5. Weighing the Evidence
(Last edited 6/24/08)

 

 

5.1. So, that’s where I was a few years ago.
5.2. And then, shortly before I retired, one of my best friends – a Chasidic Jew – told me that I should give up my eclecticism and study the religion of my ancestors -- at which point I decided that I had spent enough time vacillating back and forth between foci, thinking that I really should focus on something, before I ran out of time, and chose the religion that my friend had encouraged and that my biases most favored anyway.
5.3. And then, this same friend gave his advantageous retirement opportunity to me (this was a special opportunity for one person, and I was next in line), and the rest is history (whatever that means exactly).

5.4. And, that’s where I still am. At this point, as foolish as this can seem to the well educated, analytically minded, I do "suspect" that 1) there is such a thing as "precognition" (direct knowledge of the future), 2) the Jewish Prophets did forsee a "Messiah" in their future, and 3) that Messiah was, indeed, Jesus…

5.5. My problem though is that I’ve been doing my best to reach some sort of real verdict re this hypothesis for several years now, and seem only slightly closer to such a thing (or substantial and pointed opinion) than I was prior to beginning this serious effort. I don’t get it.
5.5.1. It isn’t that I’ve failed to gather much relevant information, or even that the information gathered is ambiguous. In my own humble opinion (IMOHO), I’ve gathered a lot of interesting facts and ideas relevant to the question and so far, they’ve been rather one-sided – in favor of Jesus’ Messiahship. (Hallelujah!)
5.5.2. But then, I have never been impartial in my search, either – I have always wanted Jesus to have been (or, to be) the Messiah. So, the fact that my evidence seems to be pro-Jesus is one reason for doubting or discounting it…
5.5.3. I think that another problem is that my evidence for Jesus being the Messiah is largely “rational” -- while my “evidence” against Jesus being the Messiah is largely “gut.” And while my gut reaction could be emotional and irrational, it could also be intuitive -- and simply sensitive to negative evidence I am otherwise suppressing. And then, adding these up is like comparing apples and oranges. I don’t get a combined score, and I still don’t know who to trust. And my gut reaction is still my gut reaction despite my apparent intellectual leanings... See what I mean?

5.6. But the main reason I’m here, writing this compendium, is that I suspect that I have yet to place the “rational” evidence re Jesus into a form and condition conducive to “scoring.” Collecting the evidence does not “add it up.” While my new “facts and ideas” do seem individually supportive, so far they’re like piles of un-sorted mail. It’s like I need to put them all on the same scale at the same time. It’s like I need all my ‘juggling pins’ up in the air at the same time, so as to accurately judge the big picture…
5.7. So, I’m thinking that one thing I need to do is sort of sort my mail; I need to try to organize this stuff.
5.8. But, I think that there is something else I need to do with the material that is just as important – it’s like I need to boil it down into sound-bites, into ideas that are immediately assimilated, and therefore can be weighed together…
5.9. And also, I need each of these ideas to be "fresh."
5.10. So anyway, that’s what I’m trying to do here. I’m trying to boil down and organize all this enigmatic material. I need to place it into manageable sound-bites, start juggling the bites and see what the result looks like. Surely, a substantial opinion will be forthcoming…
5.11. And finally, putting a compendium into sound-bites seems to require that one put it into sentences and paragraphs and chapters first – seems to require that one put it into a "book" (or something similar) first… (Messiah or Not?)