Why didn't Jesus write his own book?

[peaceful soul]

Odd, I find this to be picky. Matthew 5:27-30 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

This was a fuller meaning of the passage. It makes perfect sense that thoughts are just as indicting as acts. It is the thoughts that lead to the acts. You can not act unless you first have it in your mind. In that context, I see no problem with Matthew.


From a Christian perspective, we do come to understand the extention of what Jesus was relaying. One of the problems that Christians see in relation to OT is that Jews mainly followed the literal law rather than the spiritual aspect. I believe that nearer to the time the Mosaic law was given, there was more of a true comformity to the spiritual aspect of the law than at the time of Jesus or even today.

From a Christian perspective, unfortunately, the law, as Jews understood or taught, was not presented in the fullness of its meaning as Jesus pointed out. That is why I see what Jesus taught (above) to be the rightful interpretation of the Law and not a contradictory additon. Of course you and other will argue in opposition.

 

[arunma]

I read somehwere that Jesus was illiterate???? Im not sure if this is true, I think I saw it on the history channel. If thats true, it would explain why his apostoles had to write for him.

We can be sure that Christ was definitely not illiterate. St. Luke 4:17-20 records that he performed the reading of the Law in a synagoguge service, which indicates that he certainly knew how to read.

Most all the yogis before and after his time wrote their own teachings.

So why didn't jesus do so?

Because Jesus isn't a yogi. As has already been said, if you were to falsely portray Jesus as a yogi, then you may as well misportray him in any other way you wish.

 

[Martinez]

I read somehwere that Jesus was illiterate???? Im not sure if this is true, I think I saw it on the history channel. If thats true, it would explain why his apostoles had to write for him.

Dude!

Jesus was a Rabbi and qualified to teach the law!
not just that, He was pretty damned good at it!

 

[JRNetwork]

Lol yea I kinda did that on a "spur of the moment", didn't really think that true. I should really stop posting while watching the simpsons...

 

[Girly3302]

Jesus did not have enough time to write a book. He knew his ministry would be short.
After his death he sent his Spirit into the apostles to write the New Testament for him.

 

[JRNetwork]

Jesus was also against the strict Jewish law which was followed to the word. He left us with a community before he left us with a book, because [I believe] he intended for a united Christian church and not simply Jews with extra rules.

 

[evange]

Jesus was sent to earth to die for our sins, not to write about it.

 

[PastorMikeJ]

before I get to the real answer....Jesus read scriptures on the Sabbath so He could read....

Why did He have to write a book???

 

[urnotme]

Most all the yogis before and after his time wrote their own teachings.

So why didn't jesus do so? I think that if Jesus would have wrote his own teachings, he would have be understood better IMHO.

http://www.tektonics.org/gk/jeswrite.html
The prevalence of orality over writing in ancient society. Today transmitting something orally is considered equal with not relaying it in a trustworthy manner, and we demand to see things "in writing" before we believe them. As hard as it may seem to believe, exactly the opposite was true in ancient times!
Ancient literacy was no higher than 10 percent at any given time, so the primary method of communication was oral. Memory capabilities were correspondingly much stronger, so that it can not be said that oral transmission was unreliable, or that because something was important, it "ought to have been written down". Neither Jesus nor anyone else in ancient society would share this modern sentiment

 

[Reveille]

True religion cannot be expressed in words, it can only be seen and lived. Jesus saw and lived and did not write.

It was Paul who converted the religion that had raised one man above sin and death into a religion that delivered millions of men so completely into their dominion that their own common nature became a horror to them, and the religious life became a denial of life. Paul succeeded in stealing the image of Christ crucified for the figure-head of his Salvationist vessel, with its Adam posing as the natural man, its doctrine of penalties for evil, and its damnation avoidable only by faith in the sacrifice of the cross. In fact, no sooner had Jesus knocked over the dragon of superstition than Paul boldly set it on its legs again in the name of Jesus.

 

[urnotme]

I see.

So is there a reason Jesus did not "write" his own teahings? As far as I understand there is not one book or even so one word in the Bible written by Jesus himself, why is that?

I wonder if Jesus could even read and write, could he?

