Your responses in post 245 are surprising, coming from an English teacher, as you are clearly making what are at best very weak inferences based on a very cynical reading of the biblical text. Christ is “materialist,” “dismissive,” “arrogant.” These absurdities are not derived by any careful reading of the text, but from a mind unwilling to engage in any serious consideration of the text. You enter it disbelieving—but then are not willing to suspend your disbelief to give it a fair reading so that when you return to discuss the text, you cherry pick a word here, a phrase there that, by themselves, make the case you want (though do not make any case at all.) I daresay you would not allow your own students to get away with this in your English classroom, or are you one of those teachers, so common today, who will allow a student to believe in whatever interpretation they so choose to come up with, regardless of its (to use your own word) “plausibility.” What you’ve posited in post 245 is NOT a plausible, not even a possible conclusion to draw, given the entirety of the biblical text. Your conclusions are, in fact, laughable—little fragments and pieces pushed together by a mind unwilling to engage in a serious consideration of the topic. A good English teacher would never allow her students to get away with this kind of superficial consideration of a text, but would, instead, prod them to go back and see what they’ve missed. Well, you miss much in your reading of the bible.
Earlier, I posted the scriptural reason for this:
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
This verse describes your exact view of the scriptures (that they are foolishness) and the reason for that view (you lack spiritual discernment). God reveals Himself to the willing heart (Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.) He does not respond so to the heart of unbelief (read Proverbs 1). If you go back in the bible, you can read all the times folks tried to trap Christ, trick Christ, catch Christ in some conundrum similar to what you’ve done here. Each time, it was HE and not they whose scriptural position held (as it must - He IS the Word of God). The point being, yours is an old practice, plied by those unwilling to enter into a serious discussion with Christ due to an unwilling heart.
Perhaps you would do well to ask yourself what the real reason is that Christ/the bible so offends you. As a cynic, an unbeliever, you sure have spent an awful lot of time here (and at other times - we’ve had a lengthy discussion about the Bible before) challenging the veracity of scripture, the authenticity of Christ.) For some reason, your heart drives you to (and not from) these discussions - why? Why is it so necessary for you to debunk Christ here at FR when there are so many other, and, dare I say, easier, targets (Obama, Reid, BLM, etc.) Why would you give half your day (or however much time you spent yesterday) to discussing/refuting that which you have no interest in?
It might be worth asking yourself that question....
If one pokes a dog with a SHARP stick; he'll try to bite you quite quickly.
Use a dull one and you can aggravate him MUCH longer before he reacts.
Why would I suspend disbelief? I'm not reading it to be convinced of something magical, I'm reading it trying to figure out what may have actually happened. Why would Judas betray Jesus when he at first loved and followed him? Why does that sort of thing happen? Well, usually it's because the follower has become disillusioned. Why would Judas become disillusioned? Use what you know: what USUALLY happens when idealistic people follow a charismatic leader? The leader starts out idealistic himself and then gradually, as he becomes more successful and popular, is corrupted by his own success. This is a pattern of human behavior that is so predictable as to be nearly unavoidable. If this story were anyone other than Jesus, you'd see it too, and the story of the expensive oil is very telling, as is Jesus' initial unwillingness to deal with a non-Jew, followed by his treatment of her which is very different from his reaction to Jews in need of help. With them, he goes to their house, lays his hands on them, etc. With her, he says "Go home, your daughter is healed." And of course, the author then claims that she was, but there is no proof.
God reveals Himself to the willing heart (Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.) He does not respond so to the heart of unbelief (read Proverbs 1).
Rather like Nancy Pelosi's budget. You have to accept it to see what's in it.
If you go back in the bible, you can read all the times folks tried to trap Christ, trick Christ, catch Christ in some conundrum ... Perhaps you would do well to ask yourself what the real reason is that Christ/the bible so offends you.
There's no conundrum and he doesn't offend me. As far as I can tell, the real Jesus didn't have anything to do with me. He was a Jewish man trying to unite the Jewish people to throw off Roman rule, and he was killed by his political enemies. He means no more to me personally than Netanyahu, because I'm not Jewish, I don't live in the Middle East, and it's 2000 years later.
As for how much time I spent here yesterday, I'm on vacation, and sometimes if I get bored I go online and get embroiled in some discussion because I enjoy that.