Resumo de Was There A Man Named Jesus

Was there a man named Jesus, who was called the Christ,
living in Palestine
nineteen centuries ago, of whose life and teachings we have a correct account in
the New Testament? The orthodox idea that Christ was the son of God ? God himself
in human form -- that he was the creator of the countless millions of glowing
suns and wheeling worlds that strew the infinite expanse of the universe; that
the forces of nature were the servants of his will and changed their courses at
his command -- such an idea has been abandoned by every independent thinker in
the world -- by every thinker who relies on reason and experience rather than
mere faith -- by every man of science who places the integrity of nature above
the challenge of ancient religious tales. Not only has the divinity of Christ
been given up, but his existence as a man is being more and more seriously
questioned. Some of the ablest scholars of the world deny that he ever lived at
all. A commanding literature dealing with the inquiry, intense in its seriousness
and profound and thorough in its research, is growing up in all countries, and
spreading the conviction that Christ is a myth. The question is one of
tremendous importance. For the Freethinker, as well as for the Christian, it is
of the weightiest significance. The Christian religion has been and is a mighty
fact in the world. For good or for ill, it has absorbed for many centuries the
best energies of mankind. It has stayed the march of civilization, and made
martyrs of some of the noblest men and women of the race: and it is to-day the
greatest enemy of knowledge, of freedom, of social and industrial improvement,
and of the genuine brotherhood of mankind. The progressive forces of the world
are at war with this superstition, and this war will continue until the triumph
of truth and freedom is complete. The question-Did Jesus Christ Really Live-
goes to the very root of the conflict between reason and faith; and upon its
determination depends, to some degree, the decision as to whether religion or
humanity shall rule the world. Yes, the character of Christ could have been
invented! The literature of the world is filled with invented characters; and
the imaginary lives of the splendid men and women of fiction will forever
arrest the interest of the mind and hold the heart enthralled. But how account
for Christianity if Christ did not live? Let me ask another question. How to
account for the Renaissance, for the Reformation, for the French Revolution, or
for Socialism? Not one of these movements was created by an individual. They
grew. Christianity grew. The Christian church is older than the oldest
Christian writings. Christ did not produce the church. The church produced the
story of Christ. The Jesus Christ of the Gospels could not possibly have been a
real person. He is a combination of impossible elements. There may have lived
in Palestine, nineteen centuries ago, a man whose name was Jesus, who went
about doing good, who was followed by admiring associates, and who in the end
met a violent death. But of this possible person, not a line was written when
he lived, and of his life and character the world of to-day knows absolutely
nothing. This Jesus, if he lived, was a man; and if he was a reformer, he was
but one of many that have lived and died in every age of the world. When the
world shall have learned that the Christ of the Gospels is a myth, that
Christianity is untrue, it will turn its attention from the religious fictions
of the past to the vital problems of to-day, and endeavor to solve them for the
improvement of the well-being of the real men and women whom we know, and whom
we ought to help and love.

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