Jesus Lied - He Was Only Human: Debunking The New Testament

Like Mr Werleman, I spent a considerable part of my early life believing a great deal (if not the vast majority) of what people communicated to me as "gospel truth" - although a lot of it appears outwith the gospels! When I then went to university, I was introduced to a different take on Christianity (as well as other religions). Having had my appetite whetted to read and study more of what I had initially learned, I have spent the last 30 years or so digging deeper into this phenomenon guided by writers and experts who clearly had studied so many aspects of religion (mostly specifically Christianity) and who had the aim of presenting evidence and information in a way in which the Churches seemed to be unable to do in any kind of objective and unbiased manner. As far as Christianity was concerned, both the Roman Catholic and Protestant (as well as the Orthodox) have, for the most part, continued to peddle traditions, untruths, interpretations and other nonsense not only deliberately but in the face of, over the past 200 or so years, growing scholarly evidence that the reality is, in fact, much different from what had been developed by serious scholarly Biblical Criticism which the experts have been producing over a long period of time. If anyone is interested in finding out about what these experts have been saying for a long time now, I would recommend this is a great place to start. I would highly recommend this book which is why I gave it 5 stars.The real problem with religion, or religious faith or beliefs, is that various forms of it continue to be tacitly accepted (or understood) with a feeling, or perhaps the fear that, if adherents were to look at the documents or evidence too closely, their "faith" would be threatened or at least compromised. Consequently, these people continue to bury their heads in the sand. So much the worse for them.The thesis of this and many other scholarly books is essentially that religion, of whatever brand, is found wanting and pursuing it in ignorance of the facts and evidence is a dead end road.Humans can (and have developed) moral and social codes as guidelines for personal and social purposes outwith religion without the unnecessary baggage of inaccuracies, untruths and ignorance which all religions have adopted over millennia- and also without the psychological, emotional, personal and social hangups and burdens associated with religion.Werleman is doing us all a favour by writing such a book and freeing us from the disastrous routes that religions have given the human race. Faith does not really compensate for ignorance and misunderstanding! Religious believers - read this at your peril!!

It was C.S.Lewis who wrote, in Mere Christianity, that Jesus had to have been either a liar, lunatic or Lord. Werleman thinks, as I do, if the Gospel Jesus existed, ''he was a self-deluded madman... was indeed a liar and a lunatic. (p 2). Many will of course disagree and say the author is being far too harsh and over-reaching. However, the dictionary defines megalomania as: ''A psychopathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of wealth, power, or omnipotence. An obsession with grandiose or extravagant things or actions,'' which is very like the Gospel Jesus.This may be an rudimentary examination of the New Testament and its deluded hero Jesus, but it's often a comical delight to read. The highlight for me was chapter five 'The Gospels on Jesus' Adolescent Years', in particular, Werleman's hilarious review of 'The Gospel of Thomas, which was ''omitted by the Council of Nicea in AD 322'' (p76). Thomas provides us with a description of Jesus aged five to seven years of age, and he behaves therein like a mischievous, petulant, disobedient little monster. Perhaps this was the real reason that this Gospel didn't make it into the New Testament. Anyway, in Thomas, Jesus had murdered two children by age 5. One of the children that he murdered accidently ran into him, bumping his shoulder. So Jesus turned towards the unobservant youth and shouted: ''Thou shalt not live a full life!'' And With that curse, the young boy fell to the ground and died (p78).What a Jesus? But you know what some youths are like.This is a entertaining and an informed critique of the New Testament. Well worth your time.

Having read "God Hates You, Hate Him Back" it was inevitable that I would read Jesus Lied - He Only Only Human". This book is more of the same but goes into more detail regarding Jesus and the stories about him.The author goes into plenty of detail in comparing gospels and highlighting the contradictions / errors / lies / exaggerations within them. The problems don't only lay at the feet of the writers though. I found the section on Roman Emporer Constantine and his attempt to unify the crumbling Empire particularly interesting. He also provides information on the gospels that didn't get past the J-Factor judges and the probable reasons why they didn't make it through to the final.Yet again Mr Werleman has written a book that is absolutely fascinating and only intensifies my bewilderment in the fact that people still believe these stories of miracles. How did Mary have a miraculous virgin birth when Jesus seems to have had an older brother (James)? The supposedly kind and gentle Jesus also turns out to be far from it. It would appear that people cherry pick the nice stories and conveniently forget to mention the stories of his hatred and anger towards his enemies.The humour used in God Hates You returns to this book which only makes it more enjoyable to read. The bible bashers will hate the book and probably try to say the facts are incorrect and the use of bad language is a way of drawing attention. I, however, say it turns what could be a terribly dull subject for many people into a subject that those same people could read and be enthralled by. Excellent work yet again.