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July 20th, 2013
10:00 PM ET
Reza Aslan: Why I write about JesusOpinion by Reza Aslan, special to CNN (CNN) - When I was 15 years old, I found Jesus. I spent the summer of my sophomore year at an evangelical youth camp in Northern California, a place of timbered fields and boundless blue skies, where, given enough time and stillness and soft-spoken encouragement, one could not help but hear the voice of God. Amid the man-made lakes and majestic pines my friends and I sang songs, played games and swapped secrets, rollicking in our freedom from the pressures of home and school. In the evenings, we gathered in a fire-lit assembly hall at the center of the camp. It was there that I heard a remarkable story that would change my life forever.
Through his words and miraculous deeds, he challenged the Jews who thought they were the chosen of God, and in return he was nailed to a cross. Though Jesus could have saved himself from that gruesome death, he freely chose to die. Indeed, his death was the point of it all, for his sacrifice freed us all from the burden of our sins. But the story did not end there, because three days later, he rose again, exalted and divine, so that now, all who believe in him and accept him into their hearts will also never die, but have eternal life. For a kid raised in a motley family of lukewarm Muslims and exuberant atheists, this was truly the greatest story ever told. Never before had I felt so intimately the pull of God. In Iran, the place of my birth, I was Muslim in much the way I was Persian. My religion and my ethnicity were mutual and linked. Like most people born into a religious tradition, my faith was as familiar to me as my skin, and just as disregardable. After the Iranian revolution forced my family to flee our home, religion in general, and Islam in particular, became taboo in our household. Islam was shorthand for everything we had lost to the mullahs who now ruled Iran. My mother still prayed when no one was looking, and you could still find a stray Quran or two hidden in a closet or a drawer somewhere. But, for the most part, our lives were scrubbed of all trace of God. That was just fine with me. After all, in the America of the 1980s, being Muslim was like being from Mars. My faith was a bruise, the most obvious symbol of my otherness; it needed to be concealed. Jesus, on the other hand, was America. He was the central figure in America’s national drama. Accepting him into my heart was as close as I could get to feeling truly American. I do not mean to say that mine was a conversion of convenience. On the contrary, I burned with absolute devotion to my newfound faith. I was presented with a Jesus who was less “Lord and Savior” than he was a best friend, someone with whom I could have a deep and personal relationship. As a teenager trying to make sense of an indeterminate world I had only just become aware of, this was an invitation I could not refuse. The moment I returned home from camp, I began eagerly to share the good news of Jesus Christ with my friends and family, my neighbors and classmates, with people I’d just met and with strangers on the street: those who heard it gladly, and those who threw it back in my face. Yet something unexpected happened in my quest to save the souls of the world. The more I probed the Bible to arm myself against the doubts of unbelievers, the more distance I discovered between the Jesus of the Gospels and the Jesus of history – between Jesus the Christ and Jesus of Nazareth. In college, where I began my formal study of the history of religions, that initial discomfort soon ballooned into full-blown doubts. The bedrock of evangelical Christianity, at least as it was taught to me, is the unconditional belief that every word of the Bible is God-breathed and true, literal and inerrant. The sudden realization that this belief is patently and irrefutably false, that the Bible is replete with the most blatant and obvious errors and contradictions — just as one would expect from a document written by hundreds of different hands across thousands of years — left me confused and spiritually unmoored. And so, like many people in my situation, I angrily discarded my faith as if it were a costly forgery I had been duped into buying. I began to rethink the faith and culture of my forefathers, finding in them a deeper, more intimate familiarity than I ever had as a child, the kind that comes from reconnecting with an old friend after many years apart. Meanwhile, I continued my academic work in religious studies, delving back into the Bible not as an unquestioning believer but as an inquisitive scholar. No longer chained to the assumption that the stories I read were literally true, I became aware of a more meaningful truth in the text. Ironically, the more I learned about the life of the historical Jesus, the turbulent world in which he lived, and the brutality of the Roman occupation that he defied, the more I was drawn to him. The Jewish peasant and revolutionary who challenged the rule of the most powerful empire the world had ever known became so much more real to me than the detached, unearthly being I had been introduced to in church. Today, I can confidently say that two decades of rigorous academic research into the origins of Christianity has made me a more genuinely committed disciple of Jesus of Nazareth than I ever was of Jesus Christ. I have modeled my life not after the celestial spirit whom many Christians believe sacrificed himself for our sins, but rather after the illiterate, marginal Jew who gave his life fighting an unwinnable battle against the religious and political powers of his day on behalf of the poor and the dispossessed – those his society deemed unworthy of saving. I wrote my newest book, "Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth" in order to spread the good news of the Jesus of history with the same fervor that I once applied to spreading the story of the Christ. Because I am convinced that one can be a devoted follower of Jesus without being a Christian, just as I know that one can be a Christian without being a follower of Jesus. Reza Aslan is a bestselling author and a scholar of religion. This article was adapted from his newest book, "Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth." The views expressed in this column are Aslan's alone. |
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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She is wrong on many points but that´s because of her lack of faith . She also gives ammo to atheist .
