One of the standard claims made by Christians is that their religion is unique and superior to all others because of Jesus and what he represented. Jesus is always portrayed by Christians as a perfect sinless man whose flawless behavior made him so holy that he, and he alone, was uniquely qualified to become the human sacrifice which the Bible God required to solve all the problems of an imperfect creation.
Setting aside the problem that the Old Testament never makes any mention of God changing his rules for salvation (which were to love him and obey all his laws), by deciding to use a human sacrifice of a man/god to atone for the sins of mankind, the claim that Jesus was perfect and sinless needs to be examined.
The Bible establishes that Jesus was holy and sinless in the following verses:
Heb 4:14-15
Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into
the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our
profession.
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the
feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as
we are, yet without sin.
Heb 7:26
For such an high priest(Jesus) became us, who is holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the
heavens;
1 Peter 2:21-22
For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered
for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
1 John 3:5
And ye know that he(Jesus) was manifested to take away our sins;
and in him is no sin.
Despite these claims, the track record of Jesus doesn't match up
with the advertisements of his holy sinless nature. There are
several problems which throw a large bucket of cold holy water on
the claims that Jesus was a paragon of sinlessness.
Jesus displayed an appalling lack of respect for God the Father's
laws when he declared that all foods care clean in Mark
7:15-19(versus Lev 11), when he disregarded God's law
regarding no work of any type on the Sabbath in Mark 2:23-27 (versus
Exo 31:15), and when he disregarded God's law on adultery
in John 8:3-11 (versus Deut 22:22).
Jesus also told lies when he was questioned by a high priest
after he was arrested. In fact, Jesus packed three whoppers into
one single verse:
John 18:19-20
The high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples, and of his
doctrine.
Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever(always)
taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews
always resort; and in secret have I said nothing.
The three lies are:
1) Jesus stated he always taught in the synagogues or at
the temple.
2) Jesus stated he spoke openly to the world.
3) Jesus stated he said nothing in secret.
These three lies will be examined individually:
Lie #1
While Jesus did much of his teaching at the synagogue or temple,
those were not the only places he taught. There are examples of
him teaching outside these places:
Matt 5:1-3
And seeing the multitudes, he(Jesus) went up into a mountain: and
when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
Matt 13:1-3
The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea
side.
And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he
went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the
shore.
And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a
sower went forth to sow;...etc
Clearly, Jesus did not always teach at the synagogue or temple.
Lie #2
Jesus stated he spoke openly to the world. What does "openly"
mean? Openly means honestly and with clarity. The dictionary
defines "openly" as meaning the following:
o·pen·ly, adverb
frankly: without making any attempt at concealment
Did Jesus speak openly to the people? Jesus often taught using
parables. Parables are stories which relay a message using words
as the vehicle. Even the disciples couldn't understand what Jesus
was attempting to say and they often had to ask him what his
words meant:
Mark 4:10-13
And when he(Jesus) was alone, they that were about him with the
twelve asked of him the parable.
And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery
of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these
things are done in parables:
That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may
hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be
converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then
will ye know all parables?
Jesus announced only to his close associates what his
wordy teaching really meant. He did this in order to hide the
truth which was revealed only to his "special"
followers. It isn't simply a matter of the common people not
understanding what Jesus was saying. It was a deliberate attempt
by Jesus to obfuscate the meaning. This is not teaching in
openness. It is teaching with deceptive intentions.
The author of Mark injected into his text a quote from Isa
6:9-10 where Jesus is portrayed as speaking in parables just
like Isaiah did.
The author of the Gospel of Matthew also uses the same deceptive
procedure in more detail as he misquotes Isa 6:9-10 to a
greater degree.
Matt 13:10-15
And the disciples came, and said unto him(Jesus), Why speakest
thou unto them in parables?
He(Jesus) answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto
you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them
it is not given.
For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more
abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away
even that he hath.
Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see
not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias(Isaiah), which
saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and
seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull
of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time
they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and
should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and
I should heal them.
The author of the Gospel of Matthew has Jesus quoting Isa
6:9-10 to explain why he teaches using deception.
Let's look at Isa 6:8-12 and see what it actually says and
means as opposed to how it is used in relation to Jesus. Since
the authors of Matthew and Mark left off Isa 6:11-12 and
only lifted a small portion of the text out of Isaiah 6,
let's look at why they didn't attempt to quote more than just a
few lines from Isaiah.
