Americans Don’t Know the Facts About Jesus

Study: Americans Don’t Know the Facts About Jesus

6:00AM EDT 10/3/2012 JENNIFER LECLAIRE

Do you know Jesus? Do you really? Following the recent unveiling of a papyrus fragment in which Jesus reportedly says, "my wife," many historians are now questioning what people know about the life of Jesus.

Aside from the bearded, longhaired, Sunday-school image of Jesus, a new poll reveals that Americans are not at all familiar with the impactful life of this man.

According to the poll, most people do not grasp Jesus' influence on culture despite recognizing His image some 2,000 years after his death. Sixty-six percent believe Jesus is the most-recognized figure in history, but most were not able to correctly answer questions regarding His influence.

The survey, conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of Zondervan to investigate the knowledge of Jesus' continued impact on culture, also found that:

• 41 percent of Americans believe that mans' interpretation of Jesus' teachings hurt women's rights more than helped them, contradictory to the biblical account.
• 89 percent of Americans do not know that Jesus pioneered the concepts of universal literacy and education; 27 percent believed it to be Socrates.
• 47 percent of Americans do not know that Jesus was the first man to advocate the idea of societal inclusion and equality.

"We live in a world where Jesus' impact is immense even if his name goes unmentioned," writes Jesus expert John Ortberg, pastor and author of the new book, Who Is This Man? The Unpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus.

"From christenings to weddings to sickrooms to funerals, it is in Jesus' name that people are hatched, matched, patched and dispatched. It's a shame that Americans don't really know more about the most influential man in history."

source: 

Facts About Jesus

"Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. ."

e) God makes it clear that it's good deeds, not sacrifice that counts:

""With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? ."

(Micah 6:6-8)

So it is clear that whereas the Christian system believes that blood effects atonement, in the Hebrew system it's repentance, contrition and prayer.

As far as Jesus being the "Lamb of God", this again is solely a NT concept.

According to the Hebrew Scriptures, the only animals permitted for sacrificial purposes are those that have split hooves and chew their cud. The carcass of an unclean animal defiles (Leviticus 11:26). On these grounds alone, human beings are disqualified for sacrificial purposes. Jesus, as a human being, was unfit for sacrificial purposes.

An animal blood atonement offering must be physically unblemished (Leviticus 22:18-25). According to the evangelists, Jesus was physically abused prior to his execution (Matthew 27:26, Mark 15:15, John 19:1; John 20:25; Matthew 27:29, Mark 15:17, John 19:2). According to Paul, Jesus' circumcision constituted "mutilation" (Philippians 3:2) and is likened to "castration" (Galatians 5:12). As a result, Jesus would again be disqualified as a valid sacrifice.

The New Testament's claim that Jesus' death was "one sacrifice for sin for all time" (Hebrews 10:12) is not supported by the Hebrew Scriptures. Mere death, no matter what was the extent of the preceding violence or pain, does not satisfy the biblical requirements for those times when a blood atonement sacrifice is offered. In a blood atonement offering the animal (clean species and unblemished) must actually die as a result of blood loss. That is why it is called "a blood atonement sacrifice."

Jesus (unclean human species and blemished) did not die within the Temple precinct, at the hands of an Aaronic priest, or through the shedding of blood. Jesus' blood was not sprinkled on the altar by the Aaronic high priest (Leviticus 16:18-19). Animal sacrifice, offered as a blood atonement, must conform to the biblical guidelines set down in Leviticus 17:11: (a) Bloodshed (by means of shechitah--Deuteronomy 12:21), (b) Given solely to the Jewish people, (c) Blood sprinkled upon the Temple altar.

Jesus' humanity, the physical state of his body, and the manner of his death (crucifixion) do not satisfy any blood atonement provisions found in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Summary:

Both beliefs agree:

a) God commanded that literal goat and sheep sacrifices are part of atonement for some (not all) sins.
b) Presently, the literal goat and sheep sacrifices are not necessary, and nor are they possible, and they've been replaced with some other means of achieving the same.

They disagree as to WHAT they are replaced with.

Christians believe it's the figurative sacrifice of Jesus. (Human sacrifice is not supported by OT scripture, and is called an “abomination” in Jeremiah 32:35)

Hebrew Scripture teaches that it's repentance, prayer, and contrition.

What Christians making the claim that the Old Testament would demand sacrifices are trying to do is on one hand state that they acknowledge that literal goat and sheep sacrifices are not necessary, as they have been replaced by another figurative means, while holding Old Testament believers to the premise that there is no substitute.

This is using different measures for each of the two groups.