Why Jesus Was A World Class Bigot

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Most Christians assume Jesus had affection for anyone who accepted him; that he had a personal interest in each and every individual. I think they seriously misunderstand their main man. Jesus, as he is portrayed in the gospels, quite clearly didn’t love gentiles (who he referred to as pagans.) He told his disciples:

“Do not turn your steps to pagan territory, and do not enter any Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel” (Matt. 10:6, NJB.)

When discussing his own mission, he said:

“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel” (Matt. 15:24, NJB.) He explicitly touted twice that his testimony was only for Jews!

He forbade his fellow Jews to pray like pagans:

“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matt. 6:7–8, NJB.)

Here is Jesus’ encounter with a Greek (i.e., non-Jewish) woman:

“He left that place and set out for the territory of Tyre. There he went into a house and did not want anyone to know he was there, but he could not pass unrecognized. A woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him straight away and came and fell at his feet. Now the woman was pagan, by birth a Syrophonecian and she begged him to cast the devil out of her daughter and he said to her ‘the children should be fed first, because it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house dogs’. But she spoke up ‘Ah yes sir’ she replied ‘but the house dogs under the table can eat the children’s scraps’. And he said to her ‘for saying this, you may go home happy; the devil has gone out of your daughter’. So she went off to her home and found the child lying on the bed and the devil gone” (Mark 7:24–30, NJB.)

This passage is worth careful consideration. Jesus was drawing an analogy. The children in the story, who were the Jews, were to be fed first. The dogs were gentiles (when Jews wished to insult someone they often referred to them as dogs,) whom he would rather not help. Jesus hesitated before healing the girl, because her mother wasn’t Jewish. The simple-minded author was hoping to impress his credulous Jewish readers that the magnanimous Jesus could sometimes be nice to gentiles.

Caesaria was the capital of Judea and Sepphoris the capital of Galilee, yet there is no record that Jesus ever preached in either, despite their size and importance, I think because they were populated almost entirely by gentiles.

He could have taken his mission outside Palestine; Egyptians, Greeks, Africans, and Romans might have benefited from his words of wisdom, yet he didn’t bother with them either, as they too were gentile territories.

Clearly, Jesus was xenophobic, which is not surprising if he was a sectarian Jewish insurrectionist trying to start a war against Rome.

Preaching to gentiles was the last thing on his mind. I think the real Jesus had nothing to say to gentiles; in his view they were the enemy; impostors exploiting his fellow Jews, foreigners in god’s holy land.

The people who push the “Jesus loves you” line need to read their Bibles more carefully. If Jesus were alive today he wouldn’t love you unless, of course, you are a Jew.

Jesus also threated people with hell. He talked about executing anyone who didn’t worship him

“But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’” (Luke 19;27, KJV.) He didn’t like rich people.

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.” (Luke 6;24, KJV.) He sometimes bad-mouthed Pharisees.

“Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.” (Luke 11;43-44, KJV.)

The man portrayed in the gospels wasn’t meek, mild or tolerant, but was a bigot. I think Jesus, if he ever existed, grew up uneducated in the violent backwater that was first century Galilee, and was a miltant sectarian Jew. There are quotes elsewhere in the gospels portraying him as a preacher for all people. These have been added to give him universal appeal, yet they can’t compensate for his bigotry elsewhere.

His image as a peace loving benevolent humanitarian preacher is a fiction, written by propagandists decades after his death. They were intent on creating an image of him that was the opposite of who he really was.

If you would like to read more of Dr. Mark Fulton’s thought provoking articles CLICK HERE…

About Post Author

Mark Fulton

Dr Mark Fulton is a practising physician living on the Sunshine Coast, Australia. He has spent many years researching the origins of Christianity, and has written a book, soon to be published, titled "Get over Christianity by Understanding it." His website is at www.markfulton.org
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10 years ago

Why thank you – it’s just one of my pet subjects. Just finished “zealot” by Reza Aslan – Enjoyed it very much.

10 years ago

and so it goes….Jesus was, assuming he ever was, a human being and, frankly, he got crucified.

Always look on the bright side of life eh?

10 years ago

Well that’s a lot to read, but it’s been a favorite subject for over the past decades and I have read everything I can get my hands on.

I’m quite aware of Jesus’ absence from the non-christian records, and yes, even the brief mention by Josephus is suspicious and likely a later Christian addition.

