My 2 cents: 1. Mr Jesus, as each of us as well as everything in the multiverse, is part of God/Origin. Jesus himself did Not kill anyone according to the bible. Jesus did not say or accept/reply that "I am God", when he was asked by his followers. Jesus even instructed his followers not to fight back! 2. People killed people due to mainly anger and/or hatred (or else), that is against God's will/order. Expensive lesson for us to learn. A peaceful world, without any killing is God's will! Time/money/energy/strategy/policy should be used to attain this objective. 3. How organised religions used Jesus for attaining certain purposes is entirely another issue!
According to the edited Bible but Apocrypha say different. Gospel of Thomas 4:1 IV. 1 After that again he went through the village, and a child ran and dashed against his shoulder. And Jesus was provoked and said unto him: Thou shalt not finish thy course . And immediately he fell down and died. So Jesus goes apeshit and kills some punk kid just because he's what, head down, staring at his iphone not looking where he's going and knocks into the almighty son of God (who absurdly happens to also be God: John 10:30, “I and the Father are one.”) by accident. Charming. People often killed people and still do due to anger and hatred trying to enforce God's will. Seems to me a peaceful world stands some better chance without and despite this God's will stuff, not because of it.
cmon you know that is not the Jesus we read in the bible. He warned people against harming little kids... the gospel of Thomas is not in the bible. from wikipedia... The Gospel of Thomas is very different in tone and structure from other New Testament apocrypha and the four Canonical Gospels. Unlike the canonical Gospels, it is not a narrative account of the life of Jesus; instead, it consists of logia (sayings) attributed to Jesus, sometimes stand-alone, sometimes embedded in short dialogues or parables. The text contains a possible allusion to the death of Jesus in logion 65[9] (Parable of the Wicked Tenants, paralleled in the Synoptic Gospels), but doesn't mention his crucifixion, his resurrection, or the final judgment; nor does it mention a messianic understanding of Jesus.[10][11] Since its discovery, many scholars have seen it as evidence in support of the existence of the so-called Q source, which might have been very similar in its form as a collection of sayings of Jesus without any accounts of his deeds or his life and death, a so-called "sayings gospel".[12] Bishop Eusebius (AD 260/265 – 339/340) included it among a group of books that he believed to be not only spurious, but "the fictions of heretics". However, it is not clear whether he was referring to this Gospel of Thomas or one of the other texts attributed to Thomas.[13]
" Gospel of Thomas 4:1 "; perhaps the writer tried unwisely to make up a (stupid) story in order to tell others how powerful Jesus was! Just like saying that Jesus is able to walk on water. Or he can wake a dead person up after death! (People can find many similar stories about gods or ghosts or evils or kung-fu masters, Super-Man, Bat-Man, etc. in different cultures. Particularly asking a sick person to believe the special healing power described in this kind of stories, since medicines were not available/found nor invented yet.) Probably the writer should have Not used any killing as example for illustrating any mystical power of Jesus. Jesus is merely a normal human being, a learned person, heavily promoting God's will about equality, liberty and democracy among all and every individuals! Extremely Bravely against unpopular religions and cultural traditions of his era! Just 2 cents!
So if all the stuff about Jesus's super powers was made up as you say (walking on water and waking the dead, not to mention turning water into wine, feeding 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, healing the sick and rising from the dead himself), then who's to say that that's where the fabrication ended? Who's to say any reference to the supernatural in the Bible wasn't just woven from fertile imaginings? The Old Testament doesn't seem to be any more grounded in fact than the New one. People are skeptical of nonpartisan government reports and peer-reviewed science, but are willing to accept at face value a series of supernatural stories in a book fraught with inconsistency and dating back a few thousand years?! A book heavily edited by a dictator/emperor who had his own son executed and his wife essentially boiled alive because he feared they were plotting against him? Yeah, makes sense.
Parables, parables, parables, ... (Zen parables! http://detoxifynow.com/zen-and-sufi-parables/ Waking up the spiritual dead! Cure the spiritual blind! Walking on thin water still needs faith in yourself and careful mind! Preparation - Never wait too late and unprepared until requiring changing water to wine, you are not Jesus!) Jesus wants us to be like children - Unselfish! Was that parable a fact and miracle? Yes, it was highly probably a truthful fact and a miracle! The five thousand travellers/watchers are not stupid nor crazy, therefore nearly most of them bring with them enough food for their daily needs individually. But they are normally selfish so they simply hide their food skillfully as they don't want others who without bringing food to know, then to be asked for sharing. However, the specific child is young without a selfish mind/heart (Yet), therefore the child when asked is willing to show whatever available with her/his family in order to share with others, whether with or without her/his parents' knowledge/agreement. Finally when the five thousand travellers/watchers realise the natural act by this child, they Change. They change their mind and their heart through disclosing what kind of food they initially have carried/ hidden but now are willing to share the food with others. People nowadays should learn from the child's mind and act that changed the five thousand people for a new mind and heart with unselfish acts. Rather than merely reading an untouched/unmoved story about the supernatural power of Jesus! Then with absolutely minimum relevance in our daily life! Several days ago at night (cold), I saw/watched closely a couple intimately walking slowly pass a homeless person. The gentleman then bent his body for giving money to the homeless while saying softly something like "Good evening, have a nice day Mate!" His manner at that moment was just like talking to a friend of equal status. His act was so natural and friendly, full of warmth and respect, which is much much more valuable than the money given! It was a very touched scene to me for a long while! The homeless might be also touched too! Uplifting as well!
It's Biblical Apocrypha - ancient books found within ancient books later edited into a prescribed canon called the Bible. In Apocrypha, Jesus kills. Just as it is with the folk lore, stories, proverbs, fables, myths and riddles, these ancient bible books are said to be true when they fit a desired narrative, and false when they don't.
Only the fundamentalists stuck in the letters of the past! People nowadays need to find from religious writings/thinking/sayings/traditions their relevance in modern life - looking forwards positively and gracefully! The fundamentalists do it just the other way around!
"Newton's scientific findings" are still "believably true and good", and very useful! Science involves the development, modification and rejection of models, usually expressed mathematically. We now recognize that Newton's laws are consistent with a special case of the current model.
The bible is nothing but letters of the past! You're saying bible people who "need to find from religious writings/thinking/sayings/traditions their relevance in modern life".... ....are fundamentalists! It's noticeable how the religious like yourself do tend to talk in ever diminishing self-contradicting circles. Looking forward positively and gracefully without resorting to jesus,superstition and ....well....the nonsense of religion, is just so much more honest and dignified I suggest.