JesusLikesYourButt, 1 year ago

I think the New Testament is mostly garbage that is filled with stories/ideas that are very much up to personal Interpretation, exactly how I view the other Abrahamic faiths. Each of the Gospels has their own interpretation of Jesus and their own agenda to push.

Jesus absolutely never ever refuted or went against the Torah in the Gospels. People accused him of it, but that’s only their interpretation of the law that he broke, not his own. He just didn’t want people to be burdened needlessly by the law, that’s all. Jewish sects of the time were fighting over semantics and interpretation of the Torah.

They fought about things like, what constituted working on the Sabbath? Could you go into your farm and pick some fruit on the Sabbath, or would that be a form of work. Some Jews would say ‘fuck yes that’s work bitch’. Jesus thought that YHWY created the sabbath to help and benefit humankind, and that it was silly to look at such small details while bigger details, like human suffering, went ignored.

Same as Christian sects do today, over the same kind of bullshit too.

I don’t believe in anything supernatural at all. I think Jesus of nazareth was a nutter who thought his God was going to swoop in and make him king and get rid of the Roman’s oppressing his homeland and people, but got executed as an enemy of the state. He also had some tasty views on rich people, so overall cool dude in my book. Fuck the Roman’s.

Christianity started out as a Jewish sect by the way. Christianity became anti-jewish over time because they couldn’t convince Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. Probably because the Jewish Messiah was supposed to be a grand warrior figure that was going to overthrow the Roman’s and Jesus was executed by the Roman’s in one of the most dehumanizing and humiliating ways they had. Its why gentiles were easier to convert than Jews, they didn’t have explain that away.

You should read up on the historical Jesus, Bart Ehrman is my absolute favorite author on the New Testament and the Historical Jesus. Israel Finklestein has a delightful book on the historical side of the Hebrew Bible, I think the Great Courses Plus has a lecture series on that as well.

Here’s a YouTube Playlist from Bart Ehrmans lecture series on the historical Jesus, it is missing the best episodes sadly, but still great. People can get the full thing on audible, it’s so worth it.

Edit: I miss r/askbiblescholars so bad 😫 I miss you RIF