Ellen MacArthur wrote:
"Jeff" wrote
You have absolutely no idea what Jesus actually said. You only have the myth and rumor that was written down at least
30-40 years after the fact.

Wrong! You don't have to hear somebody say something for it to be true.
I never heard Kennedy say, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what
you can do for your country." But I know he said it. There's historical records and
probably video tapes. But they can be faked. You can believe or not believe.
The Bible is an historical record. It's based on what people did and what people saw.
There's no reason to call Jesus and his followers liars just because you weren't there.
That's dumb, Jeff, dumb! Before there was writing there was oral tradition. People
were in charge of telling history. It was passed down from generation to generation.
American indians did it that way. It doesn't make it false.

It doesn't make it literally true, either. It was common practice in
Greek history to completely make up speeches and dialog. The Greeks
(that is, the educated Romans in the Eastern Mediterranean) would
never have guessed that the Gospels were were the actual spoken words
of Jesus.



Jesus was probably a reasonable guy. Many people have added layers to his teachings, some reasonable, some not.

The authors of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all added the same layers?

Duh! Have you not read the Gospels?

Fascinating.... Prophesy come true written hundreds of years prior to Jesus even
being born was people adding layers. Incredible...

Odd, these "prophesies" were mostly not considered prophetic by the
people who made them. The early Christians had a small industry going
in trying to show that they were the "fulfillment" of the Jewish
destiny. That way, they would inherit the benefits that Jews had, as
an "Ancient Religion" in the Roman Empire. This was evident in the
letters of Paul, which were written before the Gospels (except
possibly Mark). Its pretty clear that much of the New Testament was
written to appear as fulfillment.

But, believe what you must.

Oh, and Jesus was a guy but he
was also God. But, he was anything but reasonable. He said it's his way or you never
have eternal life. I believe him. There's nothing to lose by believing him and everything
to gain.

You're certainly entitled to your beliefs. But you really should
study your sacred texts a bit. That way, you might not sound like a
little child parroting the comments of her Sunday School teacher.