If he had written one would you believe it? I don't think it makes any difference to hindus if he even existed because he's not in your scripture but the vedas existed in oral form for a while before it was written.Why wasn't it written down earlier than it was? It doesn't make any difference to a non christian what jesus wrotee and what he did not write, if you are not going to believe it you probably won't believe it if we said he wrote the whole bible.

 

[Balbatish]

Hello Mike

before I get to the real answer....Jesus read scriptures on the Sabbath so He could read....

Doesn't make the case for me, to be honest. Jesus was born and raised, out of Galilee, an area known for high rates of illliteracy and given the distance from Jerusalem, the province capital, it's no wonder.

Second, the text from Luke 4 raises the brow (fore-shadowing of my thrid point!). When Jesus quotes from Isaiah, he does so from a text unknown to the era. A side by side comparison of what Jesus reads from the torah scroll, with the Masoretic and the Great Isaiah Scroll from Quamron (1QIsa ), Jesus was clearly ( to me ) quoting a source that didn't exist in the area;
http://www.messiahtruth.com/luke.html

Third, the text in Luke says the congregation attempts to throw Jesus over a brow of a hill. Well, the archleogical site of Nazereth was on a gentle slope, and doesn't begin to adhere to the description given in Luke. Infact, a Syngauge is yet to excavated at the said site....

Food for thought bro

 

[elijah115]

I read somehwere that Jesus was illiterate???? Im not sure if this is true, I think I saw it on the history channel. If thats true, it would explain why his apostoles had to write for him.

smh, Luke 4:16-20



16He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."[a] 20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him,

John 8:6-8



6They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.


it's a good idea not to look headless in front of people looking to trample your beliefs

 

[elijah115]

Sherlock Holmes was a fictional character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

[sarcasm]I had always thought he was real and lived on Baker Street[/sarcasm]

peepnklown, what use is insulting Jesus like that? IF he's indeed fictional, doesn't it make you bunkers to insult who you dont believe in?

 

[polygone]

[sarcasm]peepnklown, what use is insulting Jesus like that? IF he's indeed fictional, doesn't it make you bunkers to insult who you dont believe in?

Heh, have you never seen people criticize a book or a character in one ?

 

[elijah115]

Jesus was also against the strict Jewish law which was followed to the word. He left us with a community before he left us with a book, because [I believe] he intended for a united Christian church and not simply Jews with extra rules.

partially feasible interpretations.. rather the Jews no longer followed the original law like Honour your father and mother.. and stoning both the adulterer AND the adulteress.. swearing by the gold on the altar rather than the altar.. etc.. be sure to say it as it is written.. otherwise you'll tramp yourself.. if you say something that isnt written

 

[elijah115]

True religion cannot be expressed in words, it can only be seen and lived. Jesus saw and lived and did not write.

It was Paul who converted the religion that had raised one man above sin and death into a religion that delivered millions of men so completely into their dominion that their own common nature became a horror to them, and the religious life became a denial of life. Paul succeeded in stealing the image of Christ crucified for the figure-head of his Salvationist vessel, with its Adam posing as the natural man, its doctrine of penalties for evil, and its damnation avoidable only by faith in the sacrifice of the cross. In fact, no sooner had Jesus knocked over the dragon of superstition than Paul boldly set it on its legs again in the name of Jesus.

I dont see how Paul contradicts Christ. Obviously, you dont understand the spiritual things with your heart. You seem to be reading the bible like a story book with just letters on the page.

 

[evange]

I think the fact that Jesus did not write the Bible as adding to His humbleness, holiness, and legitamacy.

What would you think if a human wrote a book in which he claimed he as God?

What would you think if a group of people all wrote books talking about the great things that that same man did, and claimed that he was God?

In the first case, I'd just assume he as a self obsorbed nut job. In the latter, I wouldent dismiss it so readily.

 

[polygone]

What would you think if a group of people all wrote books talking about the great things that that same man did, and claimed that he was God?

Bunch of superstitious and mislead people with no logic?

 

[evange]

Bunch of superstitious and mislead people with no logic?

But that's exactly it, How could so many people in different locations and at different times conspire to create a story and have it never contradict itself and fit so perfectly well together. It coulden't be done. Which is why I believe that the Bible is nothing other than truth and is the inspired word of God.