Isa 6:8-12 states:
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send,
and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but
understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and
shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with
their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be
healed.
Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be
wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the
land be utterly desolate,
And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great
forsaking in the midst of the land.
Isa 6:8-12 is about Isaiah's instructions and commission
from God about 700 years before Jesus ever arrived on earth.
God instructed Isaiah to go and deceive the people because of
their sins. The deceptive teachings God tells Isaiah to give are
not selective. They apply to all the people of that time.
Unlike the teachings Isaiah was to give, the deceptive teachings
of Jesus were selective and his close associates were allowed to
know the "secret" true meanings.
There is nothing in the Isaiah 6 text which states that
some people would be given accurate information while others were
deliberately given deceptive teachings to make their ears dull
and their hearts hard.
Isaiah also asks for how long he should confuse the people and
God tells him in Isa 6:11-12 that he should confuse the
people until the cities lie ruined and everyone is sent far away
and the land forsaken.
It's little wonder why the author of Matthew and Mark didn't use Isa
6:11-12 and omitted it from their story as it would clearly
show that the Isa 6:9-10 passage has absolutely nothing to
do with Jesus.
If Jesus was really the one who received the commission God gave
to Isaiah in Isa 6:8-12 then that commission contradicts John
3:17 which declares that Jesus came to save the world. You
don't save the world by deliberately trying to confuse it.
John 3:17
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but
that the world through him might be saved.
The commission God gave to Isaiah was to: Make the heart of
this people fat, make their ears heavy, and close their eyes.
Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.. Notice
that the instructions were to make the people's hearts
hard and to close their eyes.
The Gospel writers, the author of the Gospel of Matthew in
particular, were all eager to portray Jesus as fulfilling verses
from the Old Testament.
They would rip Old Testament verses like Isa 6:9-10 out of
context and then claim Jesus fulfilled them in some way by his
actions or words. This is called manufacturing a prophecy
fulfillment.
These are the types of deceptive tactics used by the writers of
the New Testament.
The author of Matthew exhibited the same tactic with his
distortion of Isa 7:14 as he used it in Matt 1:22-23.
Christians have built their faith around these deliberate
distortions and then have the nerve to proclaim to the world that
the New Testament is the "word of God".
If anything, the author of Matthew fulfilled Isa 6:10
because he used deceptive writings to make the peoples hearts
hard towards Yahweh in favor of a new savior called Jesus.
The irony is interesting isn't it?
The bottom line is that Jesus did not teach openly.
Jesus stated that he was following and fulfilled God's
instructions in Isa 6:9-10 which were to deceive
the people.
It's also worth noting that the Gospel of John(John 18:20)
is the only gospel which has Jesus making the three claims about
where and how he spoke to the people. The Gospel of John also
doesn't have Jesus saying anything about teaching in parables to
fulfill Isa 6:9-10.
This is an excellent example of the writer of the Gospel of John
being tripped up by the writer of the Gospel of Matthew in
particular.
Lie #3
Jesus stated that he said nothing in secret.
If this is true then Jesus should have taught the people he
preached to the same things he disclosed to his disciples. Once
again Jesus (actually the author of the Gospel of John), is
exposed as lying to the high priest.
As already noted, Jesus said that his close followers were
allowed to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven that others
were not allowed to know. It follows that the disciples must have
been taught some things privately and these things were not
revealed to the public by Jesus.
Mark 4:10-12
And when he(Jesus) was alone, they that were about him with the
twelve asked of him the parable.
And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery
of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these
things are done in parables:
That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may
hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be
converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
Notice that Mark 4:10-12 says "when he(Jesus) was alone;"
When the crowds were gone Jesus divulged information to his
disciples in private and in secrecy. Those on the outside
are spoken to in parables so that they will not perceive
the true meaning of the message.
Jesus exhibits this same pattern of teaching secretly in Luke
10:23-24.
Luke 10:23-24
And he(Jesus) turned him unto his disciples, and said privately,
Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see:
For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see
those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear
those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
Notice how the verse says Jesus spoke privately to his
disciples and informed them that they are privy to special inside
information which isn't available others.
Another example of teaching in secret is provided in Matt
13:34-42. Let's look at this passage in detail:
Matt 13:34-42
34-All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables;
and without a parable spake he not unto them:
[Here it's once again stated that Jesus spoke to the crowds in
parables and not in plain "English".]
