Jesus · the Biography

Jesus: The Biography

Religion and worship in some form has probably always been part of man’s history. Whether that worship was directed at the seen, the unseen, the known or the unknown, cultures across the world have generally worshipped something or someone.

When we think of the best stories of the gods of Ancient Greece and Rome, we naturally think of the human heroes and heroines and the trials they faced at the hands of the gods and goddesses who ruled from the heaven of clouds high atop Mount Olympus. Hercules, Perseus, and Jason and the Argonauts have all thrilled us with their strength and courage, their adventures and their indomitable spirits.

Virtually every conceivable area of life and physicality was covered by one god or another, and some of the names of these gods and human heroes remain part of our modern vernacular. A person might be referred to as a Narcissist or might perform a Herculean feat of bravery.

But when we think of the god, Jesus, we think of pain and suffering alongside kindness and tolerance. Although this may seem no different than the gods of Ancient Greece and may perhaps be seen as just another story, Jesus remains today as one of the most influential people of all time.

Do the stories live on because of man’s fascination with immortality? Or is it because of man’s need to believe there is more to our existence than what we experience on Earth? Perhaps we believe that we are close to the edge of creation and all we need to do is lift the veil to witness the secrets therein.

And just like the gods of Ancient Greece and Rome, who were believed to have been not much different from mortals except for their immortality, Jesus is believed to have been man and god, mortal and immortal. Classical literature relates stories of ancient gods as though it were invincible truth, much like the stories of Jesus. Both are filled with lessons, morals and values and like all stories handed down through generations, some stories conflict in the telling. But if you ask any Bible scholar, they will tell you there is no conflict in that book. Each story in the Old Testament bears out a corresponding story in the New Testament, with analogies and riddles only the most faithful can discern. These stories reflect the culture of the time of Jesus’s life and beyond and demonstrate the spirit that is the best and worst of mankind.

All creation stories have a beginning, and the beginning of stories about ancient gods begins in the void, just like that of the Old Testament. The early philosophical thinker, Pherecydes, alluded to the fact that we might be given an opportunity to be reborn as souls to another human life. There is not much discrepancy among ancient writers; all creation stories seem to follow the same path; the world was created from nothing from which came the elements who bore the gods that eventually created and ruled the world of men.

But the story of Jesus, which fits impeccably into the Bible, begins in the middle – the middle of the book. Thousands of years passed between the first Old Testament writings and the documentation of Jesus in the New Testament, but there is no documentation of his life that was actually written during his lifetime. Any historical information we have about him was written well after his death and it’s all contained within a guidebook, the Holy Bible, written by his followers. These accounts of his life, death and actions have been altered through dozens of generations, translations, adulterations, and even censorship by later Church authorities and kings.

Add to this the documentation of local people who were not followers of this rabbi, such as the Sanhedrin council and the Roman government, and we have a somewhat conflicting pictur