He also taught people to hate* their families - Luke 14:26 (*The Greek here means 'active ill-will' or 'persecuting spirit'). He taught that suffering was to show God's glory - John 9:1-3. He ignored a woman pleading for his help, and only after she had asked him three times did he condescend to help - Matt 15:22-28. He taught that ill-health and human suffering was the result of sin, or for the purpose of glorifying God - Mark 2:5,11,12, John 5:8-14.
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'Assuming that Jesus' ethical teachings are contained in the Gospels - a dubious assumption - a large part of his teachings seem irrelevant or indefensible to morally sensitive people. Jesus' otherworldliness, harshness, demand of blind obedience and vindictiveness are not only morally unacceptable but are in conflict with the claim that he is morally perfect. Moreover, his tacit approval of slavery and the unclarity of his teachings concerning other matters, e.g., poverty, makes him an inappropriate ethical model'. |
Jesus' mental stability is certainly doubtful as he clearly believed that his return/parousia/the end of the world, i.e., the final judgement (etc., etc.) was only a short time away, e.g., he told the high priest that he would see his return - Mark 14:61-62, and he advised the disciples that he would return before they had preached throughout Palestine - Matt 10:23. Additionally, when Jesus told his disciples about the end of the world (Mark 13:3-27), he told them that the generation living at that time (ca. 30 CE) would still be alive when "all these things", (i.e., the Second Coming, the Final Judgement, the end of the world, etc., etc.) took place (Mark 13:30).
He also foretold that he would be buried for 3 days and 3 nights in Matt 12:40. But Friday evening/night (Mark 15:42-46) to before Sunday daybreak (John 20:1-2) is obviously not 3 days and 3 nights. (NB. Mark 15:42 states he was buried after sundown on the Friday, i.e. the sabbath (this is Saturday in Jewish reckoning) - something quite impossible to have happened.)
NB. I have lost count of how many times a Christian has written saying that 'because of Jewish time reckoning', the Gospel record does have Jesus buried for three days and nights. This is not so, and because I have become so weary of this protest, I have set out the situation in simple form, even simple enough for Christians to understand it, in page 11.
With regard to the end of the world etc., Jesus stated that there would be an "abominating sacrilege" (Matt 24:15, Mark 13:14) that would cause tribulation (Matt 24:16-28, Mark 13:15-23) and IMMEDIATELY after this (Matt 24:29), he would return to usher in the Final Judgement (Matt 24:29-31). Now, in Luke's parallel passage, the "abominating sacrilege" is the Fall of Jerusalem (Luke 21:20; as can be seen by Luke 21:21-23, the author of Luke equates "the abominating sacrilege" with Jerusalem's destruction). However, Jerusalem's destruction (particularly as described in Luke) occurred in 70 CE and yet no end came: and nearly 2000 years later, the promised end is still awaited and overdue. Long overdue...
There are stories in the Gospels that are clearly fictional, i.e., stories that defy historical possibility, e.g. the Jews going to Pilate on their sabbath day (Matt 27:62), something that would be impossible. Note how Matt (26:17-19), Mark (14:12-16) and Luke (23:8-13) say that it was the Passover meal (eaten on the evening of 14 Nisan, which in Jewish reckoning was 15 Nisan as night precedes the day), that Jesus ate at the last supper. However in John, there is no mention of the Passover meal being eaten on the night of the betrayal. Indeed, after the trial before the Sanhedrin, John says the Passover had still not begun (John 18:28), and even after Jesus' appearance before Pilate the next day, John says the Passover had not been eaten - John 19:14. John's author apparently included this variation to have Jesus executed at the same time that the Passover lambs were slaughtered (14 Nisan) to agree with John 1:29,36, that Jesus was the sacrificial lamb (In fact lambs were not offered up as sacrifices for sin: only rams and goats were).
If the Gospel writers could manipulate the data with so much ease, how can their accounts be reliable? Each Gospel either contains details known to be incorrect: for example, Mark says Herod was a king in 6:14 when in fact he was only a petty tetrach - this is corrected in the other two Synoptic Gospels).
The Synoptics have Jesus clearing the Temple at the end of his ministry (Mark 11:15-17 and par.), but John has this at the beginning (2:13-16). John also has Jesus travelling back and forth between Galilee and Jerusalem over 3 (or more) years, but the Synoptics have him beginning his ministry in Galilee and making a journey south to Jerusalem that ends in his execution, with this taking about a year.
It is therefore impossible to view the four canonical gospels as historical records.
These are examples - for further ones, see page 4.
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