Why Jesus?

Royd Fissure · Post by **Royd Fissure** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 1:48 pm

Clodhopper;1318485 wrote: I thought Christians, Jews and Muslims worship the same god, but through different teachers...?

And isn't the Trinity involved here? The three-in-one bit. Never got the hang of the Holy Spirit.

Not sure - and Accountable has addressed this - but it may be that the Catholic theology differs from other Christian (I'm including all denominations, there's a lot of 'em) theologies. I'm pretty sure that the transubstantiation doctrine is not followed outside the RC as well. What the RC is for me is a couple of thousand years of evolution with various rites being pulled in from locales where the religion was being spread, absorbing local ideas and rites, even pagan ones. Jeez now I make Catholicism sound like the third remake of "The Blob".

Royd Fissure · Post by **Royd Fissure** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 1:50 pm

Clodhopper;1318541 wrote: Or Big Daddy, the Kid and Spook as Dave Allen called them.:wah:

Thanks for the explanation. Makes more sense than others I've heard. Still have a nagging feeling that a theologian would have conniptions though!

But as to why Jesus, well, even if you don't think he was God, he was one heck of a man and teacher and talks an awful lot of sense about living. And as far as I know, Jesus never claimed to be the son of God. Lots of other people claimed it for him, but he never said it.

Good guy at a party, too!

The Winemakers Federation are still cranky over that....:wah:

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 1:58 pm

Accountable;1318402 wrote: I have another analogy if you'd like. :)Royd Fissure;1318651 wrote: No, that's a good one and I'll have a think about it for sure.

Okay, just let me know if you change your mind. I'm very analogesic, y'know.

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 4:05 pm

Thanks again for the correction. It's good to know these things.

xyz · Post by **xyz** » Tue Jul 13, 2010 3:20 am

Royd Fissure;1317859 wrote: I've been thinking in a non-religious and definitely non-theological manner about the emphasis in the Christian religion on Jesus. It seems particularly embedded in US versions of Christianity but it's found elsewhere. Why is Jesus so important in Christianity? I realise He is seen as the Son of God, the personification of God (which brings up the apparent predilection of various non-Christian gods who liked to slum it a bit down here with us mortals) but if He was/is God then why not just focus on God and not bang on about Jesus all the time?
Because Jesus is believed to be the personification of God, or the manifestation of the eternal God in human form. That's quite a concept in itself.

Then there's the 'Christ' part. The word is equivalent to 'Messiah', which, as has been said, means 'anointed'. The people who were anointed with oil in Israel were prophets (sometimes), high priests and kings, always. So Jesus, reckoned to be anointed (though not literally) was, it is said, in some way a prophet, a priest, and a king. The prophecy of his teaching was obvious; the priest aspect is reckoned to be due to his death, a sacrifice to atone for sins; and kingship comes because of the voluntary commitment to his cause that his followers make. So Jesus is not only the manifestation of God Himself, he is the one who saves from guilt and its consequence.

For those who feel no guilt, Jesus is of no importance, and he is regarded as important by those who feel guilt for their actions and words.