Jesus was not illiterate , he could read and often qouted the scriptures and taught the religios elect of his times .
When he accended into Heaven over 500 people were eye witnesses . Jesus also referred to himself as GOD
many times . Even Peter says do you think we were told of these miracles he performed he said they were
eyewitnesses to his power . Jews like Peter would cut off their arms rather than blaspheme . She should go
back and read the Bible it proves itself over and over again as true . No other religion can say that .
Oh dear, dear you should take my advice and stop praying and start thinking, your comments are Soooo naive as to be pathetic, my 7 year old granddaughter has far more common sense than you have and she is far from gullible.
THINK BEFORE WRITING and you may have a chance of not making a fool of yourself.
So "over 500 people were eye witnesses . Jesus also referred to himself as GOD", think about this statement for a moment, how does ANYONE know that it was 500 people, WHO COUNTED THEM. These events took place 2,000 years ago in a VERY primitive society with VERY primitive and largely illiterate people. How did 500 people know what had happened, and as we now know EYEWITNESSES can be VERY UNRELIABLE witnesses. There were NO newspaper reporters who investigated and interviewed people about their CLAIMED sighting of jesus.
Can you imagine an interview with one of these EYEWITNESSES
question: "3 days after jesus was crucified some say he came back to life, have you by any chance seen him"
answer; "I think so yes and my wife and neighbour all saw him"
Is that the quality of your EYEWITNESSES, don't forget these were illiterate people who probably did not even have a calendar so how would they know when they saw him or even if it was in fact JC.
Based on this the EYEWITNESS testimony is WORTHLESS, they might just as well have said that 5,000 people saw JC or 5 people saw him. Those statements are all equally WORTHLESS
There were no investigations of these claims because there was no one to carry out the investigation. These claims are BOGUS probably started by people who had a vested interest in promoting JC such as his disciples, these people are NOT CREDIBLE WITNESSES.
You say "She should go back and read the Bible it proves itself over and over again as true . No other religion can say that ". The bible does NOT prove itself over and over again, if you use the sort of evidence I have just written about then there is NO credible evidence whatsoever.
All the so called evidence in the bible is self serving such as "jesus is the son of god, how do I know? well jesus said he was", is that the sort of EVIDENCE that proves the bible over and over again, I am just using this as an example.
In the bible we read a statement and then a chapter later that statement become CAST IRON PROOF. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, therefore jesus MUST be the son of god. If that is true then there are thousands of sons of god walking around the earth today. Modern medical science recognizes conditions that will seem to the untrained as if someone is dead, there are many cases of DEAD people being buried only to discover later that they were alive.
Modern medicine calls this state CATALEPSY, the person appears dead but they are NOT. Obviously Lazarus was in a cataleptic state from which he recovered, IT WAS NOT A MIRACLE, the bible lied or more likely the person who wrote this story was completely IGNORANT.
Doctors and medical professionals know about this and can recognize it and can bring people in such a state back to consciousness, are those people SONS OR DAUGHTERS OF A GOD
The bible is so FALLIBLE that you can find PROOF or DIS-PROOF for virtually ANYTHING somewhere in its pages.
Jesus was not illiterate whoever the character we know as jesus was, he appears to have been quite bright and was able to use his intelligence to make these illiterate and ignorant people believe everything he said. Every miracle that JC performed has a perfectly natural and rationale explanation and needed NO supernatural powers.
I am not saying that the character of JC was bad on the contrary he may well have had good intentions but the techniques he used to SELL his message are almost exactly the same as the 19th century Snake Oil Salesmen and the 20/21st century late night TV infomercial salesmen.
