/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.23249059]

Why is the character of Jesus of Nazareth so compelling? Not only did he inspired his own religion which is the most practiced in the world, he’s a major figure in other religious systems including the second most practiced world religion and many, many dead ones.

How did an obscure carpenter in the second temple period manage to inspire great minds to write masterpieces of literature such as the gospel of John?

Countless other writers since have looked toward him for creative and artistic inspiration and I don’t think it can all be ascribed to as violent state or church coercion. There is something genuinely compelling about him.

[Anonymous No.23249074]

Because he was talking about love and shit (and also about death and violence but also love). Most other religions were pretty violent, so that was a breath of fresh air.

[Anonymous No.23249105]

>>23249059

He pioneered the essential viral formula for enticing belief, deterring apostasy and motivating recruitment. Unfalsifiable future reward for belief, not behavior (carrot, good cop) unfalsifiable future punishment for disbelief, invisible trickster to explain away all contrary evidence, eschaton designed vaguely to appear always imminent.

[Anonymous No.23249112]

He pioneered the essential viral formula for enticing belief, deterring apostasy and motivating recruitment. Unfalsifiable future reward for belief, not behavior (carrot, good cop) unfalsifiable future punishment for disbelief (stick, bad cop), invisible trickster to explain away all contrary evidence, eschaton designed vaguely to appear always imminent. This is the core of a successful cult which is why they still use the same formula in the modern day, and why it worked 3 more times at creating large offshoots.

[Anonymous No.23249119]

>>23249059
A God who bridges the gap between humanity and the divine, and even seeks to elevate humans to "Mt. Olympus" or Heaven, is a novel concept. Unlike other gods, the gods of pagan beliefs were distant and inaccessible; the idea of reaching heaven was unfathomable, and these deities were imperfect beings who often toyed with humanity instead of saving them.

[Anonymous No.23249198]

>>23249059
The simplest answer is also the correct one: because Christ is God humbling himself to take on flesh.

[Anonymous No.23249267]

>>23249059
the story of jesus christ proves that there is nobody govern*ggers won't kill and ayn rand was right about everything

[Anonymous No.23249435]

[Anonymous No.23249447]

>>23249059
God getting killed by the people who had been and still believed themselves to his worshipers is an incredibly striking image.

[Anonymous No.23249453]

>>23249112
>>23249435
>>>/reddit/

[Anonymous No.23249473]

>>23249453

reddit.com/r/christianity

[Anonymous No.23249484]

>>23249473
>reddit spaces even while accusing Christians of being the real redditors

[Anonymous No.23249488]

>>23249484

I use 4chanX, a plugin that lets me compose posts in their own window, which produces the same spacing

[Anonymous No.23249501]

>>23249488
>he made not one but both the posts I was initially calling reddit
kek are you really that eager to "pwn the Christians" and bump the thread just because doing it once wasn't enough

[Anonymous No.23249561]

>>23249501

[Anonymous No.23249613]

The most over-analyzed man in history
>be radical Jew during Roman rule
>preach revolt against Rome
>die
>followers believe you to return within their life to save them from Rome
>2000 years later

[Anonymous No.23249721]

>>23249613
>>preach revolt against Rome
No, he did not. Did you even read the book?

[Anonymous No.23249966]

>>23249059
He is the ideal human being. He is the person that everyone should have as their role model, the one they should aspire the hardest to be like. Reading through the Bible I compared him with myself in an extremely eye opening moment of self reflection. It made me realize what an incredibly awful person I was and that many things I criticized people over were things I was not only also guilty of, but much worse as well.

Ever since then I've been trying my best to improve as a person. "What would Jesus do?" is one of the most "Boomer car bumper sticker" kind of things out there, but it has been immensely helpful on my journey into being a truly decent person. It's so crazy, I only decided to read the Bible because I wanted to study Jungian psychology, I heard Jung used a bunch of Christian symbolism/allegory so I was like why not? It was purely to understand Jung better but I ended up having a genuine religious experience.

[Anonymous No.23249976]

You are biased
>>23249721
Going around and calling yourself the Messiah is stoking revolt

[Anonymous No.23249998]

>>23249966
Because of my own personal situation I am tempted to see Jesus as the ideal person but I have begun to feel like humanity in general does not feel the same outside of times of grief and illness

[Anonymous No.23250193]

>>23249059
Yes, I wonder that too, especially considering that the coming of the Kingdom of God (his central message) never happened. Both Simon Bar Kokhba and Honi the circle-drawer or Apollonius of Tyana can be compared in certain ways with Jesus, they even surpassed Jesus in terms of personal success, however none of them inspired a new religion. The way Jesus' fame grew after his death (especially outside of Israel) is surprising, but the most curious thing is that the character of Jesus served as a blank canvas. I mean, relatively few years after his death you have texts written in Greek where the figure of Jesus is omnipotent and was there from the beginning of creation (gospel of John) or texts written in Coptic where Jesus is not a god but a teacher that reveals their wisdom to certain people (any "Christian" Gnostic text like the gospel Judas). Hell, Paul believed in him to death even though he never knew him.
Christianity was destined to be a minority in Israel because for many Jews he is a failed messiah, however I believe this fact is precisely why the story of Jesus was so attractive to the "Gentiles." In a society where strength and domination were highly valued (the difference in power between slave/master, woman-man, conquered/conqueror was taken for granted, that was simply the natural order of things and exactly how it should be) , the story and words of Jesus moved many people and it is not strange that he won the hearts of women and poor people.

