Other Critical Thinkers Like Salman Rushdie

In the Bible, the population, at first does not accept Jesus, but more come to believe in Him after he is able to prove his powers through the miracles he performs.  However, the nobility, especially, they fear that their power is threatened; eventually, they are out to get Jesus.  Once Jesus' authority is questioned, most people who once believed in him no longer acknowledge their faith in him.  Eventually, swayed by the aristocrats, the people begin hating Jesus. He is treated less than human and is no longer a useful tool for the people, a source of healing or peace.  He becomes a scapegoat, and is considered the source of problems.  Even the people closest to him, his disciples, betray him.  Judas sells

It is possible to write on the life of Jesus from the information gathered from the bible. I will be dividing my essay into three parts. In the first part of the paper, I will talk about the nature of the gospels, John’s views vs. the Synoptic, discuss if the authors of the gospels are eyewitnesses and how they used written sources. Also I will talk about the Q source. Then I will elaborate on the topic of how Matthew and Luke were similar. Then I will continue on by discussing how the Old Testament uses Moses, Samuel and Elijah to interpret Jesus, and finally whether or not the Sermon on the Mount happened. In the second part of my paper, I will talk about Jesus’s birth and childhood, his miracles, his resurrection, and what Jesus did to cure people, spirits and how they are interpreted to the prophet, magician and the mad man compared to Saul and Elijah. The final part of the paper I will talk about what Jesus talked about as regards to the Kingdom of God vs. the Kingdom of the Romans and what he intended by speaking of the end of the world. I will also speak of the reasons behind the Romans executing him. My sources for this paper will be the New Jerusalem Bible Readers edition as my primary source and lecture notes from Professor Trumbach.

First, I will consider Jesus’ life on earth before his crucifixion. It is commonly believed that Jesus’ main mission on earth was to bring peace and connection among men. In fact, he is often referred to as the “Prince of Peace” or the “Lord of Peace” when being talked about by religious people or his followers. While this is nice to think about, when you dive deeper into the facts of Jesus’ life, you’ll find that he was nowhere near peaceful. He was actually just the opposite, causing further division and tension. He came to the people with the mindset of “either

The story says that God told Moses to have each family take a lamb and to slaughter the it then and paint the door posts with the lambs blood. Then that night, the Angel of Death would “passover” the homes protected by the blood, but take the lives of the first born children unprotected by the blood of the lamb. Also in Christian religion it says “Though he was harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth; like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearer, he was silent and opened not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). Just like who the lamb was used in Egypt, Jesus was used when on the cross. They sacrificed his blood just like the

The book also focuses on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Jesus discusses those that are blessed and why they are blessed and also the kingdom of heaven. Jesus discusses faith-community and what is required of disciples including reconciliation with others. The book discusses Jesus and his righteousness. Jesus gives instructions in dealing with those who cause harm to is folowers and believers. The book addresses the question as to whether to literally or figuratively take the commands of Jesus.

Lets look at the first verse, Romans 8:1. The verse tells us how we are no longer condemned by death but saved through Christ. This is true in the New Testament after Jesus dies on the cross, but in the Old Testament, people were saved from their sins by sacrificing an animal on an altar. But because of Jesus, we do not have to sacrifice animals on an altar. A specific reason why they did this was because the blood would cover them from sin, this came from the animal. But because of Jesus, instead of animal’s blood, his blood on the cross is a symbol of an animal’s blood that covers us from our sin. To simplify, this verse is telling us that we are condemned through sin and death, but Jesus saves us from our sins and is our scapegoat.

The novel leaves readers with a quandary, Haynes writes, that resonates with a deep question faced eventually by everyone: How shall I respond to claims that God speaks directly to individuals, instructing them to behave in ways I judge to be immoral? Stating that God issues commands for what appear to be immoral acts raises at least the perception, and comes close to asserting, that God commands and controls evil as well as good. For satisfaction atonement, Jesus’ death is aimed at God or aimed Godward-the target of Jesus’ death is God’s honor or God’s law. God’s honor not only needs the death, but God also arranges for Jesus to die to pay the debt to God’s honor. The evil powers who oppose the reign of God by killing Jesus-whether the devil, the mob, or the Romans-are the ones who are actually doing the will of God, are doing God a favor by killing Jesus to provide the payment that God’s honor or God’s law demands. Since the death of Jesus is also professed to be good and salvific, this image has God orchestrating both good and evil-salvation for some of God’s children depends on God directing the death of another of God’s children. Weaver explains to the audience how God answers to our call, how he knows how to heal us when we are hurting, and answers to the question of “Why did Jesus have to die?” or “How does Jesus’ death save?”.

