Bad Movie Logo
"A website to the detriment of good film"
Custom Search
HOMEB-MOVIE REVIEWSREADER REVIEWSFORUMINTERVIEWSUPDATESABOUT
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
March 29, 2024, 10:27:04 AM
713409 Posts in 53060 Topics by 7725 Members
Latest Member: wibwao
Badmovies.org Forum  |  Other Topics  |  Off Topic Discussion  |  Special Poll for Easter - WHO WAS JESUS OF NAZARETH? « previous next »
Poll
Question: Who or what do you think Jesus of Nazareth was?  (Voting closed: May 07, 2012, 03:39:23 PM)
The Son of God - 10 (43.5%)
A First Century Jewish Mystic - 1 (4.3%)
A Lunatic - 0 (0%)
A Prophet - 0 (0%)
Mainly a Myth - 6 (26.1%)
A First Century Political Revolutionary - 6 (26.1%)
A Misunderstood Rabbi - 0 (0%)
Total Voters: 18

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 6
Author Topic: Special Poll for Easter - WHO WAS JESUS OF NAZARETH?  (Read 20205 times)
indianasmith
Archeologist, Theologian, Elder Scrolls Addict, and a
B-Movie Kraken
*****

Karma: 2591
Posts: 15182


A good bad movie is like popcorn for the soul!


« on: April 07, 2012, 03:39:23 PM »

"Who do men say that I am?" Jesus asked his disciples once.
To this day, answers to that question vary.  There are a wide variety of viewpoints on this forum;
so I am interested in your answers.  I'm not going to try to convert you*, but I would like it if you
added why you think what you do about Him.
So - who was Jesus?












*much
Logged

"I shall smite you in the nostrils with a rod of iron, and wax your spleen with Efferdent!!"
indianasmith
Archeologist, Theologian, Elder Scrolls Addict, and a
B-Movie Kraken
*****

Karma: 2591
Posts: 15182


A good bad movie is like popcorn for the soul!


« Reply #1 on: April 07, 2012, 03:42:01 PM »

I'll reply first to my own poll.
I believe He was the Son of God, as most of you know if you've been here any time at all.
The four Gospels in our Bible were all written well within the lifetime of the eyewitnesses,
and the events they describe, and the teachings of Jesus they record, all sound like the Son
of God to me.  To top it off, I am convinced the Resurrection is a real historical event, and
if He truly returned to life after being flayed with a whip, nailed to a cross, and skewered with
a spear, then Who else could He be?


Your turn!
Logged

"I shall smite you in the nostrils with a rod of iron, and wax your spleen with Efferdent!!"
lester1/2jr
B-Movie Kraken
*****

Karma: 1110
Posts: 12271



WWW
« Reply #2 on: April 07, 2012, 03:56:31 PM »

I don't know. the thing I think most about Jesus is something Andrew Greely said. While we all know Jesus today,  in his own time he was in a sense irrelvent.  He was saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand while people were arguing about the roman occupation, the end times, and how to interpret biblical law. He was above the fray in other words. His message was the real message, not the political message. 
Logged
Allhallowsday
B-Movie Kraken
*****

Karma: 2280
Posts: 20726


Either he's dead or my watch has stopped!


« Reply #3 on: April 07, 2012, 04:35:35 PM »

Are those the only choices?  Could your answers be limiting?  Or repetitive?
Logged

If you want to view paradise . . . simply look around and view it!
Jack
B-Movie Kraken
*****

Karma: 1141
Posts: 10327



« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2012, 04:39:22 PM »

A guy who, like many others of the time, was dissatisfied with the religious establishment and its corruption.  He also had, again like many others, some religious/political ideas that differed from the mainstream, so he gained his own following.  And I think it can't be denied that he really liked to be the center of attention.   Smile

Kind of amazing really - considering how many people back then were doing the exact same thing, they were forgotten while he rose to be a defining figure in Western civilization.
Logged

The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.

- Paulo Coelho
RCMerchant
Bela
B-Movie Kraken
*****

Karma: 0
Posts: 30441


"Charlie,we're in HELL!"-"yeah,ain't it groovy?!"


WWW
« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2012, 04:41:49 PM »

Hmmmm...I dunno.
A dead guy a lotta people get on their knees and pray to.
Logged

"Supernatural?...perhaps. Baloney?...Perhaps not!" Bela Lugosi-the BLACK CAT (1934)
Interviewer-"Does Dracula ever end for you?
Lugosi-"No. Dracula-never ends."

Slobber, Drool, Drip!
https://www.tumblr.com/ronmerchant
Flick James
Frightening Fanatic of Horrible Cinema
****

Karma: 489
Posts: 4642


Honorary Bastard of Arts


« Reply #6 on: April 07, 2012, 05:01:54 PM »

Indy, out of respect for the Easter holiday, I will do naught but cast my vote. You and I have gotten into this before. If you truly would like to discuss it again, I will be happy to via PM.
Logged

I don't always talk about bad movies, but when I do, I prefer badmovies.org
indianasmith
Archeologist, Theologian, Elder Scrolls Addict, and a
B-Movie Kraken
*****

Karma: 2591
Posts: 15182


A good bad movie is like popcorn for the soul!


