by captainbryce Sat Oct 16, 2010 2:31 pm
Do you believe he existed? Yes, although his true name was actually something closer to Yeshua in Aramaic, not the anglicied "Jesus".
Is he really the son of God? Yes, in the sense that he has no direct biological human father. And while Jesus may have been God's only "begotton son", we are all sons and daughters of God (along with the angels who were called sons of God).
Do you accept him as your Lord & Savior? Yes, mostly on faith. If Jesus wasn't sent by God, then he was a crazy man who allowed himself to die a horrible painful death for no reason other than to tell people to be good to each other. I think that at the very least HE believed that he was the Son of God (because no sane person would choose to do what he did otherwise). As to whether or not he actually was the messiah, much of that comes down to how much faith you have in God. And since I do, and I agree with Jesus' message in the Gospels and in how he instructed us to live, I choose to accept that Jesus is my savior without any actual proof.
Was he killed by the Jews? No. He was killed by the Romans to prevent an upset of good order from the Jews. "Some" Jews wanted him dead, while others accepted him. Only the corrupt Rabbis (Jews in power) conspired to have him killed because he represented a threat to their power. But since they would be breaking one of the ten commandments by killing him, they had to make him a "criminal" by calling him a blasphemer so that they state could execute him. The Romans under Pontius Pilate were the ones who actually killed him.
Was he white or black? Neither. He was a middle eastern Jew who probably resembled a cross between a typical Arab and the common Isreali. The concept of race as we know it today (Negroid, Caucasoid, Mongoloid) didn't exist in biblical times. Race is a social construct that was invented by European explorers between the 14th and 16th century to classify people with different features whom they encountered. In bible times, there were no "white" people or "black" people, there were only Jews (Isrealites) and Gentiles (everyone else).
Was he really an immaculate conception? Yes. Again that depends on if you accept that he is the Son of God.
Do you really think he walked on water? I'm not sure. He may have walked on water, or that may simply have been a way of describing how awed his followers were by him. I don't think everything in the bible was meant to be taken "literally" by today's standards and in English.
Is your image of him that of the only perfect human to ever exist?No. I believe he was one of three perfect humans ever to exist. Adam and Eve were also perfect for a while (up until the time that they sinned and became imperfect). After they died, Jesus had become the only "perfect" human.
Did you see THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST? Yes. It was okay. Definetely an interesting (if not disturbing) intepretation of the last hours of Christ. And while much of it portrays the "truth" (as told by the bible), Mel Gibson definetely took some liberties in his intepretation the Gospels and slanted it towards his perspective. An overrated movie for sure, but definetely worth seeing once.
Do you celebrate his bday on Dec 25? No. I don't celebrate Christmas, birthdays or most holidays. While I am not a Jehovah's Witness persay, I do agree with many of their teachings and intepretation of scripture. Jesus was likely not born in the month of December (according to biblical descriptions of his birth), nor was his birthday ever celebrated by his desciples (before or after his death). The only people who ever celebrated birthdays during the time of Christ were pagans. December was the pagan holiday of Yule that was incoporated into Christianity by the Romans centuries later after they had accepted that religion and they tried to convert everyone else to Christianity.
You did forget one of the most polarizing questions about Jesus. Was he God in the flesh (ie: do you believe in the Holy Trinity). My answer to that would be no, FYI!
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