Some Claim a Young Pastor is Jesus
Today, there are people in Texas saying a young preacher there is "Jesus in the flesh." Just why they say this I don't understand. You can read about him and maybe understand why he is Jesus.
I can't remember from the Bible who or what is supposed to show up. People argue with me here saying that there will be no doubt about the real thing. I'm guessing if there were such and event, which there never will be, believers themselves would start fighting about whether or not this was what they have been waiting for.
I understand this new Jesus is on You Tube so maybe some readers would like to have a look. If I am wrong and he really is the Jesus or whatever that is coming back let us know here at the blog.
The end of time and the return of the holy one has been predicted for some two thousand plus years. Jesus thought the end would come during his lifetime. That he supposedly said this is ignored in the faith today. You can't sell a product that is flawed.
There will always be people claiming to be Jesus or people whom others claim is Jesus. The majority of the public never believes this.
That's why Christians should drop this dubious story, as well as the virgin birth and resurrection.
Christ is in each of us since we are made in His image and likeness. It is also the reason every human being, from conception until death, deserves respect, dignity and love.
ReplyDeleteThe man in Texas is most definitely not Jesus Christ, man and God.
You are not following your own rules. You constantly demand that I provide proof there was no Jesus. So, in this case, following your own rules, you need to provide proof this man is not Jesus. If you asked him, "Are you the son of God?" perhaps he would say yes. He might say God told him he is Jesus, the son of God. As I recall, those are the things Jesus was supposed to have said according to the Bible. You may well be wrong here.
ReplyDeleteI am not familiar with this story so can't offer a definitive comment. it does seem, however, that we have here an especially charismatic, devoted fellow who people think is much like Jesus. There are quite a number of people in history who have been perceived in the same way. As to your logic, any proof of the legitimacy of Jesus lies, I think, in the results of his ministry. I know, of course, that you will reject this claim out of hand, saying the Christianity is one enormous historical fraud. Common sense, tho' tells me otherwise.
DeleteJon,
DeleteAnd what if you proclaim yourself God next? After that, 10,000,000 claim to be Jesus Christ?? After that, 5,000,000,000 claim to be Jesus Christ?
Just how would a rational, logical, spiritual person sift through this mess?
The Church. Those are the rules. Not that ones you impose on my or the rest of Christianity. There are problems with non-Catholic Christians in this regard. But for Catholics, we can look to the Church.
Next up? Do you have any difficult questions?
mark anthony 9:44 "As to your logic, any proof of the legitimacy lies, I think, in the results of his ministry....you will reject this claim out of hand, saying that Christianity is one enormous historical fraud."
ReplyDeleteThis raises the good question: What was Jesus' ministry?
We know no one claims to have heard himself and recorded on the spot what Jesus was supposed to have said. The first of what he was supposed to have said was written down at least a generation later. Others after that and so on. So, it is all either remanufactured stuff or manufactured new. What was written was for the benefit of those who wrote it, and, some of it is good for everyone. As centuries past, generations of those in power noticed that when some idea was put into the mouth of Jesus, people paid more attention. So, the schemers who wrote the book John had Jesus quoted almost wall to wall.
I don't see how Jesus' ministry can be proof, or even evidence, there was a Jesus. There might have been. We don't who the person really was or what he did in his "ministry".
Sorry old chap, not very convincing. First, with the exception of John, not a generation later. Maybe 15-20 years later and that from sources from an even earlier date.
Deletegiven your take on such matters, I suppose that one could say that we don't know whether or not Socrates really said what he said: Plato just made it up. Bottom line, I think that no skeptic would accept the view that some concocted fable would have had the staying power that Christianity has had. And that people would be willing to die for what they knew to be fraudulent. Of course many people have been willing to die for what turned out to be a falsehood: but they did believe it at the time they died. Is this your response?
Mark 12:54 "And that people would be willing to die for what turned out to be fraudulent."
ReplyDeleteI'm on the floor laughing. Where shall we start? Hitler, Stalin, Kammakazi pilots who died for the Japanese ruler, etc etc. Millions, that is hundreds of millions, have died "for what turned out to be fraudulent."
Glad you got a good laugh. You need it, you don't strike me as being a humorous sort of fellow. Be that as it may, I did say that people have died believing in what later we later dismissed as foolish or fraudulent truth claims. But did those claims persist for several thousand years? Hitler got twelve years, Stalin got 30 or so? Most certainly longevity alone does not make for sure fire proof. Yet, you must admit, it is a factor to be taken into consideration. And, at the end of the day, will atheism turn out to be a false truth claim? BTW would you go to the wall for atheism?
DeleteMark re: longevity, "You must admit it is a factor to be taken into consideration."
ReplyDeleteWell, yes, we can consider it. But, there are followers of witchcraft and paganism today--preceded Christianity. Not as many, but if longevity is our gauge Christianity loses. Then there is Hinduism, huge and older than Christianity. No doubt atheism has been around as long as there has been religion of any kind, I'm guessing 200,000 years. So far as we know, all religions have eventually died. Only atheism has not.
Atheists in the ancient world. Indubitably. I can even name some of them. But in pre-historic tribal societies? I don't think so. In fact, I doubt that the concept of atheism had even entered their mind.
ReplyDeletewe got atheism when we got philosophers.
Every human that has ever existed was born an atheist. Someone had to invent a religion to create the first non-atheist. Children need to be programmed before they are old enough to question.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 9:46 "Every human that has ever existed was born an atheist."
ReplyDeleteGreat observation. One of our comment people hear, Matt, likes to point to the large number of Christians as a reason Christianity is "right". But two thirds of the world's population is not Christian. It would be even higher if we counted all the babies who are atheists.
Another person who comments, "mark", says it is about longevity. Atheists have been here for 200,000 years. Christians are new, 2,000 years.
Christianity, like all other religions, is not something that stands alone as a sovereign set of historical facts. It is, instead, a manufactured product marketed to the public and imposed upon children.
Seems that you don't read carefully. I wrote that longevity is one of several factors to be taken into consideration when evaluating the truth claims of any religion or, for that matter, any ideology. In this regard, how long was Marxism around before it failed miserably (except in the minds of some nitwits who don't want to give up on the Grand Vision).
DeleteI don't think that atheism, qua atheism, has been around for 200K years.
ReplyDeleteas I wrote, I don't think that either the concept or the term, entered the world until relatively recently. At most maybe 5,000 years or even later. And please, we all know that 2/3 of the world is not Christian. That fact, however, doesn't rule out the possibility that one religion may be "more right" than the rest. As to Anon and the comment re brainwashing children, consider this: if we are Lockeans who think that we come into the world as blank slates, then all children have to be taught something about the world in which they find themselves. In other words, all education is, in effect, brainwashing. Would seem to follow, would it not? . Also consider the fact that totalitarians of all stripes make it a point of getting to the kids early in life, their idea of education is to disabuse the young of all the silly ideas inherited from parents and/or the old order. BTW, Plato did not much cotton to the Lockean blank slate idea. Read the Meno some time.
"That fact, however, doesn't rule out the possibility that one religion may be 'more right' than the rest."
DeleteIt doesn't rule out the possibility NO religion is 'more right' than the rest either.
of course. And it doesn't rule out the possibility that atheism is false.
Delete