Do I believe in Jesus?

Do I believe that Jesus was the Jewish messiah, and the only begotten son of God, no. Do I believe that he was probably a good man, maybe. I have spent many years studying the bible, more I might say than many Christians have and I came to a very profound conclusion. The old and the new testaments are not talking about the same god. The old testament god is very clear that his laws and commandments are eternal and that he is the one and only god of the Jewish people. It is very telling that the Jews who were contemporaries of Jesus did not see him as the messiah, this was not from ignorance of the scriptures, as all children of that faith are trained from early childhood in their scriptures, it was because it was obvious to them that he WAS NOT and in fact that he was dangerous to their beliefs. I ask you a question, if the government put before us Jim Jones or David Koresh and a man convicted of murdering his wife (no name springs to mind, but there are many) and asked which one should be released, which would you choose? The Jews choose the murderer. I also take into account the fact that the new testament was not written until long after the actual events took place. The earliest gospel (Mark) was written 70 years after Jesus death. The bulk of the rest of the new testament are the letters of Paul, a lawyer who NEVER met Jesus. How hard is it to make it appear that someone was the absolute fulfillment of prophecy long after all witnesses to the events are dead? Most of the words attributed to Jesus do contain wisdom and a keen understanding of brotherly love, and these I honor and respect wishing that there were more Christians who would follow Jesus teachings, but I can only imagine what was omitted or forgotten or glossed over by writers who were definitely biased. If you think that I have no basis on which to say this, consider what is said of David Koresh by his followers that survived Waco and still believe in him. Do I condemn those who believe in Jesus? No, there is much that is good and beautiful in his teachings, and someone who truly follows that path is a good and decent person and will find their salvation. No what upsets me are those, who seek to deny me my path, by claiming that their own god is infallible or more correct than my deities. Or who hide under the cover of the bible and misinterpret or ignore it's teachings in order to justify their own hate and prejudice, something that I am sure Jesus would find offensive too.

This page last modified 1/12/99

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