This question was on another forum, and I am interested to know what people think about just what Jesus said to others, aside from the miracles and healings. Do you think he gave good advice to people or good moral teachings - or if not, why not?
if you don't believe that Jesus was God, do you think what he said to others was good or not?
- Thread starter hippo
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There are a lot of things he said that line up with my religion. In fact, there are things that he took from rabbis that predated him, so yeah, it seems like good stuff. I think people take it to ludicrous extremes like letting people walk all over them so they can "turn the other cheek".
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awitch
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I'm sure I'm not familiar with all of the things Jesus has been told to have said, but I can recall a few horrifying passages for which I would respond with a resounding 'no'. I'm not sure I can point them out without violating the rules, though.
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Jesus was giving the same advice as other contemporary Jewish teachers were giving during the same time period.
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I don't exactly know much of what he said (since I don't believe the Bible is authoritative/completely accurate), but I do believe he gave good moral advice purely on the basis of him being a Messenger of God (among the 5 greatest, in fact). I don't need to know what he said in order to believe this.
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Jesus was teaching His followers on how to be a more human, Human Being through Love, Compassion and Service to those in need, while seeing the Divine in everyone. That's pretty good advice, I'd say.
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Perhaps to a small extent, but not overall. There is too much world hatred and pining for the afterlife.
There also isn't enough self-love in his message. The most we seem to get is that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, but it is unclear just how much self-love is justified. It seems to be something we should feel guilty about, and that sacrifice is the rule.
The idea that we commit adultery just by thinking naughty thoughts about people we aren't married to is also a recipe for needless guilt. Yes, this kind of advice can be rationalized into something almost rational (such as suggesting that we simply shouldn't nourish an obsessive attraction to someone), but that's not clearly the interpretation intended.
One has to water down the teachings quite a bit to make them good advice. For example, "Be excellent to each other", but the philosophers Bill and Ted have that covered.
eudaimonia,
Mark
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I agree that being told to 'deny yourself' and then 'love others as yourself can be confusing!
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I'm quite sure that even through his criticism Jesus saw the activity of the Divine with in the Pharisees.
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Many of his teachings were good stuff but I can't claim to be 100% on board without knowing them all.
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If we take the Pharisees as a symbol for the rigidly legalistic, rather than another name for Rabbinical Judaism, then Jesus words make sense. When God is restricted to your own little box, no one is going to see the divine in you.
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