“if jesus is just a man, ...”
i respectfully disagree. for example, thomas jefferson is just a man, but does that make what he wrote not worthy of consideration by us? and how about buddha?
beyond that, i have no formal training in theology beyond catechism. so, i can probably do a fairly good job of dispensing catholic dogma. but that would rile fundamentalist christians (and others). if i took the conventional POV of fundamentalist christians, then i would risk riling catholics (and variants of catholics, and others).
everyone is claiming to know the one true meaning of the one true bible, and yet everyone is to some degree like the blind man trying to describe an elephant.
I prefer a more agnostic approach. Such an approach is by necessity non-denominational. To be a real purist, I would probably have to go back to the 4th century for the NT, and learn old greek. It would be a lot of work. Instead I am skimming here and there to try and pick up what wisdom I can. I am also doing lookaside comparisons with buddhism as well as possibly other philosophies in the future. I tend to turn off if confronted with a demand to take this or that on pure faith alone.
IOW a rational approach, or at least as rational as I can manage.
If I finish all that I may re-examine the faith aspects, but I don’t think I have that much time left.
Thomas Jefferson was just a man, and is worthy of respect for his writings, but he did not claim to be God.
Jesus, on the other hand, did. He must be judged in light of this claim.
If He is not, then he’s just a con-man