But I’m talking about the Jesus who could possibly have existed and the one invented by Paul – the one the Romans hijacked. if I assume simply for the sake of argument that there was some guy named Joshua who along with thousands of others would be messiahs was crucified in a war of insurrection that had been going on for more than one lifetime it’s only that in Occam fashion I prefer not to assume a conspiracy when a simply piracy will do. Jesus the man will remain, in the absence of a time machine, a dubious but possible character. Another dizzy headed zealot who walked right into the shit.

Jesus the Christ, however is something definitely made up and made up by people who really weren’t part of the insurrection and needed the character they made up for various reasons. People who could assume ignorance in their audience – mostly illiterate peasants.

Jesus the man is plausible in general. There were so very many like him after all that I can’t say there isn’t room for one more. Jesus the Savior of souls is, in my opinion, ridiculous, impossible to relate to Jewish tradition and beyond any discussion not intended to point that out.

I’m not the only one, far from it, to opine that the historical character is so hard to see that there’s no point looking, but conditions in Judea are better documented and although the historical dude can be seen as part of his time, the Son O’ God may not have officially appeared until the 4th century. The trinity not until the Council at Chalcedon as late as 451 CE.

Reply to  Glenn Geist
10 years ago

There are a lot of Mexicans named Jesus, too. The ones I have known personally were not a messiah or anything close to one.

I’ve been told before that Jesus was a common name them but have seen no evidence of it. Was “James” a common Jewish name, too? As far as I know, I am not Jewish now was anyone in my family.

For that matter, a lot of the biblical names seem to be “assigned” rather than true. Mathew, Mark, Luke, John, et al seem to be substitutions for whatever names were in the prevalent language.

Reply to  Mark Fulton
10 years ago

James is of course Jacob always a popular name and Jesus is mangled latin for Joshua.

And yes, the gospels were attributed to names of apostles a long time after they were written, which in turn was a long time after Jesus – if there really was one.

Bill Formby
10 years ago

If one really looks at the core of most all religions they are all similar in that they tend to form a basis for normative behavior for people living in groups. The older civilizations such as the Asians and the some the Africans had similar beliefs long before the Christian or Jewish God came along. Gods were a way of explaining the unexplainable to ignorant people just as it is today. “It is just the will of God.”
While there is little doubt that there actually was a Jesus, in fact they were many because it was considered a popular name, who had a brother named James, it does not mean he had supernatural powers. During the times allegedly covered by the Christians they were numerous faith healers and preachers who claimed to have “special” relationships with God. In fact there were at least two sects of the Christians but the one chosen by Constantine is the one that stuck around and spread world wide.
The big issue with the whole Jesus thing is that when those who told the tales of Jesus were out to set up a perfect world, an Utopia if you will. Somewhere that would find people who were always kind to each other, would care about each other, where no one would do things like kill, rape, steal, or violate other natural laws. These writers had realized that the original Bible had told stories of violence and wars and that people were in no way being good nor worshiping a God. This what I call the Oops theory. What was happening wasn’t working, so they attempted to user in a new version of this Godly thinking. Jesus was brought in to teach love and caring. The only problem is that people had become accustom to power, sex, war, and, of course, rock and roll.
The real irony of this story is that under current conditions a true Christian could not be true to his/her faith and be a Republican and that if Jesus were real and came back today he could not get elected to any public office much less the presidency.

Reply to  Bill Formby
10 years ago

Au contraire, mom ami. There is subtantial doubt about he existence of the historical jesus. For example, the things I have posted previously, such as:

A Few Noticeable Events in the Life of Jesus

Herod’s slaughter of all the baby boys in Bethlehem.

Jesus’ triumphant entry in Jerusalem, where the entire town welcomes him as their king.

Jesus casting out the greedy moneychangers. (in an area about the size of 34 football fields)

Two earthquakes hit Jerusalem.

Supernatural darkness covers “all the land” for hours.

The Sacred Temple curtain tears from top to bottom.

All the dead holy men in the cemetery come out of their graves and wander Jerusalem, “appearing to many.”

And yet, contemporary historians in the time of Jesus didn’t write about any of this.

And:

As stated by Dr. Bart Ehrman, Professor of religious studies at the University of North Caroline, Chapel Hill, NC said, “In the entire first Christian century, Jesus is not mentioned by a single Greek or Roman scholar, politician, philosopher, or poet. His name never appears in a single inscription, and it is never found in a single piece of private correspondence. Zero! Zip references!”

For decades I have been asking people to provide a contemporary account of the mythical Jesus. I’ve received a lot of excuses and false accounts, such as Josephus, who was not even born until 36 or 37 CE. Apparently, not may of the religious reich understand what is meant by “contemporary.” Most of the time, the request is simply ignored. It seems that, if you cannot answer a question or the answer would not be pleasing to you, it’s better to pretend the question was never asked.