Far from being reliable the bible is full of contradictions, mis-information, distortions and outright lies.
This is a good article. imo it doesn't matter if jesus existed or not, whether god exists or whether the bible is completely true. or even whether we go to heaven.
It's more about Jesus' message. period. that's why I was raised catholic but am not anymore. I do still believe in god. My parents don't understand me but that doesn't matter either. I did it my own way, in the way I think is right. But I am also extremely grateful that my parents raised me in the catholic faith. Not having the right to hear about god, and then have the choice to make your own decision is the most horrible thing. so be careful what you say around kids lol
The most horrible thing that I can think of is the deliberate brain washing of children by their religious parents. The average christian parent is certainly NOT going to present both sides of the story, the children will almost certainly be presented with a bunch of fairy tales and told that they are cast iron truth.
In turn those children will have a very hard time if and when they find out that their parents were just modern day versions of snake oil salesmen.
As an atheist I raised my children to be able to make their own minds up without undue influence one way or another. My daughter asked to be allowed to go to church with her friends which I happily agreed to but after a couple of years she came to me and said "Dad this religion thing makes NO SENSE whatsoever and when I ask questions I am told to SHUT UP".
She now leads a very happy and full life with two wonderful children who will also be given the right to make their own minds up.
I can hear it now, the faithful are sneering and saying that I obviously influenced her to my point of view. Of course I put my views to her just as faithful parents influence their own children the difference being that I waited for my daughter to ask the questions which I answered and discussed at length. I never told her to SHUT UP as the faithful families did.
“The example of Jesus, as far as GOD is concerned, is the same as that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him, "Be," and he was.” Quran [3:59]
It does not befit God that He begets a son, be He glorified. To have anything done, He simply says to it, "Be," and it is. [19:35]
“No soul can carry the sins of another soul. If a soul that is loaded with sins implores another to bear part of its load, no other soul can carry any part of it, even if they were related. ... [35:18]
“They even attribute to Him sons and daughters, without any knowledge. Be He glorified. He is the Most High, far above their claims.” Quran [6:100]
“Losers indeed are those who disbelieve in meeting God, until the Hour comes to them suddenly, then say, "We deeply regret wasting our lives in this world." They will carry loads of their sins on their backs; what a miserable load! [6:31]
Thanks for taking time to read my post. Please take a moment to visit whyIslam org website.
I have read some hogwash in my time but this piece of doggerel has me totally lost:
"It does not befit God that He begets a son, be He glorified. To have anything done, He simply says to it, “Be,” and it is. [19:35]"
If this is the kind of unfathomable rubbish that you read then your need to GET A LIFE.
JESUS CHRIST IS THE SON OF GOD,EQUAL TO HIM IN ALL THINGS IN UNION WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT,BELIEVE OR NOT WE DO NOT CARE,UR OPINION IS USELESS.AM A PROUD CHRISTIAN.
I'm glad to know that you are so open to dialog with those who might not agree with you, particularly those of other faiths. *smh*
Uh, by the way, next time, turn your caps lock off. There is no need to shout.
Now this holy spirit is that the same as the holy ghost, I have asked this question many times BUT no one ever gives me an answer. An answer that is that passes the laugh test.
A word of caution, don't keep saying that you are a "proud christian" everybody will think you are a looney, it's as bad as saying "I am a proud horse sh** shovel-er".
Have a nice day.
You are more like a stupid idiotic christian, somebody filled your head with fairy tales and told you they were true. Then you, instead of asking serious questions just starting parroting the these childish tales and you never even stopped to think if they made any sense or not.
Now you are completely lost and brain washed, terrified to examine your beliefs because you have been TOLD that to do so will jeopardize your ticket to heaven let alone the 72 virgins that you get. Oh sorry you only get the virgins if you believe the equally idiotic tales from the Koran.
A pox on both of them I say.
STOP PRAYING AND START THINKING, or is that STOP BRAYING. Ah well PRAYING or BRAYING what't the difference.
Typical religious nonsense. Keep your doggrel for your coreligionists that can't think right.
The author is Islamic and the views in the book are nothing new, just the same old Islamic lies and attacks against Jesus and his divinity. Nothing to see here, unless you are Islamic.
Oh, really? Did you even read the book? Would you care to give us some evidence to back it up.
From your comment, you either didn't read the book or know nothing about Islam. I rather suspect it's both.
