What would he have had to gain by lying about being the son of god?

What would he have had to gain by lying about being the son of god?

If he was a bullshitter, why would so many people believe him? The Roman Empire adopted Christianity as its official religion - the empire that killed him.

C'mon now.

>What would he have had to gain by lying about being the son of god?
Fame, a following.

>If he was a bullshitter, why would so many people believe him? The Roman Empire adopted Christianity as its official religion - the empire that killed him.
Many people believing in something doesn't make it true.

That his mom wasn't a hoe?

This too, kek.

What would Joseph Smith have to gain by lying about speaking to God and being a prophet?

What would L. Ron Hubbard have to gain by lying about Xenu and thetans?

Absolutely nothing.

>fame, a following

Yes. By calling himself the son of God while knowingly living in a culture that has the death penalty for doing so, he was just after some fame.

If he wanted fame in 1st Century Judea and Palestine he would have become a military leader.

its an important question, because you'd have to be pretty crazy, and also pretty charismatic, to say such a thing to a crowd of powerful politicians

"Before Abraham was, I AM"

being insane doesn't conform well to the other things he supposedly said, which have worked their way into our culture so completely that they would be difficult to extract or destroy

But those didn't catch on the way Christianity did.

Think about it, why did that spread in the way that it did while other religious shit didn't?

>Fame, a following.

Would you submit yourself to torture and death for some sort of fame? Better yet, could you convince your apostles to do so after you're gone?

See this is the thing with christianity. It doesn't follow the same path as most cults do - where the leader ends up with power, wealth and women - IE some sort of payoff for propogating a scam.

Jesus and the apostles didn't get any of that and didn't preach any of that either. They were selfless which is a miracle for most religious leaders. They truly thought jesus christ was the jewish messiah, enough so they shed their judaism and created this new religion called christianity.

how do you know that? Christianity didn't "catch on" until several hundred years after christ died. it didnt even move into the west until almost 500 years after his death.
both scientology and Mormonism are gaining at a faster pace than christianity did in that respect.

The threat of eternal suffering for heretics was a pretty new idea back then.
Christianity and the Church also did a damn good job at absorbing other religions.

He was probably an initiated member of the cult of mithras, hence "the lion of judah" and the cross and resurrection references.

That's bad reasoning.
People can have reasons for anything and everything.

Evil entities have lots to gain from deceiving you.

He never actually claimed to be the son of God. Go read your bible again, lots of people say that but never Jesus himself.

Where is the proof Jesus of Nazareth even existed? The existing "evidence" is hardly credible.

Where is the proof you're interacting with real objects and not illusory ones, or that you're not a brain in a vat or in the Matrix?
Your criterions for proof are entirely faith-based.

>What would he have had to gain by lying about being the son of god?
Fame, followers, riches.
>If he was a bullshitter, why would so many people believe him?
For the same reason majority of people live a lives full of lies and believe everything rich people tell them to?

John - 8

Dispute over Jesus’ testimony

12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’

13 The Pharisees challenged him, ‘Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.’

14 Jesus answered, ‘Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. 16 But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. 17 In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. 18 I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.’

19 Then they asked him, ‘Where is your father?’

‘You do not know me or my Father,’ Jesus replied. ‘If you knew me, you would know my Father also.’ 20 He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.

>Where is the proof you're interacting with real objects and not illusory ones, or that you're not a brain in a vat or in the Matrix?
>Your criterions for proof are entirely faith-based.
Where's your proof that your faith-based logic isn't the result of matrix programming and that you're not just a robo-shill? Where's your proof that Jesus wasn't a transgender? Where's your proof that anything is anything? fucking retard

You know OP, spiritual things are a delicate matter because people would rather avoid an eternity in hell, but like in many other fields of life, conners abound.
I cannot in good conscience advocate for Jesus after my experiences, consisting on experiencing apotheosis and then be taught to stick my nose away from religions, it is to note that my eyes turned lizardlike for a few moments during the experience.
Who is to say we have the text of the true religion?

Jesus and the Gospels were a fiction created by the Romans (Flavian Emperors) to pacify the populace and accept the State as the intermediary between them as individuals and salvation.

Billions of people think pedo Muhammad is the supreme prophet of the only god who exists, and they follow Islam as a result.
People are fucking stupid. If you bully and bribe them off, they will say whatever you want them to.
Do you really think North Koreans honestly believe whichever Kim is in control of their nation is god or a divine messiah? They know which side their bread is buttered on, and they behave accordingly.
People are animals, and you can condition them to respond any way you want with reward and punishment, that's the bottom line.