# Jesus: I'm not impressed. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 11, 2001, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798 "2001-10-11T14:13:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798/61 "2001-10-11T22:35:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lolo \* > \*\*I will address the rest of the posts in a moment. > and will also be taking apologies… **MANGETOUT!** 😉 \*\* OK, if it helps, I’m sorry; I just don’t know why or what for. ---
**Author:** ![emarkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798/62 "2001-10-11T22:38:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lolo \* > then **emarkp** said I wasn’t atking God seriously, which is amusing seeing as no one can possibly understand God, so who’s to say who takes it seriously or not. You know, I was trying to treat your inquiry as non-troll until now. You’ve rewritten my statement. I clearly stated that you don’t take the **premise** of the Christian God seriously. If you can’t take the premise of a debate seriously, then what is the purpose of the debate? I guess it’s just a rant. Very well then. As long as it’s clear that you’re ranting, not debating. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798/63 "2001-10-11T22:50:39Z")
So, we still don’t seem to have decided who is going to play the part of ‘mouse’ in this ever-popular cat drama. ---
**Author:** ![Grim\_Beaker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Grim\_Beaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grim_Beaker)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798/64 "2001-10-11T23:18:15Z")
I’m still waiting for Lolo to answer bnorton’s clear and germane questions. ::Checks watch again:: Man… this better not make me miss ‘Friends’! ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798/65 "2001-10-11T23:44:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lolo \* > \*\* > you see, that alone isn’t impressive b/c w/o Guetenberg where are the words of Jesus? > > In far less places. \*\* Dr. Seuss, too! ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798/66 "2001-10-11T23:55:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bricker \* > \*\*What’s not to impress? The guy walked on water, turned water into wine, healed the sick, raised the dead, sent demons into pigs, was resurrected himself after dying, and didn’t do one talk show guest spot ever. > > It’s hard to imagine what _would_ impress you. > > \*\* _I_ would certainly be impressed! But it comes from a nearly 2000-year-old document, most likely not written by eye-witnesses. Give me something more than hearsay. “Well, the disciples believed”. Hell, so would I if I saw them! I’d even go so far as to say everyone on earth would believe if they saw a man do those things today (properly tested, of course). But, no, we’re asked to be impressed that these things might’ve happened 2000 years ago. An extremely unreliable way for an omniscient God to get this all-important message across. Even Thomas asked for tangible proof after it was all said and done… and he apparently was an eye-witness to all his earlier miracles. ---
**Author:** ![Navigator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4af34b/32.png) [@Navigator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Navigator)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798/67 "2001-10-11T23:55:42Z")
> [@](#): > > I just made an observation that by merely suggesting Jesus was to me unimpressive, it peeved the Christians. Count one, unpeeved Christian! 🙂 slightly amused, but definately not peeved. I remain impressed by Jesus. ymmv. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798/68 "2001-10-12T00:08:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Grim\_Beaker \* > \*\*I’m still waiting for Lolo to answer bnorton’s clear and germane questions. ::Checks watch again:: Man… this better not make me miss ‘Friends’! \*\* I wish I could say that I was optimistic that he’ll get around to answering them. But from my other experiences with **Lolo** he tends to write things that he might not necessarily believe just to piss of Christians. I think he is being deliberately obtuse right now, just to get a rise out of folks. Doing a good job, too. The only reason I keep coming back is that they are, unfortunately, pretty amusing in a perverse masochistic sort of way. ---
**Author:** ![south333](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f9b8f/32.png) [@south333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/south333)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798/69 "2001-10-12T01:03:04Z")
[claps for lolo] It seems that we are unable to “impress” you Lolo. Sorry. It also seems that from the time that you opened this thread you did not want your mind to change, just to open a thread. I have not seen any valid questions besides “Impress me, I’m still not impressed”. I’m impressed by Buddah, I’m not Buddhist, but I’m impressed by him because there are a lot of people that follow his teachings, just like there are a lot of people that follow Jesus’ teachings. Thats fine if it doesn’t impress you, but then tell us all what does. Also, you have yet to answer valid questions asking for cites and specifics. Do you actually want to know more about Jesus and his teachings and/or why so many people believe what was written about him is true, or do you just want to see how many replies you can get? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798/70 "2001-10-12T05:26:44Z")
My earlier post contained this: > [@](#): > > So his other main message (the first main one being the bit about love and forgive and share) was therefore that Goodness, although it can be described and codified in a good Law, is always more important than and primary to the Law itself. Lolo says he ain’t impressed, but this was radical. It is STILL a radical sentiment. I bet we could start a seriously intense Great Debate right here on this message board about whether or not an encoded set of behavioral restrictions (such as our current body of law) should or should not receive more of our respect as the definition of “morality” than the abstract sense of “what is good” that that body of law attempts to delineate and describe. There is room to ask, here, if judges and juries ought to look beyond “yes the defendant did” or “no the defendant didn’t” do something that was prohibited by the law, and instead ask about whether it was good or evil in that particular case. There is room to ask whether or not Jesus of Nazareth intended that we suspend rigid adherence to the letter of the law (any law, by logical derivation, including our secular systems of today) and instead try to interpret the underlying intentions that went into the writing of the law, even as jury members and as citizens considering the advisability of a given act. The Sermon on the Plains / Mount stuff is inherently radical too. Is institutionalized punishment wrong? (Could we omit the enforcement of law and exist as a societ?) And how about the implementation of unquantified and unlimited sharing? (Is there any meaning or use for currency or an economic system as we know it if we are to share all resources and refrain from keeping track of debts altogether?) Was Jesus of Nazareth an anarchist? Can there exist a system of hierarchical authority in the absence of punishment for law violators and in the absence of control and distribution of resources by those in charge? And let us not omit a consideration of strategy. Did Jesus of Nazareth perhaps conspire in creating a situation in which the fundies had to consider doing him in as a law violator or else tacitly acknowledge the truth of what he was saying about the spirit versus the letter of the law? Did he bet his life on the notion that they couldn’t to it to him, only to die because they found a way of doing him in indirectly? Still impressed here. ---