« Reply #7 on: April 07, 2012, 05:42:59 PM »

I respect your choice, but I do hope you know I find your beliefs more fascinating than offensive!

I meant to add the choice of "a great natural philosopher" to the poll, but I forgot.  Thomas Jefferson once referred to Jesus as the "greatest natural philosopher who ever lived."
Logged

"I shall smite you in the nostrils with a rod of iron, and wax your spleen with Efferdent!!"
RCMerchant
Bela
B-Movie Kraken
*****

Karma: 0
Posts: 30441


"Charlie,we're in HELL!"-"yeah,ain't it groovy?!"


WWW
« Reply #8 on: April 07, 2012, 05:51:13 PM »

I respect your choice, but I do hope you know I find your beliefs more fascinating than offensive!

I meant to add the choice of "a great natural philosopher" to the poll, but I forgot.  Thomas Jefferson once referred to Jesus as the "greatest natural philosopher who ever lived."

I'll agree with the philosopher part-he was a smart man-waaay ahead of his time in his thoughts. And a good man.
Logged

"Supernatural?...perhaps. Baloney?...Perhaps not!" Bela Lugosi-the BLACK CAT (1934)
Interviewer-"Does Dracula ever end for you?
Lugosi-"No. Dracula-never ends."

Slobber, Drool, Drip!
https://www.tumblr.com/ronmerchant
claws
Guest
« Reply #9 on: April 07, 2012, 10:32:15 PM »

Hmmmm...I dunno.
A dead guy a lotta people get on their knees and pray to.

I'm with RC, but I guess the hip thing to say is he was a "Zombie". But I'm no hipster.
Logged
Mofo Rising
Global Moderator
Frightening Fanatic of Horrible Cinema
****

Karma: 460
Posts: 3222


My cat can eat a whole watermelon!


WWW
« Reply #10 on: April 08, 2012, 03:13:30 AM »

I went with "A First Century Political Revolutionary" as the most likely answer to who Jesus was.

What Jesus has become is a far more interesting topic. I view the idea of "Jesus" as a human construct that has become an incredibly loaded zeitgeist of idea and meaning. Of course, if you've been here any time at all, you know that I do not believe any of the religious ideas that have sprung up around him as being "true."

However, "Jesus" is one of the prime movers of history and human consciousness over the past few millenia. In that sense, the historical truth does not matter, the effect of the idea of Jesus is much more powerful than what the reality may have been. The idea is now a greater reality than the truth could be.

But that's my take, and I certainly don't want to convert anybody to my way of looking at things*.





*much
Logged

Every dead body that is not exterminated becomes one of them. It gets up and kills. The people it kills, get up and kill.
bob
I survived Bucky Larson
Frightening Fanatic of Horrible Cinema
****

Karma: 732
Posts: 8916


Torgo watches you masterbate!


« Reply #11 on: April 08, 2012, 10:52:08 AM »

I went with a myth -- just my personal belief, however that does not mean that that idea of a Jesus-like figure or Jesus himself cannot inspire people to live better lives or to evaluate their lives. In fact I believe that to be the case with many religious folks.
Logged

Kubrick, Nolan, Tarantino, Wan, Iñárritu, Scorsese, Chaplin, Abrams, Wes Anderson, Gilliam, Kurosawa - the elite



I believe in the international communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.
Zapranoth
Eye of Sauron and
Frightening Fanatic of Horrible Cinema
****

Karma: 256
Posts: 1405



« Reply #12 on: April 08, 2012, 09:31:55 PM »

I respect your choice, but I do hope you know I find your beliefs more fascinating than offensive!

I meant to add the choice of "a great natural philosopher" to the poll, but I forgot.  Thomas Jefferson once referred to Jesus as the "greatest natural philosopher who ever lived."

I'll agree with the philosopher part-he was a smart man-waaay ahead of his time in his thoughts. And a good man.

The trouble with this point of view is that he can't be a good man who claimed to be God.

He DID claim to be God become man.  Many times and in many ways he stated this.

So is he a "good" man who falsely claimed to be God?  (Some of the most dangerous people in history have been people who declared themselves to be God.)   You can't claim to be God (and not be) and still be by any definition "good."

So he was God, or he wasn't.  It's true or false, really simple.  He *was* God, and he was a good man (as I believe), or else he was most, most definitively NOT a good man, because in the other case he'd be a tremendous liar.

