Adam5 Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Hi All, read a theory yesterday, that Jesus, assuming some of recorded events were true, had a mental breakdown? Your thoughts? Realise that the accounts are highly suspect and contradictory. But with various events which could support this idea. Calling a gentile woman a dog. Indicating racism or xenophobia. His disciples calling him mad. Later gospels edited this out Preaching peace and turn the other cheek one minute, then ranting hate about pharisees the next. Begging for his life to be spared in Gethsemene. The events in his life were stressful perhaps triggering manic depression? End time speeches about coming messiah. Indicating a mentally unhinged personality? I think there may be something in this. Your view? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thought2Much Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 And upon turning thirty years old, Jesus suffered the onset of acute paranoid schizophrenia, which is when he started hearing the voices of God and Satan in his head, and started to believe that he was God himself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcdaddy Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Man, excuse my francais, but we'll never fuckin know. Sure, it looks plausible. If anything written about him actually happened. Or if he even existed. He may have been the 1st century Abe Lincoln vampire hunter for all we know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam5 Posted July 1, 2012 Author Share Posted July 1, 2012 McD, there is no need to be rude. You will know from my posts that i also think christianity is a fraud. But i like sometimes to speculate on what i think is a plausible character, i am not in the "all fairy tales" camp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam5 Posted July 1, 2012 Author Share Posted July 1, 2012 And upon turning thirty years old, Jesus suffered the onset of acute paranoid schizophrenia, which is when he started hearing the voices of God and Satan in his head, and started to believe that he was God himself. Quite possible. There were plenty of deranged prophets in history, and deranged fundies today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcdaddy Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 McD, there is no need to be rude. You will know from my posts that i also think christianity is a fraud. But i like sometimes to speculate on what i think is a plausible character, i am not in the "all fairy tales" camp Ugh! I forgot the mandatory winkie face! Sorry bro, wasn't being rude, was just playing around. My bad, sorry for the confusion. Nothing to see here, people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam5 Posted July 1, 2012 Author Share Posted July 1, 2012 Hi McD, no probs. I perhaps should have prefaced my OP by saying that i think the gospels are in no way a historical record. I guess we all agree on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Babylonian Dream Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Don't say he had Manic Depression, you'll make me look bad! I've got bipolar. I don't think I'm a messiah. I'd say he's more like a Narcissist with Borderline personality traits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcdaddy Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 It's my fault. Sometimes I do get a shade militaristic on here with my mythicism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oddbird1963 Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 But SURELY a mad-man couldn't come up with such awesome original ideas like love and the golden rule and turn the other cheek and go the extra mile!! And think about the sterling, wonderful god-fearing people that have been followers over the centuries! Surely a madman could NEVER found such a miraculous religion!! Oh! For a second there I thought I was Josh McDowell! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsRoper Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Jesus totally had a mental breakdown, a personality disorder, and was addicted to religion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raoul Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Man, excuse my francais, but we'll never fuckin know. Sure, it looks plausible. If anything written about him actually happened. Or if he even existed. He may have been the 1st century Abe Lincoln vampire hunter for all we know. You don't know if he existed? If he didn't then neithor did Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Socrates, et. al. Reason? More ancient extent writings confirming the historicity of Jesus than the others I just cited. And before you go into a free thinking hissy fit, please take it up with academically minded scholars who are experts in ancient history. People like Bart Ehrmann, professor of ancient studies, etc.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsRoper Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Man, excuse my francais, but we'll never fuckin know. Sure, it looks plausible. If anything written about him actually happened. Or if he even existed. He may have been the 1st century Abe Lincoln vampire hunter for all we know. You don't know if he existed? If he didn't then neithor did Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Socrates, et. al. Reason? More ancient extent writings confirming the historicity of Jesus than the others I just cited. And before you go into a free thinking hissy fit, please take it up with academically minded scholars who are experts in ancient history. People like Bart Ehrmann, professor of ancient studies, etc.. Raoul while I agree with you that some sort of Jesus actually existed, I don't think the historical record proves anything. Most of the literature was religious and written by people who were not eyewitnesses. Josephus' account was more likely an interpolation done by early Christian fathers. Plus, even if he wrote it, he wasn't a historian in the sense that we consider one today and he included many myths in his writings as well. Most of the "historical" record is hearsay that's why the mythicists are building such a compelling case. Bart Ehrmann is also getting huge criticism for that latest book from some historians. Valk posted a YouTube interview with Richard Price recently and he covered most of this, I'll try and find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcdaddy Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Man, excuse my francais, but we'll never fuckin know. Sure, it looks plausible. If anything written about him actually happened. Or if he even existed. He may have been the 1st century Abe Lincoln vampire hunter for all we know. You don't know if he existed? If he didn't then neithor did Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Socrates, et. al. Reason? More ancient extent writings confirming the historicity of Jesus than the others I just cited. And before you go into a free thinking hissy fit, please take it up with academically minded scholars who are experts in ancient history. People like Bart Ehrmann, professor of ancient studies, etc.. I've read almost all of Ehrman's books there lil buddy. And I'm certainly aware I'm in the minority opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcdaddy Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Man, excuse my francais, but we'll never fuckin know. Sure, it looks plausible. If anything written about him actually happened. Or if he even existed. He may have been