rationalskepticism.org

Animavore wrote:I don't think the charge of "subverting a nation" is as big a deal as you're making out at all. Jesus wasn't the only Messianic pretender to have been executed for similar crimes at the time.
Also quoting the Bible doesn't really cut it for me. The claims are likely over-blown given they were written a long time after the fact by people with vested interest.

O.K. I can see why you would doubt the bible. But that's quite a different point. Sure, you can dampen down the Jesus from the bible and then say he's boring and not revolutionary. But you're not talking about the Jesus of the bible any more - you're talking of your own version of Jesus that you've reduced from what you might consider "over-blown" in the bible.

As for the claim that "subverting the nation" and being crucified for it being not too big a deal. I doubt you'd think the same if it happened to you. Also, look what happened. This wasn't someone who was some minor renegade who would disappear into history. This is a man who shaped Western history for the following two thousand years, and who continues to shape worldwide history. Lots of people see a huge significance in the person of Jesus. If you can't see why yet then why not spend some quiet time reading or re-reading the Gospels. Keep an eye out for all the interactions where tension is building - you might then start to see how Jesus was turning Judaism upside down. Read the parables while bringing to mind what the Jewish mind set of his time was. But also consider the person Jesus as described in the bible - a man resurrected from the dead. Now you might think it's wrong, but boring it ain't. If it were true would it not be exciting? Or consider the words of John the Baptist, "Here comes the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world". Is that Biblical Jesus, a person who can take away the sin of the world, boring? No, of course that isn't boring! Or what if the origin is as the Bible describes - a man who's father is God and whose mother is a virgin? You might find that difficult to believe, but it's hardly boring if it's true! Or what about raising Lazarus from the dead? Boring? Of course not!

I suspect the Jesus you find boring is not the Jesus of the bible. How can anyone whose Father is God, whose mother is a virgin, who always existed, who takes away the sin of the world, who heals the sick and raises the dead to life, who walks on water, who is seen as subverting a nation, is crucified and is raised three days later before then ascending into heaven be boring?! I think you could consider the portrayal of Jesus as fiction, but if that's boring then the rest of us have very little chance of being considered remotely interesting.

But you did say "I mean the geezer in the Bible as portrayed?". You now seem to be changing your argument to something different.