Not trying to attack you personally, RC.  I  think you have seen me around here enough to know that I care about you and would not attack you personally even in word.  But I've heard that particular point of view and I just have to pipe up.  Most of the stuff we argue in this world is not of any long term consequence.  On the internet, that is trebly the case.  But this point is, pardon my awesome understatement, important.
Logged
Rev. Powell
Global Moderator
B-Movie Kraken
****

Karma: 3100
Posts: 26776


Click on that globe for 366 Weird Movies


WWW
« Reply #13 on: April 08, 2012, 10:17:56 PM »


So he was God, or he wasn't.  It's true or false, really simple.  He *was* God, and he was a good man (as I believe), or else he was most, most definitively NOT a good man, because in the other case he'd be a tremendous liar.


That seems a false dichotomy. I can think of at least five other possibilities under which Jesus could be a good man and not be the son of God.

1. A man could be good but be deluded.
2. Maybe Jesus never claimed to be the Son of God, and this is only a claim his disciples made for him after his death.
3. His divinity could be a "noble lie," known to be literally untrue, although it is believed that more good will come from telling the lie than from telling the truth.
4. Jesus was speaking metaphorically and not literally.
5. Jesus was misunderstood and misquoted by his disciples.
Logged

I'll take you places the hand of man has not yet set foot...
indianasmith
Archeologist, Theologian, Elder Scrolls Addict, and a
B-Movie Kraken
*****

Karma: 2591
Posts: 15182


A good bad movie is like popcorn for the soul!


« Reply #14 on: April 08, 2012, 11:59:46 PM »

The first possibility - that Jesus was a good but deluded person who sincerely believed in His Godhood - is certainly plausible.  I don't buy it, but it would make sense.

2 and 5 are fairly similar, and have been posited by a number of skeptical scholars over the years. But there is no motivation for 2, and no real reason to believe 3 - especially when we consider the early dates for the three synoptic Gospels.
4 - That one is hard to make a case for. Again, assuming the quotes are accurate, Jesus claimed to be divine in pretty clear and unambiguous terms. He forgave sins, accepted worship, said that He would judge the dead on the last day, and claimed to have known Abraham and others who lived long before He was born.
3 - a "noble lie" - I have a hard time with.  A group of men who were too cowardly to defend Jesus when He was arrested, or to stand by His side as he died, suddenly cooked up this story and were willing to face a martyr's death for something they KNEW to be false?  And what "greater good" would their lie really accomplish if it encouraged people to entrust their souls to something that was fundamentally false?
As for 5, I think that is the case that many modern critics, from Bart Ehrman to the "Jesus Seminar," have tried to make -that the Gospel writers got it wrong. There I think you again have to look at it from this perspective - the Biblical gospels are the earliest, and most reliable, accounts of Jesus' life we have.  Everything else dates from much, much later, long after the eyewitnesses were dead. The earliest Gnostic Gospels, those attributed to Thomas and Judas, are both between AD 150 and 200.  That's 120 years, minimum, after the crucifixion.  Matthew, Mark, and Luke were most likely all composed before 70 AD, and probably a decade or so before that.  That puts them well within the lifetime of the ones who knew Jesus.  In short, if the Biblical gospels do not present an accurate picture of Jesus, then no such picture exists.  They are the best we have to go on.
I think, in evaluating the claims of Jesus, you eventually come back to the trilemma first pointed out by C.S. Lewis - Jesus of Nazareth may have been a liar, or a lunatic, or the Lord.  But a good man He was not.
Logged

"I shall smite you in the nostrils with a rod of iron, and wax your spleen with Efferdent!!"
Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 6
Badmovies.org Forum  |  Other Topics  |  Off Topic Discussion  |  Special Poll for Easter - WHO WAS JESUS OF NAZARETH? « previous next »
    Jump to:  


    RSS Feed Subscribe Subscribe by RSS
    Email Subscribe Subscribe by Email


    Popular Articles
    How To Find A Bad Movie

    The Champions of Justice

    Plan 9 from Outer Space

    Manos, The Hands of Fate

    Podcast: Todd the Convenience Store Clerk

    Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

    Dragonball: The Magic Begins

    Cool As Ice

    The Educational Archives: Driver's Ed

    Godzilla vs. Monster Zero

    Do you have a zombie plan?

    FROM THE BADMOVIES.ORG ARCHIVES
    ImageThe Giant Claw - Slime drop

    Earth is visited by a GIANT ANTIMATTER SPACE BUZZARD! Gawk at the amazingly bad bird puppet, or chuckle over the silly dialog. This is one of the greatest b-movies ever made.

    Lesson Learned:
    • Osmosis: os·mo·sis (oz-mo'sis, os-) n., 1. When a bird eats something.

    Subscribe to Badmovies.org and get updates by email:

    HOME B-Movie Reviews Reader Reviews Forum Interviews TV Shows Advertising Information Sideshows Links Contact

    Badmovies.org is owned and operated by Andrew Borntreger. All original content is © 1998 - 2014 by its respective author(s). Image, video, and audio files are used in accordance with the Fair Use Law, and are property of the film copyright holders. You may freely link to any page (.html or .php) on this website, but reproduction in any other form must be authorized by the copyright holder.