Look I wouldn't waste 10 seconds of my life trying to read garbage like this but then again I wouldn't waste any time time reading the ravings of the bible either.
A pox on both of them I say.
"Zealots" caused Jesus to be crucified. Jesus did not favor armed resistance to the Romans. Jesus said armed resistance would lead to destruction. Due to rebellion against the Romans, Jerusalem and the Temple were leveled in 66 CE as Jesus predicted. Some scholars believe Jesus was the "Righteous One" or leader of a group called Essenes. They wore white robes and favored peaceful simple solutions to problems.
Read the book. Otherwise, your criticisms of Aslan don't amount to a hill of beans.
The author calls the entire New Testament a Myth. Why would any one read this??
I did read the book and it said no such thing...
Pagan jim
I figured it was because he was an academic troll looking for some attention.
I wonder how many people here offering their opinions have even bothered to read the book.
You should read it; it's a good one.
No, he is Islamic that is trying to belittle Jesus, that is why CNN has it on here in the first place.
You are aware that Jesus is one of the most beloved prophets in Islam, aren't you?
Sorry, I forgot. You've already demonstrated that you know nothing about Islam and care not one wit about the truth.
Are you SURE you are talking about the same jesus, as I understand it jesus is not an uncommon name. In fact nobody knows what ANYONE called jesus actually said. There was no one around to actually write down what some one called jesus said let alone know which person called jesus they were supposed to write about.
In fact both books are just a collection of fairy tales and folk law and have far less relevance than the moralistic stories such as Aesops Fables.
How can you BELITTLE a mythical character, come on get a life, it's like trying to belittle the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny.
Just because you have devoted your life to something out of Grimms fairy tales does not mean that those of us with BRAINS have to give it or you ANY respect.
One particular fact about Mr. Aslan makes me curious, and I wish I had a way to contact him for an answer. When he left Christianity, why did he go back to Islam? He's well aware that Islam didn't get everything right any more than the gospel writers did: e.g., he acknowledges that Jesus really was crucified, not just spirited up to heaven as the Qur'an says. It seems to me that a better response would have been to believe in God but not in any particular religion. Religions and sacred writings are human creations–perhaps God inspired the scriptural writers to write something, but I can't believe that God dictated anything verbatim to them, and I doubt that Aslan believes that, either. Hence all religions and scriptures contain human error, even if they had some divine inspiration behind them. So why would Aslan think he needed any particular human religion?
Oh! the answer to your question is easy, in Islam you get 72 virgins when you go to heaven. I'll take that any day over the christian offer of eternal life sitting on your duff contemplating a stupid old fool wrapped in a bed sheet sitting on a cloud.
Now do you get it, if you took my advice you wouldn't have to ask STUPID QUESTIONS, my advice is
STOP PRAYING AND START THINKING.
Amen to that. I am taking a pass on the 72 virgins as well. It's not easy, but I'm waiting for an offer I can't refuse, like, unlimited bacon.
The bacon is VERY tempting.
j
"Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus introduces readers to a powerful story of the clash between Islam and Christianity in one man's heart and of the peace he eventually found in Jesus.""
–Looks like an interesting read to look forward to.
There is simply nothing intrinsically improbable about a historical Jesus; the New Testament alone (or at least portions of it) are reliable enough to provide evidence of a historical Jesus.[3] On this point, it is important to note that even G.A. Wells, who until recently was the champion of the Christ-myth hypothesis, now accepts the historicity of Jesus on the basis of 'Q.'[4]
Jeffery Jay Lowder
Yet the author claimed in a TV interview that the entire New Testament was a myth...
Jefferson edited the New Testament to delete references to the divinity of Jesus and believed that Jesus’ message of love suffered because of his deification. I concur. The simple message of Jesus is astounding and supremely powerful in its subtlety. Jesus taught the human race a new way of thinking and the Sermon on the Mount is the essence of his teachings. The message of Jesus is not easy, it is a very difficult way to live and I for one do not pretend to be Jesus-like but I do try to let that message guide me in my daily life and in my interaction with others.
I am not a Christian. I call myself a “Jesian”.
Love is all you need.
