would you recognise?

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indra

ONE love, blood, life
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I got thinking about this last night....

If you met Jesus (most likely under a different name :wink: ), just in your day to day life, would you recognise him (or her)?

(not quite sure who would be the equivalent to JC in other religions, so I just went with this one.)
 
Interesting, there is that new show The Book Of Daniel (premiering Fri) that is causing some sort of "controversy", I think Jesus is portrayed as an everyday person type. Maybe not, I'm not sure.

I see "Jesus like" qualities in people sometimes, unfortunately I see so many opposite qualities as well. But that's life of course

If Jesus really looked like Jim Caviezel I would definitely take notice
 
That is a tough question.

If I were to meet Jesus as the meeting is described in Scripture, then there would be no mistake about who He is (even for the non-believer).

Actually, as I think about it, Jesus Himself would determine if I would recognize Him or not - just as Mary experienced outside the tomb or the people walking to Emmaus (Luke 24:30-31).



Probably not the response you were looking for.
 
Well if he was speaking a language I never heard or still had the same hair style and walked in Dirty robes then mabey:wink:
 
I believe we would do a modern day cruicifiction of him.

I do not have faith that we would be any more ready to accept the Messiah today than they were 1,000's of years ago.
 
You mean physicaly or spiritualy talking ?
If physicaly, no. Most Causasians imagine Jesus being one, while living in Jerusalem, there's no way he could have white skin. He'd be taken for an arab by our racist society.
And spiritualy ? Well, just ask youself where go the people that claim themselves as the messia lol. Hospital.

Jesus is a part of the folkore. Only Judaism is still waiting for its savior.
 
vervex said:
You mean physicaly or spiritualy talking ?
If physicaly, no. Most Causasians imagine Jesus being one, while living in Jerusalem, there's no way he could have white skin. He'd be taken for an arab by our racist society.
And spiritualy ? Well, just ask youself where go the people that claim themselves as the messia lol. Hospital.

Jesus is a part of the folkore. Only Judaism is still waiting for its savior.

Would Jesus look the same now? Why? Couldn't he be any race or gender?

And I wasn't necessarily thinking he/she would state "I am Jesus" or tell people he/she was a Messiah. I wasn't thinking of this person drawing particular attention to himself (or herself -- no reason not to be a chick this time).

Originally posted by MrsSpringsteen

I see "Jesus like" qualities in people sometimes


I have a suspicion that "Wow, this is a really great person!" would be the best I could muster. Otherwise I'm sure I'd be clueless.

Originally posted by MrsSpringsteen

If Jesus really looked like Jim Caviezel I would definitely take notice


Ha! But those are very impure thoughts MrsS! :shame:

:wink:
 
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OK, now I have "One of Us" by Joan Osborne stuck in my head. :wink:

I think someone like Jesus would stick out like a sore thumb in today's society. I also can easily imagine Pat Robertson, Bill O'Reily and Rush Limbaugh slandering him for all they are worth.
 
indra :

I thought you meant if he'd be right now in front of us ;)

Then how could someone could ever recognize him if he has nothing of what he had in his past life, if he doesn't talk, if he doesn't act, if he stays secret ? Just because of his "aura" ? Then a lot of people would miss him ;) It's hard to make yourself a place these days without yelling louder than the others, or having good contacts, even if it's about political, spiritual or star lifestyle... you follow me ? lol
 
No kidding there used to be this guy who taught us scripture in high school back in 1989 and i swear this guy looked like JC!
He wore sandals and white linen shirts,we used to sit there and giggle during class as he used talk very solemly and with flowing hands , throw his head back and flick his long hair ,he was absolutely comical!!

But you know he left as quick as he came, even the other teachers thought him strange!

It could have been him!!!:shifty:
 
nbcrusader said:

Probably not the response you were looking for.

I really wasn't looking for a specific response. I just thought it was an interesting supposition and wonder what others responses would be. So far they have been interesting.
 
Dreadsox said:
I believe we would do a modern day cruicifiction of him.

I do not have faith that we would be any more ready to accept the Messiah today than they were 1,000's of years ago.

It's highly unlikely that one person would even make a splash. Christianity succeeded, due to the rather syncretic nature of "pagan" religions. That is, they would willingly accept the addition of other cultures' deities into their existing belief structure. As such, I often think that evangelization often accepted implicit compromises, such as how Jesus and Mithras have lots in common, not to mention that there are quite a few saints (lesser known today) that correspond to pagan deities.

The environment today is much different. Syncretism is not even in our language, and the idea of adding "foreign" beliefs into our existing theology is repugnant to most people. If someone claimed to be Jesus, He'd likely be rejected, because there's no room for additions to 2000 year-old beliefs.

Melon
 
I do agree that as a society (or societies) we wouldn't recognise Jesus, but I wasn't really thinking of that. I really was thinking of each individual person meeting him. But not looking like your stereotypical Jesus and not saying hey this is who I am.

Essentially, I guess, I was wondering if you think there would be an aura (as vervex noted, or a Jesus-like quality as MrsS called it) about him that would clue you in. Would there be such an overwhelming goodness or spiritousity (if that's a word) about him that you would know?

