I'm a big fan of the central character. I was raised to marvel at his profound wisdom, lessons of compassion, humility and self-sacrifice that still shape my life. Some Jesus quotes make more sense than anything i've every heard. Some don't make any sense at all. Either way, the story of Jesus is the reason the Bible is best selling book of all time!

Who wrote it?

as historian Reza Aslan points out, "everything written in the new testament about Jesus was written by people who didn't know Jesus when he was alive."

the writers were not the apostles. as was very common in the day, they wrote under the names of the apostles as a tribute to them. the term for this kind of writing is "pseud-epigraphy" The apostles were either too old or dead at the time of the writings. furthermore, they were likely incapable of it--illiterate peasants who could neither read or write.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bart-d-ehrman/the-bible-telling-lies-to_b_840301.html

good Christian scholars of the Bible, including the top Protestant and Catholic scholars of America, will tell you that the Bible is full of lies, even if they refuse to use the term. And here is the truth: Many of the books of the New Testament were written by people who lied about their identity, claiming to be a famous apostle -- Peter, Paul or James 

...Most scholars will tell you that whereas seven of the 13 letters that go under Paul's name are his, the other six are not.

imagine Martin Luther King speaking to a small group of poor and illiterate people with no audio or video recording, and several people who weren't there quoting his words at least 50 years or more later. Then, those words being hand-written, copied and recopied by hand for generations and edited by Church leaders with their own agendas, while being translated into different languages.

recollecting the "I Have A Dream" speech would be about as credible as trying to recall the details of a sleeping dream.

further study indicates:

• Few people were literate back then, so stories were told word of mouth.

• The New Testament content was first written by Paul, mostly while under suppression in political prison, about 25 years after the death of JC (I assume the delay in writing was to avoid being accused of heresy and face the same fate as Jesus).

• Some of the content was 2nd hand info written by followers of Paul and was subject to their slant/point of view.

• Matthew and Luke borrowed from Paul's material.

• To be passed on, all of the writings had to be hand copied over the years by the few people who could write, and was subject to their own slant/point of view

• Church leaders revised the bible over the centuries.

The ascension of Jesus provided an inspirational ending, despite conflicting versions in the gospels. Without it, Christianity might very well have died on the cross along with the body of Christ. Jesus, tortured and dying on the cross, asking God "why have you forsaken me?" is a real downer. It is not befitting the "son of God". It is a story of a mere mortal man brutalized by the Romans. But his physical body rising to heaven, instead of just his spirit, added a dramatic special effect and gave the Church something to work with.

If, ultimately, God wanted people to believe in him he could have appeared before them like he appeared before Moses. He wouldn't need to have a mortal man do magic tricks like turning water to wine, then allow him to be tortured, then raise the bloody carcass to heaven, then have a handful of other men recall the tale, as best they can, 25 to 75 years later. And rationalizing that Jesus "died for our sins" like a sacrificial lamb may be one of the most absurd concepts in the history of religion, or in the history of rationalizations for that matter.

It all sounds like a cruel game that god is playing? Give man a logical, reasoning, questioning mind, then ask him to abandon logic and reason, and not question the word of other flawed men?

In those days, the choice was, marry the guy, be stoned to death, or leave town and hope for the best. Christianity offered women a fourth choice

it is true that Christianity spread so successfully because the populist themes offered the people a better, more hopeful choice than continuing to live under dictatorships. The core of the Christian concept is indeed wonderful. But it should be separated from the garbage.

Sure, there are reasons for the old testament's "marry your rapist" quote, but there are weak explanations for all of society's ills. I'm sure the Romans had their reasons for wanting to throw Christians to the lions. I just believe it is the responsibility of any person or organization who promotes the bible to clearly and strongly condemn references that can inspire harm to others, by some who might naively take the bible as "gospel truth".

i believe the New Testament's "Revelation" by John is the clearest example of the problem. Preparing for "the rapture" as it relates to the fight over "the holy land" and the "end of all times" is at the root of the hate, wars and killing in the Middle East, which, in turn, plays a significant role in U.S. politics.

The Truth About The Revelation

Most Bible scholars and theologians agree that someone identifying himself as John wrote the "Revealing" 60-80 years after Jesus's death. They are unsure if it was the apostle John The Baptist because he would have been nearly 100 years old and the Greek writing style was different. Under great stress after being exiled to a small island by the Romans it is believed he envisioned Jesus coming back in his lifetime to enact vengeance on his Roman persecutors. To avoid being executed as a heretic John coded his written attacks against Rome. For example, the sign of the beast, 666, translates to the emperor Nero in Hebrew numerology.

The Rapture event (ascension of the believers preceding the Apocalypse) was not even written by John, but was later translated into the story 1800 years later based on an interpretation of earlier passages in the Bible and the vision of some woman (?).

Over the centuries, Christian crusaders have probably used these alleged Jesus quotes to justify murder:

"But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me." (Luke 19:27)

"Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother- in-law...." (Matthew 10:34)

Speaking for himself, Paul gave Christian slave owners these words from the New Testament to keep slaves in line:

"Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ" (Ephesians 6:5-9)

and these words to keep women in line:

"Man is the image and glory of God. Woman is the glory of man... A woman should learn in quietness and full submission... I do not permit a woman to teach or have any authority over man. She must be silent. If there is anything a woman desires to know, let her ask her husband. For Adam was formed first, and then Eve. And it was not the man who was deceived, it was the woman who was deceived and became the sinner."

In Revelations, John writes in the New Testament that only 144,000 people will get into heaven, and none will have "defiled themselves with women". So much for the Old Testament allegation that homosexuality is an "abomination". Apparently, they are the only ones who will serve in God's heaven!

Humor aside, both the old and new testament have been quoted to justify discrimination against Gays. But, according to the Bible, a woman couldn't teach at church. Her place is kneeling before the alter of man, and praying behind the curtain of his confessional for sins going back to that first bite you took of the apple ;-)

thankfully, though, it was men like me, outside of the control that the Church has on our society, who cleared enough of a path through the mysticism of the Bible to give women the right to vote.

there's more to do, and it will take more wide-eyed progressive leaders, and less blind "followers"

the historical path mankind forged after Jesus (AD), in his name, is paved in:

wars, crusades, inquisitions, bombings, arranged marriages, polygamy, child abuse -- including castration, human sacrifice, burning of witches, the suppression of women and gays, etc..

"The Kingdom of God is inside you,
and all around you,
not in mansions of wood and stone.

Split a piece of wood and I am there;
lift a stone and you will find me." -- the scroll the Church rejected

and i would add:

"do not look up the skirt of a transsexual,
for you will not find their sexual or spiritual identity there"