Well, if we’re going to compare Prophets, Muhammad would personally resemble Moses more so than he would Jesus. Both were military leaders, both were rulers of a formidable state, and both came with a specific law with which they governed their people. While I agree that Jesus wouldn’t have a problem with warfare if it were waged on certain precepts, I wouldn’t consider it unreasonable to say that COMPARED to Jesus, Muhammad might be labeled a warlord - as would Moses.
and I dont think Jesus had anything negative to say about Moses.
I have no doubt that Jehovah’s witnesses practice the religion that Jesus would identify with the most. As far as I can see, they are the only religious sect that gives even casual effort to do what Jesus said to do, and act the way Jesus said to act, even when it conflicts with common sense and natural instincts. Other Christian religions are trying to find bible passages to justify doing and thinking what they’ve already made up their minds to do and think, while Jehovah’s witnesses just try to do what he said, without all the lawyerly double-speak.
Read the Brothers Karamazov and get back to us. History would repeat itself and he would get executed again, because the current church leaders would rightly see him as a threat to their power structures.
I’ll second those who see Yeshua as finding Buddhism most appealing, and the Dalai Lama et al. wouldn’t give him any grief.
Read the bible and get back to us. He comes back as a superhuman monarch with the full power of God backing his ascent to the throne. The first time around he was crucified by his own accord, he allowed it to happen.
Yeah, this is a fundamental misunderstanding of both Buddhism and Christianity. Buddhism as I said before is negative, you are trying to subtract things, whereas with Christianity you are adding something. Christ would certainly not be Buddhist by any stretch of the imagination. The two are pretty anti-thetical actually.
I’m not saying that Jesus did sleep with little kids by the dozens, nor that the Romans didn’t crucify him over religious beliefs. I’m just saying that your obvious ire against Gala Matrix’s statement is based on no real world evidence at all. It goes against the evidence presented by modern day “prophets” like Koresh. And there’s no reason to believe that the presentation of Jesus’ life as given in the Bible has any relationship to what happened in real life. So getting vitriolic and indignant over it is rather spreading ignorance by bullying.
Well, right away you may need to clarify something. When Christians talk about Jesus returning (or the “Second Coming”), they mean something a bit more apocalyptic than a first-century Jewish man paying the earth another visit in that same, human form.
But I’m assuming the scanario you’re talking about is that Jesus, the person who is portrayed in the Gospels of the New Testament as he lived then, appearing in today’s modern world as that same person.
This statement takes a lot of qualifying. “Christianity as practiced today” is not a monolithic unity. Among the individuals, groups, and denominations who call themselves Christian, some do place a very high priority on living according to Jesus’s teaching and example; others, not so much. So, I think there are some groups of Christians among whom Jesus would feel “at home,” and others among whom he would not (though I doubt you could tell which was which by referring to denominational or other labels).
And I don’t think there’s quite so stark a dichotomy between the teachings of Jesus and those of Paul as is often believed. Paul was a part of, interacted with, and learned from the early Christian community, some of whom had known Jesus personally and were familiar with his teachings.
I think a Moslem would probably agree with you. Islam is certainly a better fit for Jesus-as-Moslems-undestand-him.
I think, however, that compared to Islam, Jesus placed more emphasis on the internal than on the external, on purity of heart rather than obedience to rules.
And, the Jesus of the Gospels was always saying things like “follow me.” If he were on earth today, he’d still be looking for people who would follow him.
Is he coming back as Jesus the man, or as Jesus the Messiah/Son of God? Would he remember having been crucified and resurrected? I can’t see him joining a religion that’s not exactly in line with his life and teachings. Which means he’d start his own evangelical cult.
Or: if he didn’t want to draw so much attention, he could probably exist within the Mennonite/Amish community. He was, after all, a carpenter.
I figure he would be in a liberal sect of Judaism somewhere with a fairly conservative dress code and view of the sabbath and holidays. Maybe like a hasid on a kibbutz or somewhere in Brooklyn.
Well we’re going with Jesus as he stated his opinion on things around the BC/AD switchover era. True, he might change his opinion on some stuff in light of the real world practice of his rhetoric, but that’s making a bit of an assumption. He might just decide that “Ur doing it wrong.”
Yes. In my mind, the teachings of Jesus were a rebellion against most of the notions about how to worship God to date, and his message flew in the face of the common “eye for an eye” message that the OT proscribed.
If Jesus were born and lived today, there’s no doubt he’d be a pacifist and an arbiter for peace, which is the message he proclaimed in the NT.
If “Love Thy Neighbor” still hasn’t resonated today, even thought it’s the single most important message in the Bible, then why would a modern Jesus even bother? It would be the same. I’d hazard a guess of a hippie-ish figure advocating for peace, admonishing those in power in the countries of the world and helping people understand that in their day to day lives “rendering unto Caeser” is a very important message too…in other words, pay lip service to those that hold your life in the balance but do everything you can to make a difference for someone or several someones that are beneath your financial position.
But yes, strictly speaking, Jesus’ story is objectively a message of martyrdom… later Pauline mystical appendages and cultic doctrine, notwithstanding. His story is literally trading upon death for the greater good, not unlike the message of the martyr of the Middle East in past and present… A Long history, culturally. However, the scales on the eyes of modern American Christianity are blinded to this fact because of a schizoid fracture and cultural prejudices.
A friend of mine some twenty-five years ago was an Orthodox Jew in the US, totally non-militant, although very enthusiastic. He told me something that has stuck with me: in my religion (he said) if your health requires you to eat a ham and cheese sandwich on Yom Kippur, it’s a sin not to. That’s the religion I think the Jesus I grew up learning about would follow.
I agree with this. He’d look around and instantly understand all of the world’s religions, and would see how far so many denominations of Christianity have diverged and/or fallen away from His teachings. He’d sigh, roll up His sleeves and begin ruling.
Either that, or He’d acknowledge that He’s an Episcopalian, like me!
Other than the dearth of biblical backing (in this case, the Gospels directly, and the NT indirectly) for the posts so far, it seems absolutely reasonable (to me, anyway) to simply ask:
Which religion today practices Christianity closest to the Christianity practiced by Christ, his disciples, and the church in the first century?
This has been my experience as well, and this after investigating many Christian denominations. I see no Christian group, other than the JWs, practicing the Christianity that Christ, and those he taught, practiced.
(disclosure: I am a JW, although I was raised Catholic. I chose to become a JW, after much contemplation, research and prayer, at least in part, for the same type of sentiments expressed by Mosier)
Well let’s put things into perspective here. There is a fundamental flaw in what I think are the assumptions of many. That there is a difference between the apocalyptic second coming Jesus, and Jesus average from the first century returning as just a guy. Jesus as the story is told was not just a guy. He transmuted water into wine. (That’s a very high level spell every mage knows that transmutation is quite difficult all the medieval alchemists shattered themselves against that crucible.) He turned one loaf of bread into many. He resurrected people. (I wonder if they lost one point of constitution?) He made the blind see, and the lame walk. Even if Jesus came back, he’d be at least 40th level cleric or mage. He could easily rule.
