Quote from stu:
The only words you have to go on are those in the Bible which Jesus is supposed to have spoken . There are no others , unless you 'spin' some up yourself.
That's not true. There are several literary sources that purport to be the words of Jesus (or representative of what he said). They do not all agree, so, somebody is spinning some spin, yes? On the other hand, one (or more) of those sources may reflect the authentic voice of Jesus, and/or the voice that spoke as Jesus allowed that voice to speak through his personality.
Jesus said some nasty things in the Bible.
Jesus is made to say all kinds of things among the various publications that presume to speak for him...as him. The Bible could be just one of several sources that misrepresent the message of an authentic teacher (Jesus).
You can't reasonably accuse student/scribes (ie storytellers) of projecting their feelings out of Jesusâ mouth and at the same time project your feelings , without being accused of hypocrisy.
It would only be hypocritical if I was projecting my own feelings onto/through Jesus, and my own feelings were as mistaken as the feelings of those biblical scribes who projected their feelings onto/through Jesus.
It still stands, however, that those biblical scribes COULD HAVE projected their own feelings out of the mouth of Jesus, which we have mistakenly taken as "gospel".
What is it that you cannot face up to about what is actually written down in the New Testament, that you have to deny against all rationality to the point of delusion that Jesus said them.
Wait a minute. Are you saying he DID say them? Is that rational? And, how does that make you better than those scribes who claim he did say them (contradictory, nasty things)? They had an agenda. Perhaps you have the same agenda? Are you interested in discrediting a great teacher as well?
If he didnât say the bad things he didnât say the good things either.
Wait a minute. Are you saying he DIDN'T say those things? What logic insists that he said everything they say he said, or nothing of the sort whatsoever? I dare say, Stu, your logic is not all that different from the logic of those who say that the bible is the truth, the whole truth, and nothin but the truth. Are you saying that there can never be any truthful basis to what spins the truth to serve its own agenda?