**Author:** ![bagkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ab992/32.png) [@bagkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bagkitty)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798/71 "2001-10-12T05:29:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Libertarian \* > \*\*Plus, He inspired a great rock opera. \*\* Please be more sparing in the use of the word great. Also, learn the definition of rock, then the one for pop… decide which is more appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![the\_iconoclast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b38774/32.png) [@the\_iconoclast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_iconoclast)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798/72 "2001-10-12T05:37:38Z")
Jesus is not impressed with me. ---
**Author:** ![JonScribe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3be4f8/32.png) [@JonScribe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonScribe)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798/73 "2001-10-12T05:43:37Z")
Usually when one is unimpressed by something, one doesn’t dwell on the thing with which one is unimpressed. Spending so much time defending how unimpressed one is by something seems a little contradictory, or at least an attempt to convince yourself that you are, in fact, unimpressed. LoLo, your protests are, well, unimpressive. At least that’s the impression that I get. ---
**Author:** ![MrO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@MrO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrO)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798/74 "2001-10-12T07:04:17Z")
Personally, though I’m not a believer and I don’t buy all that miracle crap, I’m very impressed with Jesus. His fan club irritates me sometimes, but I think he was cool. Taken in context, what he said made sense. Of course he tended to speak in parables, which his friends took literally. The apostles were probably decent folks, but not necessarily the cream of the intellectual crop. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798/75 "2001-10-12T07:06:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by grimpixie \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Monty \* > > \*\*Grim: You evidently have not heard of Buddha. He was before Jesus of Nazareth and had a very large impact on world history. \*\* > > Touche - moot point as to who has had the MOST impact though… > > Gp \*\* Don’t forget Muhammed. He came 600 years later and already has more followers. ---
**Author:** ![Lolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f475e1/32.png) [@Lolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lolo)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798/76 "2001-10-12T16:02:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by emarkp \* > \*\* > (with a little clarification) > In the context of the premise of the Christian God, God knows what is needful and what isn’t, and hence you can’t make such claims (although you could reasonably make an argument as to why you think something is needful or not). > > I’ll also note that you utterly ignored the issue of death in the context of an afterlife. \*\* Hence, neither can you. Stop repeating what we already know. ---
**Author:** ![Lolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f475e1/32.png) [@Lolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lolo)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798/77 "2001-10-12T16:05:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Lolo \* > > \*\*I will address the rest of the posts in a moment. > > and will also be taking apologies… **MANGETOUT!** 😉 \*\* > > OK, if it helps, I’m sorry; I just don’t know why or what for. \*\* nothing really, juts slightly confusing the issue by referring to _that_ book, rather than the _NT_ or _not the OT_. apology accepted. ---
**Author:** ![Lolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f475e1/32.png) [@Lolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lolo)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798/78 "2001-10-12T16:14:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by emarkp \* > \*\*You know, I was trying to treat your inquiry as non-troll until now. You’ve rewritten my statement. I clearly stated that you don’t take the **premise** of the Christian God seriously. If you can’t take the premise of a debate seriously, then what is the purpose of the debate? I guess it’s just a rant. Very well then. As long as it’s clear that you’re ranting, not debating. \*\* what are you talking about? Taking the Christian God seriously? You are simply pissed b/c I am unimpressed by Jesus Cristo, and that’s all. What exactly is the **premise** of the Christian God? If it’s something I missed please let me know. If you’re going to say it’s a loving God, save it. I’ve got plenty of bible quotes to refute that one. Seriously, **emarkp** , I have no idea what you’re talking about when you suggest I’m not taking your invisible supernatural inconceiveable indefinable God seriously. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798/79 "2001-10-12T16:23:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Badtz Maru \* > \*\*Don’t forget Muhammed. He came 600 years later and already has more followers. \*\* Not quite. There are roughly a billion Muslims in the world. [http://kstatecollegian.com/issues/v102/sp/n127/news/news-mecca.richardson.html](http://kstatecollegian.com/issues/v102/sp/n127/news/news-mecca.richardson.html) [http://www.ekd.de/bulletin/2277\_2888.html](http://www.ekd.de/bulletin/2277_2888.html) [http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/00/0306/p/muslims.shtml](http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/00/0306/p/muslims.shtml) Among Christian denominations, Roman Catholicism alone has around a billion followers: [http://www.webseers.com/again/\_disc1/00000152.htm](http://www.webseers.com/again/_disc1/00000152.htm) Raw estimates as of 1993 (more recent estimates can be found in any almanac): [http://members.aol.com/porchfour/religion/populate.htm](http://members.aol.com/porchfour/religion/populate.htm) Christians: 1.8+ billion Muslims: 1.0+ billion ---
**Author:** ![emarkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798/80 "2001-10-12T16:26:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lolo \* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by emarkp \* > > (with a little clarification) > > In the context of the premise of the Christian God, God knows what is needful and what isn’t, and hence you can’t make such claims (although you could reasonably make an argument as to why you think something is needful or not). > > > > I’ll also note that you utterly ignored the issue of death in the context of an afterlife. > > Hence, neither can you. Oh, agreed. I have not made the assertions that you have, however, so it seemed to be more applicable to you. > [@](#): > > Stop repeating what we already know. Except that you don’t appear to already know it. And I’ll point out that you **still** ignore the issue of an afterlife. Sigh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-im-not-impressed/86798.md?page=5)