Reply to  Bill Formby
10 years ago

More than two sects – right off the top of my head there were the Nestorians, Gnostics, Arians (the visigoths who sacked Rome were Arians) Montanists, Modalists Monophysites and Ghassanids. All differed in their ideas about just how divine Jesus was if at all.

The ascension of the Nicene creed owes everything to the power of Constantine, the high priest of Sol Invictus and nothing else. It wasn’t a pretty situation.

I think Jesus as nice guy had at least something to do with erasing Jesus the guy who hated Rome and thought he could overthrow a superpower with magic words just like his namesake Joshua, Moses’ pit bull.

But Jesus changes with the times, just like the back story.

Oops fits there too!

Lyndon Probus
10 years ago

It’s all of it a sham, truths and half-truths manufactured from whole cloth.

Ironically, many modern-day Christians are Pharisees who condemn homosexuals when they themselves are guilty of the sins Jesus repeatedly condemned: hypocrisy and failing to treat other people with compassion. Jesus said that the prostitutes would enter the kingdom of heaven before the self-righteous … does that include gay prostitutes, perchance?

10 years ago

And as to Jesus being like Osama, What evidence is there that he ever had a chance to commit any more terrorism than turning over some tables at the currency exchanges outside in the Court of the Gentiles (Goyim)

Sure he may have been a revolutionary, but an extraordinarily inept and naive one to think that all he had to do is bring a sword and God would do the rest. Some messiah. It would all have died out but that it had been spread far and wide by Paul’s mission to the gentiles which was in direct opposition to the wishes of the REmaining Jerusalem disciples, like his brother Jacob.

Whether or not Jesus liked pagans, they inherited Christianity, or at least the Christianity Paul invented.

10 years ago

Goy in Hebrew means ‘nation’ so Goyim simply means ‘gentile.’ Abraham was promised by God, after enjoying a non-Kosher lunch, that his descendants would become a goy gadol a great nation.

It’s true though that the Bible treats non jews, at least in the days after the Exodus, as disposable, to put it kindly. Joshua was commanded to kill all the men, women, children and animals of Jericho (but not the whores) and that’s just a small part of the ugly tale. What was Jezibel’s crime? She wasn’t Jewish.

And remember the real problem is attribution. No gospel writer ever met Jesus nor likely spoke his language. Matthew claimed to be of Jewish origin, but he didn’t speak Hebrew or Aramaic or have any knowledge of Jewish life and legal procedures in Jesus’ time and I doubt he’d ever met anyone who ever saw Jesus way off in the distance. He had sev4ere restraints on how he portrayed Jesus as the punishment for sympathy with the Jewish revolt was summary execution.
He couldn’t write real history even if he knew it.

The question to me isn’t whether Jesus existed, but whether the Jesus described in the canon ever existed and I think the answer to that is no. I don’t think we can ever be sure of any words he’s supposed to have said and as you’ve noticed the quotes as well as the incidents are self-contradictory.

Christianity as it evolved owes far more to Zoroastrianism with it’s heaven, hell and devil, than it does to Judaism as it was in the first century. It owes more to Mithraism and the Roman versions of it as well. The son of god thing, the virgin mary thing would have meant he had not one follower amongst the Jews. It’s all from much later when he became a Roman God.

But my bottom line is that it’s not about Jesus, it’s about Christians, who when you look at the history, spent centuries and more killing each other over what Jesus said and did and meant by it all.

But what religion is tolerant or promotes freedom of thought?

Dave Wren
10 years ago

Is Jesus really a homophobic, intolerant bigot?

It’s a simple question. Most Christians claim to believe in a Jesus who is loving, compassionate, wise and just. But many of them — perhaps the majority — seem to also believe that Jesus is a homophobic, intolerant bigot who favors Jews over Palestinians, heterosexuals over homosexuals, and Christians over billions of other people who are all condemned to an “eternal hell” for not believing in Him.

Admin
10 years ago

“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.” Matthew 7:6

The “dogs” of course are Gentiles, as Mark mentions, and both dogs and pigs are “goijm” or unclean. If Jesus existed he was most probably more like Bin Laden than Gandhi.

10 years ago

Oh, it’s much better and you get to pose for a picture too. And of course Mickey can retire or get fired or even die but next morning he’s back again – and he can be in California and Florida at the same time! Nothing short of miraculous.

You don’t have to believe anything to be accepted into Disneyland.
You won’t be burned at the stake if you see a zipper on a costume or deny that Minnie is a perpetual virgin and of course you don’t have to die to enjoy the rides.

