If you are Jesus of Nazareth, and you are not the son of God, what do you have to gain by saying you are?

Question

What did you have to lose? If the loss is greater than than the gain, what rational explanation, pscyhologically, physically, can explain an attempt to willing attempt it. i.e. mental disease, extortion...

ok.. let's go back in time.. you are a jew among jews and decide that you want to modify the current religion..what's your motivation? Jesus hasn't happened yet. Hypothetically, why would a jew want to change the current religion at the cost of his life..

Answer 1

Since Jesus never wrote anything down himself and he did not dictate to scribes what he wanted to say, all you got is hearsay evidence written years after the fact. The memories of the writers could be faulty, they could have deliberately made up stories, they could have been forced to say stuff by Paul.

Look at it this way. What if 50 years after Steven King died you had four guys write four books about all the wise and wonderful things he said and the miracles he did. Since Steven would be dead, he could not refute what was said. Since most of the contemporaries of Steven would also be dead, those four writers could probably get away with saying anything they want about Steven and no one would be able to prove otherwise.

Another example. There are some people out there who actually believe Sherlock Holmes was real because the stories about him are so real.

The big clue is outside of the Gospels, written by supporters of Jesus, there is not one reference to Jesus. (The one in Josephus is pretty well understood as having been added centuries later by Catholic monks and no serious scholar believes it is valid.) At least King David was written about by his enemies, giving great evidence that he actually existed. If Jesus was such a big threat to Rome and the Jewish temple priests and had a big following as claimed, at least one of his enemies would have commented about "the trouble maker in Judea." But you got nothing.

Another way to look at it. Good stories get retold and updated. The great flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh gets repackaged as the story of Noah in the Bible. The movie Pygmalion of 1938 gets redone as My Fair Lady of the 1960s. The movie Planet of the Apes also got redone. And the story of Hercules, Son of Zeus gets repackaged as Jesus, Son of God. Happens all the time.

Answer 2

Jesus could only logically have been one of 4 things: either he was a legend, a lunatic, a liar, or Lord. We cannot come halfway and say "oh, he was a great man", because he claimed to be Lord.

We know historically that Jesus of Nazareth was a real man who walked on this earth, it is accepted among credited historians around the world. The first four Gospels are dated at the latest around 90 AD, a mere 30 some years after his death. The legend theory is not an option.

At the age of 12, Jesus was already debating and thinking so deeply it astounded the leaders of the synagoge. Throughout his life, people questioned him, tried to trip him up. But he was able to intelligebly and forcefully debate with those who wished him dead? And how would he have been able to show the love and compassion he showed, even when on the cross?

And speaking of the cross, you have to wonder why he would go through all that suffering if he was lying. you asked what you have to lose by claiming to be the Son of God. Well obviously, he had a lot to lose. He could easily have avoided his death simply by saying "i am not the Son of God".

Jesus made many claims. he claimed to Be the Son of God, he claimed to be without sin. he claimed to be able to forgive sins, and to be the ONLY way to enter heaven. no man on earth, living or alive, has ever made such loud, outrageous statements. they are rediculous claims for anyone less than God. And he followed through with those miracles, he healed the sick, walked on water, raised people from the dead, and even rose himself three days after his death.

"Roman soldiers closely guarded the tomb where Jesus' body was laid. Moreover, the grave's entrance was sealed by an enormous boulder. The Roman guard, which was usually composed of 16 members, would have made it impossible for the disciples--who, by the way, were cowering in fear for their own lives--to steal the body. If, as some have claimed, Jesus was not dead, but only weakened, the guards and the stone would have stopped his escape. After being beaten and flagellated, hung on a cross for six hours, pierced by the spear of his executioners to ascertain his death, and wrapped, as was the custom, in 100 pounds of linen and spices, Jesus would have been in no shape to roll a two-ton stone uphill, outwit 16 Roman soldiers and then appear radiantly to his disciples.

"The Jewish leaders of the day could easily have refuted all claims of the resurrection by simply producing a body, but they were unable to do so because there was no body."

2006 Global Media Outreach

People say he was a great moral teacher, and merely that, but how could he have been a great moral teacher if he was such an outrageous liar, making such outlandish claims? we have already ruled out that he was delusional, logically it doesn't fit that he was lying. The only option that works is the one that people around the world have accepted, and still others cannot seem to comprehend. It's all right there in front of you. It's up to you to decide if you will accept the facts.

Jesus is Lord.

Answer 3

Are you being serious? Do you realize how many people have mental illnesses where they actually think they are Jesus? If medicine and the not-so-scientific- world of psychiatry had the answer to that, do you know a major illness would have a cure?

But, there are many worse individuals who a mentally ill person could become wholly identified with, at least if they are identified with Jesus so much so they think they are him, that's a great person to do that with.

Nobody really knows what these poor people "gain", but I think and suspect something in their life had to have been so painful they needed a super hero's personality to replace their own in order to bear the pain.

It could also be a genetic anomaly of the brain cells or the emotion chemicals, why Jesus? Because to them he represents the epitome of the best personality they would like to be instead of who they really are.

Answer 4

If i had been Jesus of Nazareth, and now not the Son of God... i might say, i could don't have anything to obtain, except Jesus of Nazareth (who, as we positioned it, is a common individual)... except I grew to be the Mayor or possibly had the function of Pontius Pilate, who grew to be recognized on their generation. Did I get that correct? Next, i could have some thing which i could must lose.. who could recognize, it in no way occurred... "If the loss is better than the obtain, provide an explanation for why inclined to try to lose." --Dude that's what we name MARTYRDOM and LOVE. Now to give an explanation for what martyrdom and love approach, it is so that you can study.. ayt??

Answer 5

What do you have to gain? Am I right in guessing that you're wondering why Jesus spoke up as a prophet of God, if he knew he would be executed?

Jesus knew he was there to fulfill the Law, and fulfill the prophecies. He knew what would happen. He was laying the foundation for a whole new covenant between God and mankind, that would last until the end of this world.

Answer 6

First of all your assuming he said that in the first place. The Bible was written down second hand by individuals that never met the man. By that time significant embellishment can be added.

And even if you say every quote is exact there is ample evidence to support that Jesus did not believe he was divine. Such as statements attesting that he dose not know what God thinks and that he is not equal to him.

Answer 7

the thing about the Jesus story is that the devil killed him before he finished his work then used the story to prove he was god... by using the credibility of what can not fight or argue back... there is no life after death... and having to never prove anything kind of gives the devil an advantage over the human population... it just doesn't make sense that people would be that stupid for so long...

Answer 8

But he did not say it dear in the literary sense. all God believers at that time used to call themselves children of God .
The miraculous birth of Jesus is a great sign to the world, and he has never stated that he is the actual begotten son of God

Answer 9

It depends on how you think of God if all creatures are created by God then he would be telling the truth and he is promoting his belief. Which really is a not so bad one.

Answer 10

Aren't we all children of God and arent we all made of the same matter? The mater of the cosmos