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4.1.1.
Appelant's Brief
(8/27/09)
1. Note that I do fully appreciate the apparent foolishness
of the Jesus concept/story (c/s). Superficially at least, it flies in
the face of science and "common sense." (Link)
2. My current claim, however, is that there is much more here than first
meets the analytic eye -- and that we skeptics, simply, were missing critical
pieces of the puzzle and making unwarranted assumptions our first time
around. We have a worldview to rethink. We have a paradigm
shift to consider.
3. Further, it is not my objective here to defend standard Christianity.
4. I suspect that standard Christianity has made many mistakes.
5. (But then, I tend to believe a lot of standard Christianity now, that
I had previously rejected -- so, where this ends, nobody knows.)
6. Whatever, I will be trying to defend the belief that Jesus of Nazareth
was the prophesied Jewish Messiah.
7. (I approach the issue THIS particular
way because I really don't KNOW what to believe, and because I figure
that the best way to hear BOTH SIDES OF THIS WHOLE STORY is to try to
defend THE SIDE TOWARDS WHICH I LEAN AND PREFER, and let the other side
show me (and you) where they disagree and why.)
8. And then, as it turns out, I think that I have some important new facts
and possibilities supporting the Jesus c/s that I wish
to add to the mix -- and tell others about...
9. First, I will show that the basic,
rational and seemingly immovable objections to the
Jesus c/s are not nearly as substantial as they first appear -- and
effectively evaporate
under close scrutiny... (Link)
10 . Next, I will show that there is actually a lot
of 'hard' (historical,
scientific, and even mathematical) evidence supportive of his story. (Link)
11. And, finally, I will show that when judged in light of human nature
(HN), the Jesus c/s actually makes a
lot of sense. For some reason, we just weren't expecting
this human nature component that first time around... (Link)
12. When all is said and done, we must come away with the intellectual
conclusion that Jesus probably
was the prophesied
Jewish Messiah...
13. And, what might have seemed so foolish at first doesn’t seem
foolish at all right now -- after a second, closer and more informed,
look. We who first thought that the Jesus concept/story was something
out of Greek Mythology, or "left field," just weren't as smart
as we thought we were. There, simply, was more to this case than first
met our eyes...
...
....
....
14. Being a little more specific (and objective),
this is what I will try to show.
15. The world is not the deterministic machine that it appears to be.
15. In other words, analytically speaking, the world is "magical"
-- it does not entirely "make sense"...
16. In still other words, the world is also holistic, free, living, loving,
personal, meaningful, transcendent. Things like that. These aspects of
reality are not physical.
17. And so, in even more words, there is at least one non-physical dimension
to reality.
18. There are a bunch of supportive arguments to this claim... (4.1.2.1.2.)
19. Also, there is probably a Singular Source of conscious
being and caring. Reality is full of conscious, transcendent beings that
must share a common 'ground,' or source.
20. And, in other words, there must be a G-d -- or, at
least, a very reasonable facsimile thereof.
21. There are a bunch of supportive arguments...
22. And then, there is a lot of "hard" historical, scientific
and even mathematical evidence supportive of the Jesus c/s.
23. But then, where does a "Messiah" come into this scheme anyway?
Why would we even need a Messiah?
24. And especially, why would we need a Messiah that looks like Jesus?
25. But then, looking through the lens of human nature (HN) and the anticipated
paradigm shift, it all begins to look right, make sense, fit together,
fall into place.
26. In more words yet, there is a whole different way of looking at things.
27. And from this new angle, things look different -- and do fall into
place -- which is good.
28. So, as they say in Boy Scouts...
(Chapter
4.1.2.)
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