Regular old Google has a better ratio, but the ten still beat the nine by 5 to 1 (527K to 103K)
Thanks for the additional research!
I wonder about mainstream Christians - they seem to me to be old testament types who ignore Jesus and his behaviour, his world view and his teachings.
I wonder what history would have been like if the old testament had been left out of the bible?
Somewhere along the line, Christians started to put more stock in *who* Jesus was rather than what he did and said. I don't know if you can lay that directly on the protestants, but I get the impression that they believe that Jesus' death is what "saved" us, not his living example and his teachings. I don't believe the two can be separated so conveniently.
Interesting...
Rob...If the old testament had been left out of the Bible, I doubt that Jesus would have mattered. Or at least he would have mattered to a small group of people who knew about him, but the whole prophecy thing is what kinda sealed the deal for the early Christians I think.
Cody...you've put your finger on something interesting. It's something I've always appreciated about Buddhism, that the emphasis is on the teachings and not the teacher. Like Buddha pointing at the moon and everyone looking at his finger.
Didn't Monty Python already take this who vs. what thing apart in the Life of Brian? That TOTALLY deconstructed the cult of personality around Jesus, to the point where it showed just how cynical everyone was when they were listening to the beatitudes ("blessed are the cheesemakers?")
Great comments guys.
I think that the Life of Brian is required viewing. Not just for how it skewers personality religion but also radical - My favourite parts are with the Peoples Front for the Liberation of Judea or was it the Front.....?
I like it too...relevent parts include for me the way someone discovers Brian's shoe, and suddenly the crowd worships his shoe.
Also when he addressing the crowd and he says "You're all individuals,"
"We're all individuals," they reply, en masse.
And one tiny voice of screen declares "I'm not!"
hm, interesting notion to leave the "old testament" out of the bible.
another way to say it is, take the christian writers off of the back of the hebrew creation story and let them have their own book. we jews have enough trouble with bad interpretations of the "old testament".
that's what stephen mitchell did in his "gospel according to jesus" and it's a powerful, much needed book! he writes that the change from "what jesus taught" to "who he was" began with the first christian, saul "paul" of tarsus, who probably had a powerful experience of awakening like jesus had, but was much too immature to adequately interpret it.
both gershon winkler and michael lerner have good fresh takes on the "ten commandments" -- michael is calling them "ten commitments" -- i'll find them somewhere...
Jeff...I'd love to see the rewrites...thanks for your comments!
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