Philosophical Vegan Forum

I do believe that there is a lot of historical evidence to suggest that a Jesus, or rather, Yeshua (his actual name) existed, however, I do not believe he was God.

Jesus appears to be no different from a modern day liberal hippie (albeit one with a God complex). As John Fugelsang said: "Jesus was a radical nonviolent revolutionary who hung around with lepers hookers and crooks; wasn't American and never spoke English; was anti-wealth anti-death penalty anti-public prayer (Matthew 6:5); but was never anti-gay, never mentioned abortion or birth control, never called the poor lazy, never justified torture, never fought for tax cuts for the wealthiest Nazarenes, never asked a leper for a copay; and was a long-haired brown-skinned homeless community-organizing anti-slut-shaming Middle Eastern Jew."

Several of the ideas in the New Testament put forth by Jesus I agree with, for instance feeding and clothing the homeless and loving your neighbour. People who do not believe in God but agree with the ideas put forth by Jesus, like me, are called Christian Atheists [*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_atheism]. I am a Christian Atheist, I do not agree with all the ideas put forth by Jesus, such as hating your family and even your own life for instance (Luke 14:26), however I agree with most of what he taught.

The Real Dizzy wrote:I do believe that there is a lot of historical evidence to suggest that a Jesus, or rather, Yeshua (his actual name) existed, however, I do not believe he was God.

Dizzy, thank you for your response, I must say that I'm pleasantly surprised by the diversity in thoughts about Jesus on this forum. It has been interesting to read what people had to say about Jesus. I've heard the phrase "Christian Atheist", but I cannot say I am familiar with it in the same way I am with other varieties of atheistic worldviews (naturalism, for example). One question that I had as I read your post, you said Jesus had a "God-complex".

By all means correct me I'm wrong, but from reading your post it seems like you think that Jesus taught some good, beneficial, and/or moral, etc. things. My question is how you deal with him having this "God-complex"? Do you, for example, believe that the "God-complex" was later fabricated by his followers? Or that he was simply mistaken about such things? I'm curious to hear your thoughts on and by all means if you have an questions for me feel free to ask.