Discussion Posts: Preliminary Images of Jesus 

What preliminary image do you have of Jesus, his life, teaching, mission, self-understanding, and the cause of his crucifixion? Who were his supporters? Who were his opponents?

What have been some of the factors that influence us as a society in our understanding of Jesus? What factors have influenced you as an individual; i.e. family, church, movies, images, icons, etc. Identify at least one positive and one negative impact that western images, understandings and interpretations of Jesus and his message and mission have had on society and discuss why you think this might be?

The preliminary image I have of Jesus is a friendly, wise man who shows special care for the poor and the sinners and has little patience for the arrogant, legalistic ways of the religious leaders and the rich and powerful. He proclaims he is the Son of God and performs many divine miracles but wants people to have faith in who he is and faith in God without having seen or known him. 

Although he is fully divine he is equally fully human. He experienced the same fears, emotions, and temptations as we do but he never submitted to the temptations and committed sin. He always put the will of God and the will of others before his own needs and desires. This is the love he came to model, the love that is the essence of who God is, the love that he wants his followers and disciples to spread to bring the kingdom of heaven to Earth. 

Along his disciples, there were many people who supported him after hearing his teachings or witnessing his miracles. He was sent to die on the cross by his opponents the Pharisees who called him a heretic and saw him as a threat to their religious power, and other Jews who were frustrated that he wasn’t using his power for political or militaristic action. 

Having God’s power within him he could’ve prevented this from happening but to show God’s eternal grace and forgiveness of our sins, he gave up his perfect, sin-free life and let himself be painfully nailed to the cross to die. His resurrection from the dead showed that God’s love is more powerful than sin and death giving hope for all who believe in him.

Growing up my understanding of Jesus was mainly influenced by church, Sunday school, and reading Bible stories. More recently I’ve read and studied the Gospels more on my own as well as a number of other books by Christian authors which have given me a fuller perspective on who Jesus is and what he is about.

Most people in our society know a bit about the story of Jesus’ birth and death because the holidays of Christmas and Easter have become secularized but don’t understand their meaning or much else about Jesus’ life. 

Although I don’t like the secularization and commercialization of Christmas I do think in some ways it’s had a positive impact on people’s understanding of Jesus. It’s helped people attach the feelings of joy, love, and service to others to Jesus and Christianity because even for non-Christians it is a joyful time of year where acts of charity are done more than usual.

I think much of the other exposure many people have comes from street evangelists, Bible verse signs on the side of roads, or American politicians. From these people usually learn about our salvation through Jesus and his judgement against non-believers. 

Although I do believe this is part of what Jesus is about I think having this theme be so predominant in society has had actually had a negative impact on people’s understanding and interpretations of him. I think the love that he modeled, the love that he has for all of us needs to be the starting point of conversation about him, not our sin.

I am a Gnostic Christian, which has been briefly mentioned in Bockmuwhl`s introduction and in lecture 2.2 . 

Unfortunately,  Bockmuwhl`s seemed to assert that Gnostic views were often ``bias`` and rarely mentioned Jesus. Furthermore; I find it troublesome that Bockmuehl is going to use the gospels as a major historical source.  

I believe Jesus was just a man, perhaps a politician, man of wisdom, or revolutionary figure. Jesus introduced the Christ consciousness which is essentially Gods law of love. 

To be able to travel and study he must have come from a good family. Some believe he was a prince, and not just a carpenter’s son.  It was decided by mankind- not god, what Jesus would become to other Christians.  

One does not need redemption from their sins, to reach the kingdom of god. I believe this notion was created out of fear and to keep the church rich and powerful.  

Instead as the Gospel of Thomas asserts, he was a teacher of wisdom, truth and enlightenment. Becoming enlightened and becoming fully conscious is salvation. After all, salvation comes from the root word `salve ‘which means balm of the soul. Knowing the truth about God gives our soul comfort and joy.  

Gnostic's are their own seekers of knowledge and truth. That is why Thomas said,` `Jesus said let one who seeks not stop seeking until that person finds and upon finding will be disturbed and in being disturbed will be astounded and will reign over entirely.`` Which means if you go looking for answers, you will only find more questions that need answering. But in the process you will find yourself. 

Thomas said to know thyself because it was the key to enlightenment.  He also said that we were all divine children of God. Meaning, that Jesus was not the only son of god, we all are. Knowing these truths will therefore not make you fear death because after doing your own research you know it is not something to fear.

I came to see Jesus this way at 19, because I was raised as a very conservative Roman Catholic that said things that I knew in my heart not to be true. No god would send his children to hell for example because he or she is a loving god and does not judge. 

I believe the rituals and beliefs of modern churches are shaped my humans and not by God. I believe the gospels to be oral traditions that got distorted over time and should be looked at with great skepticism. I do not believe that he had a virgin birth; he could of married and had children. I believe he had a lot of influence in his community and his supporters are and continue to be the people that share his message of love.  

The crucifixion occurred because of political tension, I think Jesus scared people. His enemies were aware of his power and wanted to destroy it possibly by killing him. He had many followers both men and woman. 

When the counsel of Nicaea decided what would be in the Bible, and what would not I think that is where we lost a lot of recorded history. Jesus was decided to be the son of god and not a man, and a lot of his supporters were lost to history.    

I did not know much about Gnostic Christianity or its beliefs before so it was interesting to hear your perspective on Jesus coming from this tradition. I’m just going to ask a few questions of clarification for my own understanding. 

Firstly, you said that Jesus is “perhaps a politician, man of wisdom, or revolutionary figure.” I’m wondering which one of these do you personally believe he was and if you don’t believe he was the Son of God do you still believe he is more significant in some way than prophets before him or philosophers and theologians after him? 

Many Christians proclaim that Jesus is Lord but it doesn’t seem you would agree with this statement so what authority do you give Jesus? Is Jesus still connected to your faith in God in some way?

Also, I found it interesting that you were quoting the Gospel of Thomas but you do not see the other gospels as being credible. What gives the Gospel of Thomas authority to you? 

Asking this has made me realize I also have to ask myself about the canonical gospels because I’ve never really put much thought into why they are accepted as truth.