And he shall reign for ever and ever. In the name of Mickey, Goofy and the Duck, amen.

Reply to  Glenn Geist
10 years ago

LOL LOL! Amen and I will forever think of “In the name of Mickey, Goofy and the Duck, amen, when I see someone making the sign of the cross.

10 years ago

It’s normal to have negative feelings about a conquering empire. I wouldn’t call Gandhi a bigot and I’ll betcha he didn’t like the British all that much, but maybe instead of partitioning everything as the British were fond of doing, maybe they should have let Disney run it as an amusement park. Never any trouble at Disneyland. The Temple Mount water slide would be a blast – and you can get baptized by Mickey as you go past.

Reply to  Glenn Geist
10 years ago

LOL Glenn! I suspect a Mickey baptism would carry as much weight as one performed by the J-Man himself.

Quinn
10 years ago

Jesus was likely a bigot, but back in the day, everyone was a bigot. Romans hated Jews, Jews hated Romans, as well as other Jews depending on their “tribe.” If you think about it not much has changed in the Middle East. Everyone hates everyone who isn’t them. One fucked up part of the world.

10 years ago

Of course not. The message, hardly unique to Jesus, had to be tempered to be acceptable to Rome and was twisted into something universal, since that message was “Rome is evil and God will destroy Rome as he did the Assyrians, the Babylonians and the Greeks.” and maybe bash their infants against the rocks too. Not a big seller in Rome.

Mark, or the earliest version we have may have been some 30 or 40 years ex post facto, but as the Gospels get newer, they get more “christian” more apologetic towards Rome and less Jewish-friendly.

The final insult is Revelation, of course. Aimed at Rome (identified as Babylon since criticizing Rome was a capital offense) it’s also been perverted to have a different, but this time terrifying message. It has no peaceful message and never did, but it’s not about ‘sinners’ and Satan, it’s about Rome. The Beast is Rome.

And guess what – Rome is still here – so much for prophecy.

10 years ago

I think we have to be careful in assuming words written a long long time after his death, by people in another country who didn’t know him and at best were quoting people who claimed to have known him — and making it up at worst — originated with Jesus.

Some of the apparent contradictions only appear because one or both quotes weren’t Jesus’ words and remember also, the gospels that were selected for you to believe in were selected by Romans hundreds of years later and the rest suppressed vigorously.

I think many and perhaps most academic historians would agree, Jesus was all about getting rid of one more occupying power who had not only subjugated and taxed the populace but made the Temple a Roman, For Profit institution, even installing forbidden idols and images of deified emperors. Like most Galileans and Samaritans, he despised it anyway.

Why, if he was all about overthrowing a quisling government, if his and The Baptist’s idea of purification was all about re-enlisting the help of a deus absconditus who had abandoned “his” people, would he care about foreigners or anyone outside the religion, the theocracy he was seeking to rebuild? He wasn’t there to save ‘souls’ but to save Israel and Judea.

To be fair, the Hebrew Bible expresses far more than lack of concern for ‘gentiles’ and in places suggests (and I use the word suggest ironically) that not only should no other religious rites be practiced in the “promised land” not only should Hebrews never marry outside the tribes, but that such people should be driven out or killed because allowing such things was the reason YHWH kept allowing them to be conquered.

Jesus was a pious, if not temple oriented, Jew. The perceived bigotry
does not originate with him, but with the “holy scriptures” that Christians seem to worship as a source of selected misquotes and vague predictions. Don’t blame Jesus without blaming the long list of political miscreants who authored the thing. Not all that much good in the good book, if you ask me.

O daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us – he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

Psalm 137

Reply to  Glenn Geist
10 years ago

I agree about the babble being written decades after the fact, then badly translated, politically edited, then “interpreted” to mean what was convenient for the interpreter.

Despite all this laundering, it is obviously that none of it is about peace, love, and tolerance. It’s about “my way or the highway.”

Joe Hagstrom
10 years ago

Yeah. Old Jesus sure took it to the Romans with his sword and murderous ways James.

And I figured Jesus would be real popular around here considering his hatred of rich people.

Reply to  Joe Hagstrom
10 years ago

You’ll notice he was inciting others to violence, not participating in it himself. That’s still true today. 😉

10 years ago

And the “Prince of Peace” also said, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” Matthew 10:34

Peace, Love, and tolerance. Yeah, riiiiiigggghhhhht!

Reply to  James Smith
10 years ago

Ahhh yes! “The Prince of Peace” in whose name millions have been put to the sword.

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