The severity of the humiliation that was precedent to the death of Jesus is strategically diminished when it is recounted in order to

Many of the ancient and historical conflicts are believed to be connected to religion in a various ways and proven that religion can be used as an excuse for violence. For instance, The Crusade Wars ended in the brutality of both Christians and Muslims during the mass dispute (Burton 1984). The Jews have perpetrated massacres through nations for the solitary reason to attain their belief. During the reformation of Christians thousands of people were killed because of their religion. In Yugoslavia, the war in 1991 pitted Orthodox Christians, Muslims, and Catholics against each other in a brutal combat (Avalos 2005). Also, thousands of monks were being persecuted in Burma

Mr. Rushdie claims that, “In the opinion of religious people, the private comfort that religion brings more than compensates for the evil done in its name.” First he fails to clarify the evil that is being done in the name of religion. However it needs to be understood that when people use religion as an excuse to justify evil than it’s not the fault of religion. Christian, Muslim, Jewish Buddhist, and Hindu teachings all emphasize peace and goodwill toward others. When people commit horrible crimes and then try to hide behind religion than this just means that they haven’t understood and are not practicing the true religion. It in no way implies that religion preaches and is responsible for evil. Consider the case of suicide bombings that are being primarily blamed on Islam. Rushdie share this view and says, “For years now, the air has been full of the battle-cries of the faithful as they turn their bodies into God’s bombs, and the screams of their victims too.” The global Muslim population is

Jesus' decision to physically cast out the moneylenders from the temple stands as one of the most interesting events of his life, because it represents what seems to be the only moment in the Gospel narratives where he becomes visibly angry to the point of physical action. While one could argue that Jesus is frequently (and justifiably) angry with the disciples from time to time, this is the only moment that Jesus' anger moves him to physical force. Although the event is recorded in all four of the Gospels, this study will focus specifically on its rendering in Matthew, because when considered in the context of Matthew's larger narrative, one can see how Jesus' decision to cleanse the temple does not represent an aberration in either his character or theological message, but rather the natural culmination of Jesus' life and works prior to that point, and demonstrates a kind of revolutionary, anti-authoritarian element of Jesus' message of salvation that is all too often overlooked by Christians and critics alike.

In the works of Friedrich Nietzsche, there is perhaps no group of people that is criticized more than Christians and the Christian Church. While Nietzsche shows a great aversion for western philosophy in general, one could certainly make the argument that his critiques against Christianity are just as equally as incisive, if not more. This comes across perhaps most clearly in his work, entitled The Anti-Christ, in which Nietzsche offers us a look into the beliefs of Christianity and its central figure, Jesus Christ, as well as the ways in which he believes Christians fail. It is important to recognize these shortcomings, but it is equally important to investigate the emotional tool they use, termed ressentiment, that rises from their misunderstanding of Jesus. Christians, according to Nietzsche, through their progression in ressentiment misunderstand Jesus through his death and teachings.

The teachings of Jesus focused primarily on the "the kingdom of God" and were usually relayed through parables drawing on familiar images from agricultural life. He rebuked the hypocrisy of some Jewish leaders and taught the importance of love and kindness, even to one's enemies. Jesus' popularity grew quickly, but so did opposition from local leaders. Roman rulers were uncomfortable with the common perception that he was the Messiah who would liberate the Jews from Roman rule, while Jewish leaders were disquieted by Jesus' shocking interpretations of Jewish law, his power with the people, and the rumor that he had been alluding to his own divinity. In the Gospels, Jesus repeatedly suggests to his disciples his end is near, but they do not fully understand or accept the idea. The clearest expression of this is at the "Last Supper," which took place on the night before his death. All four Gospels record that Jesus shared bread and wine with his disciples, asking them to "do this in remembrance of me." Christians celebrate this event in the sacrament of the Eucharist, or Communion. On this evening Jesus also predicts that one of them will betray him, which is met with astonishment and denial. But that very night, Jesus' fate was sealed when Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples and possibly the group's treasurer, led Roman soldiers to Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. As they arrested Jesus, the ever-colorful Peter defended his master with a sword, slicing off

Many Americans flocked to see Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ.” On over 2.000 screens across America the viewed the “harrowing depiction of Jesus' last 12 hours in wide-screen vivid color.” (Allen 2004) People viewed images of Jesus being flogged, crucified and left to die. This violence caused some Christians discomfort with theology, and some Jews’ fear that it will “incite violence against them because of its portrayal of Jews’ involvement in Jesus’ death.” (Allen 2004)

In his book God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, Christopher Hitchens dissects and criticizes the various claims of religions and the tragic events that have been caused by various religions. The title of the book sums up the arguments of Hitchens in this book in the fact that he makes many arguments of why “religion poisons everything.” The majority of the chapters in this book discuss why he believes religion to be a manmade notion that has led to more trouble than anything else in the world. Most of his focus is on the three Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism but he does fit in criticism of other religions as well. The topics he chooses to discuss range from the sketchy origins of Mormonism to the