Atheists, what is your opinion on Jesus?

I believe there's actually been 'proof' found of a certain Jesus being born to adequately-named parents in the correct town; however, I do not believe he is the son of God (not believing in God myself, that's pretty much a given), and I do not believe he performed any of the feats attribuated to him by the Bible. In all possibility (this is not scientific fact, but my own speculation), these feats could have been invented in an elaborate story, with the main character being completely invented - but it was accepted as a religion by those needing comfort and strength in those times. Heck, if I were to begin a new religion worshiping a ''Sara, born of Amelia and Simon in the town of Madrid, Spain'', it's very possible that (fast-forwarding two thousand-odd years in the future) man could find record of said Sara - despite my not even knowing whether she exists or not.

I don't mind people believing in him, on the other hand; everybody needs a source of inner strength, and if theirs is religion, then so much the better for them.

For the record: I do not know Sara (born of Amelia and Simon in the town of Madrid, Spain), and if anyone of that name, heritage and origin reads this - I do not know you either and 'apologize'.

"Do you believe him to be a historical figure that was a subject of historical rewriting?"

No, as there aren't any records of Jesus Christ at all.

"If he was real, do you think he was well meaning but misguided, crazy, or manipulative? "

Judging by the Bible, he's a mythical attention whore who locks people in his basement and sets them on fire because they're unable to satisfy his unsatisfiable ego.

"If he was fictional, why do you think he was created when most of the Jews rejected him and in the first century the Romans severely persecuted those who professed to follow him?"

I can't go over it all, but research Christianity's beginnings for yourself. You'll find a mushroom cult--I'm serious.

"Do you agree with some of his teachings (the ones he said, not the ones in the old testament) or do you find them all absurd? Do you think he should be admired similar to Gandhi and that Christians take it too far or do you loathe the very mention of his name?"

First, despite the bullshit you hear from Christians today, the Old Testament Laws are condoned in the New Testament. Matthew 5:18/Luke 16:17 for example.

And no, I don't admire Jesus at all. All of his "treat others as you wish to be treated" sayings are all contradicted throughout the entire Bible. Jesus condones human sacrifice, rape, murder, slavery and so on.

"Do you believe him to be a historical figure that was a subject of historical rewriting?"

He may have been, but it's more likely he was...

"A compilation of multiple people? "

Or even....

"Completely fictitious?"

"If he was real, do you think he was well meaning but misguided, crazy, or manipulative?"

If he was real, it's highly unlikely he said or did one tenth of what was later attributed to him (in order to retroactively "fulfill the prophecies").

" If he was fictional, why do you think he was created when most of the Jews rejected him and in the first century the Romans severely persecuted those who professed to follow him?"

Most people hated the Romans for conquering, occupying and taxing them...so anything the Romans hated, was popular with the locals. Ultimately, it made more sense for the Romans to simply take it over and steer it the way they wanted, in order to use it to control the populations. That's why even though the bible story supposedly took place in the Middle East, the church was founded in Rome, by Romans.

"Do you agree with some of his teachings (the ones he said, not the ones in the old testament) or do you find them all absurd? "

Many of the thing attributed to him are just common decency and common sense.

"Do you think he should be admired similar to Gandhi and that Christians take it too far "

Again...some of what he (apparently) said is common decency and sense....none of it is particularly ground breaking.

"or do you loathe the very mention of his name?"

Not at all. I'm not overly fond of how it's generally used, though.

First of all, I think, based on historical evidence, that the statement "... Romans severely persecuted those who professed to follow him..." is an extreme exaggeration.

From everything I have read on the subject, there are basically two camps or thought on Jesus' existence and each camp widely varies on what they think, i.e. the historical Jesus camp varies from a real person to a combination or historical people, and the mythical camp has a similar range.

What we can say for sure is that Herod never called a census that caused Joseph and Mary to go to Bethlehem, he was never visited by wise men following a "star" and did not order the execution of male children under two years. We can also discount nearly every "supernatural" event recorded by the Gospels, not because they are miracles but because contemporary writers of the time that sought out such thing did not mention them. Similarly many cultures that recorded astronomical phenomena failed to mention "the Star of Bethlehem".

