I just read an amazing book, The Passover Plot. It contends that Jesus was (just) a man who was extremely intelligent. He was highly religious and believed himself the messiah. He engineered events to deliver on prophecies. Had he not be stabbed by a Roman guard, he wouldn’t have died. He planned his capture and crucifixion to spend the least possible time on the cross.

It also contends that he didn’t consider himself divine or the son of god. It examines how that was applied by believers (gentiles) mining the old testament after-the-fact and ascribing ordinary events to fulfillment of prophecies and turning him into the son of god (in one case, via weak translation of Hebrew).

I really, really enjoyed reading this book. It was published in 1965. Check it out if you enjoy history and learning about the context from which this stuff was created. I can also recommend The Origin of Satan: How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans, and Heretics.

It’s all allegory for a wise ruler anyways. The fact humans project it out to an omnipotent deity is frankly rather sad in any case.

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I agree with the sentiment but “logical person” has some real “🤓☝️” energy.