Would you have followed Jesus

by JH 48 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Narkissos

  Interesting question, but fraught with multiple problems.

  - what would remain of "I" in another time period, culture, language I have no idea...

  - which "Jesus" are we talking about? -- Matthew's, Mark's, Luke's, John's, Thomas', or some other "historical Jesus" might have attracted widely different personalities imo...

  It remains that it's a completely different thing to relate positively to the supposed founder of a respectable 2,000 year-old religion -- let alone a more or less "divine" character -- and to follow an obscure, controversial leader in his underground journey. The psychological profile of the early disciple would be better found in "terrorist" training camps in Afghanistan than in the average Western Christian church imho.
• 

  kid-A

  Probably not. But I probably would have been at some of those wild "wine, bread and fish" parties I read about. I hear they were the "keggers" of the holy land!

  A dude that can turn water into wine? I am sooooo there! LOL....
• 

  Midget-Sasquatch

  Crumpet

  Hopefully you can see the scans of the invitation. Not sure which image of Jesus Journey-On liked so I included front and back. If its the front, then she probably likes the strong silent type
• 

  Tyrone van leyen

  I was enamoured with Jesus even as a full fledged witness. Don't ask me why but I admired him greatly. If this man really existed, I certainly would follow him. That's the problem though, I have a hard time beleiving this. I would want proof now that he exists. Would you follow a figment of my imagination?
• 

  veradico

  I don't think Jesus taught anything ethical that one could not find among the philosophers and rabbis, if one were educated enough and willing to draw eclectically from the various belief systems. It’s the ethical stuff I appreciate the most. However, Jesus fundamentally was an apocalyptic teacher. Sure there’s a certain appeal to the teaching that the last will become first, that the meek, the lowly, the poor, the uneducated, the women, etc. will inherit the earth. But it’s all based on the idea that the end of the world was coming within his generation and that some of his followers would be alive when the divine Son of Man from the book of Daniel came from heaven and that they would be judged based on how they lived in response to his message (esp. by how they treated those in need (Matthew 25:31-46). Note that they are not judged based on their belief in Jesus’ sacrifice for their sins.)—Mark 8:38. I realize that the later tradition, after people thought Jesus rose from the dead and, in doing this, began the defeat of the wicked cosmic forces which marks the beginning of the End, identifies Jesus with the Son of Man figure, but I think passages like the one in Mark indicate that Jesus thought otherwise. Anyway, my point is that Jesus’ message and the “Gospel” of the other early Christians was fundamentally apocalyptic. This is slowly modified in the tradition as the End kept delaying. I would hope that I would not be drawn in by another apocalyptic prophet.
• 

  Crumpet

  Midget Sas - thank you for scanning and posting that. I have to say he looks distinctly aristocratic in a bad way - like he's got the British Stiff Upper L:ip thing going on and actually looks a bit bored. Not my type at all.

  But in picture 2 he has filled out and got softer features - much more fanciable!

  I would follow Jesus if he wanted to date me!
• 

  LittleToe

  I'd like to be able to say "to hell and back", but Peter said something similar, and look what happened to him - caved at the first hurdle!
• 

  Midget-Sasquatch

  All depends on who Jesus really was and on what really happened back then. At least thats what I like to tell myself. I think though that my general apathy would very likely be a major hurdle to my doing anything.
• 

  Leolaia

  Thanks for scanning that indeed. I have noticed that oftentimes I miss scans and interesting letters or documents that people post because it is buried in some other thread, or in a thread whose title didn't catch my attention. Wouldn't it be nice to have a thread in the "Announcements" folder called "Scans" and each time someone posts something of note they can also post a link to the thread in the "Scans" thread? That would be a great way for someone to check to see if there is something new.

  (Sorry for going off topic!)