I was raised Baptist, but am now nondenominational. I have done some study in the Bible and other sources.

In the way I was raised, I was taught that Christ experienced everything a man could experience before he was crusified, so that he understood every aspect of what man goes through on earth.

I am not trying to be "arguementative", just an observation of this "belief" at least by some. From a factual type of standpoint, how could this be possible? Since Christ was in his early 30's when he was crucified, he could not have experienced such things as a loss of a parent, since both his mother and father were living. He could not have experienced a loss of a child. He was not ever claimed to have been married, although I think this may have been a possibility. but if he had not, how could he relate to something so powerful in human nature as sex. And so many other things.

So this leads me more towards that Christ was here not to experience everything that man goes through on earth, but really a focus more of why he was here and that was to take the sins of the world upon himself and was here really just for that purpose. So to say the Christs "understands" what we are all going through in any and every situation, well i would have a little problem in that if he did not experience it on a first hand basis. The understanding is there to a point, but would not see how it could be from a "first hand" perspective.

Any thoughts???

Blasphemer kidding and good question

but he did feel the loss of a loved one ( it was his best friend ) he even cryed .

somesy he was married to mary madolin ( sorry for the spelling)
In parts of the bible he called rabi and they cany marry

yes a friend, but not a mother, father or child. There is a difference.

That is something that I could understand and it would make a lot of sense. It would place him in marriage, sex and even children, which are very strong parts in life. And the scriptures neither confirm or deny such a possibility. So I could see it as at least possible..would make perfect sense.

I wonder where they came up with this? I wasn't aware that this was written in the Bible.

But you raise a good point. It would be pretty easy to live a sinless life if you just refrain from participating in it. If Jesus never experienced the intimacy of love, of having a child, or being a father, etc, etc, etc. Then it could hardly be claimed that he had much experience as a human being.

As far as I’m concerned the whole idea of the creator of this universe coming down to earth in the flesh to get himself nailed to a cross to save man from sin is quite frankly the most absurd idea I can imagine. The only thing that I find even more absurd is that so many people actually believe it. That’s truly scary.

We agree on the part of the human expereince.

I can say I do perfectly understand why Christ needed to come to "take the sins" of mankind, simply because not one of us (humans) could live up to the standard if you will. as it says in the scriptures, our (mans) best works are like dirty rags unto God. So I do see it being very logical of Christ's role as "savior" for that specific reason. It was his sacrafice that paid the debt of sin for all mankind.

So that part, at least to me, fits perfectly into the logic realm. But the the ability to truly relate to all of the "human" expereince does not fare to well. Again, it is not written about in the scriptures directly, but some (as in my case in being raised) was translated to some in this fashion. So it may be a very limited view in main stream, but it does exist.

Whether or not JC experienced everything we experience in our lifetimes is not the question; he experienced the temptation that we all experience. He was able to overcome that temptation. That, I think, is the main message of the bible: to recognize those things that are detrimental to your spiritual growth and to deny them. As weak-willed humans we tend to try to find a way to justify our weakness...and,unfortunately, we usually succeed.

I doubt any of that makes sense. It sort of doesn't to me but....

Jesus was brought to earth with one purpose....and that was to die for the sin of man. Even though Christ was here only a short time....Everything that he needed to accomplish was done....As the Father God and Jesus Christ intended. Yes he suffered, yes he was tempted, yes he was a teacher, yes he was God, and he gave the greatest gift to mankind that he could of...Which was to die on the cross for our sins. Christ had emotion, he cried, he loved including all of his followers, disciples, Mary his mother, Mary Magdolin......and most important the gentiles including us......Because without Jesus Christ and what he did.....It would would only be the chosen people......So I myself, get on my knees everyday and thank Jesus Christ, and anoint him, and thank him for all the blessings he bestows on my life daily. I also thank Father God for given to us His only begotten Son....

Shalom


What you had been taught is misleading. It does not say he experienced everything. What it says is he was TEMPTED and yet stayed sinless. Being tempted by everything man was tempted by when he was alive is alot different than experiencing everything. In the Sermon on the mount he goes on and on about temptations and how to refrain from them.. Hope this helps. Blessings..Miles

If Jesus was really God then it would be utterly ridicules to think that he would be tempted by sin in the first place. All that sin amounts to is disobedience of God. And God is supposed to not even like sin.

So if Jesus was God it makes absolutely no sense that he would even be tempted to disobey his own rules.

And, of course, if he wasn’t God then he wasn’t God. End of story!

It makes no sense either way!

It’s a 'have your cake and eat it too' story.

Jesus could not have been God. Period. It’s not a possible scenario.

"I was raised Baptist, but am now nondenominational. I have done some study in the Bible and other sources."

I can relate with that.

"In the way I was raised, I was taught that Christ experienced everything a man could experience before he was crusified, so that he understood every aspect of what man goes through on earth."

Sounds familiar.

