THE CHARACTER OF JESUS

What evidence is there that Jesus existed?

Outside of the bible? None.

Or at least there are no contemporary extrabiblical accounts of Jesus. If you are debating a theist, and they tell you that they know of any contemporary account of Jesus, they either have some incredible source that they’ve been hiding from the world, or they have no idea what they’re talking about.

The earliest non-biblical account of Jesus as a real, living human being comes from Josephus, a Roman-Jewish historian who was born in 37 AD. There are a few points to consider here: firstly, he was born after Jesus died. That means that he likely did not begin studying or writing about Jesus until at least twenty years after Jesus’ crucifixion. Imagine if the earliest known mention of John Lennon came out in the year 2000, by someone born in 1981 (Lennon died in 1980). How credible would we consider the source? Not very.

The other major point to make about Josephus is that in his writing he does mention Jesus by name, but he does not attribute any miracles, resurrection or other supernatural powers to him. So really, the bible is the only source of information saying that Jesus was anything other than a regular guy.

By that logic, it is perfectly reasonable to believe that Odysseus (from Homer’s The Odyssey) was a real soldier, and that he actually had encounters with the Cyclops, the sirens, Circe the witch, and the marine monsters Scylla and Charybdis. After all, one single book said it was true, so why can’t it be?

Jesus’ sacrifice was no sacrifice

First of all, it has not been proven that Jesus himself ever even existed, but let’s forget that point for now, and say that yes, he was a real person, and yes, he died on the cross 2000 years ago.

Christians believe that he died for our sins, and that by letting himself be killed, he saved us all. But what kind of a sacrifice did he really make?

We need to take a look at the character of Jesus first. There is some debate, even between Christians, whether he was literally god incarnate or just god’s son. This aspect can muddle the debate a little bit.

If this point comes up in a discussion, ask the theist, what exactly did Jesus sacrifice? The answer of course, is his body, his life. If Jesus was actually god in human form, then really, there was no sacrifice involved. God created the entire universe, our planet, and all life that has ever existed on Earth. It’s not really a sacrifice to give up something if you have the power and the means to create an infinite number of that thing. Is it a sacrifice for me to give a single penny to a homeless person I meet on the street? Not really, because I have a decent job, I make several hundred thousand pennies every month, and will likely do so for the next thirty-odd years. However, the number of pennies I will make in my career is finite; the number of lives god can create is, by god’s very definition, infinite. I am therefore making a bigger sacrifice by giving away that one penny than god is making by allowing Jesus to be killed.

But let’s say that Jesus was just god’s son, as some Christians believe, and not the actual physical embodiment of god himself. Does that change anything? Can Jesus’ death be considered more of a sacrifice in this instance, or even a sacrifice at all?

An act can only be sacrificial if something is lost, but to take it a bit farther, the thing that is lost must be greater than anything else that might consequently be gained. To come back to the analogy of the homeless man, the penny that I give him is certainly not a sacrifice if I am rewarded with a dollar for doing so. Likewise, putting in an extra hour at work on Friday afternoon is not a sacrifice if my boss then tells me that I’ll get two weeks paid vacation in exchange for that hour.

So how does this relate to Jesus’ sacrifice? Well, for one thing, he was dead for three days, then rose from the dead. That’s not much of a sacrifice, if you get back exactly what you lost. But not only that, after he was resurrected, he was brought up to the kingdom of heaven to rule beside god forever.

Let’s just go through that one more time, for the sake of emphasis: He lost his life, was subsequently given his life back, and was then rewarded for his ‘sacrifice’ with a seat in the most perfect, beautiful place one can possibly imagine, second in command only to his Father, to rule over the entire universe, for the rest of eternity. Yeah, real big sacrifice.

I gave my lunch to the same homeless guy the other day. I was really, really hungry for the rest of the day, at least until I got home and made dinner. That evening, Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver (in case you’re not aware, two of the most accomplished and celebrated chefs in the world) knocked on my door and told me that, on account of my good deed, they would be cooking every meal for me, every day, for the rest of my life. Oh, and on top of that, I’m never going to die. Giving up my lunch to the homeless dude doesn’t seem like such a sacrifice in retrospect.

Jesus wasn’t quite the just, peaceful guy you think he was...

What makes a person good? In general, and some may disagree with me, I think a good person tends to do as much to help others as possible, and as little to harm others as possible. When speaking of Jesus, Christians usually say that he is the epitome of justice, kindness and peace; a morally perfect human being. There are, however, some things he said and did that don’t quite follow that insinuation so well.

For example, many of us have heard the story of the woman who was being chased down the street by some soldiers and fell down at Jesus’ feet (John 8:2-11). The soldiers claimed that she was an adulteress, and not only that, had been caught red-handed. Jesus then uttered one of his famous lines, ‘he who has not sinned may throw the first stone.’ This now-common saying implies that we have all done wrong at some point and should therefore not condemn others too quickly. The morality of this statement is good, and the lesson is correct. But one of the ten commandments states thou shalt not commit adultery, and clearly this woman did. By the law of the day, she should have been stoned to death along with her lover.

We have to remember a few things here; Jesus is either god incarnate, or he is the son of god, depending on which denomination you adhere to. God made the law, and Jesus even said that old testament laws shall not be changed. He is supposed to perfectly just, and yet neglects to uphold his own (or his Father’s) law, just because the woman fell at his feet and begged? Whether what he did was morally correct or not (and that can be argued), it certainly was not just.

Another reason this action was not just, was because he forgave the woman and let her walk away. Now, I don’t personally think anyone should be stoned to death for adultery, but don’t you think the woman’s husband might like to have a say in whether or not his wife is pardoned of her crime? He was the one who was wronged, and likely the one who caught his wife in bed with another man.
Imagine if someone stole your TV, and the police were chasing the thief down the street. The thief falls at the feet of some stranger. The stranger then forgives the thief for stealing your TV, and tsk-tsks the police for trying to catch him (because come on, we’ve all stolen something at some point). I’d be more than a little pissed, especially if the stranger claimed he had the authority to forgive the thief because he was the son of god.

One last note on Jesus’ supposed benevolence. In Luke 19:27, Jesus says “But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.” This is the kind of statement that a good person would not make. If you are supposed to be the epitome of love and kindness, you’d think that you’d refrain from saying such hateful, violent things. Now, this is not to take away from the many good, kind things that he did say. Jesus certainly taught many exemplary moral lessons, and assuming he actually existed, the majority of his teachings were good ideas to follow. But imagine a person who does volunteer work, donates blood, helps old ladies cross the street, then goes home and writes misogynistic hate messages to women and minorities. Is he a good person or not? I would argue that a single blatantly immoral action or statement dictates your actual morality. By commanding that his enemies be brought to him and slain before him, Jesus compromised his entire moral standing.

By Jason Wilks in "Arguments for Atheists", Kindle Edition, 2012, excerpts chapter 5. Digitized, adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.