God, then would it have been "arrogant" to say what He said and make the claims He did?

Also, amazingly, He never rebuked a person when they called Him Messiah (Matt 16:16), or when they worshipped Him (John 9:38), or when they proclaimed Him to be God (John 20:28).

...if He wasn’t God, He SURELY would have harshly rebuked them! For He was extremely adamant that one should ONLY worship and serve the LORD God! (Matt 4:10)

Funny enough, He DID rebuke his own disciples when they tried to prevent little children from coming to Him (Mark 10:13). (as if to shut the door of heaven in their faces, like the church leading hypocrites)

He also rebuked two of His disciples when they threatened and desired to destroy "sinners"! (Luke 9:55).

For He did NOT come to "condemn" sinners...(John 3:17)

Though, many HYPOCRITES in church seem to think so...and would condemn sinners, themselves!

Woe to you, Church-going hypocrites, snakes, and vipers!

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Answer 1

Immortality, in the minds of men. Worship. Perhaps it is deserved, but divinity is still to be confirmed. From what you've presented I would agree with your Jesus.

Answer 2

Well, Jesus seemed like a fine guy and had a good message. It certainly was a good thing to be against the oppressive Pharisees and I'm sure it was that oppression that inspired Jesus.

The problem I have is that if Jesus rebuked people that called him God, why proclaim your the only way to heaven?
A person with any sense will know that if you make such a claim, and people believe it, then you are asking for worship. Now, I can respect he was anti-establishment, but the messiah thing was a bit arrogant in my opinion.

Answer 3

Was Paul a follower of Mithras.?
Paul was supposedly born and raised in the city of Tarsus, a region in SE Asia-Minor (now called Turkey) where Mithras was well known. Biblical scholars are now saying that Paul, the alleged author of 13 out of the 27 (maybe more) books of the New Testament, may have been influenced in his writings by this strong religion of Mithraism. We can see a profound kinship between Mithraism and Christianity.



In-as-much as Mithraism was so popular in Rome, it is no wonder why the pagan Emperor Constantine, who believed in the sun god, Mithras, designated a certain day of the week to him, Sunday, which means, “the day of the sun.”



The original "Christian" faith became a mix of pagan, Mithramic, Jeudeo/Christian teaching. This lead to the confusing mix of theology that we have today within the "Christian" community. This apostacy from the original simple and plain teachings of Christ was accelerated by the persecutions and killings of any who tried to support the "old" ways. Maybe this solves the mystery of the “ungodly” marriage between Mithraism and the cult of Jesus. As it turns out, it was all for political convenience! But, Christians think they are better than that today. In short: The "Christianity" they have today has almost no relationship, in doctrine or in way of life, to the "the original teachings of Jesus."



In my mind, there are two Jesus' teachings. Jesus the Jew and Jesus the Gentile, which by the way is really Paul's Jesus. And guess which one Christians follow? The ex-pagan Constantine liked Paul's Jesus over Jesus the Jew. Jesus and all the others upon whom this character is predicated are personifications of the sun, and the Gospel fable is merely a rehash of a mythological formula revolving around the movements of the sun through the heavens.

Additional Details

1 week ago
For instance, many of the world's crucified "god-men" have their traditional birthday on December 25. This is because the ancients recognized that (from an earth-centric perspective) the sun makes an annual descent southward until December 21 or 22, the winter solstice, when it stops moving southerly for three days and then starts to move northward again.

During this time, the ancients declared that "God's sun" had "died" for three days and was "born again" on December 25. The ancients realized quite abundantly that they needed the sun to return every day and that they would be in big trouble if the sun continued to move southward and did not stop and reverse its direction. Thus, these many different cultures celebrated the "sun of God's" birthday on December 25th.

1 week ago
http://jdstone.org/cr/files/mithraschris...

Answer 4

Love
And yes there are always hypocrites in every age, but there are also true Christians.
Just because there are false Christians and false Pastors doesn't mean that there are not real ones.. You have to look..
Look at the parable of the wheat and tares. He let both grow together until the harvest and then separated them..
Also don't think that Jesus didn't put some commandments on people either. Look at the Rich young ruler. He told him to sell all that he had and follow him (Jesus).
So if you aren't ready to take up your cross and follow Jesus then you won't make it..

Answer 5

Ok as evidence goes atheists believe Jesus never really existed that is the overwhelming conclusion from science.
So then it is not what Jesus wanted but the writers. First, is it not an ugly thing to claim another's sins; I never asked for it, and now I should feel guilty for resenting it? And we can go on about the contradictions between the writers.
God didn't want you before, that means all non-Jews, but with Jesus, well, he has finally come around.
Come on, I liked the Lord of the Rings better.

Answer 6

Dear yachadhoo-
Keep up the good questions.

Yes, Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior, was motivated by love- to the point of death, so that we would have a way of salvation.

Keep being a blessing today - Redeemed

Answer 7

I would have to say that his motivation was for everyone to realize that life itself was to be enjoyed morally, but not religiously. Taking a page from the Gnostics, Jesus wanted a spiritual awakening that everyone and everything is connected, and we do harm to ourselves and others by separating ourselves with politics and religious dogma. Some say that he wanted everyone to awaken to the "christ" within themselves, not to worship him, but to simply be good people that were good to eachother.

Today's christianity, well, let's just say they focus on the wrong things. They focus on the religious belief of rewards and consequences, instead of the example set. Jesus was a Jew who didn't like men judging others based on religious law... somehow this message was lost after he died (perhaps because the people who promoted christianity were known for starting new religions? No one ever accused Romans of being a monotheistic society, until...).

Edit: I see the Pharisees of today have found my answer, and expressed their displeasure. Perhaps they'd like to stone me, or toss me into hell themselves?

Answer 8

I will answer this as though I were discussing a character from any book.

Jesus was motivated by concern for his fellow man, he wished for them to live a life full of love and understanding. He was the path to enlightenment.

Answer 9

What motivated him ? Power . He claimed that he was the Messiah , he was God himself . He had far more power than the Emperor .
His big yapper got him hated by the Jews , and executed by the Romans . His power was not any to great . Score- - The Emperor , One . Christ , zero .

Answer 10

Jesus said that he didn't do anything on his own but only what the Father was doing.

His agenda was to become sin. He didn't just sympathetically die for me - he suffered for my sins for me. We are absolutely helpless in our sinful condition.

1 John 3:17 says that he didn't come to condemn but to save. And, remember "Niether do I condemn thee, go and sin no more."

It's not about saying sin isn't a problem - but it's not God's focus. We can't help but sin - it's hereditary!

Jesus came to show us the Father and become sin for us so we could becomes "sons of God" John 1:12

He wasn't and isn't nearly as interested in sin as we still are