Umm…Oldsratch you need to read your history a little closer. Jesus of Nazarath was indeed a real person, just like ghandi, buhda, and others. I feel the site is disrespectful and that is why I find it offensive. I’m not going to go out and campaign against it, cause basically it is harmless. Making fun of someones culture and comparing their eliefs to that of mythical creaures from comics or worse, is no way to be here. The SDMB is a site for stamping out ignorance not promoting it. I agree with Connor, I espected a lot more from here.
Hm…I guess on the one hand, it didn’t offend me per se, because I’m not Christian. However, I do think that it’s disrespectful. In general, I wish that people with that sort of creativity would focus it on other endeavors.
Something to keep in mind - the Kachina is a sacred and religious figure to the Hopi, yet it gets used in advertising or business all the time. I suppose it just matters what religion you are.
I saw this site when it was first a Wierd Earl. I’m a Christian, but I didn’t find this site offensive, more lame. What I do find offensive (how do I say this without dragging the thread into GD?) is people saying “If you’re offended by this, you’re wrong.” There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with saying something’s offensive (to me); it would, however, be wrong to say that something’s offensive (to me) and therefore should be banned. You or I can be personally offended by any number of things which would be innocuous to someone else–that doesn’t make us wrong, but rather human. We ought be allowed to have our own personal distastes.
I’m with stup…er, Opal. 
I’m Catholic, (well, sort of, not a currently practicing one), and I think it’s just kind of dumb. Not offensive, just stupid. It’s not that funny, it seems more like, hehehe…if we poke fun at religious stuff, we’ll piss people off and that will be cool…ehehehe…
Personally, some of the religious humor you find in the Simpsons is a HELL Of a lot wittier. (Even though the Catholic League made a big hissyfit…stupid Catholic League!)
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You mean the bible? hee hee. You are too funny.
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Give me some evidence of that that’s not from christian sources. Here’s a good jewish one. “There was absolutely no historical evidence that Jesus, Joseph or Mary ever existed, let alone that Joseph was a carpenter or that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and lived in Nazareth”
from this site. Now I don’t wanna debate it here. But maybe now you’ll stop claiming that myths that might be true are facts.
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Lots of stuff is disrespectful, the only reason you find it offensive is that you believe in the myths of christ. If it was Oedipus I’m betting you’d have no problems with it. Tough it out, get over it, not everyone thinks the way you do.
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Now you’re the one who needs to do some historical reading. Just because your comicbook character myhological man (Jesus) isn’t in them as much as mine (thor) is no reason to insult him by calling him a comic book character.
you’re right. I hope this post is a step in the right direction for the eradication of yours.
I found it more stupid and pathetic than anything. It’s trying soooo hard to be soooo irreverent it comes across–to me–as nothing more than stupid.
It’s certainly no reflection on Christ or Christianity, IMO. If anything it reflects a very unflattering picture of another lameass wannabe, trying hard to be SHOCKING. I’m not great at analogies, but it’s kinda like one of the most annoying, pointless, hostile trolls who ever infested this place yelling “you poopyhead!” at Shakespeare. The credibility gap is just too mind-bogglingly vast. A cheap little shock-trick from a painfully limited mind–and heart.
Veb
I’m a Christian. I’m not offended. I didn’t even visit the site. No need, I get the point. Look look, your God is just a toy! Ha ha.
The picture is not God.
I am not offended for precisely the same reason that someone burning the flag doesn’t offend me, or spitting on a copy of the Constitution, or hanging Uncle Sam in effigy. Symbols are not the essence.
I don’t revere an image of Jesus, or a flag. I love the Lord, and will defend the nation.
I have no particular interest in such things, in a participatory sense, even if it was a person or symbol I find vile, or ludicrous. Klansman bowling pins might get a chuckle for a glance, but not much more. I certainly would not start bowling. I hate bowling.
If someone where to take my hero/leader… let’s say just for the fun of it, Jim Jones, and had a site on how to mix his Kool-Aid drink and make him dance in his intoxicated state, I would care less.
There are no true leaders.
In your mind maybe, if you allow it.
I have not ever nor will ever allow myself to be led by one person, group, religion.
Could you give me good reasoning why this would offend you? Seriously, are some images that disturbing to you? What if you were blind?
Are some words that disturbing to you? What if you were deaf?
Think about that.
Oh come ON! That’s funny!
Perhaps “tacky” would be a better word?
After reading through these posts, I am struck by the impression that what we are really talking about it the natural reaction to take offense when someone/something we care deeply about is disparaged. We all tend to become defensive when something we hold close is attacked, even in trivial ways. If I were to mock your SO in front of everyone to see, it stands to reason that many of us would find that offensive, either by the fact that it is your SO or because we empathize with both of you.
I think that there are many Christians who care deeply for Jesus, but would not find this site offensive. Equally, there are many Christians who will find any attack on Jesus offensive. There are also many on the fringe of the issue who will empathize with Jesus and/or Christians and be offended to different degrees by the “Dress Jesus Up” page. And there are those who could care less either way.
