Since Jesus mentions that “only the sign of Jonah, who was in the belly of the fish for 3 days and three nights, would be given this generation”, perhaps this Jesus that taught” kindness, generosity, and all sorts of values”...believed also that the Jonah’s fish tale was real.
Do you think Jesus was a liar?
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“Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here” (Matthew 12:38–41).
The context won’t allow anyone to suggest that Jesus as depicted here was using myth to foretell his own death and resurrection. He was using what he thought was stone cold history.
Now you might be a Jeffersonian type that relegates Jesus to that of a great teacher who had mythical stories of power and miracles built around his ethos....that is a different argument. The account we have from Matthew however shows us that this man, Mythical or not to you, believed the Jonah accounts as being historically accurate.
I don’t believe that Jesus lied, though I may interpret some things He said differently than you do.
What bothers me most about the fundamentalist rigidity displayed here over Santa, is that it turns a lot of people away from Jesus, instead of toward Him. People don’t have to believe exactly as you or your sect to benefit from the promise of Jesus. I think Jesus and God can handle their own business in that regard.
Some people seem to find arrogance and self-satisfaction in their beliefs and in criticizing those who don’t fully accept them. I don’t consider that to be religion or spirituality or even faithfulness. It’s a form of ego.