"I am not trying to be "arguementative", just an observation of this "belief" at least by some."

Fascinating.

"From a factual type of standpoint, how could this be possible?"

I also find this fascinating.

"Since Christ was in his early 30's when he was crucified, he could not have experienced such things as a loss of a parent, since both his mother and father were living."

I would say that would depend on if you are referring to his step father or if you accept that his real father was God. I say that at the cross he is written to say, "My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me."

"He could not have experienced a loss of a child. He was not ever claimed to have been married, although I think this may have been a possibility. but if he had not, how could he relate to something so powerful in human nature as sex. And so many other things."

Excellent question.

"So this leads me more towards that Christ was here not to experience everything that man goes through on earth, but really a focus more of why he was here and that was to take the sins of the world upon himself and was here really just for that purpose. So to say the Christs "understands" what we are all going through in any and every situation, well i would have a little problem in that if he did not experience it on a first hand basis. The understanding is there to a point, but would not see how it could be from a "first hand" perspective."

I think that is a good reason for prayer if you believe that prayer can be thought of as communication and can accept that Jesus is your friend. I think the problem is that some people can't accept that all things are possible with God and God works in mysterious ways. Acceptance is the key for me today. That is the why serenity prayer helps me so much.

I don't know if any of you heard that study. It found that people are happiest in there 20 and 30's and again in their 60's up. They are the most unhappy in their 40's and 44 is the lowest point. The study found that this was the same no matter were you went in the world.

So I guess God was smart in pulling Jesus out before he got cynical.

Thanks for pointing that one out. I was reffering to his step father Joseph and to losing a human family member that would have been very close to him.

And yes I also agree on prayer. Thanks for your input!

Jesus did not experience everything we humans do. He did not experience what the crack addict does, and what the prostitute does. The Scripture states:

Heb 4:15 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.

He was tested, or tempted in all points like we are. He did not experience everything we do. He did not experience a car crash, but experienced His body being torn apart. But, He was tempted in the same points we are tempted in.

What are those points?

There are three areas we are all tempted in. They are these three:

1Jo 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Christ was tempted in the categories of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

We are all tempted in different ways through different experiences, but those temptations all fall into one of these three categories. His experiences also fell into these three areas of life.



Tradition has it that Joseph had died. This is the reason why Christ told the apostle John that Mary was now his mother at Christ's death. She had no husband. Christ understood being the sole provider as the first born. He understood being raised in a fatherless home. He experienced brothers that were jealous and antagonistic. You get the point. He was tested like we are, probably in more ways than we think, but not every exact single way we are.



Since Jesus was flesh, He did experience the powerful pulls on us like sex.



I believe that Christ was here for more than one reason.

1. He was here to learn what it like to be a human, and thus He said to the Father,

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Thus He is our advocate and High Priest now.

2. He was here to show us how God would live if He were a man. As Isaiah states, He would magnify the law and make it honorable. He personally said, thus they have "no cloak for this sin." That is men can no longer twist the law to suit their own advantage because of Christ's example.

By His example, we know how to obey God. Thus, He showed that the law was not for the sake of bondage like the Pharisees made it. The law was to free us from the painful backlash of sin. He healed on the Sabbath, and kept the law in it's true intent and purpose.

3, Christ said that He came to reveal the Father. No one knew of the Father. They had not seen Him or heard of Him. Christ as the Word was the God of the Old Testament. I Cor 10:1-6. Now we know of the Father. The veil in the heavenly temple is torn, and can pray to Him.

4. Christ was here to Die for us and take our sins on Himself.

5. He was also beaten beyond recognition. He did not have to do that for us to be saved. He was beaten for our healing. By His stripes we are healed.

6. Christ was here on earth as a human to show us how far God would go to show His love for mankind. By His example, we see that no person has ever loved us as much as He has.

7. He came to earth to fulfill the prophecies. Thus we can be assured that all the prophecies in the Bible will also be fulfilled exactly as stated.



He did not experience every single exact thing we do, but He experienced what we all experience in the three points of lust of the flesh, the eyes, and our pride. By this, He can understand our weakness, and can help us instead of condemning us.


Art

Thank you Art, very good points.

See in that lies the beauty of it abra...Because Christ was a man and he could of been tempted but he wasn't.....Satan tried to tempt him over and over and over again. And again in what you says lies the truth....because God also wanted man to not be sinful and to live as God intended...and how is that working for man so far.......hmmmmm not so good huh. And the scenario is this God's son Jesus Christ is also God.....totally possible.....totally true.....totally is.....

I wondered about the other gospels... I have only read the gospels that are accepted parts of the bible.

But I have read that several other gospels have been discovered and I wondered if they shed more light on his personal life- it would seem that the gospel of Mary would be the most revealing...

anoasis:

The gnostics are nearly all about what already lies inside of one... gnosis teachings, vestiges of which are still included in the accepted canonization...

Interesting readings... Taoist type thought if you ask me.