[Anonymous No.23251645]

>>23249613
>>preach revolt against Rome
Confirmed illiterate

[Anonymous No.23251650]

>>23249059
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Bible

[Anonymous No.23251977]

>>23249059
came across as a shifty trickster character to me, refusing to answer questions directly and purposely talking in vague riddles and metaphors that not everyone will know the hidden meaning of. He's also hateful and jewish. I did not find him compelling.

[Anonymous No.23251986]

>>23249112
This.

[Anonymous No.23253273]

>>23251977
ok kike

[Anonymous No.23253277]

>>23253273

[Anonymous No.23253282]

>>23253277
your kind seems to intentionally misuse the word kike.
it's not use denying your kikery

[Anonymous No.23253293]

>>23249112
>This is the core of a successful cult which is why they still use the same formula in the modern day, and why it worked 3 more times at creating large offshoots.
So in other words you *are* actually aware that your putative explanation fails to account for the *specific* power of the figure of Jesus. Congrats. I would have personally deleted my comment at that point but hey to each his own.

[Anonymous No.23253308]

>>23251986
YWNBAW

[Anonymous No.23253386]

>>23253282
no u. I'm assuming you're a CI "we wuz jews" type. Old testament jews/hebrews aren't described as behaving like Aryans (more like modern kikes), archeology and DNA says they're canaanites (so, semites and not Aryans), and Jesus talks like a modern jew with pilpul and open hatred of gentiles. I don't see how I'm misunderstanding the word "kike" by calling Jesus one.

[Anonymous No.23253408]

>>23253386
lmao you would be assuming wrong kike.
you still don't know what kike means but like all stromcucks you can't create only steal. you even steal words invented by christians, that's how debased you are you absolute cuck.
As for streetshitting mythology they acted like jews too. Troy fell with jewish trickery and butchering children was also very jewish.
I am not even talking about aryan pederasty and disgusting degeneracy.

[Anonymous No.23253414]

>>23253408
you're not explaining yourself or making any sense. Goodbye

[Anonymous No.23253418]

>>23253414
you can research yourself retard

[Anonymous No.23253446]

>>23249059
Short answer: appealing to the low and common. The bar of entry is for everyone. Synthesized a memetic virus of universal Judaism that subverted the values of Rome.

[Anonymous No.23253453]

>>23253446
roman values were ephemeral and encouraged conformity and bootlicking to their earthly masters.

[Anonymous No.23253459]

because he is the truth

[Anonymous No.23253965]

>>23249198
The Incarnation has the sort of profundity where any attempt to articulate its grandeur does it a disservice. The only appropriate response is fear and trembling.

[Anonymous No.23254005]

>>23253293
He said Jesus was the one who pioneered this method of spreading and reinforcing belief. Are you blind or just picking and choosing whatever fits your narrative?

[Anonymous No.23254034]

>>23253453
You are right that they were ephemeral. Christianity spread, and flipped its value hierarchy.

[Andreyev No.23254046]

>>23249976

The reason the Jewish proletariat mob betrayed him is because he made it clear he was not a political messiah, but a peaceful spiritual one. They didn't want that. Don't forget Palm Sunday was only a few days before the crucifixion.

[Anonymous No.23254059]

>>23253965
if god is unwell enough to commit suicide we should indeed worry

[Anonymous No.23254339]

>>23254059
You're meant to read to the end of the Gospel

[Anonymous No.23254898]

>There's something compelling about jesus
Yeah, he's a masturbatory fantasy for cucks: Josephus was cucked either by a god (not bloody likely) or Pantera the legionnaire.
Mary the "virgin" gave birth to somebody elses son and Josephus just raised him without a question.

[Anonymous No.23254927]

>>23254898
The name "Pantera" is literally a pun with the Greek word for "Virgin." It was literally some jew who hated Jesus thinking he's funny by saying "son of a virgin? More like son of Avirgen! HUHUHUHUHUHUH"

Also "Josephus" was the historian you fucking dumbass, not Joseph.

[Anonymous No.23254963]

>>23254927
Hey, here's an idea: latinize an aramean name and see what pops out.

[Anonymous No.23254993]

>>23254963
Their names are rendered literally from Greek, not Aramaic, and the distinction is important. Josephus is spelled with a Latin noun ending because he was literally a slave and interpreter for the Flavians, so it denotes his Romanness. Take the L.

[Anonymous No.23255021]

>>23249059
Because he goes against modern Christian dogma. If the second coming ever happens, he will be proclaimed a heretic.

[Anonymous No.23255080]

>>23249966
God bless you, anon