35-That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet,
saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things
which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
[Here Jesus is portrayed as having fulfilled Psa 78:2. The
problem is that the author of the Gospel of Matthew has ripped a
piece of Psa 78 out of context and used it to apply to
Jesus.
Putting Psa 78:2 back in context:
Psa 78:1-7
1-Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the
words of my mouth.
2-I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of
old:
3-Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
(Note that Psa 78:2 says nothing about uttering things
hidden since the creation of the world but about dark sayings
from the past.)
4-We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the
generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and
his wonderful works that he hath done.
(Psa 78:2 couldn't be about Jesus because Jesus already
declared that he spoke in parables to deceive people (per Isa
6:9-10), not to inform them of any truths. Jesus hides
the truth by using parables and the subject in Psalms 78
uses a parable to reveal the truth.
What we have here is the author of the Gospel of Matthew trying
to claim that Jesus "fulfilled" Psa 78:2 by
speaking in parables. However, the author of Matthew already
claimed that Jesus also "fulfilled"; Isa
6:9-10.
In Isaiah 6 the words were used to deceive and in Psalms
78 the words are used to inform.
In his eagerness to manufacture a prophecy fulfillment;
the author of Matthew has written Jesus into both the Book of
Isaiah and the Book of Psalms, the result being that Jesus
teaches to deceive and to reveal the truth at the
same time.
Such is the nature of a concocted text.
Of course, the author of Matthew doesn't quote Psa 78:2 in
context so this major deception isn't exposed unless the reader
takes the time to check out what Psa 78 actually says.
One deception is piled on top of another in the New Testament and
millions have taken the bait--hook, line and sinker.)
Continuing with Psa 78:5-7
5-For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law
in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make
them known to their children:
6-That the generation to come might know them, even the children
which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their
children:
7-That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works
of God, but keep his commandments:
(Note that taken in context, Psa 78:2 refers to God's
deeds and laws being passed on and obeyed by the use of a
parable. This is to help insure that all generations will obey
God and his commands.
This is in stark contrast to what Christianity has done to God's
laws. Paul declared the laws a curse which were canceled and
eliminated by Jesus (Rom 10:4, Col 2:14, Gal 3:13). There
isn't any reason to believe that Jesus "fulfilled"
anything related to Psa 78:2 or Isa 6:9-10.
The author of Matthew simply wrote Jesus into the Old Testament
where he/they deemed fit.)]
continuing with Matthew 13:36-42
36-Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house:
and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the
parable of the tares of the field.
[Jesus left the crowd and went into the house. Once again he is
quizzed by his disciples.]
37-He(Jesus) answered and said unto them, He that soweth the
good seed is the Son of man;
[Jesus is now explaining the real meaning of the parable in
secret to his disciples.]
38-The field is the world; the good seed are the children of
the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
39-The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end
of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
40-As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so
shall it be in the end of this world.
41-The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall
gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which
do iniquity;
[Jesus never discloses this final solution to anyone but
his disciples. He taught them this message in secret and
never told the public this would happen.]
42-And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be
wailing and gnashing of teeth.
[Considering the nature of this scourge which Jesus will unleash
on the world, for him to claim he said nothing in secret
is both absurd and dishonest.
It's also worth noting that the author of the Gospel of John
never tells this story of Jesus sending out angels to exterminate
people nor does it tell of Jesus speaking secretly to his
disciples about it.]
If the Gospels are to be taken as fact then all three of the
statements of Jesus in John 18:20 are deceptions and lies.
He did not always teach at the temple or synagogue, did not speak
openly but deceptively, and taught things in secret.
Contrary to Christian advertising, Jesus falls far short of being
perfect or sin free. The Bible has some interesting things to say
about telling lies and being deceitful:
Prov 12:22
Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly
are his delight.
[This is not a ringing endorsement of Jesus considering his track
record on telling the truth.]
Prov 17:7
Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a
prince.
[Christians declare Jesus to be a prince ruler who sits on the
throne of Israel.]
Psa 55:23
But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of
destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half
their days; but I will trust in thee.
[Deceitful men will not live out half their days! Didn't Jesus
die at age 33(?)
It certainly looks like Jesus fulfilled Psa 55:23 right
along with all the other Old Testament verses Christians claim he
fulfilled.]
Psa 120:2
Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful
tongue.
[If this is true then Christians need to be saved from
Jesus, not by him.]
The next time you hear a Christian chant the mantra that Jesus
was the only perfect sinless man, make sure you ask them
what they really mean by "perfect" and "sinless".
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