I think that it all comes down to how secure one is in their feelings about Jesus. If we were all to “turn the other cheek” regarding these issues, they would quickly become meaningless and without offense. I would hazard to guess that Jesus (man or myth) would have (has) a sense of humor about all of this. The fact that people would hate each other for their points of view…, that I think he would have issue with.
No I do not only mean the Bible. There are other ancient text that point to the existance of Christ.
read this
site
it clearly states that there is al ack of evidence but I’ll quote from research…“From the point of view of Roman history of the first century, Jesus was a nobody. A man of no social standing, who achieved brief local notice in a remote and little-loved province as a preacher and miracle-worker, and who was duly executed by order of a minor provincial governor, could hardly be expected to achieve mention in the Roman head-lines.”
Its obvious that finding evidence of Jesus outside chrisian text is rare. Try finding metion of the real buhda outside buhdist text.
I’ll quote somethign else from this website that makes one think about Jesus being a myth…
“Seen in this light, the scanty nature of early non-Christian evidence for Christianity, and for Jesus in particular, is hardly surprising. It rings true to the historical reality of the situation. And if that is the case, it is inevitable that our knowledge of the beginnings of Christianity will be dependent almost entirely on Christian records. We are fortunate that quite full early Christian records have in fact survived, in the form of the four first-century gospels. Indeed the availability of four separate records by different authors of the same person in ancient history is a rare, if not a unique, phenomenon.”
And how accurate are the gospels?
“Luke’s accuracy in referring to the details of political institutions and appointments in Asia Minor and Greece was sufficient to cause the archeologist Sir William Ramsay to change from an inherited scepticism to a warm regard for Luke as a careful and responsible historian”
All these quotes are pulled from that website which cites its sources. As for the rest of my previous post, My intention was not to make fun of Thor, but to point out the brutal tact and disrespect in your first post. I do not want to argue about it. Its irrelevant, I belive in a historical Christ…you don’t. I find the site offensive…you don’t. End of argument.
Me? I’m eagerly awaiting Salman Rushdie’s next book;
Fatso; The Story of Buddha
Incidentally scratchie, try viewing a copy of “From Jesus to Christ” (The First Christians) by the excellent documentary group Frontline, (you have heard of them, right?).
From all available evidence it certainly seems clear that Jesus did exist as a historical figure. We’ll try to ignore the fact that he was most likely not of peasant stock, that he was versed in several languages and a member of the artisan class (probably a cabinet maker and not a carpenter).
Sadly, few people can shed all of the other ramifications of his existence in order to examine the facts surrounding him, but it does seem clear that Jesus was a real person. Whether or not he was any more the son of God than the next bloke is another matter entirely.
That said, try to remember folks, the same freedoms that allow us our choice of relegion also give us the freedom to mock anyone else’s beliefs, as well as having our own mocked too. Not that such actions might not be construed as rude or childish, but then again people who are so thin skinned and insecure in their faith as to be easily offended by someone else’s send-up of it are inviting insult.
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Give me one from a non christian source.
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That’s a christian source. Thanks you, please play again later.
While I can understand him not being mentioned in Rome, there should be meniton in Jewish texts of the time. In fact, the Jewish Historian Josephus makes no mention of him. Wouldn’t such a striking figure have some mention in a record of jewish life? Josephus recorded hundreds of minor details, yet no “jesus”
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No problem. I can find quite a few, but then Siddhatta Gotama is a historical figure, not a mythical one like Jesus or some of the characters from Greek mythology.
and Zenster, I checked it out, I could find no stories or evidence for Jesus that was not from Christian biblical scholars. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. I’ll take my historacal non-religous, non-biased sources thank you very much.
HOw about this?? You know, the Straight Dope…
Cecil Adams???
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_275.html
Still, barring an actual conspiracy, 40 years is too short a time for an entirely mythical Christ to have been fabricated out of (heh-heh) whole cloth. (See below.) Certainly the non-Christians who wrote about him in the years following his putative death did not doubt he had once lived. The Roman historian Tacitus, writing in his Annals around 110 AD, mentions one “Christ, whom the procurator Pontius Pilate had executed in the reign of Tiberius.” The Jewish historian Josephus remarks on the stoning of “James, the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ.” The Talmud, a collection of Jewish writings, also refers to Christ, although it says he was the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier called Panther. Doubts about the historicity of Christ did not surface until the 18th century. In short, whether or not JC was truly the Son of God, he was probably the son of somebody.
Never said he was created out of whole cloth. Compared him to Greek mythology, which was based on real people. The chance that the stories fabricated in the new testement correspond to one single individual who lived at that time is pretty slim. There are many details passed off as fact that simply could not have happened, and had to have been fabricated years after the fact, if not decades. While Josephus does mention someone who in some aspects could be matched to Jesus, at the same time the historical figure mentioned in Josephus does not match up to Jesus in many respects. It’s most likely that Jesus is a composite of several different historical figures, mixed in with a large dose of myth. No different from King Midas or Odysseus.
Getting back to the OP…
In my opinion, harmless and very funny. And if those of the christinane viewpoint have nothing better to do than get all excited and offended about a joke website, that’s their lookout.
What a piker. Not nearly as funny, or relevant, as Jesus of the Week.
Which is one of the possible conclusions that Frontline reaches. The show is very worth watching.