Or would would whether you knew it was him or not be up to him to determine, as nbcrusader noted?
 
Jeez i feel a little bad about laughing about this, i did not really see how into this you are!
But i truly believe for the record that there is a touch of him in all of us, and you can feel it. Its just that some people recognise the feeling more than others.
 
fly so high! said:
Jeez i feel a little bad about laughing about this, i did not really see how into this you are!
But i truly believe for the record that there is a touch of him in all of us, and you can feel it. Its just that some people recognise the feeling more than others.

No worries. I think humour, about pretty much everything, is important. Humourless people always make me nervous. :)
 
Dreadsox said:
I believe we would do a modern day cruicifiction of him.

I do not have faith that we would be any more ready to accept the Messiah today than they were 1,000's of years ago.


The crucifixion had to do more with politics

Than with religion

The church in his day had a successful working relationship with governing powers to support and maintain each other's authority and continued success.
 
BonoVoxSupastar said:
I think most wouldn't. Society would find some way to silence him.

Pat Robertson would publicly condemn him.


This is very true

Jesus did not encourage any one to donate to the building fund, or any other donations to support and keep the clergy of the day in their comfortable and respected lifestyle.

The high priest in his day were no worse than any preacher or pastor today. They would feel threatened by a street person that required no more participation than just to say I accept and I believe.
How radical was that?
The decent religious people of his day that had followed all the religious traditions that had been handed down for centuries would most likely find him peculiar and stay with the status quo.

Keep going to church and studying the scriptures.
 
melon said:


It's highly unlikely that one person would even make a splash. Christianity succeeded, due to the rather syncretic nature of "pagan" religions. That is, they would willingly accept the addition of other cultures' deities into their existing belief structure. As such, I often think that evangelization often accepted implicit compromises, such as how Jesus and Mithras have lots in common, not to mention that there are quite a few saints (lesser known today) that correspond to pagan deities.

The environment today is much different. Syncretism is not even in our language, and the idea of adding "foreign" beliefs into our existing theology is repugnant to most people. If someone claimed to be Jesus, He'd likely be rejected, because there's no room for additions to 2000 year-old beliefs.

Melon
Jesus came and went with very little impact in his day. Most likely a few dozen, maybe at most a couple of hundred followers. There is no way to measure.

The success of the Jesus movement came after his death with some great marketing, a superior product. Not much was required, just say "I believe". No animals to purchase for sacrifice. No treks to make.
And a promise of eternal life.

The Romans and other gentiles were a great target group for a superior belief system with less required.
 
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Hard to say for me... I don't really believe in Jesus' messia existence. For me, he either didn't exist, or was a great spiritual man which sayings were interpretated with the centuries, modified, like stories.

Before asking ourselves if we'd recognize Jesus, we should set who Jesus really is for each of us. For me, it would be, like I said, someone very spiritual. I haven't met yet people with that kind of aura, unfortunatly, the force of the ones who know we all are united and can almost control this energy.
I think it would be impossible to recognize a man like that passing in the street without him at least smiling to you or something. It's really hard to say...
 
I believe that people who truly believe the word of God would know it was Jesus no matter what he looked liked (hence that show Joan of Arcadia).

The beliefs of 2000 years ago, are not anything that should be that different of today. Especially, the 10 commandments. Everyone on the earth, no matter what religion they are; should some how or even sometimes emulate Jesus's actions. How could that hurt the world People should think sometimes like :hmm: What would Jesus do?
 
Who even knows more than three or four commandments :S

What use is there living by the ones that just don't make common sense, same with religious minded diets.
 
deep said:
The success of the Jesus movement came after his death with some great marketing, a superior product. Not much was required, just say "I believe". No animals to purchase for sacrifice. No treks to make.
And a promise of eternal life.

Yeah, well, these days, it feels like a game of "bait-and-switch": the "bait" being the supposed simplicity, and the "switch" being centuries of burdensome and rather illogical ritualism, tradition, and seemingly timeless prejudice and illogic.

Maybe it's time to do some quality control and see if the factory is actually producing what the marketing promises.

Melon
 
A_Wanderer said:
Who even knows more than three or four commandments :S

Particularly when the Ten Commandments and the rest of Mosaic Law were superceded by "Love one another." But that's just a little too gay for "manly" Christianity.

Melon
 
I think Jesus would look around this world, and be like "I came back for this?, screw dat, I'm outta here":wink:
 
BonoVoxSupastar said:
I think most wouldn't. Society would find some way to silence him.

Pat Robertson would publicly condemn him.

yes

This song was written in New York City
Of rich men, preachers and slaves
Yes, if Jesus was to preach like he preached in Galillee,
They would lay Jesus Christ in his grave.

taken from the song "Jesus Christ"
by Woody Guthrie


as to if i would recognize him, i think it would have a lot to do with if i was looking for him. i think we miss lots of things because we're to preoccupied with misc stuff.
i think you could walk next to him down the street for blocks but not know it was him cause you weren't paying attention

that's my thought :shrug:
 
Anyone heard the song, The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead by XTC? Kick ass song and a little parable of Jesus.
 
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