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By Drew - 12 Jan 2014

In Reference to: 12 January 2014 - Jesus Saves True Believers

I agree with Steve.  I believe as C.S. Lewis did that Jesus expected people to believe in what he represented as opposed to having to be Christian.  I don't believe Jesus founded the Christian church.  I think that was probably Paul and the apostles who did that.  I would like to know how they came to the odd conclusion that Jesus was the final animal sacrifice?  The question is rarely ever pressed.  We are so accustomed to this basic assumption about Jesus' sacrificial death that the question never occurs to some people.  Nor is it as if the logic would naturally jump out at you - "Oh the tomb is empty and some folks said they saw him walking and talking; well then he must be the final animal sacrifice." 

My guess is that the interpretation came from Jesus or his brother, James The Just.  We have access to a strong tradition that Jesus and James were vegetarians.  I can speculate in line with many scholars that Jesus did not plan on getting killed.  If so the interpretation may have come from James?  If on the other hand, Jesus planned on dying,  the interpretation of the crucifixion's significance probably came from Jesus himself. 

Drew

Go on to comments: By Steve Kaufman - 12 Jan 2014
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