the 1st century Abe Lincoln vampire hunter for all we know. You don't know if he existed? If he didn't then neithor did Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Socrates, et. al. Reason? More ancient extent writings confirming the historicity of Jesus than the others I just cited. And before you go into a free thinking hissy fit, please take it up with academically minded scholars who are experts in ancient history. People like Bart Ehrmann, professor of ancient studies, etc.. Raoul while I agree with you that some sort of Jesus actually existed, I don't think the historical record proves anything. Most of the literature was religious and written by people who were not eyewitnesses. Josephus' account was more likely an interpolation done by early Christian fathers. Plus, even if he wrote it, he wasn't a historian in the sense that we consider one today and he included many myths in his writings as well. Most of the "historical" record is hearsay that's why the mythicists are building such a compelling case. Bart Ehrmann is also getting huge criticism for that latest book from some historians. Valk posted a YouTube interview with Richard Price recently and he covered most of this, I'll try and find it. Thanks for the backup, Dean. *fistbump* lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsRoper Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Here is Valk's link. It is good listening. http://www.ex-christian.net/topic/52412-robert-m-price-the-case-against-the-case-for-christ/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oddbird1963 Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Man, excuse my francais, but we'll never fuckin know. Sure, it looks plausible. If anything written about him actually happened. Or if he even existed. He may have been the 1st century Abe Lincoln vampire hunter for all we know. You don't know if he existed? If he didn't then neithor did Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Socrates, et. al. Reason? More ancient extent writings confirming the historicity of Jesus than the others I just cited. And before you go into a free thinking hissy fit, please take it up with academically minded scholars who are experts in ancient history. People like Bart Ehrmann, professor of ancient studies, etc.. Raoul while I agree with you that some sort of Jesus actually existed, I don't think the historical record proves anything. Most of the literature was religious and written by people who were not eyewitnesses. Josephus' account was more likely an interpolation done by early Christian fathers. Plus, even if he wrote it, he wasn't a historian in the sense that we consider one today and he included many myths in his writings as well. Most of the "historical" record is hearsay that's why the mythicists are building such a compelling case. Bart Ehrmann is also getting huge criticism for that latest book from some historians. Valk posted a YouTube interview with Richard Price recently and he covered most of this, I'll try and find it. Thanks for the backup, Dean. *fistbump* lol Richard Carrier shred's Ehrman's book on the historicity of Jesus. Here's a link to one of his blog entries on the subject: http://freethoughtblogs.com/carrier/archives/1151 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
par4dcourse Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Interesting theory. Sounds like a mental case. As far as Jesus existence, it was a common name and you couldn't swing a dead cat in Jerusalem without hitting a Jesus. Myths were told and stories handed down. A conglomeration of them became bible Jesus. Meh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted July 2, 2012 Super Moderator Share Posted July 2, 2012 I think he got a moldy piece of bread at his last supper. He was tripping. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrailBlazer Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 If the stories about him have any shard of truth to them, he was. His family thought he was nutters. It's not uncommon for someone to isolate after a vivid hallucination > Following his baptism, Jesus was driven into the desert where he didn't eat and hallucinated about the devil tempting him. (& I know from experience that starvation can produce hallucinations.) Jesus had delusions of religious persecution and a grandiose plans about how he was personally going to save mankind. But he was irritable, stubborn, conceited, impulsive, and he had serious daddy issues in a society where your father was your whole identity/status. The guy was a first century David Koresh, essentially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Calling a gentile woman a dog. Indicating racism or xenophobia. Jews were xenophobes. Have you read the bible? They were the chosen ones. The Jews were told not to intermarry. God and the prophets were pissed when anything else happens. His disciples calling him mad. Later gospels edited this out And in the same stroke of the pen they edit in more plausible things like that he's the off-spring of a ghost. Who's truly "mad" here? Preaching peace and turn the other cheek one minute, then ranting hate about pharisees the next. His disciples apparently knew all secrets until they didn't. John the Baptist was his cousin and their mothers knew their children were special but as adults no one seems to no anything about being related and John is oblivious to his or "jesus'" special roles. Apparently everyone had issues. Begging for his life to be spared in Gethsemene. The events in his life were stressful perhaps triggering manic depression? His life to be spared from what? Nothing. He hadn't been caught by anyone yet and he had no idea he was wanted by anyone. He upset the apple cart in the temple. The temple guards were at the temple. He would have been arrested at the temple. He got away. The various gospels make it clear he can get away whenever he likes. This wasn't one of those times. He just up and left. No one wanted him to his knowledge. He wasn't on the lam. He was just...gone. Out and about. So now he's stressing about? Being in the garden? Okay. Guess he should have stayed home. Or we can imagine he laid out some plot to get himself captured. Or others did and he willingly walked into it. Apparently he was gambling that he last escapade was the one that would get him killed instead of trying to up the ante when the last one failed. Good for him. It all worked out perfectly. End time speeches about coming messiah. Indicating a mentally unhinged personality? So he foresaw the fall of the temple? Or just that there might be others saying they are a messiah and not to believe them? He's telling who? I think it's the same three (maybe four) guys as usual. So they won't recognize him? He has to warn them off some fraud? Even if it's all his disciples they just won't know the guy sitting in front of them saying "If you here there's a messiah in a field don't believe them." Why? Can't they look and say "Yeah. That's not Jesus of Nazareth the one and only true messiah that we followed all that time." What's the trick here? Who's he really talking to if not them? Those people can look. The reader of the story cannot. And if they could look they could never recognize him in a million years. So go into the field. Is it that Jesus of Nazareth? How should I know? How could I know? Never saw the man. The warning says it's not. I guess I'll head home. mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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