There's only three ways to determine who Jesus is: He is either a LIAR or a LUNATIC or He is who he says he is....If you think that he's a liar...how was he able to predict his own death? If he was a lunatic, how was he able to heal the sick, raise the dead and cast out demons? If he is who he says he is..then why argue? If he says that HE IS THE SON OF MAN, that he and the father are one....that 'I am the way, the truth, and the Life. No man comes to the father but by me'...then why not believe him? Why do we believe the "Iliad' and the 'Odessey" as factual? Why do we believe that Homer, Plato, or Aristotle were wise? Why not believe that Jesus is the CHRIST? The son of God? We believe that we breathe the air that we cannot see but we refuse to believe a man who came to save the lost? In the end, we will find out who's right. I personally believe that Christ is the son of God...that He will return to judge the quick and the dead...I'm not afraid to die nor am I afraid where I'm headed because after all...if Christianity is false, then why fear it?
i do not know that anyone believes either the Illiad or the Odessey were factual
You seem to take claims of miracles as fact, rather than as a belief
Perhaps Jesus was just a troublemaker who got whacked by the Romans
Hardly the first, nor the last
He may have just had mythology constructed around him
Be very careful, when you start talking and making sense the sheep all start bleating about you being disrespectful. They don't like it when simple explanations are proposed that make their faith look stupid.
All the "miracles" are of course ridiculous and they all have simple, rational explanations but the faithful are not interested in rational, common sense explanations are they.
while we are at it, stev-o, there are no claims of the others doing anything supernatural
your supernatural claims call for supernatural evidence
are you willing to attempt it?
do you have the tes-tic-ular for-t-i-tude?
Do not misuse God's name brother
how have i done that?
You have it wrong yet again, don't you mean "don't misuse a DOGS name".
Jack: god, gOd GoD, gawk, fuck Your God!
jack: when did i do that? you here to talk, or preach,or troll?
The simple answer is that JC did none of these supposed miraculous things. Lazarus wasn't dead, he was in a state were for all intents he LOOKED dead, if that was a miracle then it is a miracle that has been performed many many times by people who are not related to a god. People who have been pronounced dead have been brought back to life because they have been in a state of suspended animation which looks like death.
The other thing that has always puzzled me is this, if JC could cure people then why did he do it SO INFREQUENTLY. In those days there were millions of sick people and NO MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE, why didn't JC cure millions of people who, unlike today had no possibility of a cure. Does anyone actually know how many people he cured it seems to be a very very small number.
So the question is this, if JC could cure people with a miracle why did he do it so infrequently. As for predicting his own death, well wasn't that just common knowledge? many prophets had predicted that a saviour would come along and he would be executed.
Just to go back to the faith healing once more, I think he tried it many times but it only worked on a very few occaisons and the writer decided that it would look bad if they reported the failures and so they simply didn't say anything. Even when it did apparently work it was a natural cure, you know hysterical blindness is a well known medical condition, no miracles required.
Uh, Stev-o, Stev-o, Stev-o,
Whoa there!
Not only do we not "know who Jesus is" we don't know "what" Jesus is, because all we know that there is "a book" that was partly written and partly collected just 1600 years ago, this process began at the Roman 1st Council of Nicaea, this only occurred when when Constantine was advised to do so by Eusebius, this occurred in the 4th century a full four centuries after Jesus would have been born (if "he" was actually born at all).
Now your beliefs and claims are OK but you carry on as though you personally know your account to be factual, there is no way you could know that, if you can then you must reveal your evidence. Opinions don't count, OK?
Regardless, you must all stop making fools of yourselves in this way...its embarassing...seriously, have some dignity.
"We believe that we breathe the air that we cannot see"
We can test air to determine it exists, your jesus/god can't be tested for.
Well said. Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. Reza Aslan had the truth but traded it for academic ideas.
Jesus the Man, as per the Four Gospels, is more amazing than Jesus the Religious Figure of Christianity.
A true thinker. Unlike the pseudo-religious ultra right wing fundamentalists that are causing so many problems in the world these days (ie, "christians," " muslims" etc). They are on a power trip, not a religious trip.
10-4 there Good Buddy !
Uhmm....
Jesus was not illiterate. Rather, he appears to have been highly literate in Hebrew and also able to read latin.
Another 10-4.
Oh, you knew him personally then?
for more information on this thread please visit http://www.bitteratheists.com
right after you visit http://www.pompouschristians.com
Jesus almost certainly never existed. It is pure myth. Tell that to Aslan and you will quickly find out how intolerant he is, in case it doesn't come across to you now.