Justifying Jewish Jesus

By Declan O'Leary

5 Thesselonians 21: Test everything and hold on to what is good. On-going Bible research makes clear that there is a definite agenda rather than just an attempt to tell a true story in the progression of the four canonical gospels. The claims regarding Jesus grow and are extended upon in each until in John we find the awe-inspiring God of Moses coming from behind the clouds at Jesus' baptism in the Jordon, wiping away all doubt that Jesus is much more than just another prophet.All this makes "want to be" Jesus followers like myself stop at a crossroads. Do we take the conflicting assertions which the many gospels have to make about Jesus as "gospel"? Do we include the Jesus of almost 1.5 billion Muslims, who was never crucified, or do we limit ourselves to the historical Jesus in his historical context and eliminate the most unlikely elements that have been pencilled in along the way?I have tried to walk a tightrope between all the above in my "Justifying Jewish Jesus." My intention isn't to insult or confront people in their beliefs, but to do justice to my own search for a credible Jesus who lives up to the basic standards of today's thinking Christians and more. We need to admit that there are more questions than answers about Jesus. A good starting point would be to be logical enough to admit the possibility that we are all wrong in part, in our presumptions about him and his message/s. My Jesus story is certainly no less true than the huge range of conflicting stories in the gospels and elsewhere, but then that isn't the point. As Antoine de Saint Exupery contended, we can only really know people when we look at them with our hearts. Working with this idea brought me closer to the Jesus I want to respect and take inspiration from. The man I depicted is unique and yet very human. He is somebody I would willingly listen to and spend time with.Friendship with such a Jesus would entail letting go of the common comfortable Christianity and standing up for what is right and just. That would certainly end in conflict with the very people who are absolutely certain who Jesus is and what he was sent here to do. However, one can see from their hardened faces that they only know him with their heads, not their hearts, and that is where we part company.My Jesus was a very unlikely hero and still he became the greatest and that has to be inspiring or?

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1076375014
• ISBN13: 9781076375018
• Release Date: June 2019
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 164 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"