The Bible As A Historical Document - Who Was Jesus?

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Recommended: Jesus as presented in the book of John

I felt a very positive impression of who Jesus was after finishing

the Book of Matthew. I had a new image of someone who was a down-to-earth,

caring individual. I did not find quotes of Jesus that claimed being

superior to the common man, of whom sinners could not look upon (a view

that most people had of their Gods for centuries before). Matthew 12:49-50,

Jesus announces to multitudes that they are his mother and brothers. In

that way, he puts himself at an equal level to the people, rather than

claiming to be a God above them. This reflects the whole attitude of the

book.

Chapters 6-7 of Matthew quote Jesus as he is presenting rules to live

by to the multitudes. To me, all of these sounded like hints to leading a

happy life for yourself. Jesus reflects a God that does not expect

virgins or animals to be sacrificed in His name; but, a God that is

pleased by followers that love not only God, but each other also. These

seem like simple, logical rules to live by. But, they reflected a time in

history where that kind of love for one another was hard to find because

of the hardships inflicted upon the people.

I find some conflict in Jesus' actions, however. Jesus never (as far

as I know) says to ignore to commandments of God in the Hebrew Scriptures;

however, constantly breaks the Sabbath (Matt 12:13 and others), and gives

VERY flimsy and unconvincing explanations for it. I am not sure what his

message was in those actions. Perhaps he didn't care?

In general, Matthew was a good, entertaining story to read, with a

very dramatic ending, and great character development (a little sarcastic

humor here)!

I was very surprised to find much of the Book of Mark a repeat of

wh...

... middle of paper ...

...rth, in hell, then he

is adopting that belief without any backup, for there is no one in hell

now. People who are dead must wait for the coming of God and Judgement

day. Anyway, that is what + always thought. The strongest, overall

impression that I got after reading Matthew, Mark, Acts and Philippians,

was that the teachings of Jesus were not very well understood/followed

during the formation of The Church years later. Issues I discussed before,

like 'punishment and Fearing God's wrath', 'wealth re-distribution' (Jesus

lived as a peasant), 'the position assumed by certain influential

apostles' seem very foreign to Jesus.

It seems that many of the new beliefs in the New Testament can only be

backed-up if you belive that Angels really did come to men on earth as

often as the N.T. says, rather than looking to the Hebrew Scripture for

validation.

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