Protestantism

» Brian Tubbs - If I use the Bible...

Pink, if I use the Bible to answer your question, you will dismiss it -- EVEN IF I just cite the Bible as a collection of ancient, historical documents.

So, let me break it down for you...

You don't believe the Bible is "Sacred Scripture" in that you don't feel it's the "Word of God," so any attempt by me or anyone else to simply point to the Bible will be dismissed. Okay.

I then fall back to the Bible as simply a collection of HISTORICAL documents. Even if it's not "divinely inspired," it's still a collection of books - written centuries ago. The Gospel accounts of Jesus were written by the end of the first century. They are the oldest and best historical documents on the life of Jesus.

So, looking at those Gospel accounts AND then the letters written by Jesus' followers (those letters "canonized" like Paul's, but also those not canonized such as the letters of Ignatious), we can put together an answer to your questions.

So, what does Jesus stand for?

Jesus identified himself as the "Son of Man" and stood for "the kingdom of God." This is CLEAR in the literature. What do those things mean? Well, if you read the Old Testament, you'll find that Jesus was claiming to be the divine Messiah. Jesus was claiming Deity and that he was the "Way, the Truth, and the Life."

What was it he was doing that got the leaders of traditional fundamentalist Judaism so upset that they got him executed by the state?

See above. The Jewish leaders felt their power threatened (you'll agree with that) and were incensed as Jesus' apparent blasphemy (that's the part you apparently refuse to see).

ANTICIPATING YOUR OBJECTIONS...you're going to argue that (via the limitations and changes in language and/or the distance in history) that we should "liberate" ourselves from the Bible. This results effectively in each person fashioning in his or her own mind who Jesus was and is. It's postmodern relativistic narcissism - and it has no substance, no grounding in any objective referent. And it should therefore be dismissed.