Easter is this weekend. Despite the pagan origins of the holiday, it is the time Christians set aside to commemorate the death and resurrection of our Lord. So, I decided to compose a brief biography of the man known as Jesus. I will address the question of "Just who was Jesus?" Also, I will attempt to debunk common myths and misperceptions of the man himself.
************************************************** ***

Jesus

When was he born? Many people believe Jesus was born at the year 0. That is, modern time and records did not begin until after Jesus was born. This is incorrect. Jesus actually would have been born some time around 8 B.C. or B.C.E. (before common era).

Where was Jesus born and raised? The Gospel accounts of Mattew and Luke place Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, and his childhood rearing in Nazareth, both towns in ancient Israel. There is an account of Jesus' family escaping to Egypt to flee persecution by King Herod at the time. Herod ordered that all infant boys be massacred because of an omen he had received from sages. King Herod felt a new-born Messiah could be a threat to his reign. Some people doubt the authenticity of this actually occuring because of how similar it is to the Old Testament account of Moses being saved from death in the same way.

What is known about Jesus' family and heritage? Jesus would have been only one of many children in his family. In fact, the bible mentions some of his siblings by name. Mary, Jesus' mother, would have most likely had more children after Jesus' birth. This would have been critical to the success of her marriage and family life because Jewish custom at the time mandated that a woman provide her husband with children within a certain time frame. If they did not, or could not do this, the marriage could be annuled and the woman "put away" in shame. Joseph, Jesus' earthly father, would have had children from a previous marriage when he married Mary. Therefore, Jesus would not have been the eldest child, nor the priority of the family. Jesus and his family would have been your average, everyday, run-of-the-mill Jewish people. They were poor by most accounts. Joseph was a carpenter and schooled Jesus in this craft. Their lives would have most likely been routine and humdrum. In effect, there was nothing "Christ-like" about Jesus at the early point of his life.

What would Jesus have looked like? Jesus was Hebrew. He was borned and raised in the middle-east, and was therefore African-Edenic in his heritage. Modern portrayals of Jesus as milky white, with blonde hair and blue eyes are not only egregiously wrong, but blatantly opposite of what anthropologists have discovered. Based on a study of the DNA of ancient males of Jesus' era, scientists have concluded that Jesus would have been short, fairly stocky (based on his profession), had dark hair and a beard (based on his religion of Judaism), and been average looking. Popular Science magazine rendered this image of what Jesus most likely looked like.




When did Jesus begin his earthly ministry? According to the Gospels, Jesus would have began his ministry around the age of 30. The bible does not provide accounts of what happened in Jesus' life between the ages of 12 and 30. In fact, 12 was the last age mentioned in the bible for Jesus. That was when his parents went to Jerusalem for a custom ceremonial feast and Jesus straggled behind teaching in the temple. The next time Jesus is mentioned by age in the bible is when he turns 30 and is baptized by John "the baptist." It is worthy to note that Jesus would have been shaped and molded by life's occurrences like any other human being at this point. This includes the death of his father, Joseph, which is believed to have happened some time when Jesus was a teenager. Joseph is mentioned up until Jesus is 12, then he disappears from the text. At the time, Joseph would have been relatively old in age and reaching the life expectancy of his time for males. Ultimately, Jesus at 30 would have been an experienced man of his time, having experienced many hardships in his life.

Do we know anything about Jesus' personality? Yes. Based on biblical accounts and customs of the time, Jesus would have been a witty, sharp character. He had a sense of humor and would have joked with his followers. Jesus is not this passive, weak person often portrayed in modern accounts of his ministry. On the contrary, Jesus would have been aggressive in his delivery of his message, using stories and witty parables to provoke his followers to think.

What defined Jesus' ministry and purpose?: Many religions differ on who Jesus was and what he represented. There is even disagreement among Christians about exactly who Jesus was in the sense of our ultimate fate in God's view. Some religions regard Jesus as just a great teacher, and a humanitarian. Other religious like Islam view Jesus as a prophet of God, but do not esteem him as the Messiah, or being Divine. Regardless of discrepancies among what Christians believe about Jesus, there are certain beliefs that are universal we hold true, by faith and otherwise. These are as follows:

A.) Jesus was born as a full human.
B.) Jesus' birth was immaculate, God himself fathered Christ spiritually.
C.) Jesus' birth, death, and resurrection, were a fulfillment of Old-testament prophecy.
D.) Jesus died on the cross.
E.) Jesus' death on the cross brought remission of sin through the shedding of blood under the New Covenant.
F.) Jesus was resurrected after 3 days.
G.) Jesus will return again to judge the living and the dead for not only their deeds, but words.
H.) Jesus is the son of God.

What is the overall message of Christianity? The common theme of the New Testament, introduced and pushed by Christ himself if that of love. Jesus wants his believers to love people who are seemingly "unlovable." He wants his believers to love people when they don't love us back. And, Chrsitians view Jesus as the ONLY way to God. This is based on the scripture in John 14:6 that reads, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, but by me." Christians believe that you must repent of your sins and then accept Jesus in your heart as Savior and Lord to be redeemed. This redemption is God's gift to mankind. A great price was paid so that we could be free from spiritual death and hell, that is the life of Jesus himself. Unlike other religions, Christianity does not promote legalism. Legalism is the belief that you have to do "good" to go to heaven. The bible explicitly warns against holding this view and says it's erroneous. Ephesians chapter 2 says "Salvation is not by deed, so people can't brag about what they did to be saved." In summary, Jesus wants to draw all of mankind back to God through love, not fear. The price has already been paid. This doesn't mean we won't ever sin again. But, when Jesus died on the cross, he died for every sin we've ever committed, or ever will commit. Ephesians 4 says this is possible because we are "sealed until the day Jesus redeems us." That means when you accept Jesus as your savior, God's grace is able to keep us from damnation, because of the sacrifice Jesus made. In other words, if you are a Saved Christian, God sees his son Jesus and his blood when he looks at you. That's what makes us justifiedin God's eyes, not that we deserve it, but we've covered by the blood of Jesus the eternal sacrificial lamb.


Amen.

I make music to make you sick of fake music, hate music like devil worshipping satan music.

So say ya prayers, ya hail mary's and jesus's, take two sticks tape em' together and make a crucifix.

__________________

Try to stop it but you can't do it. A whole generation of kids blowing out their fuckin brains through this.

Kurt kobain music, students converted to cane users, as soon as they heard it went out and murdered and maimed to it, whats ya name? judas

__________________

I'm still standing by what South Park told me last night.

__________________

hipatous hopatous

__________________

The truth is that the original Pope was a bunny.