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The truth is, at the time Jesus lived, if someone caused the Jewish elite and Romans trouble, they executed them. Jesus threatened the Jewish and Roman status quo. He was a blasphemer to the Jewish rulers and a troublemaker to the Romans, so they executed him using the standard method of the day.
All great truths begin as blasphemies. George Bernard Shaw
Crucifixion was no big deal in those brutal times. They crucified people just for preaching without a license. Jesus died just like any other common criminal or troublemaker. There were a lot of self proclaimed saviors around back then.
Jesus was a man: People want to believe Jesus was physically more than just a normal man, which he was not. He was no different than other men physically; he was just more inspired, more connected to the universal mind (Holy Spirit) than other people were. He gave birth to himself spiritually. Like other prophets, he channeled things from beyond the mind. It is not the prophet that is important; it is what passed through the prophet that is important. As Jesus said himself:
Jesus said, “It is the spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no profit. The words that I have spoken to you are what is important, because they come from spirit and life.”
In other words, it is ok to say he is nothing special, because he knew it is what passed through him that mattered. What came from the Holy Spirit matters.
Jesus said, “Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of man or God will be forgiven. But if a person blasphemes the Holy Spirit, they will not be forgiven.”
In other words, you do not have to think much of the prophet that the message passes through, but you have to respect the message, or you will not get it.
Graven image: Most people only picture Jesus looking up to the heavens in some sort of spiritual pose. To see Jesus for what he really was, you just have to picture him doing things that all other men do everyday in their life, and you will realize he was a human being just like us. He ate food and relieved himself like other men, so try picturing him squatting behind a bush when you start to think he was not human. He had to do it just like any other human, and they did not have toilets when he lived. It is irreverent, but reverence does not set you free.
People are worshipping the messenger and missing the message.
People act like it is the messenger that matters and not the message, even when the messenger says it is the message that matters. In ancient times, if people did not like a message that a messenger brought, they would kill the messenger. If they liked the message, they made the messenger a big hero. It is nonsense.
I am not saying Jesus was not divine; he was. I am saying we all can be.
I am not saying anything; it is Jesus and the Bible that says it. I am just pointing this fact out to people that say they believe in the Bible, but must not have really read it. Jesus said that it is the truth that sets you free. That is the truth. The truth is not always what people want to hear, but it is what sets you free.
Metaphorically, it is all true.
Virgin birth: You give birth to yourself when you're born again, so it's a virgin birth.
The resurrection is true in the sense that Jesus did rise from the dead. He just did it long before he was physically killed. At some point in his early life, he stopped living as a spiritually dead person. He learned the truth and became an immortal spiritual being. Thus, he did rise from the dead. When you learn the truth, you do the same thing; you rise from the dead.
Jesus said, "The way of mortals is a living death.”
The empty tomb: The story about the empty tomb is also metaphorically true. All graves are empty; there is a body, but the conscious spirit is gone.
From page 208 of The Present (with religion) at
http://www.truthcontest.com/