the Hypocracy of "christ" or the Corruption of the Bible??
There are many people who question wether or not Jesus lived at all. Though I am a fervent Atheist, I do not count myself among this crowd. Not only do I believe that Jesus likely existed, but I am fully willing to respect many of his teachings (though I am not sufficiently patient or humble to follow them). Furthermore, wether deserved or not, I am inclined to accept that he genuinely believed in the meaning of these teachings. Foremost among these is the virtue of humility. I find it hard to believe that a man who was willing to face the wrath of Rome, in order to freely discuss the need for humility, would base his lessons around being the offspring of a god & effectively the most important man on Earth. Even if it were true, a truly humble man would play that fact down and ensure that his followers paid more attention to his words than his "station". I find this highly suspect. To me it seems that either Jesus is a hypocrite who does not merit the credit that I give him (much less the adoration and worship of over a billion "christians") OR, more palatably, the Gospels, written over fourty years after the death of Jesus, have been corrupted by the agenda of those trying to spread a new religion in a hostile environment. This latter option seems the more sensicle.
Most of the accounts of Jesus that we follow today come from Saul of Tarsus, who knew very little of the life and personality of Jesus. Saul, originally, despised Christians and persecuted them for a living. When he became a "christian", assuming his conversion was genuine, he would have had alot to "attone" for, as well as a lot of internal convincing required for him to make such a life change. I think there's a good chance this is where the "Jesus is the son of god" thing originated. I strongly doubt that if Jesus is who he claimed to be (his message not his supposed divinity) that he would declair incessantly to be divine.
In essence, if one maintains a sense of logic, one must choose between accepting the fallability of the Bible or accepting the hypocracy of "christ". Though I realize that christians are not generally known for their logic, this is a common sense issue that goes beyond the concept of a "leap of faith".
