The Thing About Jesus

Forensic anthropologist Richard Neave created a model of a Galilean man for a BBC documentary, Son of God, working on the basis of an actual skull found in the region. He did not claim it was Jesus's face. It was simply meant to prompt people to consider Jesus as being a man of his time and place, since we are never told he looked distinctive

Who Was Jesus?

A question many have considered for two thousand years. Was Jesus the actual son of God -- God incarnate -- A Man. Another question that nobody knows the answer. Since we've already established that no one knows even if there is a God, it's obvious we can't say this is either the son or God himself. So, a man -- but not just a man, a very special one.

Nevertheless, we're going to start by painting a more realistic picture of Jesus -- literally. We want to get away from the stylized notion of how Jesus is typically pictured as a white, blue-eyed, long flowing haired, saint with a halo and replace that with the image of a man from Galilee in Jesus' time.

Redemption for the Original Sin

Jesus should be acknowledge for his insight and courage to attempt to redeem humankind for the original sin. Jesus seems to have theorized that one man committed the original sin, therefore one man should be able to redeem that sin by living a perfect life in the eyes of God and die unjustly. Unfortunately, that didn't work but his life and his teachings demonstrated a model lifestyle for a good and moral person. Given our view that life is precious and we should all try to live in harmony, it's not a bad model to in general.

Nothing Supernatural

What we don't subscribe to are all the supernatural events associated with Jesus, starting with the virgin birth. If there were a God, why go through the process of planting his seed in a 15-16 year old girl? Why force basically a kid through a pregnancy, child birth, and the humiliation that goes with having an illegitimate child? Why Mary, she was nothing special. Joseph and Mary were betrothed at an early age and said to have lived together without consummating the marriage. Imagine the shock of finding out your virgin wife was pregnant -- or was it a shock? Maybe Joseph and Mary had an accident and created the story together. More likely, Mary was pregnant by someone else and needed a story for Joseph and the community that was spectacular enough to justify what was essentially adultery -- which at that time was punishable by death. Carrying the Messiah would certainly qualify as spectacular. But begs the question, if God wanted to send his son to Earth, why all this nonsense of a virgin birth, baby Jesus, child rearing, lost years, etc., why not just create a 30 year old Jesus out of clay in the town square? Boom! -- Undeniable miracle!

Why would a God want to send his son to Earth anyway? To seek and save the lost? -- because somebody had to learn how to pay for the original sin? Why wait thousands of years after the sin to do so? Given the Trinity, isn't it like sending yourself to teach people to apologize to your other self? Makes you wonder if God had this same sort of problem on any of the trillions of other locations in the universe? Anyway, "Son of God" or convenient excuse for an accidental pregnancy? No one knows.

Getting back to the topic of the supernatural, the feeding the masses, turning water into wine, raising the dead, walking on water, etc. In fact, walking on water is a perfect example of a metaphor to demonstrate how powerful Jesus is and that he can perform the impossible. If you believe in him, you can achieve things you never thought possible as well. But start doubting that belief and you will sink and die. It's a very good story, but that's what it is -- a story. We view all the supernatural events are like this, either a metaphor or a continued embellishment of an event until it reached supernatural proportions.

Resurrection

However, Jesus' resurrection may be something different. When Jesus was crucified, his followers must have been fearful that all his teachings and all his work would be lost. They had just lost their leader and the whole Christian movement was at risk. So, what if they were to steal the body and get someone to fill in for a few days -- show up here and there, say he was resurrected, and then ascend to heaven? In that case, their leader wouldn't really be gone. In fact, that might make the movement that much more attractive. The KJV Bible text, starting at John 20:11, seems to hint that this might have been the case:

11 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, 12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. 14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. 17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. 18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Essentially, Mary doesn't recognize him and Jesus says, Mary, it's me! Now go tell everyone I arose from the dead -- you can almost picture a nod, nod, wink, wink as he's saying it. We have what might have been the beginning of a resurrection story. It would not have been difficult to pull off in those times; no major news channels, no TV, no internet.

Only Way to Heaven Through Jesus?

Finally, one of the most difficult notions in the Christian faith is the necessity to accept Jesus as the only way to Heaven. Of course, this would eliminate over 70% of the world population from getting to Heaven. Boasting this exclusivity is one of the reasons Christians are not well appreciated by the rest of the non-Christian world. It seems to suggest to many that Christians believe in two Gods and goes against the first of the 10 commandments, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3. The Trinity tries to counter this by claiming that there's: (1) God the father, (2) Jesus, God in human form, and (3) the Holy Spirit, to glorify Christ and make Him real in the daily life -- more or less the glue that holds the whole thing together. It asserts they are three distinct entities but one God -- extremely difficult to accept for a lot of people. We would not be surprised if this triple-speak isn't another one of the reasons the Christian faith is continually loosing members.

Biblical scholars have calculated the age of the Earth to be around 6,000 years using the ages found in the book of Genesis. If you accept that the men from Adam to Noah lived to be 700-900 years old (when fossil records show that humans living to 40 was rare), the calculations are relatively easy. This raises a new question. If the only way to Heaven is through Jesus, did 30 generations from Adam to Noah go to Heaven because they didn't accept, or even know about, Jesus? Some scholars suggest that because they had faith in God, they would eventually be saved by the Messiah. Then what about the people before Adam? Homo Sapiens evolved around 200,000 years ago. While we're not sure what differentiated Adam from humans that proceeded him by hundreds of thousands of years, we do wonder if those early humans were allowed into Heaven or did you just have to know God first and Heaven didn't even exist before Adam?

The Bible identifies the Jews as God's chosen people, specifically the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God’s choice of the Jewish people is not based on their own merit, but rather on God’s sovereign election. Yet the Jews don't consider Jesus the son of God or buy into the Trinity. So, by Christian standards, Jews won't go to Heaven yet they are God's chosen -- puzzling.

Jesus' Teaching as a General Guide

Like we said earlier, life is precious and Jesus' teachings paint a picture of a good lifestyle, a lifestyle that allows people to live in harmony. We aren't suggesting we try to live our lives as he did but consider the general intent, modified for a more modern world. And as always, nothing here is presented as truth or fact. Just a different, perhaps more logical, look at the man -- Jesus.

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