Jesus Christ was born outside near animals. This is a truth. the problem is how this has been altered. For the Christian the account is of God, of a giant unimaginable being. If this is misunderstood or unappreciated then the glorious God turns into a bright white nothingness and the Christian worships nothing instead of (at the least) a great philosopher. So, then, how does a Christian correctly recognize each moment of the Gospels? It is by first seeing a man and then by seeing that that man is God.

Soren Kierkegaard treated this issue more specifically by saying that one must repent to the abased (human) Jesus as well as to the glorified (resurrected) Jesus. But his concern was with how we imitate Christ (by being abased with him on this green and blue thing) while my concern is how we think of him.

The first way of thinking is psychological. Simply by looking at him as a human being, we must go this way first. It is much the same as the way it is more amazing to see a man we think we recognize (though from somewhere else) and find that the man drinking coffee is a military hero or great writer; instead of seeing a great writer and later seeing him at a coffee shop. The first way comes with a psychological judgement, a brave scrutiny about this 'normal' person who reminds us of something else. We look at the person's shoes knowing this man is normal, predictable. Later our brain flickers a light and the normal shoes glitter because we realize that the shoes are the shoes of an amazing person. It if were the opposite then the amazing person's shoes would always be amazing, since seeing them 'as we know them' there would never be the chance of brave scrutiny.

Consider the thoughts of the disciples or for anyone else who may have known Jesus not as we do but as they did. We hear Christ or Jesus and immediately a thousand fake connotations come forth: Christmas, religion, philosophy, sensitive subject, America and the Bible belt. Contrast this with the thoughts of Jesus' neighbor. For them Jesus meant: son of Mary (who has not given back the plate she borrowed), son of Joseph (who is going to make us a bed), and Jesus himself (the sweet child who might take over his father's business). From here the simple human scrutiny can freely flow and the honest assessment can begin. From here his miracles are what they are; not just because of what was done but because of who did it. Psychologically this is important because it allows every human who reads the gospels to read them as honestly and with as much virginity as if they were reading a book written in the 21st century. A joke is best when someone does not say 'this is the funniest joke you will ever hear'. Should someone say this then the joke will most definitely fail. Should the small carpenter's son, who someone's daughter had a crush on, raise your friend's son from the dead it would be much more impactful then if we should hear that Jesus healed some woman's child (in which case it could be anyone because we know no one in the entire account).

Secondly we must approach him in the same way spiritually. The difference between our psychological impression and our spiritual impression is that (1) our spiritual impression is infinite and that (2) since our spiritual impression is infinite it is present and that which effects us (the present) is more imperative that that which does not effect us (the past). Consider the difference between disagreeing with Plato and disagreeing with the man next to you. Plato cannot give you a black-eye. In the same way since Jesus claimed to be spiritual (eternal) then his words effect us as much as they effected his uncle and his siblings and those who lived in his home town.

So spiritually (personally) we must treat this philosopher the same as we treat a stranger. No matter how much a person uplifts or verbally cuts someone else it is still the responsibility of the individual to judge everyone primarily by that own person's actions. Christ exists without bias inside of the Gospels, especially in the Gospel of Mark. but do not read the pages of his miracles and compassions as if he were God, because then there will be no amazement, no conversion. Read of him as you read of a historical man in a famous battle; only from there can one assert "this is no normal man" exactly because he has shown his Godliness.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.