Empress Of Drac, A Cebuana Blogger

Check this one…this is a statement
by Bertrand Russell from his book “Why
I am Not a Christian”…

“Then you come to moral questions.
There is one very serious defect to my
mind in Christ’s moral character, and
that is that He believed in hell. I do
not myself feel that any person that
is really profoundly humane can
believe in everlasting punishment.
Christ certainly as depicted in the
Gospels did believe in everlasting
punishment, and one does find
repeatedly a vindictive fury against
those people who would not listen to
His preaching — an attitude which is
not uncommon with preachers, but which
does somewhat detract from superlative
excellence.”

and here’s a reply from one istoryan:

Diem: It’s all a matter of interpretation and one must consider all things. As Bertrand Russell based his statement on events according to the Gospels of the New Testament, so I shall use the same as basis for my statement .

I am not truly disagreeing with Bertrand Russell’s statement but let us consider all the angles.

One has to remember that Jesus was raised as a Jew, and Jews have a severe crime-punishment system going back from the time of Moses.(An eye for an eye)

Jesus was just using an effective way of reaching to the people of His Time. Through his sermons and parables, He presented himself as a recognizable strong authority figure by using language, notions, images and beliefs that the common people could remember and relate to.

The Jews then were a hard people living during hard and turbulent times. They have had a violent history, and even until now suffer a violent present in Israel. You’d think that Jesus would be effective as a Prophet if he presented himself as a softie constantly promoting pacifism and love? Preaching that way to Jews will be like preaching to a stone wall, casting pearls before swine! And amidst the crowds that gather around Jesus were the arrogant, ultraconservative Pharisees and Sadducees, the toughest of the lot to break!

One has to be as hard as rock and as just as resolute, in order to break these people down then build them up! That was Jesus did. Jesus preached about eternal punishment because it was something his audience, his people believed in.He spoke in a way to make sure people would listen and not only just listen, but take to heart His words.

That’s my humble opinion of it. And I would like to humbly suggest something too.

If we are to ‘judge’ a person (be the Person a Godhead or a Human-prophet), let us remember to not judge him/her merely by just the words s/he spoke but also take in account his/her actions.

According to the Gospels and aside from the miracles, please remember that–

1) Jesus stopped a mob from stoning a woman accused of adultery, and the mob was just doing an obligation according to the Law of Moses (Leviticus);

2) He spent time talking, teaching with the pariahs of Jewish society(like the tax collectors for the Roman Legions who were considered as bad as traitors and thieves);

3) He even allowed his own freedom to be traded with that of the murderer Barnabas;

4) Without any resistance or attempts to defend himself, Jesus was beaten and scoured;

5) And even near the painful moment of his slow Death on the Cross, Jesus comforted a criminal.

As Bertrand Russell did note: Jesus had a “vindictive fury” when he spoke of hell but as one can see, his actions are “profoundly humane”. That for me, tells a lot about true intentions.

Jesus is a complex character; and a lot of people often misunderstood him even until now. That is why we must consider all things. Carefully.

I’d like to believe that Bertrand Russell wanted us to consider Christ’s morality only to ignite our own personal questions of our own morality.

For everyone’s kind consideration.

_________________________________

and here’s my reply:

EOD: hmmmn…nice explaination but you really don’t have to explain. lol…i was just quite intrigue with Bertrand’s views and wanted to see what’re the other mortals reactions…

Bertrand is actually a pacifist who doesn’t believe that the real reason that people accept religion has anything to do with argumentation…it’s because it’s useless to argue when that person’s predicament is soleby based on his faith.

but then as you said we should not judge people by what they say instead judge them by their deeds. but as I look closely at your statement
you tend to say that Christ uses HELL as a sort of a threat…so that those mortals in those times would listen and obey him. So, do you suggest that Christ is LYING? and for all this time what the church has thought us about HELL is only a LIE? They’re telling us of eternal damnation just to scare us?

to be continued…or check this link…

~eod~