Jesus!

[mystex]

For arguments' sake:

I never understood why Jesus had to die on the cross. Can you please explain it to me?

[Loki]

Some people killed him simply because he pissed them off.

[Diebert van Rhijn]

From a traditional Christian viewpoint it was the blood sacrifice to end all former Judaic [animal] sacrifices; to atone for the sins of whole mankind. It's seen as the only way to redeem mankind from 'damnation' and extinction.

From other points of view it can be seen as a political kill by the religious authorities, or a powerful symbol for the suffering of all conscious life, on the crossroads of spirit and matter, or death of the material body or mindset, or symbol of forgiveness or surrendering attachment, or just a revamped mystery cult ritual of ancient times. Creative writing!

But lets not forget it's in the Gospels a story of rebirth too. Once you accept the dying on the cross part, you have to accept the raising from the grave too! Or at least the empty grave.

[maestro]

Not to forget the story of Osiris, and myth-making for life after death and other such fluff..

[mystex]

Jesus was afraid of death or most likely the pain and asked God if he could take it back. Not possible. Why? God was almighty and all loving, so why would he force his son to go through such pain? What changed after that? Or better yet if God was so almighty and powerful, why couldn't he snap his fingers and make everything as it should have been? I suppose that even God is controlled. I'd assume that the system within which everything is, has its own rules. Meaning, there's no such thing as ultimate freedom (good).

Anyways, I never payed attention in church... And whenever I asked my dad, he'd refer to his father as God or some such lunacy. I'd like to understand it a little more coherently (if possible).

[1otherS]

This is probably blasphemy, but here it goes: maybe Jesus had to repay for past crimes?

[Dan Rowden]

Well, as far as the Romans and many Jews were concerned, he had to do just that.

[mystex]

But that's only because they didn't understand him.

(I think you know better than this!)

[1otherS]

My guess is they killed him for so-called vanity. The real motives behind Jesus's Christ murder were envy and greed on the Pharisees' part.

Think about it: Jesus sought to eradicate everything a finite god stood for: mediocrity, bitch-politics, extracting money in the name of God, killing in the name of God, betrayal...I could go on for paragraphs on this but I'll stop...

[mystex]

Jesus Christ wanted the truth to be known. The truth should be known. I don't see a problem with this.

I really don't care if anyone else knows the truth (unlike a sage). I want to know the truth. That's it. What's wrong with this? I see nothing wrong.

...???!!!

[brokenhead]

Some people killed him simply because he pissed them off.

In my view, Loki has summed it up quite accurately.

Very few people know the full story behind Jesus life and mission. It did not include being killed. But having established a ministry and having stirred up the authorities, his decision not to evade capture and execution was his ultimate lesson to humanity. He was literally walking the walk after talking the talk.

It was an earthly instance of lynching and murder and had nothing to do with fulfilling obscure prophecies of a law that he was attempting to render obsolete or enacting some arcane passion play. Rather, it was setting the truth in motion and submitting his will and ego to the consequences.

[mystex]

People get pissed off because of ignorance. Simple.

[1otherS]

I also think people hated his guts because he was the archetypical atheïst. Jesus: "why don't you judge for yourself what's right?"

This rethorical question alone, completely wrecks the Church's authority and lays the foundation of critical self-analysis...

"and having stirred up the authorities, his decision not to evade capture and execution was his ultimate lesson to humanity."

WTF? What man with self-respect would even conceive of that.

Some advice: do not let anyone turn you into a martyr.

[mystex]

What's a "martyr"?

[Dan Rowden]

What's a dictionary?

[mystex]

Santa's little helper :P

[1otherS]

What's a "martyr"?

If you want some fine examples, you should read anything Weininger or Kierkegaard IMO.

[HUNTEDvsINVIS]

Why were 60 000 other people ( slaves ) crucified simultaneously by the Romans?

Because people had nothing better to do with their time ;)

PS: happy new year*