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So why did they call Him "Rabbi?" It seems that some people here don't know very much about Jewish culture, which had one of the highest literacy rates in the ancient world. Oh well.
As far as the OP, The Hebrews HAD a book and look what they did with it. Heck, look what has been done with the book Jesus DIDN'T write. How many thousand denominations arguing about what it means?
Jesus promised a Spirit to guide and taught and demonstrated the nature OF that Spirit; Believe it or not, it works for those willing to follow that Guide using that character to check.
We have non-eyewitness accounts called "gospels" that claim people called him Rabbi. We don't know what they called him, only what people who wrote decades later claimed he was called.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nateswift
Heck, look what has been done with the book Jesus DIDN'T write. How many thousand denominations arguing about what it means?
Jesus promised a Spirit to guide and taught and demonstrated the nature OF that Spirit; Believe it or not, it works for those willing to follow that Guide using that character to check.
If the promised Spirit taught people Truth then he did a lousy job because as you yourself admit ... there are thousands of denominations arguing about what the scriptures mean.
I think the world would be a better, saner place, if most folks recognized that Jesus - even if a composite - exists among the pantheon of Humans Who Changed Stuff Significantly.
He'd be rubbing shoulders with the dude (or dudette) who harnessed fire, invented the wheel, figured out the power of levers, Newton, Da Vinci, Shakespeare, Einstein, Ricky Gervais et al.
Jesus promised a Spirit to guide and taught and demonstrated the nature OF that Spirit; Believe it or not, it works for those willing to follow that Guide using that character to check.
It seems to be too much work to test the Spirit of everything written to determine which actually comes from God or Jesus. It tickles the ear to be able to simply pretend to accept it all as if there were no blatant contradictions and inconsistencies with the true nature of God as revealed by Jesus in the accounts.
We have non-eyewitness accounts called "gospels" that claim people called him Rabbi. We don't know what they called him, only what people who wrote decades later claimed he was called.
If the promised Spirit taught people Truth then he did a lousy job because as you yourself admit ... there are thousands of denominations arguing about what the scriptures mean.
I see you are not addressing the point about the literacy rate in the Jewish culture. Doesn't work with your imagination, hey?
And the point about the Spirit is that those people are NOT looking to the Spirit identified BY the characteristics taught and demonstrated by Jesus. What kind of guidance do you GET if you don't follow the guide?
I think the world would be a better, saner place, if most folks recognized that Jesus - even if a composite - exists among the pantheon of Humans Who Changed Stuff Significantly.
He'd be rubbing shoulders with the dude (or dudette) who harnessed fire, invented the wheel, figured out the power of levers, Newton, Da Vinci, Shakespeare, Einstein, Ricky Gervais et al.
Maybe it's safest to say that the ideas attributed to Jesus have been very influential, although in my view, the way Christianity takes credit for things (like morality) that it didn't actually invent, I'm a little skeptical about that.
Maybe it's safest to say that the ideas attributed to Jesus have been very influential, although in my view, the way Christianity takes credit for things (like morality) that it didn't actually invent, I'm a little skeptical about that.
As you SHOULD be because Jesus didn't teach a morality, He taught a principle by which to live.
As you SHOULD be because Jesus didn't teach a morality, He taught a principle by which to live.
Yeah, and Christianity claims to have invented a special kind of love, and a bunch of principles, too.
Even to the extent it could be demonstrated that Christianity was the avenue for all of these things, there's still the question of whether it's the only conceivable avenue that COULD have brought them about.
I tend to see modern society and culture as a product of many different influences. In the West at least Christianity was in the right place at the right time to play a major role. So was science, Islam, Buddhism, and a bunch of other influences.
That General Sherman existed hardly proves that Scarlett O'Hara did as well.
That King Hygelac existed hardly proves that Grendel did as well.
Jesus of some sort may have existed, but the notion that King Herod being depicted in the Bible proves the existence of Jesus merely because Jesus is also depicted in the Bible simply does not follow.
Tell me where I'm wrong here. I thought Herod died before Jesus was born. So what has he got to do with anything to begin with?
Assuming for the sake of argument that there is a historical, much less a Biblical, Jesus ... if he was like most people of the era, he didn't write because he was illiterate. As a craftsman I would imagine he'd have some basic education in measurements and simple arithmetic, using rulesticks and other tools of the era. But I doubt he would have been taught to read and write to any significant degree. He would be apprenticed to his father in the craft and would have little need (or options) for broader education.
There is the tale of a young Jesus debating the scriptures with the priests at the temple in Jerusalem, which could imply he had been reading them, but seems to be presented more as just him being precocious in understanding them. In the story of the woman taken in adultery he is depicted as scribbling something in the dirt as he studiously ignores the religious leaders trying to trap him. This, too, is hardly definitive proof that he was literate. Of course people like to speculate things like he was writing down the sins of the people he shortly after admonished, "he who is without sin, let him cast the first stone". But he may simply have been aimlessly doodling for all we know. The text doesn't elaborate on it.
Muslim apologists make much of how the Quran was "written" by their prophet, who they freely confess was illiterate. This is, to them, miraculous "substantiation" for their holy book. He allegedly wrote the Quran by dictating it to a scribe, if I recall correctly. This is better than leaving your story / ideology to be written two or three generations on by non eye-witnesses, by which time everything would be reduced to here-say.
Since you’re assuming Bible Jesus for the sake of argument, then the Bible records that Jesus read Jewish scripture in the synagogue (Luke 4). So, Bible Jesus was not illiterate.
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