OTWO,
I don't dismiss the OT at all. I dismiss the parts of the OT that contradict the truth of Christ, as being false. Because Christ is the truth. Even the bible says that, so even if your faith is based purely on the bible, you should come to the same conclusion. IMO. We know that men mess up and twist/distort the truth, sometimes to their own ends, sometimes based on misunderstandings. We know this because it happens now, and we can see that just by taking a look around the world.
I'll answer each of your questions with what I believe in this form, I guess:
DId Jesus come from the heavenly realms as Christianity and the Bible seem to indicate?
I believe so.
Was he just an enlightened man like the stories of Buddha seem to indicate?
I believe he was an enlightened man, but more... so not just, no.
Where do you draw the line on myth and fact?
I don't know. I keep an open mind on any story being myth or fact in the OT, and instead concentrate on the moral being relayed from the story. As for Christ, I concentrate on what He taught us. How to love. How to act. How to see His Father, and the truth.
Why?
Because I don't know for sure which is supposed to be myth, and which is supposed to be fact. I don't think it matters, because the moral or lesson remains the same... though we don't always grasp that, or we have different ideas about it. But that would be the same whether the story was myth or fact, anyway.
I also don't know for sure which stories the Israelites considered myth or fact. Or even, for that matter, which ones Christ considered myth or fact. Because it was the lesson inside the story that mattered.
If Jesus was "from God," did he quote the Bible as if it were not myth or is that part of the myth?
See above, I think. Christ could have quoted facts... and he could also have quoted myth, knowing the people understood that it was the moral that mattered. Even if they thought something was real when it was myth, he could just have been using something that they could understand. All of these things, I keep in mind.
I do, however, tend to believe that if he quoted something, it is real. But I understand that the above things might also be true.
Jesus quoted from scripture, though (as a side note), which all of the bible is not.
How do we distinguish where Jesus ends and Christ begins?
I don't know what you mean. How did the man become the christ?
By his teachings and his example, by God, and also by the fulfillment of scripture (though that is more for our benefit, I think). If this is what you were asking, that is.
The whole "virgin birth" story and fulfillment of OT scriptures thing was nicely written to boost the myth.
Yes, perhaps in some instances. I have to think that some quotes were added in to boost 'credulity', but those instances are easy to spot. Sort of like what the WTS does, adding in a quote that has nothing to do with what the passage is talking about. But I don't need those few scriptures added in to see, and I wish they had not been added in as 'padding'. Christ stands without them.
I'm not certain that the virgin birth is necessary, or if it is padding, or if it is a myth carried into Christianity from other sources (and we know that did happen in other things, such as Christmas). But nothing hinges on it, imo, so I am content to let it be something I don't know, and concentrate on the things that matter: Christ's teaching and example.
Without such writings being more than myth, was Jesus any more worthy of a following than Buddha or Confusicous or Lao Tzu?
If Christ was just a myth (and even if not), then the people who follow him will be those who respond to what he had to say... same as the others above. I do think that there is a lot of peace and serenity in buddhism, as taught by those above. I just don't think that buddhism promotes love in as strong a way as Christ, and the peace is more of a detached one in buddhism, whereas with Christ it is more active. These are just my impressions, and what I learned for myself.
Hope I answered everything. I didn't realize that I had been giving the impression that I thought the OT was a myth. I don't. Just some stories in it perhaps- like parables or fables - and some exaggerations as well, as legends tend to be written as... and that has to be expected of ANY history from those times, and other cultures.
Tammy
