Did anyone else ever go to Sunday school and wonder “Why are they telling me this stuff about shepherds? What does any of this have to do with anything?” The only stories I liked were the ones with violence, like David and Goliath. But that’s also one of the most un-Christian stories there is. Don’t turn the other cheek, but rather smack that jerk with a stone and then decapitate him ... FTW!
Well, technically, this is a Jewish story the Christians just decided to “borrow” it.
But Jesus was a Jew, talking specifically to other Jews in Roman-occupied Judea. All the early Christians were Jews. He was a rabbi, which is about as Jewish as it gets. And he was supposed to be the Hebrew Messiah. I don’t see how you can separate Jesus from Judaism, although I do see the cultural distinction you’re making. The “Jesus” we generally think about is mostly a Western invention, right down to the idea of “Cristos” having some deep meaning, when it’s just Greek for “anointed,” a term used to describe literally dozens of people in the ancient world.
Honestly, I wish we’d just stuck with the polytheism of the pre-Christian Romans in Western culture. Their deities were way more entertaining, and couldn’t even follow their own moral codes. It’s way more fun than the eye-in-the-sky thing that’s popular these days.
