non-christians: how do you feel about Jesus?

I think He was a necessary result of the merging of societies. Before Rome, there were not many places where cultures lived beside one another. Usually a whole city would either willingly or forcefully believe a religion chosen by the leader. For Egyptians, the pharaoh was the God and since the Israelites were slaves, they were forced to believe the same thing.

The age of Rome was the first time people were free to choose their own religion. The Roman pantheon was widely accepted by the Romans but the Jews also had the freedom to worship Yahweh and any other religions had the same rights. Since these cultures were merging and living beside each other, all of their different values and belief systems merged together to form Christianity. Jesus was a byproduct of this merger. He is a deity that is part of each religion.

answer: meh. Actually I prefer G-d and realize that there is more than just the surface appearance of being a patriarchal deity. Leaving Christianity was one of the best decisions in my life decades ago. The Christian religion is at odds with their own beliefs in G-d. They claim the "OT" as the basis of the religion but with the myth attached to Jesus, it contradicts what the Tanakh (what the Christian OT is translated from with problems). I can do without a large majority of the fans of Jesus.

I don't feel anything about Jesus. I guess he's an interesting character but that's the extent of me caring.

I am a Christian but am confused as to whether Jesus was a real person or was used as the example of real persons who were being crucified at the time.

I think it is likely that he represents the feelings of the majority of his time. He, like King Arthur, is a conglomerate of all the "heroes" of his era, and all the good things were attributed to one person.

He, as the new testament tells it, does not meet the Messianic prophecies by any stretch of the imagination, but he had something important to say, regardless.

His message, to love God and lighten up on one another kind of fell on deaf ears, but that isn't the fables fault, but the fault of the audience.

Before Jesus people sacrificed anything they could think of to appease their gods, even children. Even if Jesus wasn't real, his story ended that needles slaughter. Even as an atheist I can appreciate how that changed the world for the better.

I think Jesus was a good, moral man who tried to reform the Judaism of his time and who had his ideas stolen by others (like Paul of Taursus) who wanted to make a name for themselves.

I believe he represents an ideal for people to forever fail to live up to, but that he never actually existed. He's an amalgamation of prior mythical figures, just one who happened to catch on and become popular.

Jesus and I are cool. I've no problem coexisting with the legacy he left behind.

Since he's eternal, I'd like to cause him to suffer every injury ever inflicted on everyone who suffered and died, at the hands of his fan club.