Was Jesus Christ a Good Person?

I started a poll a long time ago called "Was Adolf Hitler and evil man" and now I'm going to ask a similar question. Since Jesus is the prototype for good, just as Hitler is for evil, I thought it would be appropriate to see how many people actually consider him to be good.

The way the Bible portrays Jesus, he was certainly a good person. Its a shame so many Christians ignore much of his teachings, though.

I don't see anything negative about Jesus, he was probably a conservative liberal in his time, helping the less fortunate etc but remaining true to his morals.

Other: Jesus, like all mythical figures is not real. But, as portrayed, not a bad guy.

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like all mythical figures is not real. But, as portrayed, not a bad guy.

What the hell are you talking about? You have evidence of this??


Freaking idiots.

Publius wrote:

Other: Jesus, like all mythical figures is not real. But, as portrayed, not a bad guy.

This.

Publius wrote:

Other: Jesus, like all mythical figures is not real. But, as portrayed, not a bad guy.

I agree with this.

Oxymoron wrote:

What the hell are you talking about? You have evidence of this??


Freaking idiots.

Idiots are people who don't believe in the existance of Jesus?

Lightman wrote:

Applying these terms to 1st Century Judea is anachronistic to the point of nonsense.

Elaborate, please.

Arkady2009 wrote:

Elaborate, please.

It would be impossible to project Jesus' political ideology into the modern [false] liberal-conservative dichotomy. Society was radically different back then, and both ideological attitudes had much later origins. This is what I think he meant, although I see what you mean by 'conservative liberal'. I myself would generally see him as having left-wing, socially moderate views. This is pure speculation however, so one can never be sure.

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Other: Jesus, like all mythical figures is not real. But, as portrayed, not a bad guy.

You don't believe Jesus existed? Well in that case nor did Mohammed, Henry V, Gandhi or Hitler. Ron Paul probably didn't exist either.

He is certainly a good person, but he doesn't feel real or relevant to me at all, however many times his stories are repeated.

I do believe he exists, but in modern day standard he looks like a loony cult leader who said he is son of god and performs magic tricks.

Other

IF Jesus did exist, as the bible portrays him, he was a good guy.

Thompson_NCL wrote:

Well in that case nor did Mohammed, Henry V, Gandhi or Hitler. Ron Paul probably didn't exist either.

Why not provide some evidence to counter, instead of creating an idiotic logical fallacy?

Thompson_NCL wrote:

You don't believe Jesus existed? Well in that case nor did Mohammed, Henry V, Gandhi or Hitler. Ron Paul probably didn't exist either.

It does make me chuckle, however alarming it might be when one pauses to reflect, that people can genuinely affirm things like that Jesus is mythological. Like a centaur.

I wasn't a part of your earlier (Was Hitler Evil) but my answer would have been 'no'.

As to whether Jesus Christ was a Good Person my answer is 'other'. I do not think Jesus Christ ever existed historically, and if he did he didn't say or do anything in the Bible because it's too formulaic and anachronistic. So, we don't know anything about Jesus Christ. As for the incoherent character in the New Testament, he is mostly a preacher of nonsense and egalitarianism. Some of the things he says make some sense, i.e. the things stolen from Stoics and Cynic tracts.

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IF Jesus did exist, as the bible portrays him, he was a good guy.

We live in a society whose moral values have been shaped by Christianity, the religion founded by Jesus, so it's hardly surprising that we would perceive him to be a 'good person', by which we simply mean that his moral values largely coincide with our own. The Romans certainly didn't regard him as a 'good person', but as a deranged troublemaker.

OP wrote:

I started a poll a long time ago called "Was Adolf Hitler and evil man" and now I'm going to ask a similar question. Since Jesus is the prototype for good, just as Hitler is for evil, I thought it would be appropriate to see how many people actually consider him to be good.

Is an evil archetype evil? Is a good archetype good? Tricky... you might as well ask whether this is good or not:

Taking TS and Jesus together: they are both caring creatues, but TS is a little more responsible and Jesus is a little more compassionate. Perhaps Hitler had some of those qualities, but they were certainly a bit obscured towards the end.

Thompson_NCL wrote:

You don't believe Jesus existed? Well in that case nor did Mohammed, Henry V, Gandhi or Hitler. Ron Paul probably didn't exist either.

Don't be silly there's overwhelming evidence for Gandhi, Hitler and Ron Paul, and there is no equivalent of

Hebrews 8:4 wrote:

If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law.

And that's the modern Christian translation. I'm don't know Ancient Greek, but some argue that it would be better translated as an even more damming: "If he had ever been on Earth."

As for Mohammad, we don't have a proper biography of Mohammad that was invented before the 9th century. Nuff said for the time being.

If Jesus exists by definition he was a good person. If Jesus the man was to be evaluated without the claim that he was God, then he was a very deceptive and thus not good person. Absent God, he was performing parlor tricks and claiming them as proof of his Godliness, so he would have been nothing more than a glorified magician/conman, and not really a good person. If the teachings of Jesus were recorded with the parables that come from his sermons and the "importance" of his miracles in teaching us something about God were not intended to be taken as literally happening, then it would appear that Jesus's perhaps more material reasons for starting the church may have been well-intentioned and possibly good.

Other

I tend to agree with C.S. Lewis' view on this: if Jesus was who he was claimed to be, then he was certainly good. If not, however, a lot of his teachings are inherently immoral. For example, "take no thought for the morrow" (Matthew 6:34), or telling people to renounce their closest relatives if they do not believe (e.g. Matthew 12:46-50).