Jesus was a liar

[Politruk]

Jesus lied. He promised the Kingdom of God was coming.

And he was not talking about the afterlife -- he did not mean, "I am about to die in a way that will make it possible for you to get into Heaven."

Nor was he talking about any personal conversion experience -- he did not mean, "You can cultivate the Kingdom of God within your own soul."

No, what he meant was, "God is about to drive the Romans out of Judea. And, in the process, God will put down the aristocrats -- the priests and Sadducees, the Herodian royalty, the rich in general -- and create an egalitarian utopia." All this to happen within the lifetime of his hearers.

None of that happened. Jesus lied.

See Zealot, by Reza Aslan.

 

[Zootonius]

Uh, Sir, This Is A Wendy's...

 

[TallMan69]

Then I guess I’ll have a chili cheese baked potato.

 

[lifeis2short2b]

I would like to see the whole interview, Not just bits and pieces.

 

[Politruk]

I think if his people had accepted him that is exactly what would have happened . . .

No, it would have gone the same way the 66 A.D. rebellion went. The Jews did not have the strength to beat the Romans.

And, no, God never was on their side.

 

[Politruk]

Jesus forsaw this as he entered Jerusalem for Palm Sunday.

The people did not welcome him because they wanted a spiritual redeemer who would die for their sins. They wanted a king -- a king strong enough to drive out the Romans.

Jesus would have been that if he really were the messiah. But he was not the messiah. That had nothing to do with whether the people accepted him as such.

 

[Politruk]

Jesus, BTW, might have believed himself the messiah. But he did not believe himself God. In Jewish eschatology, the messiah is not God, and is not the son of God. He'll be called Son of God, but that's only a title the old kings used. The messiah will be the son of a man. And he will not die for our sins -- that is not his job. His job is to rule the world.

You must understand that not all the red-letter verses are equally reliable quotations. Jesus certainly never said, "I and the Father are one," or, "No man cometh unto the Father but through me." Jesus was a good Jew. He would have been horrified by the words Paul and John put in his mouth -- words elevating him to the level of God.

When the rich man asked, "Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus' response was, "Wherefore callest thou me good?! One there is who is good, that is, God!"

And Jesus always prayed as if he were talking to somebody else.

And he was not preaching any universalist religion, either. Jesus' message was only for the Children of Israel -- not for the gentiles.

Jesus really would not approve of Christianity, in any form it took after Paul's conversion.

 

[forgotmyantidepressants]

Uh, Sir, This Is A Wendy's...

I'd like a chocolate frosty.

 

[jehoram]

Well, we don't really know what Jesus actually said, since all that stuff was written down years and years after he died, and the quotations were by people who had their own agendas. So we're all free to believe whatever we like about it.

 

[Politruk]

Well, we don't really know what Jesus actually said, since all that stuff was written down years and years after he died, and the quotations were by people who had their own agendas. So we're all free to believe whatever we like about it.

Weeellll . . . At any rate it's not pure guesswork, like if we were talking about Herakles.