What does this mean I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him Im ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher but I don't accept his clai?

Answer 1

You should study bare ethics, I'm just sayin, if you really did believe you would find the answers much easier but no one can give or take away faith. Please understand I am not a religious person but you do have to understand belief and faith to get what Jesus stands for. Without belief (trust and love) in Jesus (or anyone) there is no way to find the bigger picture of what he says or stands for. He spoke in Aramaic and Hebrew, both full of ambiguity and culture that most people today miss. When you read The Bible it is an ancient text but you have to understand the culture of Jesus imbedded in the language. Statements like taking someone's name meaning representing them, or being born again meaning able to surrender yourself for higher meaning. The claim that Jesus made over two thousand years ago was written in a language that was unable to say the words you need to know. Believe in something no human can comprehend, and find love that will show you the path to ethics which you seek.

Let me give you a complex example. When you follow Jesus you willfully to give your life to him, and this is a choice that non-believers do not and cannot understand.

Love is, after all, giving completely is it not? It is not reciprocating, and exchanging. When you love you give because you want to. This has been lost in our society.

You can follow the ethical example of Jesus, it is a combination of several ethical theories which use depends upon the situation and results in causing no other person or creature harm or psychological pain; yes I have studied ethics. The lessons of Jesus however are effortless to believers because true believers know Love. When you know true Love you do acts of kindness and not hate because you Want to freely, not because you have to or because you are following a particular ethical code. You find that hate finds no resolution or solution, and hate breeds only a poisoned environment which you become part of (environmental studies). When you know real love you make the right ethical choices and your life improves because you have discovered Love, and you know how to give yourself without worry about getting anything in return. You need no book of ethics, and you ask why we must study ethics more, as I did, because ethics is really simple when you know love. This is unless you follow Egoism, and though love might be blind you will also find wisdom as well within it so you are not hurt by those without love (even when they say they know love) because you will see when others say they love you and do not, avoiding the pain of bad relationships.

You are giving something incredibly precious of yourself. You believe, you say "I trust you of my own free will". This is the first step to finding love. Would you rather someone love you of their own free will or be forced to? We all have this choice every day.

To be virtuous you need not try at all, just find what love really is. When you do you will know for certain that belief and trust come first; like science where belief in something either way is required, then you find proof. If you already know, you need no proof because your cup is full; inevitably you will not find answers if you already think you have them. Then you will find your ethical path, and then your life will improve but it takes trust, into belief, into faith, into love and becomes understanding of the ethics you seek.