A "Jesus" might have existed, but given that the Gospels were written around 40 years after when he would have had to been crucified and by people other than the Disciples that they were named after, it is reasonable to doubt Jesus was anything like what Christians claim he was.

I hope you have read what I have written and will actually try to objectively research this subject. I grew up believing that Jesus' existence was undeniable, but as I really looked into the subject, I realized that mast of what I believed was not true.

Jesus was a Jew and died a Jew. He had no thought of bringing about a new religion, only in helping to fulfill his own religion. He certainly would have been horrified if he had learned that a new religion would be formed with him as its basis and that it made a deity of him.

Jesus was proclaiming that god would imminently overturn the existing order and establish a new kingdom--the kingdom of righteousness. The Sadducees, who were the temple priests, realized full well what would happen if Jesus continued to expound what he was saying, and they expressed it quite well in John 11:48.

"If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."

The Sadducees held their position at the whim of the Roman authorities, so they were concerned that what Jesus was proclaiming would cause the people to rebel and bring the Romans down on their nation and their position. They therefore brought about the arrest of Jesus by the Romans in order to preserve their station in life.

And the Romans executed him because they perceived him to be a rebel who was seeking to establish a new kingdom. That is why they placed the placard saying "The King of the Jews" on the cross. They wanted him to be an object lesson to those who would seek to overthrow them and establish a new kingdom.

By the time the gospels were written, there had been a schism between the original Jewish followers of Jesus and those who followed Paul, who was the actual originator of Christianity. Paul brought in many esoteric and pagan ideas and added them to the myths about Jesus that had developed in the years following his execution. Paul also expanded his church by preaching to and bringing in Gentiles, who did not hold any particular allegiance to the Jews. In addition, the Christian church at the time was trying to make their way in the hostile Roman world, and they did not want to antagonize the Romans, so they minimized the Roman involvement in the death of Jesus and laid the blame on the Jews, which furthered even more the separation of the new religion from its Jewish roots.

That resulted in the origin of Christianity.

Added

Much of the New Testament was written well after the death of Jesus, and much of it includes the myths and superstitions about Jesus that came about after his death. The writers of the New Testament were not above fabricating things in their attempts to sway others into believing the new religion.

See my answers to these questions for examples.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=201303...

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=201302...

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=201101...

I've never been to George Washington's grave but I have no reason to think the man did not exist.

The Christ Jesus supposedly died over 2,000 years ago and if he was also purported to be just a man I wouldn't have reason to doubt he existed.

Do I think he was a god? No.

Do I think he was a son of a god? No.

Do I think he should be admired? Not particularly. Take away the proposed godhood and the unsubstantiated "miracles" and he was just a carpenter turned evangelist with very little insight into the human condition.

I wholeheartedly wish that religions and the bible had never been invented.

I believe he was a real person, but i don't think he was a historical figure or that he could work miracles, he was just a regular person. People have a right to there own opinion and thoughts.

I am trying to become christian, but I have been atheist my entire life. Well, Jesus was a man in history that really (and I mean REALLY) believed in his religion (Judaism). Now there are two things that could have happened:

1.) He wanted to "save" people and convert them to Judaism, but couldn't get any attention to do so, so he said that he was the son of god that way people would listen to his preaching.

2.) He really did believe that he was the son of god and this drew a lot of attention to him.

That's what I believe.

I suspect that almost everything everyone thinks they know about Jesus is based upon fan fiction.

No one alive, today, actually knows anything testable about Jesus or what he said or did.

If you don't believe me, look up Bart Ehrman, one of the worlds top scholars on the New Testament, on youtube, or read one of his many books.

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Regards,

John Popelish

IF he was real (and that's a big if),then he was one crazy, violent, self-centered b@stard. For example, in Matthew, he says "I did not come to bring peace, but a sword" and “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." In Leviticus, he says "Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves." He also has entire cities destroyed if the people don't agree with his teachings and goes around threatening everyone with eternal torment.